When a PDA is better than a GBA for Gaming 438
An anonymous reader writes "Conventional wisdom says that it's silly to buy a $300+ PDA to play games when a $100 Game Boy Advance SP is going to be better at it. At the same time, no one says that it's silly to spend $1000+ on a PC to play games, when you can do the same thing with a $199 PlayStation 2. FiringSquad just posted an ASUS PDA review that focuses on some of the games that only a PDA has the horsepower for, and helps readers figure out how to pick out the right PDA."
Both PDA and GBA are silly. (Score:1, Informative)
Forget action games (Score:4, Informative)
You're ridiculous (Score:5, Informative)
I say that all the time. I think it's insane that a friend of mine just spent $500 to upgrade his PC to get Halo playable, when he could have bought an Xbox for about 100 bucks used.
I much prefer sitting on the couch playing games up on the big screen than sitting in a task chair 18 inches from a monitor. I prefer a thumbstick to a keyboard and mouse. I also prefer the types of titles that come out on consoles, and find the console exclusives to be some of the best games around.
More precisely, I generally dont care for FPS titles, and am more interested in a fun game than hi-res eye candy.
The one advantage the PC had for me was online multiplayer. An advantage its rapidly losing as more and more people plug in their Xboxes, PS2s and GCNs.
The console is catching up to the PC graphically as well - it's far surpassed the low-end PC's with so many HDTV ready titles showing up. 720p or 1080i on a big screen for me please.
And of course, the cost of entry is miniscule, compared to PC hardware. Perhaps ATI and nVidia should find a way to subsidize their hardware through software sales to try and close the gap.
Or buy both...in one! (Score:4, Informative)
Games are problematic, most Palm games should run, others are being worked on. It's pretty open for development, so many emulators are possible.
Specs are:
Memory: Zodiac1 = 32MB*
Zodiac2 = 128MB*
* 12MB reserved for system use.
Processor: Motorola(R) i.MX1(TM) ARM9 processor (200 MHz)
Graphics
Accelerator: ATI(R) Imageon(TM) W4200 graphics accelerator (with 8MB dedicated SDRAM).
Display: 3.8 inch transflective display
480 x 320 (half VGA), 16-bit color backlit display (65,536 colors) Portrait and landscape display capabilities Digitizer for enhanced interactive game play, navigation and text input.
Sound: Yamaha(R) audio component and stereo speakers
Standard 3.5mm stereo headphone plug
Earbud-style headphones included
Support for select third-party portable speakers
Vibration: Supports silent notification and interactive game play.
Controls: Variable pressure analog controller (joystick), 2 triggers, 4 programmable action buttons, 1 special function button,
1 home button, 1 power button, and 1 Bluetooth button.
Expandability: Dual expansion slots for MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital (SD) cards
and SDIO cards, including digital cameras and more.*
Zodiac Connector for additional peripherals.
* Slot #1: supports MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital Cards (SD).
Slot #2: supports MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital Cards (SD), and
SDIO cards.
Wireless Connectivity: Built-in Bluetooth radio with dedicated activation button.
Ideal for multiplayer wireless gaming, sharing information and connectivity to other compatible Bluetooth enabled devices.
PC Desktop Connectivity: USB Cable, USB Cradle (sold separately)
Cover: Protective Flip Cover
Wrist Strap: Convenient strap
Battery: High-capacity Rechargeable Lithium Batteries - 1540 mAh
Power Supply: AC Adapter / Battery Charger (120 volt AC, 60 Hz) International connectivity kit (sold separately)
Size/Weight: 5.6" (143mm) x 3.1" (79mm) x
Color: Zodiac1 - Slate Gray, Zodiac2 - Charcoal Gray
Software Specifications
Operating System: Tapwave enhanced Palm OS 5.2T
Writing Software: Graffiti 2
Included Software:
Games: Stuntcar Extreme, AcidSolitaire
Media:
Music: Tapwave MP3 player
Photos: Tapwave JPEG Photo Viewer
Video Playback: Kinoma Player 2
Video Creation: Kinoma Producer (Quickly and easily converts AVI, QuickTime, MPEG1, MPEG4 files for use on the Zodiac entertainment console).*
*QuickTime software required to use Kinoma Producer on PC
eBook reader: PalmReader
Organizer: Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad
Other Stuff:
Alarm Clock (Tapwave Alarm Clock with integrated stopwatch & MP3 music feature),
Wireless-based chat & shared whiteboard (PhatPad by Trumpetsoft)
Graphing Calculator (powerOne by Infinity SoftWorks)
Microsoft(R) Word(R)-compatible Word Processor (WordSmith by Blue Nomad)
Connectivity: Web Browser and SMS client for use with compatible Bluetooth enabled phones (bonus software on CD).
I speak from experience when I say... (Score:1, Informative)
First PDA (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Both PDA and GBA are silly. (Score:3, Informative)
A Nokia series 40 phone that runs two weeks without reloading runs for 4 days with the CPU fully loaded, and a Symbian series 60 phone runs for 2-3 days with the CPU fully loaded. The batteris are not the problem, I have to admit that the form may be a problem for you. It is not a problem for me or my children.
HP 95LX Not First (Score:3, Informative)
GBA SP vs PDA (Score:2, Informative)
Needless to say, I'm happy with the GBA. There are some things I miss about the PDA, though.
Re:Only buy what you need (Score:3, Informative)
> games with these emulators for a mere $99.
as a game developer for Palm OS, and other handheld platforms - i know first hand the issues with porting/writing emulators for the platform. we have written a GameBoy emulator (yes, to 16Mhz m68k) and an Atari 2600 emulator to multiple platforms - however, the processing power available, in addition to the memory constraints imposed by the operating system (4k stack), no global variables in ARMlets; make it very difficult or, virtually impossible to have emulators run on them.
based on our experience and understanding of the platform, emulation for stuff such as Atari, NES, SNES, GameBoy is definately possible; GameBoy Advance at a full 60fps is possible with high-end PDA's (ie: 200Mhz+) as will coin-op ports. however, something like MAME; with its generic engine - if ported will definately run, but maybe not full speed.
the bottom line is that porting to Palm OS is difficult; hence, why MAME/DooM et al have existed on Symbian, Pocket PC - but, not on Palm
the tapwave zodiac is a 200Mhz CPU; and, in our experience we have found the Tungsten|T3 cream all over it for pure CPU power (comparing FPS in our 3D engine). however, it does have a 2D accellerator; that some people may take advantage of - and, is actually more 'geared' towards gaming.
i own a Tapwave Zodiac (two actually), GameBoy advance and over 60 PDA devices (www.ardiri.com/pdas.jpg) - not one device suits my every day needs yet