DeveloperZen.com - Gaming

TechCrunch and Macworld were live blogging from the Apple iPhone Software Roadmap event at the Apple campus at Cupertino.

Below are the main takes from today's announcements (plus some commentary of course):

• Long list of features aimed at the Enterprise market:
  • Push email\calendar\contacts
  • Global address list
  • Cisco IPsec VPN
  • Two-factor authentication, certificates and identities.
  • Enterprise-class Wi-Fi with WPA2/802.1x.
  • Security tools to enforce security policies.
  • Deployment tools to allow an organization to configure and set thousands of devices easily.
  • Data Security - Ability to protect iPhone data and remotely wipe it.
    
• Apple licensed the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol and will feature full Exchange sync support on the next iPhone update.

"With ActiveSync, the iPhone talks directly to Exchange. So the iPhone will get push e-mail, push calendaring, push contacts, global access lists, and remote wipe, all while talking to Exchange. And it's built into the existing applications -- mail goes into the same Mail program, calendar into the same Calendar, and so on."

• iPhone SDK

"Starting today we're opening up the same APIs and tools that we use to develop our own applications today. Now, there are a lot of pieces that make up an SDK. But the most important are the APIs and the platform. And we have a great one, Mac OS X." Layers: Core OS, Core Services, Media, and Cocoa. "To build the iPhone OS, we took the bottom three layers and moved them across. Now Cocoa is interesting... it's the best application framework out there, but it's based on a keyboard and mouse." Instead, they build Cocoa Touch, based on touch interaction with the iPhone OS."

According to Apple, its opening up all the APIs used by its own developers to develop the iPhone applications. They're also building tools to support developers (on a Mac):

"Now a brand new development tool, the iPhone Simulator. Runs on a Mac, and simulates the entire API stack of the iPhone OS. So right here, on your Mac, you can run your application in the simulator, which gives you an incredible turnaround time on development."

• iTunes as an Application Market

Apple is using iTunes to allow distributing and selling applications. Developers have a standard platform to be used for distributing their application.
The application store is going to be the exclusive way to distribute applications to the iPhone. It is going to be free of charge for free applications and will involve a 30% fee of revenues of commercial applications.

Reminds me of Nintendo tactics - in its early days, Nintendo kept all manufacturing rights for Nintendo hardware. Being the manufacturer of Nintendo cassettes media it made all its developer buy its media to be able to distributing games...

• Gaming platform

One of the aspects of the SDK is that it supports OpenGL for graphics and OpenAL for sound.
Apple had representative from EA testifying about the iPhone as a gaming platform and talking about games they're working on.
Apple is selling the iPhone as a device with serious gaming capabilities. I bet we'll also see more desktop oldies converted to iPhone now....
Combines with iTunes as a game distribution platform Apple can be on to something interesting here...  Kind of like what Microsoft is doing with Xbox Live! Arcade

• Business Applications Platform

The iPhone graphics capabilities can also be used for analytics in business applications, as demonstrated by a SalesForce.com application:

"Salesforce automation application comes on screen. There's a needle showing how a sales guy is doing, on a spectrum from red to green. A full iPhone toolbar on the bottom, and a native iPhone list at the top."

Other demos shown:

• Apple also had AOL talking about bringing AIM to the iPhone. I guess the other instant messaging platforms will follow...
• Epocrates - Software used by doctors. I guess Apple is joining Microsoft, Google, SAP and Oracle in attacking the health market

• iFund

Kleiner Perkins announced a $100 million iFund for investment in startups who create applications for the iPhone.
http://www.kpcb.com/initiatives/ifund/index.html

I wonder how corporate IT is going to treat these new features. Richard Koman at ZDnet seems skeptic...

In any case, an iPhone SDK plus tight integration with Exchange can bring up some interesting ideas for Enterprise Applications like the ones we're doing at SAP...
An iPhone Duet (iDuet) anyone?

This is absolutely awesome:

I should get a wiimote....

After ~3 weeks of waiting for the replacement power adapter from Microsoft I finally got the package today and was able to hook my Xbox in.  Joy!
Got an Xbox too? Add me to your Xbox friends...

Tal just triggered a burst of nostalgia when he posted a link to Day of the Tentacle's, my all-time favorite game, intros.

