All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
The Great Gaming Gulf - can it be bridged?
Published by Steve Litchfield at 6:48 UTC, May 25th 2009
It all started with a tweet of mine: "Why is almost EVERY game on the iPhone better than ANY game on S60?", penned in a fit of frustration after reviewing yet another batch of insanely good iPod Touch (iPhone) games. And this got retweeted plenty, so before I get burned at the stake by the N-Gage boys I thought it would be worth expanding on my necessarily brief original Twitter post. Read on for my thoughts, especially apposite given the Ovi Gaming site launch and imminent Nokia Ovi App Store...
First though, the original tweet (@stevelitchfield) in full was:
"Why is almost EVERY game on the iPhone better than ANY game on S60? Mind you, EVERY photo from my N95 is better than EVERY iPhone photo. 8-)"
I find it fascinating that Apple's iPhone has ended up with such a rich and fabulous gaming scene, while the S60 devices that I'm more familiar with really, really struggle in comparison. And before you ask why I don't just switch to an iPhone full-time, the answer lies in the second half of the tweet. A smartphone is about a lot more than games - from telephony to multitasking to still photos to video capture to navigation - in all these areas, the Nokia N95 and its sisters knock the iPhone into a cocked hat. Which is why I still use the N95, the N82 or the 5800 to this day, for example.
But let's go back to the bit that got retweeted. Is it true? Well, I was exagerating, of course, for effect. Plus I was restricted in the number of characters I could use. But, taken almost at random from some of my IPAL reviews, look at some of these screenshots:
Let's Golf
Glyder
X-Plane: Helicopter
Fastlane Racing
Motochaser
Slotz - a Scelextric sim
Top Gun
Again, these were picked almost at random, there are now, quite literally, hundreds of quality 3D gaming titles on the iPhone and I didn't want to bore you with so many screenshots.
Pitched against these in the Symbian world are a handful of third party titles where developers have bothered to put in a little effort (e.g. Virtual Pool Mobile), a truck load of Java games and the eclectic collection that is the current N-Gage line-up. Now, I'm not saying (despite my exagerated-for-effect tweet above!) that the average quality of an N-Gage game is better than the average quality of an iPhone game - there are plenty of klunkers on both. But the N-Gage and Symbian games scene perhaps numbers a hundred or so (non-Java) titles, whereas there are thousands for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Add in the reasons below why some of these are very, very good, and you end up with a marked contrast.
- The iPhone and iPod hardware has full graphics acceleration, making fast 3D games possible (the above titles run at startling speed) - I've ranted before about Nokia removing graphics acceleration from their hardware. Mutter, mutter.
- Games development is undoubtedly easier for iPhone than for S60, due to Apple's experience in this area - their development kit means the barriers to entry are much lower.
- Apple's App Store distribution model attracts more developers and more development time because there's more of a chance of making money at the end of the day.
- All iPhone and iPod Touch devices have large, bright, touch-enabled displays, whereas the majority of pre-2009 Symbian handsets are key-driven and have small displays that are definitely not optimal for gaming.
Given the above, the supremacy of the iPhone games scene isn't at all surprising. Mind you, the question is whether gaming can make a comeback on the new breed of large-screened touch-enabled Symbian phones. Taking the same bullet points again:
- The Nokia 5800 and N97 are still un-accelerated, but the Samsung i8910 does have full graphics acceleration. One model does not an ecosystem make though...
- Games development (at least at 3D, high performance level) will remain tough on Symbian.
- The new Ovi Store will help monetise what developers produce in similar fashion to the Apple iPhone App Store, so here at least there's some content and some momentum.
- Larger, brighter screens do now seem to be the order of the day, thankfully, so no barrier here.
In short, the current situation's going to get worse before it gets better, from Symbian's point of view.
BUT. There's also the question of does high performance gaming matter very much on mobiles? The iPod Touch has carved out a big niche for itself as a music, media and gaming device, but the core strengths of a smartphone are still probably telephony, Internet, photography, navigation and, yes, entertainment. Whether this last needs to encompass desktop-grade 3D games is debatable.
Nokia, for one, seem quite content to live with a slightly lack-lustre gaming scene on their top-end smartphones, balancing this off against their other strengths. Are they right? Your comments welcomed!
