Also new on the Flash platform is the ability to utilise hardware accelerated 2D and 3D graphics rendering through the Stage 3D API (formerly Molehill). With dramatically faster (up to 1000 times) rendering performance over Flash Player 10 and AIR 2, Stage 3D enables new classes of console-quality games and immersive apps smoothly rendered at 60 frames per second.

"Adobe Flash Player 11 provides unique functionality, including Stage 3D and native 64-bit support and asynchronous bitmap decoding, to allow us to leverage both 2D and 3D components for the best gaming experience possible," says Anton Volkov, CTO of , creator of the game (above). "Now, we can make game images sharper, shinier, and more realistic for a richer experience than traditional online games. It will keep players coming back time and time again."

Also at the keynote, Emmy Huang, group product manager for gaming solutions at Adobe, introduced Starling, which allows 2D content to be created on top of the 3D GPU APIs in Stage 3D. It can thus use the GPU to accelerate 2D graphics to an incredible level. Starling will be one of the features of the next version of Flash Professional, codenamed Reuben.

Andrew Stalbow, general manager of , revealed that a Flash version of Angry Birds as well as a brand new Angry Birds engine is in development. "We're very excited about bringing this experience to Flash," said Stalbow. "The Starling framework really allows us to create great special effects. The new explosions, smoke and lighting effects that you're going to see are thanks to that, and it really enables our game to run smoothly at 60 frames per second. We can use the power of the GPU to enhance our 2D experience to get the best performance and visual effects for users of Angry Birds. Just as an example we've got five times more particles in our explosions and special effects than we've ever had before."

French company was another of the pre-release developers using the Stage 3D technology -- this week it has released a highly interactive user experience app for the for Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 (below).