If you haven't played the game, or worse, don't know what the hell I'm talking about, you're missing out on the best games ever produced. You don't this kind of quality anymore... sad...
I've already voiced my opinion about abandonwares before and getting back to that post, I really wonder how this game would look&feel on a new platform like the iPhone.
Any iPhone owner up for shooting a quick video? Yossi (could be a topic for your show ;)) ? Please...

Day of the Tentacle Intro - Part1:

Day of the Tentacle Intro - Part2:

Don't these two videos just make you want to download ScummVM and play?

Some games are timeless. Street Fighters is one of these games. I can probably dub it as my favorite game as a kid, spending hours at the arcade or on my friend's Nintendo.

Capcom, unlike other companies who just loose customers by letting their games die , was aware of the game's popularity and re-released it for Microsoft's Xbox LIVE® Arcade platform adding HDTV graphics, achievement and more... Way to go Capcom!

In fact, since its initial release, the game has been one of the best selling games on the LIVE® Arcade:

Sunnyvale , California—Capcom® today announced that Street Fighter® II' Hyper Fighting, the company's first title for Xbox Live® Arcade, has seen a phenomenal record of downloads since its debut on August 2. Within the first 24 hours of its unveiling, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting has become the fastest selling Xbox Live Arcade title to date with hundreds of matches being played every hour.

This proves the point I was trying to make in the post about LucasArts quests emulation for the iPhone. You don't need top graphics and a Hollywood budget for a successful games. People can (and want) still enjoy the good old arcades and quests etc. and all companies need to do is to find the right channels that can make these games successful again.

Back to Street Fighters, I've been playing the game's demo and being ass kicked by my Xbox opponent for the past hour or so. Its definitely more fun and challenging than playing it on my laptop using emulation but I'm finding the controls a little hard to get used to. Maybe I need to get a special fighting games arcade joystick for my Xbox...

I will definitely buy this game as soon as I get a decent internet connection that I can hook my Xbox to (which will probably only happen once I get back to Israel...)

I guess I need some practice and get back in shape...
I guess the game's characters already did:

Hilarious... (you can find all parts here)

P.S.
Sega also released its new Virtua Fighters 5 title for the Xbox. Oh I remember playing the first version of this on the arcades...
Have to get this one too...

Following a Nintendo DS port and various PDA ports, ScummVM now has an iPhone port too...

While it was announced on the ScummVM website, its still not an official port and currently still in beta.
Here's what Gizmodo had to say about the interface:

After trying it I can tell you that if there's a platform designed to play these kind of games,it's the iPhone. In fact, these are the only games that truly feel at home on the iPhone, thanks to its great touchscreen support, even better than Apple's native software:

ScummVM fully supports multi-touch to simulate the behavior of the mouse using gestures. With a single tap you left click, but for a right click you hold one finger and tap with another. To toggle click and drag, which is necessary in some games like Monkey Island 3, you "hold one finger on screen, swipe another up from bottom to top." Then you can drag something, lift your finger to drop it and it will automatically switch back to normal. Quite ingenious and easy.

Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, who is an iPhone user, also seems to be pleased with this new iPhone emulation.

And there's clearly a market for such old games on new devices (iPhone, Nintendo DS, XBOX Arcade...) it really makes me wonder why the owner companies would let these games be pirated as abandonware rather than make use of them in the new gaming platforms we have today.

While such games do not have the graphics and sound to compete with games like Halo 3 on today's leading gaming platforms. They can still take advantage of the computing power mobile devices have these days which is probably stronger than the PCs these games used to run on.

There's a whole market of mobile casual games where such games can have success these days, if companies are not smart enough to commercialize on it, at least I'm hoping to see many more emulations like these supporting old games on new platforms.

Mass Effect, a new RPG developed by BioWare and published by Microsoft Games , was released to store in the US today.

“Mass Effect” combines a deep story with intense, sci-fi tactical combat. Through high-definition graphics and an amazingly realistic and innovative conversation system that allows for lifelike interaction with the voices of scores of digital actors such as of Seth Green, Marina Sirtis and Lance Henriksen, “Mass Effect” provides an immersive gameplay experience never seen before in a video game.

I just came back from the Microsoft Store where I saw this game was selling like hot cookies. More than 3 shelves got cleared in less than 30 minutes...