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 25 May 2009 @stevelitchfield on Twitter
News Discussion
Unregistered
Why do people wax lyrical about touch phones? You cannot see or touch anything on a bright day and who wants smudgy fingers all over the screen when gaming?.
'Nought wrong with buttons' as they say up north. Virtual Pool Mobile is at its most responsive and playable on a button enabled Nokia. Try the game on a HTC Touch HD, it's a joke and if the screen re-orientates automatically the game has no idea what's going on. Touch enabled screens is marketing hype and everyones falling for it...I could go on.
'Nought wrong with buttons' as they say up north. Virtual Pool Mobile is at its most responsive and playable on a button enabled Nokia. Try the game on a HTC Touch HD, it's a joke and if the screen re-orientates automatically the game has no idea what's going on. Touch enabled screens is marketing hype and everyones falling for it...I could go on.
Unregistered
Great article, my thoughts:
I bought a n95-8gb around okt -08, I used to have the orginal ngage and liked the games ( for its time ) so when I looked up the internet and saw all the opengles demos for ngage on n93, I was sold. Surely the iphone was already out but the n95-8gb is a far better allrounder and has hardware buttons for games ( n95 media buttons can also be used ). Both I was in a big suprise when I started playing around with the n95. First off system rush demo "this looks great ", so I downloaded the ngage client + the orginal ngage demo " mmm no opengles mmm".
As I understood nokia stated in March 08 that opengles was in the pipeline for the SDK, but more and more phones nokia released didn;t had the 3d hardware accell chips. So I could already see the not so bright future for my nokia. In feb 09 I sold my n95 and got a iphone, what a pleasent suprise, so many good games all opengles, in all honesty having no hardware buttons can be a issue for some games but most games can be easily played without those, besides that the n95-8gb d-pad didn;t felt very good.
All in all I still feel the n95-8gb is a better all-round phone, but the iphone has just such a great support from developers ( from indie to capcom/ ea etc ) that if you are into gaming the iphone cannot be overlooked.
I was thinking of buying a omnia HD, but I learned from the past buying a great phone with great specs but no developer supporting it ( I had a dell axim/ o2 xda flame / n95-8gb )
sorry for my bad english
I bought a n95-8gb around okt -08, I used to have the orginal ngage and liked the games ( for its time ) so when I looked up the internet and saw all the opengles demos for ngage on n93, I was sold. Surely the iphone was already out but the n95-8gb is a far better allrounder and has hardware buttons for games ( n95 media buttons can also be used ). Both I was in a big suprise when I started playing around with the n95. First off system rush demo "this looks great ", so I downloaded the ngage client + the orginal ngage demo " mmm no opengles mmm".
As I understood nokia stated in March 08 that opengles was in the pipeline for the SDK, but more and more phones nokia released didn;t had the 3d hardware accell chips. So I could already see the not so bright future for my nokia. In feb 09 I sold my n95 and got a iphone, what a pleasent suprise, so many good games all opengles, in all honesty having no hardware buttons can be a issue for some games but most games can be easily played without those, besides that the n95-8gb d-pad didn;t felt very good.
All in all I still feel the n95-8gb is a better all-round phone, but the iphone has just such a great support from developers ( from indie to capcom/ ea etc ) that if you are into gaming the iphone cannot be overlooked.
I was thinking of buying a omnia HD, but I learned from the past buying a great phone with great specs but no developer supporting it ( I had a dell axim/ o2 xda flame / n95-8gb )
sorry for my bad english
Unregistered
Why do people wax lyrical about touch phones? You cannot see or touch anything on a bright day and who wants smudgy fingers all over the screen when gaming?.
'Nowt wrong with buttons' as they say up north. Virtual Pool Mobile is at its most responsive and playable on a button enabled Nokia. Try the game on a HTC Touch HD, it's a joke and if the screen re-orientates automatically the game has no idea what's going on. Touch enabled screens is marketing hype and everyones falling for it...I could go on.
