MMO/virtual world/serious games platform developer Icarus Studios has announced the expansion of their 3D development platform to the iPhone. The official launch of the Icarus 3D iPhone client is be in the first quarter of 2009.

The current prototype of the iPhone extension includes the ability to create virtual worlds that are navigable using the accelerometer.

The Icarus platform incorporates a number of technologies, such as Vivox for VoIP, Ageia's PhysX for its physics engine, IDV's SpeedTree, and OC3 for avatar speech and facial expressions, and was designed to meet the needs of next-generation Virtual Worlds and MMOGs, supporting functionality such as user generated content, in-world social and entertainment activities, scriptable AIs, dynamic game systems, diverse revenue models, and in-world profiled marketing.

“We are committed to porting our platform to established and emerging devices. The iPhone offers a tremendous opportunity to extend Virtual Worlds and MMOGs to mobile devices in a visually rich and intuitive device,” said James Hettinger, Chief Executive Officer of Icarus Studios.