If you want to know more check out the following links:

• You can read the full press release here.
• Wondering how good it is? it has currently received 4 perfect scores out of 17 reviews on Gamerankings.com and over half of the reviews are 95% or above.
• The game's home at xbox.com: http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/m/masseffect/

I can't wait to get my own XBOX360 already...

Yesterday saw the release of the new MAME 0.120, the Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator. If you're using Windows, you'll find MAME32, the Windows port for MAME more to your liking (The following FAQ  describes the difference)

When I noticed this new milestone, on top of the fact that the XBOX360 arcade at the Microsoft Visitors Center reminded me of how much I miss these oldies (especially Street Fighter II) I just had to get some games working on my laptop.

Quick steps for getting arcade games to run on your machine:

1. Download and extract MAME32
2. Get some games (ROMs)
   • I found what I was looking for at http://www.rom-world.com
   • The MAME FAQ specifies the following legal options:

     (1) Search for auctions (on eBay for example) of the actual arcade circuit boards, and buy a ROM reader device to copy the ROM chips' contents into files.

     (2) Buy the HotRod Joystick control panel. It is bundled with a CD that includes MAME and a few 100% legal Capcom ROMs. Hanaho also sells the ArcadePC cabinet with a different selection of legal Capcom ROMs.

     (3) Buy legal Atari arcade game ROMs from StarROMs for prices varying between $2.00 and $6.00. You can even get one free game for signing up!

     (4) There are also three free ROM sets available right on the official MAME site, in the miscellaneous downloads page.

3. Start MAME32 and browse to the game you've downloaded. Check the directory name (on the Directory column) and copy the game to a sub-folder with that name under the roms folder.
4. Double-click to run the game...

Now how about taking you arcade experience to the next level?

After a short search on the net I found GameEx which is a graphical front-end for MAME (and a bunch of other emulators) that integrates with Windows Media Center allowing you to simply browse and launch your game your game directly from your Media Center interface.

And not to complete the experience arcade joysticks. A company called XGaming is selling a Two-Player Arcade Joystick for about 130$. There are also XBox 360 arcade joysticks available out there that can be used with a PC using a proper adapter.

So it turns out that I can upgrade my Home Theater PC to a full fledged arcade machine that would kick XBox360 Arcade's ass in about 150$ (15$ for GameEx and ~130$ for joysticks)

Should be an interesting project to get this thing running once I get back to Israel...

Guitar Hero is a major hit here in the US and I just don't get it...

The 3rd game in the series was just lunched a few days ago and is being heavily promoted and seems to sell like crazy...
You can even buy custom painted guitar controllers on eBay auction...

What's so fun about playing in-tune using a 5 buttons controller shaped like a guitar?
Get a real Gibson and learn to play...

Just reminds me how much I miss my Fender back home...

There's a forum post at GameSpot featuring a list of games that should be released on 2006.
There's a short description and a screenshot on each game so its a heavy page.

Some of the games I am looking forword to:

Jagged Alliance 3D

Heroes of Might and Magic V

Caesar 4

I've been playing AOE2 a lot latelly and I can't wait for AOE3 to come out.

I've noticed something interesting on http://ageofempires3.com. The screenshots page mentions the use of the Havoc physics engine (comment under the "Game Videos") which should be interesting...

I just hope being 3D and all will not cripple the gameplay as it did in so many games...

So I guess everyone out there have already heard about GTA San Andres.
Several points to think about:

1. Mrs. Cohen bought a game marked as 17+ for her 14 years old grandson and now she's outraged about tits content?
2. 17 year old kids are already having sex. Condoms are given away at school to promote safe sex. Most movies contain sex scenes. But sex in a video game? truly outrageous...
3. I guess stealing cars and shooting at the cops is O.K. as long as no sex is involved.

This reminds me of a scene from "The People vs. Larry Flint" where Larry gives a presentation comparing sex pictures with war and violence pictures.

Guns, wars, stealing and shooting innocents are OK but sex isn't?

References:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/14/hillary_clinton_gta/
http://www.theregister.com/2005/07/28/granny_gta_suit/

If I wasn't a Gauntlet Adventurer I would be:

I am Mr Do. I am sedentary by nature, enjoying passive entertainment, eating when the mood takes me, and playing with my food. I try to avoid conflict, but when I'm angered, I can be a devil - if you force me to fight, I will crush you. With apples. What Video Game Character Are You?

Just came accross this funny domino routine executed using the Half Life 2 engine.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/30715/