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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

Helix - Handheld Game Platform From Ex-Palm Staff 27

Posted by simoniker from the helixicious-and-nutritious dept.
madopal writes "It seems Reuters is reporting that some ex-Palm officials have announced a new gaming platform called Helix. The company is called Tapwave, but there's nothing on their site yet." This article in the San Jose Mercury News has a few more details - apparently, the unit will even feature an analog joystick and trigger buttons, and with its Palm OS organizer functionality, is apparently aimed at an older, more crossover audience than the Gameboy Advance.
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Helix - Handheld Game Platform From Ex-Palm Staff More

Helix - Handheld Game Platform From Ex-Palm Staff

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  • Sounds good but... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Baron_911 ( 664953 ) <baron&insecure,net> on Monday May 05, 2003 @06:03PM (#5885849) Homepage Journal
    What I think would make a project like this REALLY stand out is Wireless (or wired, I guess...) internet and/or network access. Cell phone technology allows games to be played over net connections, lets make a portable game machine do it!

    -baron
    • Actually, that's a good idea - if for no other reason then to cause Nintendo to release a wireless game link cable. Or is there one already?

      I like my brother, and all, but I don't want to have to sit close enough to smell him when whooping him at F-Zero Advance.

    • MMO gaming via cell phone would be cool, but IMO, they need to make sure they don't charge per minute/byte to make it attractive. For example, I've gotten hooked on Pokemon Sapphire (for GBA) this week (my first Pokemon experience ever) and it would be really cool to be able to link with people "online" while I'm waiting for various daily tasks. However, if I had to pay per minute, I'd definitely not spend a couple hours per day playing others.
      • Gaming with GPS or GPRS would be pretty terrible. Even using GPRS you usually get around 14kbps with about 800ms latency, and it's not even cheap. And would you really want a phone contract for your gameboy?

        They'd probably use bluetooth and IR so the gaming device can connect to your phone or network and use that. But then you get problems with different phone's software modems and bluetooth breaking on Nokias because of their driver issues.

        I think it's far more likely for portable Internet gaming to s

    • Re:Sounds good but... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      A cell phone adapter was released in Japan for the Game Boy Color, and Pokemon Crystal was the pilot game to use it. I think one of the things keeping such devices being released in the states is our hodge-podge cellular networks.
  • The Helix boasts twice the color palate of the Game Boy and nearly 16 times that of the N-Gage.

    Ummm ... the roof of its mouth is twice as big?

  • They should ask themselves this before they build. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by heldlikesound ( 132717 ) on Monday May 05, 2003 @06:45PM (#5886220) Homepage
    Will the organizor features compete with the Palm?
    Will MP3 player features compete with the iPod?
    Will the gaming features compete with the GB SP?

    If not, we are going to have another device that does three or four thing, but does them really poorly.

    I'm dreaming of a smallish device (flip style, deck of cards) that will be a great cell phone, a great PDA, and a great mp3 player, and maybe play games... But i still think we are about two years off from that.

    I'm interested in the next Handsprings, but they still seem so plasticky and the bezels add some much to the size...
    • There's some more interesting info on their developer pages [tapwave.com]... some excerpts:

      New mobile entertainment platform based on the Palm OS, enhanced with advanced gaming and entertainment features

      It doesn't say if it will include the Palm organizer application suite, however.

      Fathammer X-Forge 3D Game Engine
      Fathammer X-Forge Core APIs

      The Fathammer [fathammer.com] 3D demos I've seen have been impressive...

      • Usually, the standard PalmOS ROMs include the basic Palm applications (AddressBook, Notepad, Calendar, ToDo, a few others), so I'd guess they'll be in this as well. And I see they're including a "high-score conduit," which has to be one of the more novel uses for HotSync I've heard.

        The developer page also doesn't say how much RAM will be in these things, or if they'll include a hard drive ala iPod. My guess is it'll be strictly RAM of one sort or another, if their claim of "less than 6 ounces" is true, s

    • Will MP3 player features compete with the iPod?
      I paid almost A$1,000 for my iPod. I can't imagine that I'd spend that amount on something that's had to compromise the core iPod features to include gaming. On the flipside, my iPod only gets 10 hours on battery. I've only charged my GBAsp once since I bought it over a month ago. Since the last charge I've finished Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction.

      Not to mention that I've already got a Palm I don't use...

    • Will the organizor features compete with the Palm?

      ya, it is using the palm OS.

      Will MP3 player features compete with the iPod?

      Given sufficent storage media and a good sound chip it whould do fine.

      Will the gaming features compete with the GB SP?

      they claim a vast improvement on graphics, but the Turbo Graphics 16 portable, and the Neo-geo portable attest that that is not the deciding factor.
      If they can figure out a way to make the controls better than a normal PDA it should be good... as it is Pokemo

  • Ahem. I am 25 and I have a GBA SP (and a GBA). (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm all for competition in the mobile gamming market, but I have information for Nokia and Tapwave. There are more than just kids who use the GBA. I have serious doubts that a lot of 12-year-olds were chomping at the bit to install their afterburner. I would guess that mostly adults were looking at that upgrade. I doubt that many kids are playing Golden Sun or Advance Wars. I don't think that it's impossible for them to do so, but I think there are many older gamers that play these titles. The bottom
    • Same here. I'm 28 and have over 20 GBA games (some are my daugters) and about the same again for GameBoy (Color) ones.

      I don't want PDA features in my gaming device though. I want more power.

      Competition will be good but I can't wait to find out what nintendo have instore for us next...

      I don't have an SP yet, not sure about the design as I have large fingers - might be a good option for my daughter though.

      • I don't have an SP yet, not sure about the design as I have large fingers - might be a good option for my daughter though.

        I have full-sized adult fingers, and the SP is actually more comfortable than the classic GBA design. Not sure exactly why, but it is. The tilt to the screen and better tactile feel of the buttons helps, but the overall grip is better too.

        For example, I got past a boss in Metroid Fusion that had been giving me problems with the old GBA, the first time I tried him with on my SP.

        I'm

  • "Nobody was addressing the need of the more sophisticated gamer in a mobile sense," Connell told Reuters recently.

    Connell and Lim said the target audience for the Helix consists of people 18 years to 34 years old who have largely "graduated" from Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) Game Boy Advance portable gaming unit.

    What audience are they talking about there? this is almost troll-like rhetoric i'd more expect to find on a pro-xbox anti-everything else messageboard.

    maybe it's the audience that doesn't kn


  • Does it say "priscilla" in golden letters and is shiny purple all over? I dont think it would appeal to me much, I'll stick with GBA SP I think.

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