'Nowt wrong with buttons' as they say up north. Virtual Pool Mobile is at its most responsive and playable on a button enabled Nokia. Try the game on a HTC Touch HD, it's a joke and if the screen re-orientates automatically the game has no idea what's going on. Touch enabled screens is marketing hype and everyones falling for it...I could go on.
dupersuper
its even more sad when you compare the same game on both phones.
ex. need for speed :undercover
the iphone version looks and play 3x better than the n-gage version AND costs 1/3 the price.
nokia is obviously only going after the casual gamer and trying to save a buck on the cpu at the same time.
ex. need for speed :undercover
the iphone version looks and play 3x better than the n-gage version AND costs 1/3 the price.
nokia is obviously only going after the casual gamer and trying to save a buck on the cpu at the same time.
Unregistered
Well, as the 90% of Nokia's output is QVGA crap...
Unregistered
I find N-gage games enough for as a time killer. I love the fact that I can use my Nokia on a long trip without having to worry about the battery life. I agree Iphone has better graphics and excellent accelerometer feel. I despise the fact that N-gage is not supported on the e71 and 5800.
I get disappointed when it comes to developers selling an app/game for $1 on the Iphone and $10-35 on the s60 or Wm platforms. Maybe these developers want to chase users towards the iphone.
I get disappointed when it comes to developers selling an app/game for $1 on the Iphone and $10-35 on the s60 or Wm platforms. Maybe these developers want to chase users towards the iphone.
Hardeep1singh
Quote:
| The new Ovi Store will help monetise what developers produce in similar fashion to the Apple iPhone App Store, so here at least there's some content and some momentum |
I hope better sense prevails and Nokia gets its act together before its too late.
Unregistered
nokia = fail
apple's first phone. and look what happened. everyone pissed their pants. and none of them are able to catch up
apple's first phone. and look what happened. everyone pissed their pants. and none of them are able to catch up
mCrem
Comments like these are what's fuelling nokia to keep on mucking around what they're doing already..
games ARE an essential part of any smartphone, especially those based around info-tainment ala N-Series. only a handful of games are ok on the n-gage/symbian platform. If Symbian is to succeed, they need proper SDKs, and 3d chips in their devices. Nokia is hurting both themselves, symbian, and other symbian developers like samsung, who try to be innovative, and push hardware boundaries forward as seen with the 8510 an 8910, yet nokia keeps on producing crap hardware, and holds others back.. N97 is a perfect example. You can yap all you want about how software matters, but guess what, software NEEDS hardware to run on! there are only so many apps you can do with a single core ARM. Nokia needs to get their heads outta their arses and face the reality, making a phone that's only good enough to run your firmware and some small apps is not enough. iPhone has proved this.Multitasking, camera, etc although I for one need them, is not enough to hold people from buying an iphone, as we've seen already. An excellent Appstore, and SDK for devs is what makes a phone successful. Everything from nokia is half assed compared to apple.
I know a lot of people who refrained from buying nintendo DS'es or PSPs and went for an ipod touch instead since they found the games were very good, had excellent internet and music capabilities and was more fun and intuitive to play with than a psp whilst having much better graphics than a DS.
tell me, how many intuitive apps does symbian have? I'm currently stocking up on S60v5 apps for when I get the omnia HD, I've only managed to find so many apps ( 40 to be exact, including games, apps and other utilities).
games ARE an essential part of any smartphone, especially those based around info-tainment ala N-Series. only a handful of games are ok on the n-gage/symbian platform. If Symbian is to succeed, they need proper SDKs, and 3d chips in their devices. Nokia is hurting both themselves, symbian, and other symbian developers like samsung, who try to be innovative, and push hardware boundaries forward as seen with the 8510 an 8910, yet nokia keeps on producing crap hardware, and holds others back.. N97 is a perfect example. You can yap all you want about how software matters, but guess what, software NEEDS hardware to run on! there are only so many apps you can do with a single core ARM. Nokia needs to get their heads outta their arses and face the reality, making a phone that's only good enough to run your firmware and some small apps is not enough. iPhone has proved this.Multitasking, camera, etc although I for one need them, is not enough to hold people from buying an iphone, as we've seen already. An excellent Appstore, and SDK for devs is what makes a phone successful. Everything from nokia is half assed compared to apple.
