Dual-core Android games hotting up with Tegra Zone app and Gameloft deal

Android smart phones and tablets with powerful dual-core processors are going to be increasingly common in 2011, with games set to be one of the best ways to show them off. Two separate announcements -- from Gameloft and Nvidia -- highlight the dual-core gaming goodness to come this year.

Nvidia's Tegra 2 is already making its way into a series of smart phones and tablets, including the LG Optimus 2X, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Acer Iconia Tab A500.

Now Nvidia has released an Android app dedicated to pointing you in the direction of games that take advantage of its new 'super chip'. Tegra Zone is a free app, available on Google's Android Market, offering game reviews, HD trailers and gameplay videos, and links to buy them.

The first Android games to get the Tegra Zone treatment include Samurai II: Vengeance, Dungeon Defenders: First Wave Deluxe HD -- deluxe and HD? You're spoiling us! -- and the excellent Galaxy on Fire 2 THD.

Nvidia isn't the only company in town when it comes to dual-core processors for Android devices, of course. Chipset giant Qualcomm is also trumpeting its latest generation of mobile processors, and using games to show them off.

Gameloft, the mobile games publisher which has already made a name for itself with visually impressive iOS games including NOVA, Sacred Odyssey and newie Starfront: Collision. It's working with Qualcomm to optimise several of its Android games for the latter's Snapdragon processors, including the new dual-core MSM8x60.

Gameloft is starting with four games: SpiderMan: Total Mayhem HD, Real Football 2011 HD, GT Racing: Motor Academy HD and Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus. Others may follow later in the year.

In separate news, Gameloft has struck a licensing deal with Epic Games to use its Unreal Engine 3 for a series of new games. UE3 powered Infinity Blade on iPhone and iPad, so expect it to form the basis of some stonking dual-core titles on Android too.

Excited about richer games tapping into the latest dual-core processors in phones and tablets? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.