Database Users

Android NDK hits Release 3, brings OpenGL ES 2.0 access to devs

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/08/...brings-opengl-es-2-0-access-to-devs/#comments
Hopefully this will bring some great games and maybe have google allow us to install to SD card to fit more games.

woop woop!!! can't wait to see what comes out of this. wow android is growing at such a fast paced, around the time it took iphone 3 years to do. After seeing Exzeus arcade this only gets me more excited to see what they can squeeze out of my N1

Kutthoat5150 said:
woop woop!!! can't wait to see what comes out of this. wow android is growing at such a fast paced, around the time it took iphone 3 years to do. After seeing Exzeus arcade this only gets me more excited to see what they can squeeze out of my N1
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+1. would love to show off what this device can really do.

If only HTC hadn't completely screwed all their multitouch sensors. That really takes all the fun out off this news.

PlanetJumble said:
If only HTC hadn't completely screwed all their multitouch sensors. That really takes all the fun out off this news.
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how screwed up are they really?
also would be nice to finally have some stuff that shows off what the nexus can do

malicious85 said:
how screwed up are they really?
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Pretty much, at least for gaming. As being hinted out by Cyanogen, the issue with the switched axis can be resolved by a software filter. But still, when the two touches are close together on one axis (like, horizontally alligned but far distanced on the edges, as in most multitouch gaming controlls trying to emulate a gamepad) the two touches "snap together magnetically", resulting in semi random controlls.
The only workaround i could think off is placing the virtual directional buttons in the lower corner and the action buttons in the upper (or vice versa). That would make controlls awkward, but at least lets the multitouch sensors do their work.
Or just play it on a Motorola Droid/Milestone, because the Non-Superphone features proper sensors. :/

any word if bejeweled blitz will developed based on opengl? i would love to have blitz on my android. to me thats the only win win thing between my iphone friends. ahahah

OpenGL isn't the issue for games like Bejeweled, just that PopCap doesn't seem interested in the Android platform just yet.
Also, developers can store their assets on the SD card already if they feel the need (ExZeus for example)

Nice mention of Exzeus, which does fit the 63+Mb needed entirely on the SD.
Nice thought !
It's only a matter of time now to see much improved Android games.
Cheers !

PlanetJumble said:
Pretty much, at least for gaming. As being hinted out by Cyanogen, the issue with the switched axis can be resolved by a software filter. But still, when the two touches are close together on one axis (like, horizontally alligned but far distanced on the edges, as in most multitouch gaming controlls trying to emulate a gamepad) the two touches "snap together magnetically", resulting in semi random controlls.
The only workaround i could think off is placing the virtual directional buttons in the lower corner and the action buttons in the upper (or vice versa). That would make controlls awkward, but at least lets the multitouch sensors do their work.
Or just play it on a Motorola Droid/Milestone, because the Non-Superphone features proper sensors. :/
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that sucks. I thought even though HTC was the one who assembled the device, Google still had the final say on what hardware to use on their flagship nexus one?

I hope Google deliver some Divx codecs soon too.
Its all getting a bit hard. May have to go back to my HD2 to watch movies

New Touchpro2 Tims Quest Game

Tims Key Quest windows mobile WVGA game. Play as Tim on a quest to defeat the IceKing and restore life to the Land. Collect keys that open up Portals to new levels. Some levels your trapped in a room and have to collect the, then a portal will open up to next level. Some levels are platform action levels where you go left to right until you reach the portal avoiding enemies along the way. Then you have boss levels where sometimes you use weapons or stomp the boss on the head.
The full version is only 99 cents here
http://www.mobihand.com/product.asp?id=66920&n=Tims-Key-Quest

feedback
Can I get some feedback from anyone who has played the game?

Hey it's pretty neat. Would like to see hardware keyboard support though, I never liked playing games solely on the touch screen . Or maybe it could be both keyboard and touch screen ;o?
Lol well it seems fun, like a cute mario sort of game. It'd keep me busy for a while .

thanks
Ok thanks for the feedback , glad you enjoyed it. I made a jump left and jump right button so it will be smooth like multi-touch.

Yeah and it's nice ;p. Just sucks that ours doesn't have real multi-touch .
But keep up the work!

feedback
Thanks alot for the feedback....Iam glad you enjoyed it.

Gaming using the hardware keyboard

I've been playing classic games (snesoid, genesoid, nesoid, gameboid) using the Shift's hardware keyboard and I have to say I'm really impressed. I was upset at first when I found out the shift's d-pad was on the right side of the keyboard but found you can map the buttons WASZ for dpad and it works really really well. So far i've only found a handful of games that were difficult to play with the Shift's keyboard. Works amazing for RPG type games and I was even able to play Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country really well. Anyone else give gaming a spin using the hardware keyboard?

