CES: Palm Pre's WebOS Now Home for "3D Games"

[Greg Tito]

CES: Palm Pre's WebOS Now Home for "3D Games"

Several AAA mobile games are now available for the Palm Pre's WebOS, including The Sims 3 and The Oregon Trail.

At the Consumer Electronics Show today, Palm announced its entry into 3D gaming on its Web OS platform. The company took great pains to draw top mobile game developers like EA Mobile and Gameloft to the platform. Palm gave these companies a first look at its Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) which allowed them to easily take games written in the C or C++ language and implement them in WebOS. Palm hopes that this move will make their platform competitive in the mobile games sector.

So far, the move has worked out, with an impressive lineup of games available to download from the App Catalog today:

The Sims 3 (EA Mobile)
MONOPOLY (EA Mobile)
Tetris (EA Mobile)
Sudoku (EA Mobile)
SCRABBLE (EA Mobile)
Asphalt 5: Elite Racing (Gameloft)
Let's Golf! (Gameloft)
The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)
Brain Challenge (Gameloft)
Glyder 2 (Glu Mobile)
X-Plane (Laminar Research)

Several of the developers sounded off on how the PDK made it easy for them to quickly port games ot the operating system. "Recent improvements to Palm webOS represent major advancements in enabling world-class mobile gaming," said Travis Boatman from EA Mobile. "These innovations have allowed us to quickly bring our best IP to the platform."

"The performance of the platform allowed us to create these great games in a limited timeframe," said Baudouin Corman of Gameloft. "webOS allows us to deliver an outstanding gaming experience, and we look forward to bringing our best games to Palm customers worldwide."

The PDK will be available to the public in March, with the hope that more developers will make games for the App Catalog. The Catalog boasts over a thousand applications available for download, which is a far cry from the 100k+ on the Store of Apps. But hey, at least Palm is trying to offer some games for it's otherwise nifty handheld.



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[Jared]

Wow, alot more than I thought there. Certainly intresting see what comes out for the iPhone. The games arent too bad either...although, as a suitable platform for for advanced games it makes one wonder

 

[Bretty]

Oregan trail, LOL

 

[Frizzle]

Oregan trail, LOL

Any game that can last as long as Oregon Trail has, you are not allowed to laugh at! It's practically a staple of gaming! Hell, I even have the T-shirt
I'm going to have to buy a phone soon. Although I wasn't going to get an iPhone anyway, the Pre has got me rethinking some choices....

 

[Greg Tito]

Although I wasn't going to get an iPhone anyway, the Pre has got me rethinking some choices....

Definitely worth looking into. I got mine back in June and I haven't regretted it. It covers all the right bases, email, SMS, internet, GPS, Mp3 player, camera (with a FLASH!), without being super heavy or bulky. Now it's got high-end games?

Although, I have to admit I've been drooling over Funk's Droid.

 

[akmarksman]

great so my new Palm Pre can get dysentery..

 

[Frizzle]

Although I wasn't going to get an iPhone anyway, the Pre has got me rethinking some choices....

Definitely worth looking into. I got mine back in June and I haven't regretted it. It covers all the right bases, email, SMS, internet, GPS, Mp3 player, camera (with a FLASH!), without being super heavy or bulky. Now it's got high-end games?

Although, I have to admit I've been drooling over Funk's Droid.

May I ask how it fares keeping things organized? You may not use it, but how well do the calendar, notes, memos etc integrate with each other? I know the phone runs on it's own OS and uses it's own programs, but are they realatively seamless within the phone?

The newest phone i've had in the last ever is a Nokia E51, so making a jump to something like this will be akward at best. I'd like to have something that didn't make it too difficult.

Also, how are the games that it has now? I'm not expecting this to replace my PSP or DS, but just curious. Sorry for all the questions!

Side note: I think someone should make a next gen/updated mobile version of Oregon Trail.

 

[Brok3n Halo]

May I ask how it fares keeping things organized? You may not use it, but how well do the calendar, notes, memos etc integrate with each other? I know the phone runs on it's own OS and uses it's own programs, but are they realatively seamless within the phone?

