Windows Mobile Devices To Get Better At Gaming

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.brighthand.com/article/Microsoft_Adding_D3DM_to_Windows_Mobile">http://www.brighthand.com/article/Microsoft_Adding_D3DM_to_Windows_Mobile</a><br /><br />"A high-level Microsoft executive made it clear recently that his company has no plans to release a portable gaming device. Instead, Microsoft will encourage game developers to create titles for handhelds and smartphones running Windows Mobile. To make this easier, the company is going to build a new group of gaming APIs into the next version of Windows Mobile."<br /><br />Enter Direct-X for Windows Mobile, also known as Direct 3D Mobile, or D3DM, and is expected to appear in Windows Mobile 2005 devices. We know that D3DM is new and included in <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/prodinfo/future/ce.net/default.aspx">Windows CE 5.0</a>, and now we know that the next version of Windows Mobile has D3DM, soooooo... it must be based on Windows CE 5. :mrgreen: Not really surprising. The big reason there was such a long time between Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 with little surface changes was the guts had to be ripped out of it and laid on top of CE 4.2. CE 4.x had gone back and taken a lot of stuff in Pocket PC 2000/2002 and put it in the core CE operating system, meaning Mobile Device developers at MS could focus on the UI and apps and not fool with tap-and-hold integration and other items. Theoretically, Windows Mobile operating systems could now be lifted off of an older version of CE and put on a newer one with relative ease. It was a painful transition, but now that it is done, we can reap the benefits. Had that not happened, we might not see a CE 5 based WM device until 2006.<br /><br />You may ask why it is important to stay up on the latest CE version possible. Speed, stability and security are the key reasons. The analogy isn't quite correct, but think of Windows Mobile as Office and Windows CE as Windows. Having Office 2003 installed in Windows 2000 will work, but it isn't going to be as good as having it on Windows XP. :D

[Jonathon Watkins]

Nice to see that we should have some innovation in the OS coming soon. :D It's quiet for quite a while.

I look forward the upcoming VGA games that will run under D3DM. :mrgreen:

[dazz]

Since MS has merged their Windows Mobile and Windows CE departments and teams we are certainly going to see a tighter fit between the two "OSes". I welcome this greatly as I would like to see a resurgence in HPC's, expecially if they can run all of the same software as PPC.

[Swordsman74]

AT LAST!!!!!

I have been scorning the Gameboy and PSP fanboys for years... I just couldn't justify carrying around a PDA (which most people should do) plus carry a separate machine just for gaming... It wouldn't take much for someone to build a decent gaming machine with Windows Mobile as the guts - look at the good reviews the Tapwave Zodiac received. Manufacturers can put out various versions: business/PDA centric models right alongside gaming-centric models...

I really hope this happens sooner rather than later... The PSP looks like it could be a hit and that might mean less developers writing games for the Windows Mobile platform...

[arnage2]

Im very happy to see WM becomming a gaming platform. My new X30 624mhz kicks my Clie's a$$, even when the x30 is in 208mhz mode. With the emulation possibilities of this xscale, ppc will prosper as a gaming platform

[foldedspace]

If they would come up with a browser that worked as well as the desktop version (smaller, of course), integrated wireless, an ability to play video at the same framerate as a desktop and a good, seperate video processor to handle the games (coupled with a little friendlier D-Pad), I'd be set. And they would sell a heck of a lot more ppc's to the average consumer as well.

[Ed Hansberry]

Since MS has merged their Windows Mobile and Windows CE departments and teams we are certainly going to see a tighter fit between the two "OSes".
They haven't merged them. In fact, I think the CE team is more closely aligned with the windows embedded group, which includes XP Embedded, but the CE team has always worked well with their largest customer - the Mobile Device group. :-)

[Kati Compton]

I'll really think of PPCs as gaming devices when there are buttons on both the "top" and "bottom" of the screen so that in landscape mode all the buttons aren't on one side...

