Although I didn’t know this at the time, it turns out that Antix is quite the multi-OS gaming platform. It’s a solution that allows purchase, play, sharing and trial of games between people and different devices running different OS’ (More here.) At the MeeGo conference last week I caught up with Costas Stylianou of Intel’s AppUp team who was demonstrating a multiplayer game.
While the game demo might be interesting, I think it’s more interesting to see Intel demonstrating a gaming platform thats is being ported to AppUp.
The demo is being done on a MeeGo TV platform and a MeeGo Tablet – the WeTab.
I’m looking forward to a multiplayer game of Raging Thunder with another netbook owner soon but watch out, it seems like I was able to play while holding a camera and interviewing Costas!
I’ve had a lot of hands-on with the Archos 43 [specifications] today and I’m impressed. Somehow that small form factor and low price makes the speed and capability all that more impressive. I’m working on a few other videos but I wanted to show you this one first.
IF (and it’s a big IF) you’re able to side-load applications and IF they work on the Archos firmware, you’ve got yourself a great value little entertainment device.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone is unfamiliar with the largest massively multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG, for short) in the world World of Warcraft, but for those of you who are not… well I just described it. World of Warcraft is certainly not the most graphically demanding computer game, but I’d still be impressed to see it running at 30 FPS on a Moorestown device. Sadly, the demo given by Intel showed the game running at something like 5 FPS… which is low enough to render the game virtually unplayable. With a few interface add-ons, you’d likely be running closer to 1 FPS!
Still, it isn’t like World of Warcraft was written for this platform; it was written for full fledged computers. The video from Netbooknews.com also shows some other graphical applications running on the demo device:
It’s hard to imagine that anyone is unfamiliar with the largest massively multiplayer role playing game (MMORPG, for short) in the world – World of Warcraft, but for those of you who are not… well I just described it. World of Warcraft is certainly not the most graphically demanding computer game, but I’d still be impressed to see it running at 30 FPS on a Moorestown device. Sadly, the demo given by Intel showed the game running at something like 5 FPS… which is low enough to render the game virtually unplayable. With a few interface add-ons, you’d likely be running closer to 1 FPS!
Still, it isn’t like World of Warcraft was written for this platform; it was written for full fledged computers. The video from Netbooknews.com also shows some other graphical applications running on the demo device:
There’s always a surprise or two on the last day at an exhibition. I spotted this newbie on the Sequans booth at MWC and it wasn’t until I reviewed my photos this evening that I bothered to look any further into it. It turns out to be quite interesting.
The Moblic E7 has a 4 inch WVGA touchscreen in an attractive body which includes a slider keyboard, a 600Mhz CPU, 8GB Flash, Wimax Support, Micro SD card and a huge, 2000mah battery. As for the details on the CPU, we’re not sure although the Wimax chipset supplier (Sequans) mumbled something about Atom before confessing he really knew nothing about it. The large battery does suggest a hefty CPU though so maybe this is a Moorestown handset!
More likely is that it’s a 3D-capable ARM Cortex-A8 platform than anything with Intel inside and that would pair nicely with the 256MB RAM for some full-on Internet or gaming action. OS is unknown at this point although we I note that Mobilc announced a partnership with Microsoft in the middle of this year. Maybe it’s a Zune-Xbox-Windows 7 Series thingy!!!
We managed to tease it out from behind glass but only had time for pics and a look around the device which felt very well built. Obviously we’ve sent off an email requesting more details.
You can clearly see that this is designed for gaming on the go.
I will be analyzing this a bit more over the next few days because it’s an interesting product that runs along the lines of the Open Pandora project we showed you yesterday. The gaming device is built around a Samsung ARM platform with a Cortex A8 core running at over 800Mhz so it’s going to be a very fast device. There’s also a huge 512MB RAM to play with. It’s available now for $349.00. If Android gaming takes off, this looks like a fun device to have to take advantage of it!
As with many of these non-standard Android devices, there’s no Google seal of approval so it means you don’t get Marketplace or any of the nice Google applications but the source and a ton of schematics and documentation are available on the ODroid developer website. More videos and information available on the main odroid site.
Bringing a computing device to the market is, quite frankly, a nightmare. 90% of the work is in the last 10% of the detail and timescales will always slip. For the first-timer, the success rate must be pretty low. For a community project, the success rate must be even lower so we’re truly happy to see that the Open Pandora project is just a few steps away from the finishing line. (Actually, a new starting line!)
Production of the cases was due to start in time for Christmas shipping but a hiccup on the case has held things up. Fortunately, some production sample units are out there and the videos keep rolling in.
The Open Pandora product is aimed at hobbyists and hackers who want a relatively high-powered product for gaming-focused software projects. The device is just 140mm wide but contains a relatively powerful TI OMAP 3 board inside. That’s as good as the best ARM-based devices on the market right now!
