Riven for Pocket PC Released

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.meanhamstersoftware.com/prod_pocketpc.html#riven' target='_blank'>http://www.meanhamstersoftware.com/...etpc.html#riven</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Riven, the sequel to Myst, is a visual feast with an immersive storyline. Stunning landscapes conceal dark secrets and challenging puzzles. Players must rely on all their senses as they journey through this fantastic world. Indeed, Riven must become your world if you are to progress through it successfully. A man, Atrus, needs your help. His wife, Catherine, has been abducted by Gehn. Your mission seems relatively straightforward: capture Gehn and bring back Catherine. However, as you arrive on Riven, you quickly realize that capturing Gehn will be more difficult than you thought. The "prison book" Atrus gave you to imprison Gehn is stolen immediately by a strange man. You decide that exploring the bizarre and beautiful world of Riven is now your only viable option..."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20051221-Riven.jpg" /><br /><br />You drooled over <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38266">Myst</a>. Now drool over Riven. It isn't kind on the storage space, but nevertheless, I bet it's worth every megabyte. <a href="http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=20313&associateid=204">PocketGear.com</a> is selling it for $29.99. [Affiliate]

[pocketpcadmirer]

I'll surely give it a try

Sunny :roll:

[altermind]

beware.. you will need a 512 meg memory card to install this game.... shame they don't let u split it up...

ah well... looks good sofar :)

[PDANEWBIE]

You would think for installations this large you would find a way to uncompress the cab on the PC your installing it from and then just sync over the individual files and other key components...

512 meg media required just to install is a little bloated IMHO. I'll still play it though since I don't buy under 1gb media cards but still when will be the time that I can't install on a 1gb card because something requires 725m space and the install doubles it.

Just a thought though I haven't even played Myst yet.

[JonathanWardRogers]

Does it suppore VGA yet? 'Cause I bought Myst and it was pretty much a waste of money because you almost couldn't read the text.

[badbob001]

I thought the original ppc myst version had vga support for the text in the books. Or perhaps through an update.

[Paragon]

Anyone get this to install on a WM5.0 machine?

For me it will transfer the .cab to the card on my device but the .cab fails to install, just saying that installation was unsucessful. I'm now in a what looks to be a lengthy discussion with PocketGear about it...

[jgrnt1]

I installed the demo and it appears to be just a video. It ran through what I assume is the opening sequence and then shut down. I wanted to see what the images and text look like, since I have a VGA device. Mean Hamster Software's website doesn't say anything about hi-res support.

[sponge]

Last time I played Myst, I ended up bleeding.

Broke the CD, cut my finger.

[JonathanWardRogers]

I thought the original ppc myst version had vga support for the text in the books. Or perhaps through an update.

If you ever find anywhere to get this update, please let me know. It was not in the original file, and Mean Hampster software might as well not even exist once you buy a product for all the response you get from them. (About VGA inquiries, anyway).

[darhorn]

i go tthe update through pocketgear or handango... wherever i had bought it. the readability update was the first one... it is up to version 2.01 right now... they did away with the requirement that you had to have flash installed and added a brightness option

I am loving Riven... no it isnt VGA but is stll pretty nice and is faithfull to the original. some of these adventure games i just dont expect to be vga. there has to be a tradeoff with the size..
riven
atlantis redux
egyptian prophecy
RTMI

these are all QVGA but are all over 100 MB, i wonder how big they would be if they were VGA..

Darrin

[Paragon]

these are all QVGA but are all over 100 MB, i wonder how big they would be if they were VGA..

Darrin

This is a very important consideration. One that we mostly overlook when it comes to VGA. Riven is over 150mb for a QVGA vesion and takes 16mb of program space to run. To run a VGA version would overtax most devices.

[Ed Hansberry]

So, what is the verdict? Does it run on WM5 devices and how does it perform on a VGA device? I really want to run this on my JasJar in landscape mode. Will it work or will I have a postage stamp square on the screen?

[Paragon]

So, what is the verdict? Does it run on WM5 devices

Well so far I can't get the .cab to install on either my Qtek 9100 or UTStarcom 6700. I'm still chasing my tail with Pocket Gear and Mean Hampster. The best advice they have given me is to soft reset and try again...the best advice I have given them, is to return my money. ;) Pocket Gear states that all claims to be resolved within 24-48 hours, it has now been several days....I'm not holding my breath. Nothing will happen now for the next few days anyway.

[foebea]

In the name of science I had to get this and try it out.
Here's what I found.

The cab file when copied over using an sd reader will Not install. Something about unrecognized format. When installed over activesync it works fine. I belive this may be some kind of copy protection and i usually just copy over cab files for installation and have never had this problem before.

[JonathanWardRogers]

Riven is over 150mb for a QVGA vesion and takes 16mb of program space to run. To run a VGA version would overtax most devices.

Considering VGA devices all have top of the line specs, would it really overtax them?

[foebea]

I've no problem with a highly taxing version, as long as it doesn't leave the majority of us qvga folks in the dust. I wont be able to upgrade for a couple years yet. I do feel your pain though, all the power, nothing to tax it.

Another observation on the game: The options menu is very lacking at the moment, there is no way to rotate the screen, and sadly it is opposite of what I normally use. Also there is no way to click through repetitive animations, so i spend a little more time waiting for animations to finish. I always watch them the first time, but it would be nice to skip the ones I have seen. They added this feature to Myst, so I expect it will come down the pike shortly enough. I had hoped they would just be planting this into the myst engine they had already put together, but as it seems to be missing some of the features from myst, i think they built this on its own.

I will finally beat this game however. Havent over the years, now i will have it with me and will be able to peck at it over time where ever i am.

Thanks Hamster Software! even if you are mean :twisted: