Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 158

Thou shalt commit adultery. That was the message erroneously sent out in the 15th Century by the publishers of the King James Bible. While many would appreciate such a rewriting of the Seventh Commandment, the mistake was noticed and the Bibles were quickly returned before too many couples enjoyed swinging parties in their semi-detached tied cottages.

When printing first came to the UK around the same time, it was natural that the first book published was the Bible. Consequently, all printing equipment was kept in churches. The only place big enough to do this was the church’s font and hence that’s why typefaces are called fonts. Interesting, no?

Mistakes made by such as the King James translators can have very serious consequences. There are some who believe that when good Muslims die, they won’t find bewitching houris (sexy virgins) in Paradise, but raisins. Again, possibly all down to a printer’s mistake, but they could always settle on sultanas - a different kind of fruit. Ha-ha, sorry, couldn’t resist it. Please. No. Fatwa.

But sometimes people get it absolutely right when taking one format and delivering it onto another platform. A recent case in point is mobile video and the next stage of the revolution. While mobile games have suffered from onerous costs of porting each game across sometimes hundreds of handsets, it looks as if mobile video evangelists have learnt from these mistakes.

Everybody in the food chain is talking to each other before the event and not after it. Technical specifications are being ironed out and it looks as if mobile video will happen much faster than anybody expected. Hurrah for 3G and the chance to watch global sports and comedy on our phones and hurrah for the decision-makers who look like getting it right.

On the subject of future-gazing, fill up your petrol tanks at the weekend. There is talk of all full-grown oil crisis on Monday and being forewarned is forearmed… and mark my words, there’s nothing lost in translation in that particular warning.