I know a lot of people who refrained from buying nintendo DS'es or PSPs and went for an ipod touch instead since they found the games were very good, had excellent internet and music capabilities and was more fun and intuitive to play with than a psp whilst having much better graphics than a DS.
tell me, how many intuitive apps does symbian have? I'm currently stocking up on S60v5 apps for when I get the omnia HD, I've only managed to find so many apps ( 40 to be exact, including games, apps and other utilities).
antonioj
Besides having 3d hardware acceleration, donīt forget what makes the iphone/itouch viable has gaming platform is multitouch - thatīs the the only way it can compensate the lack of physical buttons (untill a gaming accessory comes out with 3.0 lol)...even if the 5800 had the same graphical power, without multitouch it would be severely handicaped
mCrem
wouldn't take it as a surprise if they make a gamepad for it, given the support for external devices in 3.0
I agree multitouch is an essential part of gaming without keys, although the omniaHD has shown us games like kroll that don't need such a thing. But this is only one in a million.. multitouch is one of the reasons gaming on an iphone is so fun.
I agree multitouch is an essential part of gaming without keys, although the omniaHD has shown us games like kroll that don't need such a thing. But this is only one in a million.. multitouch is one of the reasons gaming on an iphone is so fun.
Unregistered
I would hardly argue that "everyone pissed their pants" as someone put it, and I'm sure that Nokia certainly didn't.
While Steve has a point about the range of games being better on the Apple App Store, there is one MASSIVE fly in the ointment, as I discovered recently. Recently, while staying with my wife's family in Madrid, I decided to buy a game for my iPod Touch from the App Store, using my brother-in-law's WiFi connection. No problem you would have thought. Unfortunately, my iPod was quite full, so there was not enough space to install the game. Still not a problem, you would think. However, in their infinite wisdom, Apple have decided that you can not delete music or photos from the iPod itself, only using iTunes; being away from home, this was not an option. I presume the same limitation (Apple fanboys call this a "feature" BTW) applies to the iPhone.
On virtually any device apart from those produced by Apple, the user has total control over what apps, photos, music videos etc. are installed on the device, and can uninstall/delete them whenever they feel like. So, despite Apple's overblown hype about how "the iPhone is the most powerful phone ever", "we've invented the mobile internet" etc., it seems that they consider it to be a PC peripheral rather than a powerful device in its own right.... very strange.
Still agree with Steve re. the quality of games though....
While Steve has a point about the range of games being better on the Apple App Store, there is one MASSIVE fly in the ointment, as I discovered recently. Recently, while staying with my wife's family in Madrid, I decided to buy a game for my iPod Touch from the App Store, using my brother-in-law's WiFi connection. No problem you would have thought. Unfortunately, my iPod was quite full, so there was not enough space to install the game. Still not a problem, you would think. However, in their infinite wisdom, Apple have decided that you can not delete music or photos from the iPod itself, only using iTunes; being away from home, this was not an option. I presume the same limitation (Apple fanboys call this a "feature" BTW) applies to the iPhone.
On virtually any device apart from those produced by Apple, the user has total control over what apps, photos, music videos etc. are installed on the device, and can uninstall/delete them whenever they feel like. So, despite Apple's overblown hype about how "the iPhone is the most powerful phone ever", "we've invented the mobile internet" etc., it seems that they consider it to be a PC peripheral rather than a powerful device in its own right.... very strange.
Still agree with Steve re. the quality of games though....
mCrem
uhh... you can delete your videos & photos, just not all at one time. Music is another thing..
nparayo
I have to agree, I recently got a few paid games for my iPod touch. Initially I tried out the free ones and determined that they were all crap and 5 months since I got my touch I have just been using it as an music/video player. I got Need for Speed undercover and I was amazed at the controls, the refresh rate or smoothness, it really worked well as a game, I was dubious as it had no buttons but it works really well. I also tried Enigmo and thats a good game as well where resolution graphic detail is important. I have played ngage games on my N82, I admit I don't have a big screen so not sure if comparison is fair. Playing Bouce was good but refresh rate was slow, graphics were not as clear as the iPhone, for what it was I was happy because it's as much as I had expected from a phone, but now that I have something to compare it to, things are not looking too good.
As Steve has said, which I too agree my N82 will still remain as my phone, there are many thing I do which are more important than games, GPS garmin/tomtom, video recording, photos, oh and there also the price of the iPhone, I can't justify the contract price, even though I spent Ģ250 on an iPod touch.