They all act as separate apps, they don't actually integrate into each other at all as far as I've seen. I don't really use Memos and Tasks on the phone though . I do use the calendar all the time in it synchronizes well with Google Calendar.

The newest phone i've had in the last ever is a Nokia E51, so making a jump to something like this will be akward at best. I'd like to have something that didn't make it too difficult.

I don't know much about the E51, but they did a good job on the UI of the Pre, WebOS just feels right most the time and looks smooth while it's at it. The only thing I had any second thoughts with was the use of a gesture for going back instead of dedicated button like most phones have. It took me a few days before I'd stoped staring at screens wondering what I was supposed to do.

Also, how are the games that it has now? I'm not expecting this to replace my PSP or DS, but just curious. Sorry for all the questions!

Well, the older games are roughly equivalent to simple low end iPhone games and the new games are mostly ports of high end iPhone games for now.

I picked up Glyder 2 on there and it looks and plays just as good as Glyder on my second gen iPod Touch did. It uses the accelerometer to Glyde around levels and collect crystals and flying through obstacles, it's kind of a relaxing lighthearted game, surprisingly fun though.

I also picked up Need for Speed Undercover and Asphalt 5 which I can't really directly compare to anything I've played on the iPod, but both play good.

NFS has some really good graphics for a mobile game but falls to the control feature I hate where it always automatically accelerates if you're not holding the break. And I don't understand how drifting works in it yet. You do a quick sharp turn to start drifting, then I spin out no matter what I've tried so far. I only toyed with it a few minutes though. Comes complete with the cut scenes and story from the console version which is a plus if your a story oriented gamer like me. Car customization looks pretty deep from my brief glance at the shop, though it seems to lack the ability to import your own decals.

Asphalt 5 is very similar to NFS, not as good graphically though and the almost exact control scheme by default. It does have more control options though, one of them letting you have a gas petal virtual button, which is better than the always go forward default, but I'd prefer something analog.

Graphics of these games so far fall half way in between DS and PSP quality. I'd never really pick playing my iPod or Pre over the real portable consoles, but both are good time wasters if you really don't feel like carrying a second device. I think of it mostly as "If the PSP and DS are Steam then the iPhone and Pre would be NewGrounds."

That all being said, there isn't all that much selection for the Pre yet, and I think over the next 6 month to a year it's going to mostly get flooded with iPhone ports before it starts seeing any games developed specifically for it. Then, even with that, most those games will be multiplatform considering the hardware is pretty similar to the iPhone 3GS in performance.

Side note: I think someone should make a next gen/updated mobile version of Oregon Trail.

The new one for the iPhone/Pre is updated actually: http://toucharcade.com/2009/03/11/the-oregon-trail-arrives-make-dysentery-fun-again/
I'm not sure it plays the same or not, wasn't interested enough to try it out.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Right, just so everyone knows, Tetris has been in mobile gaming as long as I can remember...

 

[Frizzle]

Snipped for sanity

Wow, thanks for the replies! I really do appreciate it. I went and checked out that new version of Oregon Trail too, and wow. If I end up getting a phone that can play it, I will most certainly download it. Again, thanks for the info!

 

[Brok3n Halo]

Snipped for sanity

Wow, thanks for the replies! I really do appreciate it. I went and checked out that new version of Oregon Trail too, and wow. If I end up getting a phone that can play it, I will most certainly download it. Again, thanks for the info!

NP, happy to help. ^_^

 

[matt87_50]

supporting 3D is one thing... supporting c++ is much more indication that they are serious about getting high performance games on there!

good work palm! I will nolonger pass your os off as a joke.

 

[Greg Tito]

I do use the calendar all the time in it synchronizes well with Google Calendar.

This is I think the best part of the Pre, the fact that it synchronizes so well with Google. I use gmail and calendar almost exclusively and both of these feed directly to my phone.

Another great feature is that google chat and text messages are seamlessly blended into one application. So that you canbe chatting with on friend, who then goes away from his gmail, and you can continue the same conversation in text messages.