;)

Did you see the list of games that they're planning to port to Windows Mobile? One of them was "It's Mr. Pants". :lol:

Now, forget 3D support, let's get CivII! :P

[gohtor]

I've been waiting for this day for a long time. It may be untimely because of gameboy DS and PSP's upcoming presence. I still await some Xbox live network development kit for the ppc. Once that's in place, all is well =)

[arnage2]

this is probebly msft indirectly releasing a next gen handheld console

[sponge]

As one of the PocketGamer lackeys, let me say that this secures our jobs for another good few years :P

[torok]

This is kindof a dumb question, but will I be able to upgrade my OS on my PDA if I ever should want to?

[omikron.sk]

I'm looking forward to this twice as you do, guys (and girls ;) ). Once as a programmer and once as a player ;)

[Jonathon Watkins]

This is kindof a dumb question, but will I be able to upgrade my OS on my PDA if I ever should want to?

It depends on what kind of device you have. As long as WCE 5.0 is backward compatible, and the ROM footprint is not larger than your current device, then it should be possible. Note however, your device manufacturers may refuse to release an upgrade for the device. (Not looking at the Dell X5 or many HP models here now, am I? :? )

On my X5 I upgraded from PPC2002 to PPC2003, but I can't upgrade to PPC2003SE as Dell won't release an update. Many current PDAs shipping with PPC2003SE *MAY* allow you to upgrade to PPC200X (new OS on top of WCE 5.0), but it's too early to say.

[palmsolo]

Since MS has merged their Windows Mobile and Windows CE departments and teams we are certainly going to see a tighter fit between the two "OSes".
They haven't merged them. In fact, I think the CE team is more closely aligned with the windows embedded group, which includes XP Embedded, but the CE team has always worked well with their largest customer - the Mobile Device group. :-)

Ed, according to this article (http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/4/29/itfeature/7852099&sec=itfeature) the two divisions have indeed merged into a single Microsoft division. The article also talks more about the gaming situation.

[Enderet]

AT LAST!!!!!

I have been scorning the Gameboy and PSP fanboys for years...

How could that be, if the PSP was barely revealed this year. :lol:

[Ed Hansberry]

Ed, according to this article (http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/4/29/itfeature/7852099&sec=itfeature) the two divisions have indeed merged into a single Microsoft division.
Quite correct. Thanks.

[dazz]

Since MS has merged their Windows Mobile and Windows CE departments and teams we are certainly going to see a tighter fit between the two "OSes".
They haven't merged them. In fact, I think the CE team is more closely aligned with the windows embedded group, which includes XP Embedded, but the CE team has always worked well with their largest customer - the Mobile Device group. :-)

Ed, according to this article (http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/4/29/itfeature/7852099&sec=itfeature) the two divisions have indeed merged into a single Microsoft division. The article also talks more about the gaming situation.

Thanks palmsolo. I had just been looking for that article. I knew I had read it somewhere. 8)

[Chucky]

This is all good to me, once we start seeing a few Pocket PC with hardware acceleration then some good things will start coming out.

I imagine that with a 624mhz processor and hardware graphics acceleration a stripped down version of something like Counter-Strike would be possible. We would need some better controls but no doubt people will start writing drivers for bluetooth mice etc. This coupled with Wifi would give the PPC a huge boost in popularity, but yeah I don't think PPC has a serious chance against dedicated gaming devices.

[dean_shan]

This will be awsome. Banjo-Kazooie is a fun game but I don't see how you could play it on a PPC. AOE2 will be good though. I love AOE1 for PPC.

[palmsolo]

It would be interesting to see a manufacturer create a Tapwave Zodiac type of form factor WM device that is target to the gamers yet still runs WM software. Now that Microsoft has opened up the requirements on devices a bit, maybe someone will come out with one.

[sponge]

MS would have to be absolutely moronic to release all these titles, and not get someone to make a device with decent gaming controls. Hopefully by virtue, as these big games get released, we'll see better controls, or other solutions.

Failing that, there's always Dan East's upcoming PSX adapter.

[Talon]

I imagine that with a 624mhz processor and hardware graphics acceleration a stripped down version of something like Counter-Strike would be possible. We would need some better controls but no doubt people will start writing drivers for bluetooth mice etc. This coupled with Wifi would give the PPC a huge boost in popularity, but yeah I don't think PPC has a serious chance against dedicated gaming devices.

And just think, you could play for a whole 10 minutes before the battery died ;-)