As Steve has said, which I too agree my N82 will still remain as my phone, there are many thing I do which are more important than games, GPS garmin/tomtom, video recording, photos, oh and there also the price of the iPhone, I can't justify the contract price, even though I spent Ģ250 on an iPod touch.
svdwal
What about the effects of competition, piracy, and portability?
Because there are so many games for the iPhone, competition is fierce and this results in better games.
Because it is much harder to run cracked iPhone apps compared to cracked Symbian apps, developers will sell more iPhone copies of their games than Symbian copies.
Because apps in general on iPhone are not bound to an IMEI or something like that, you can take your games with you to a new device. People know that their apps won't become obsolete when they move to a new device, making them more willing to spend the money in the first place.
Because there are so many games for the iPhone, competition is fierce and this results in better games.
Because it is much harder to run cracked iPhone apps compared to cracked Symbian apps, developers will sell more iPhone copies of their games than Symbian copies.
Because apps in general on iPhone are not bound to an IMEI or something like that, you can take your games with you to a new device. People know that their apps won't become obsolete when they move to a new device, making them more willing to spend the money in the first place.
Enfors
This is not just a problem with games on S60, it's a problem with 3rd party applications on S60 in general.
I was a PalmOS (PDA) user from 1998 to 2005. Even in 1998, there were thousands and thousands of 3rd party applications available for PalmOS. But then the smartphones started taking over - they had much bigger market share. So, eventually, I jumped ship and bought a Nokia N93 when it first came out. I was sorely dissapointed when I realised the dismal state of 3rd party applications for S60. Despite S60 having a much larger market share than PalmOS ever dreamt of having, PalmOS had several times more applications available. Why is that? I have a theory.
I think the problem is that Nokia is a phone company first and foremost. Although they call their devices "multimedia platform" and whatnot, they still basically consider it to be a phone with some extra bells and whistles. Therefore, they don't market their phones enough as being able to install 3rd party applications. Back in 2005, I used to listen to a Nokia podcast called "Voice of S60", where the host used to interview Nokia employees. At the end of the interviews, he always used to ask them which applications they had installed on their own S60 phones. It turned out that most of them had only installed the Nokia podcasting application, and nothing else. If even Nokia's own employees in important positions don't install applications on their S60 phones, how can Nokia expect their consumers to do so?. That is why Nokia never realised the potential of 3rd party applications until Apple came along and showed them what was possible with the iPhone.
Then, there's also the problem that S60 allegedly sucks as a development platform. I haven't coded in C++ on S60 myself so I can't be sure, but I've read about many developers giving up on the platform because it's so cumbersome to develop for. I take it that's not the case for the iPhone.
Do you guys remember what we said before N-Gage (the latest generation) came out? People said it would suck compared to PSP and Nintendo DS, but we said, "ah, but the N-Gage platform has one advantage that the PSP and Nintendo DS doesn't - it's always connected to the Internet. There will be lots and lots of online multiplayer games for N-Gage". Unfortunately, these games never showed up. Reset generation is a brilliant exception though, showing how to take advantage of the N-Gage format. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to get the number of sales it deserves.
I predict that Nokia will lose a lot of market share for high end devices to Apple, when us techies begin to realise how much more powerful the iPhone really is when it comes to software. Sure, the iPhone is way behind (no cut & paste, no video recording, no MMS, and so on) but for how long do you think that will be the case? The iPhone is maturing, and when it does, Nokia's high end devices are in trouble.
And no, I'm not an iPhone fanboi. I'm still using my beat-up old Nokia N93 from 2005, and I have a N97 on preorder. But I'm torn on that preorder - I really like the N97's keyboard, but damn it those iPhone applications are sexy!
I was a PalmOS (PDA) user from 1998 to 2005. Even in 1998, there were thousands and thousands of 3rd party applications available for PalmOS. But then the smartphones started taking over - they had much bigger market share. So, eventually, I jumped ship and bought a Nokia N93 when it first came out. I was sorely dissapointed when I realised the dismal state of 3rd party applications for S60. Despite S60 having a much larger market share than PalmOS ever dreamt of having, PalmOS had several times more applications available. Why is that? I have a theory.
