Every time I try to play a game on any PPC I get so ticked off that I almost smash the device I using. Why ? The PPC game pad's SUCK.
From previous posts I know I sound like a broken record on this but MS can talk VGA, fast graphics, 3D accelerators, and DirectX on PPC's all they want, but till someone puts on a decent directional pad on a PPC its all wasted.
Come on HP, Toshiba, DELL, ..., stop making the same old stale PPC's and come up with something new, cool, usable !!!
casio made a pocket pc with a good button layout, and that was around 5 years ago at least. I'm surprised that absolutely none of the current competitors have made anything close to it.
I was astonished to find the Tapwave Zodiac was exactly what I was looking for. The shape is perfect. Landscape by default actually makes sense. It's thin, it's light, and it has an analog d-pad and lots of buttons in sensible locations. Heck, it even has side trigger buttons! And with all that it doesn't look like a cheap toy. It actually looks nice and could be mistaken for a regular, boring, PDA. (At least if you don't examine it closely!) I've learned to live with the icky Palm OS that is on the device, but I still don't like it.
Have you seen the Gizmondo (formerly GameTrac) that bitbank mentioned earlier? It's a Windows CE device (not Pocket PC) with gaming, MP3, camera, Bluetooth, GPRS, SMS and GPS :!: capabilities. I think it looks totally awesome (to bring back a Valley Girl phrase).
It's supposed to be launched in the U.K. this summer and worldwide this fall.
Have you seen the Gizmondo (formerly GameTrac) that bitbank mentioned earlier? It's a Windows CE device (not Pocket PC) with gaming, MP3, camera, Bluetooth, GPRS, SMS and GPS :!:
It looks really good. So I'm guessing this is designed to compete with Tapwave?
Have you seen the Gizmondo (formerly GameTrac) that bitbank mentioned earlier? It's a Windows CE device (not Pocket PC) with gaming, MP3, camera, Bluetooth, GPRS, SMS and GPS :!:
It looks really good. So I'm guessing this is designed to compete with Tapwave?
Compete with? It sounds like it will blow the Tapwave away as a gaming device -- especially at a price of under $215 (according to The Register).
Have you seen the Gizmondo (formerly GameTrac) that bitbank mentioned earlier? It's a Windows CE device (not Pocket PC) with gaming, MP3, camera, Bluetooth, GPRS, SMS and GPS :!:
It looks really good. So I'm guessing this is designed to compete with Tapwave?
Compete with? It sounds like it will blow the Tapwave away as a gaming device -- especially at a price of under $215 (according to The Register).
Steve
Actually, I don't think it will compete with the Zodiac much. They seem to be targeting a much younger crowd (hence the tracking offered with the GPS -- your 'parents' can get your whereabouts at any time.) It also looks rather goofy and appear to be more of a 'toy', even with the functionalities it has. I could never see pulling that thing out in a meeting at work! The Zodiac, on the other hand, actually passes for a PDA. I'd have to hold one of those Gizmondos myself before I can really comment on the ergonomics, but from the pictures alone I'm not convinced it would be comfortable to game with. No doubt it would be better than most Pocket PCs though. It just looks too 'fat' to me. The Zodiac is thin, and laid out like a nice console gamepad, and it works really well. Like I say though, the ergonomics are not something that can come from pictures -- I thought the Zodiac's analog pad looked a bit too high up in pictures, but it's positioned fine when I hold it.
Larry, I wasn't saying that games weren't possible on phones. I'm just saying that I would rather play games on a larger screen, with better controls, if I'm going to play them at all. Plus, I don't want a big clunky phone, so games (requiring bigger screens for me to enjoy them) are mutually exclusive to phones as far as I'm concerened. I don't want to do anything with a phone but make calls, and I want it to be as small and light as possible because I always carry it with me. I don't always carry my PDA(s) with me, and I wouldn't always carry a gaming device with me. In the winter when I have a coat on I carry a PDA with me all the time, but in the warmer weather I have nowhere to put it so it usually stays in my car or even at home.
Every time I try to play a game on any PPC I get so ticked off that I almost smash the device I using. Why ? The PPC game pad's SUCK.
From previous posts I know I sound like a broken record on this but MS can talk VGA, fast graphics, 3D accelerators, and DirectX on PPC's all they want, but till someone puts on a decent directional pad on a PPC its all wasted.
Come on HP, Toshiba, DELL, ..., stop making the same old stale PPC's and come up with something new, cool, usable !!!
Sorry, had to vent again
a serial communications port allows vendors to develop mountable controls if they sole desire. I have actually made a flash demo mockup of what that would be like a long while back as a proposal. Sadly there is not enough consumer demand to mass produce this
There would be if it was marketed with gaming implementations as a major selling point.
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