DirectX Development On Windows Mobile

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/Graphics_DirectX_WM5_Games.asp' target='_blank'>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...X_WM5_Games.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Gaming on mobile devices has become very popular in recent years. The hardware capabilities of these devices are better than ever. Many new devices that contain improvements like very high quality displays, faster processors, more memory, and hardware three-dimensional acceleration pave the way for developing games that take advantage of all these features. As a developer, having to manage and write graphics code to suit each device can be difficult. Thanks to Direct3D Mobile and DirectDraw, application programming interfaces (APIs) within the DirectX family, developing games for Windows Mobile 5.0 powered devices is much more manageable than in the past."</i><br /><br />If you've developed games on the desktop using DirectX, then this write up would be good for you if you're considering mobile device gaming development. There are some killer games out there for PPC - could your's be next?

[r@dimus]

Sometime recently I read on Slashdot that Microsoft was thinking about entering the handheld gaming market. After seeing what a graphics-accelerated VGA PPC is capable of, I would say that Microsoft is halfway to having a decent device already.

The really big problem with PPC gaming as I see it is the controls. The D-pad and buttons as they exist on most PPC's are absolutely dreadful for some games. FPS games in particular. I installed Cube on my x51v just to give it a whirl and shortly deleted it due to the futile effort of just trying to move about let alone actaully shoot at anything. If GeoRally is any indication, driving games are not well served by the cureent control layout either.

Now if someone designed a PPC that cloned the PSP's design and layout you might have something. Except dual D-pads would be nice instead of the usual lefthand D-pad and righthand buttons.

[JesterMania]

It's nice to see PPCs moving away from the pure electronic organizer era and into a more multimedia-oriented focus. I agree too that the current layout of most typical PPCs' hardware buttons are not suitable for gameplay though. It would be really cool to see a PPC have a slidable game controller pad (instead of a sliding thumb keyboard for example) or a PPC having 1-2 USB slots with some built-in drivers for generic USB HID gaming devices such as joysticks, gamepads, etc. (starts to think about hooking USB dance dance revolution pad to ppc :lol: )

[r@dimus]

I thought about mentioning something about how it would be nice to see someone release a nice BT game controller, but it would be nice to see a PPC with usable controls built-in. You don't need external controllers for the PSP or Gameboys, so likewise.