I think the problem is that Nokia is a phone company first and foremost. Although they call their devices "multimedia platform" and whatnot, they still basically consider it to be a phone with some extra bells and whistles. Therefore, they don't market their phones enough as being able to install 3rd party applications. Back in 2005, I used to listen to a Nokia podcast called "Voice of S60", where the host used to interview Nokia employees. At the end of the interviews, he always used to ask them which applications they had installed on their own S60 phones. It turned out that most of them had only installed the Nokia podcasting application, and nothing else. If even Nokia's own employees in important positions don't install applications on their S60 phones, how can Nokia expect their consumers to do so?. That is why Nokia never realised the potential of 3rd party applications until Apple came along and showed them what was possible with the iPhone.
Then, there's also the problem that S60 allegedly sucks as a development platform. I haven't coded in C++ on S60 myself so I can't be sure, but I've read about many developers giving up on the platform because it's so cumbersome to develop for. I take it that's not the case for the iPhone.
Do you guys remember what we said before N-Gage (the latest generation) came out? People said it would suck compared to PSP and Nintendo DS, but we said, "ah, but the N-Gage platform has one advantage that the PSP and Nintendo DS doesn't - it's always connected to the Internet. There will be lots and lots of online multiplayer games for N-Gage". Unfortunately, these games never showed up. Reset generation is a brilliant exception though, showing how to take advantage of the N-Gage format. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to get the number of sales it deserves.
I predict that Nokia will lose a lot of market share for high end devices to Apple, when us techies begin to realise how much more powerful the iPhone really is when it comes to software. Sure, the iPhone is way behind (no cut & paste, no video recording, no MMS, and so on) but for how long do you think that will be the case? The iPhone is maturing, and when it does, Nokia's high end devices are in trouble.
And no, I'm not an iPhone fanboi. I'm still using my beat-up old Nokia N93 from 2005, and I have a N97 on preorder. But I'm torn on that preorder - I really like the N97's keyboard, but damn it those iPhone applications are sexy!
Yahel
Hi all,
Just to give a developper perspective.
Having a friend earning money with an app on the appstore, i decided i should put my developping skills in the mobile world. Since I languish on the N97 I look at both nokia and Iphone scene.
Publishing on AppStore :
- Open to anyone
- 99$ for life as many apps as you want, free update as well
- Only one hardware to support on the 26 millions handset(iphone - ipod touch)
Publishing on Ovi :
Open to companies only, individual need to create a companie
50$ subscription
200$ per year
20$ per application + 20$ per update
Each application must be signed : 200$ more
600 type of devices to support
There is no way to propose a freeware in these conditions. And it will be very hard to break even with a 0.99$ app.
That's very sad, as I'm sure I'll love my n97. But I'm on my way to make money on the iphone !
Please Nokia wake up. Apple did very well, just copycat the experience !!
Just to give a developper perspective.
Having a friend earning money with an app on the appstore, i decided i should put my developping skills in the mobile world. Since I languish on the N97 I look at both nokia and Iphone scene.
Publishing on AppStore :
- Open to anyone
- 99$ for life as many apps as you want, free update as well
- Only one hardware to support on the 26 millions handset(iphone - ipod touch)
Publishing on Ovi :
Open to companies only, individual need to create a companie
50$ subscription
200$ per year
20$ per application + 20$ per update
Each application must be signed : 200$ more
600 type of devices to support
There is no way to propose a freeware in these conditions. And it will be very hard to break even with a 0.99$ app.
That's very sad, as I'm sure I'll love my n97. But I'm on my way to make money on the iphone !
Please Nokia wake up. Apple did very well, just copycat the experience !!
Enfors
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Yahel
Publishing on Ovi :
Open to companies only, individual need to create a companie 50$ subscription 200$ per year 20$ per application + 20$ per update Each application must be signed : 200$ more 600 type of devices to support There is no way to propose a freeware in these conditions. And it will be very hard to break even with a 0.99$ app. |
It looks like I'll have to investigate getting an iPhone, which saddens me because I like Nokia's devices.
buster
Quote:
| uhh... you can delete your videos & photos, just not all at one time. Music is another thing.. |
Tenkom
While I do agree with this post, I*still love playing quake 2 on my n95 8gb hooked up to a bluetooth. And while itīs not so much fun to play quake 3 is at least proof that nokia can do 3d graphics too.
Iīll just a few games that are as good as anything on the iphone/ipod touch:
Quake 3, Quake 2, Quake 1, Doom, Rise of the triad, ScummVM(This really opens up alot of potential time waste),
Gpfce(Excellent free Nintendo 8-bit emulator, againt. massive potential)
Also. Except from scummvm all these games show how buttons are definitely not a thing of the past.
Iīll just a few games that are as good as anything on the iphone/ipod touch:
Quake 3, Quake 2, Quake 1, Doom, Rise of the triad, ScummVM(This really opens up alot of potential time waste),
Gpfce(Excellent free Nintendo 8-bit emulator, againt. massive potential)
Also. Except from scummvm all these games show how buttons are definitely not a thing of the past.
antonioj
sorry...doubt any of the fps you mentioned is better controlled on a phone keypad than on a multitouch screen
just see how beautifully wolfenstein 3d official port controls on the iphone/itouch, actually emulating mouse and keyboard control
just see how beautifully wolfenstein 3d official port controls on the iphone/itouch, actually emulating mouse and keyboard control
Unregistered
Iīll just a few games that are as good as anything on the iphone/ipod touch:
Quake 3, Quake 2, Quake 1, Doom, Rise of the triad, ScummVM(This really opens up alot of potential time waste),
Gpfce(Excellent free Nintendo 8-bit emulator, againt. massive potential)
Also. Except from scummvm all these games show how buttons are definitely not a thing of the past.
You clearly haven't gamed on the iPhone / iPod if you believe that these games come close to what is on offer on the App Store. Also the iPhone with it's multitouch controls can give a more analog type control system for 3D games which is vastly better than a digital D pad.
Quake 3, Quake 2, Quake 1, Doom, Rise of the triad, ScummVM(This really opens up alot of potential time waste),
Gpfce(Excellent free Nintendo 8-bit emulator, againt. massive potential)
Also. Except from scummvm all these games show how buttons are definitely not a thing of the past.
You clearly haven't gamed on the iPhone / iPod if you believe that these games come close to what is on offer on the App Store. Also the iPhone with it's multitouch controls can give a more analog type control system for 3D games which is vastly better than a digital D pad.
Tenkom
I tried wolf 3d on my ipod touch. Itīs better on the n95.
You set it up so that you turn and move forward and backwards with the d-pad. Strafe left and right with 4 and 6 and shoot with 5. It works very well. same with doom and quake. Although quake was originally designed with a mouse in mind. So you run into problems with aiming up and down.
You set it up so that you turn and move forward and backwards with the d-pad. Strafe left and right with 4 and 6 and shoot with 5. It works very well. same with doom and quake. Although quake was originally designed with a mouse in mind. So you run into problems with aiming up and down.
jonnybruha
Another point that certainly doesn't help Nokia's fight for better hardware is all the N97 fanboys arguing for it's meager CPU speed and RAM. It'd be one thing if Nokia released a phone that plays games poorly and everyone complained, but instead you get a line of people ready to defend it because they don't game and don't think it matters.
I very well might end up with the next gen iPhone after all. The lack of development and lack of tools to improve the development on S60 is very disheartening, especially for potential Samsung i8910 owners who may never see the full capabilities of its hardware.
I very well might end up with the next gen iPhone after all. The lack of development and lack of tools to improve the development on S60 is very disheartening, especially for potential Samsung i8910 owners who may never see the full capabilities of its hardware.
Unregistered
I tried wolf 3d on my ipod touch. Itīs better on the n95.
You set it up so that you turn and move forward and backwards with the d-pad. Strafe left and right with 4 and 6 and shoot with 5. It works very well. same with doom and quake. Although quake was originally designed with a mouse in mind. So you run into problems with aiming up and down.
Yes so as you admit you cannot play a proper FPS where you have to aim in the vertical space as well as the horizontal on your N95 but that's not an issue on the iPhone / iPod...
You set it up so that you turn and move forward and backwards with the d-pad. Strafe left and right with 4 and 6 and shoot with 5. It works very well. same with doom and quake. Although quake was originally designed with a mouse in mind. So you run into problems with aiming up and down.
Yes so as you admit you cannot play a proper FPS where you have to aim in the vertical space as well as the horizontal on your N95 but that's not an issue on the iPhone / iPod...
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