Not yet,but thats because i havent got my phone yet. Thats one of the reasons i wanted the shift. I want to see how psx4droid runs on it!!
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

I've run genesis, snes, gameboy, and nes games with sound and they all have run great, i'm gonna test out psx4droid right now, i'll report back.

It works great, I've never had a problem with the D-pad being on the left or right, both work great for me.
I tried out Silent hill on pxs4droid, it ran smooth, but had a few graphics and sounds issues.

After putting psx4droid through its paces I was kind of disappointed. I think lack of an analog stick has a lot to do with it but the controls just seemed very lacking. Also all of the games I tried had a noticeable amount of lag/stutter that alone wouldn't have been that distracting but combined with the underwhelming controls I found any fast paced games to be unplayable. RPGs however are mint.

Playing games where the controls are on the screen are a pain in the butt.

Like everyone else, I found all the games I've played so far to be very easy with the Shift's keyboard. Imagine how much easier it'll be if they someone makes a Game Gripper for the Shift

hacker01 said:
Like everyone else, I found all the games I've played so far to be very easy with the Shift's keyboard. Imagine how much easier it'll be if they someone makes a Game Gripper for the Shift
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I did get an email back from them about that, and they said that they will be working on it shortly.

Does anyone else feel like the xplay sucks for FPS?

I love me some modern combat. But where is was good with the touchscreen on my old phones I feel like I get my ass handed to me constantly. I have had my xplay for 6 months now and play mc most of the time. So far I just feel like I am the fish in the barrel getting shot at. Playing campaign no worries. Online and I just get pissed off. Plus I find it total bs to see people getting g 53 frickin kills in a100 kill game.

Those touchpads are hideous. Sure, they'll work in a pinch, but trying to play against other people using them? No way. Can we convert them into thumbsticks at all? Any sort of accessory?

There are two versions of MC2.one with good controls and one with horrible (shadowgun) controlls. I find playing online enjoyable and I always finish in the top 3...altho that might be my sweet fps skills

Hardly. Developers can suck at using the touchpads properly, but the actual technology is great. Starting off as a total scrub on Modern Combat 3 online, I was pulling off scores and manuevers that I have never been able to do on any other handheld FPS.
EDIT: and yeah, MC2 would give a bad impression if you had any update after 3.3.9 (they started the version count back to 1.0.4+ in all the "broken" new versions).
Sent from my R800a using XDA App

The games are great, MC3, Dead Space, etc but yes I find it difficult to play these games using the 'analogue / touchpads / etc' thingys I can only describe as 'male nipples'!
I'm impressed with the games itself, the graphics for a phone is impressive but until we have better nipples to play with I'm gonna stick to emulators or games that don't use them
brought to you by the XDA app on my badass Android toy

maddog00 said:
Those touchpads are hideous. Sure, they'll work in a pinch, but trying to play against other people using them? No way. Can we convert them into thumbsticks at all? Any sort of accessory?
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Sorry I was reffering to Modern Combat 3. I specifically use the older Modern Combat 2 version where the controls were decent, the version prior to GL destroying the controls. But yeah sorry I should have clarified I am strickly meaning MC3. And I wrote this thread after I just got out of a online game where everyone was like 7 or 8 kills and one guy had 53 kills which I think is bumpkiss. Anyone know if Iphone users and android users play online together? Reason I ask is becuase Iphone users are able to hack their games to do all sorts of stuff, run faster faster, shoot fire out of a handgun, all head shots, etc. Also I really wish that GL would allow users to play against other users within the same rank online. Its BS when you see new inexperienced users playing aginst others far more experienced. It makes online play not fun at all, and I have emailed GL asking them to implement a ranking system that lets you play with other users of similar rank. Never got a reply, of course.
Oh and if it seemed like my first post sounded angry I was. I was pissed and frustrated, this is/was a pissed off thread I was venting. Guess I was just mad because people tell me " I wont play a shooting game with you because you have a PSP phone and you will kick my ass", but my ass is the only one that gets kicked online. Again not mad anymore just annoyed. I play online constantly. If anyone wants to play online with me some time my GL username is the same as my XDA username. Hope to see you all on the Digital Battlefield.

The first games on the Xperia play had little to no support for those touch pads, they were rubbish, Although now, a lot of developers are working it out, Take EA, they have great games for the xperia play.

TheCraig said:
The first games on the Xperia play had little to no support for those touch pads, they were rubbish, Although now, a lot of developers are working it out, Take EA, they have great games for the xperia play.
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I agree. EA has done an awesome job with the controls. Much better on their first attempts then GL and they 7 or 8th attempt. Dead Space has excellent use of the controls. And the graphics are sweet. I am really looking forward to The Virtual Tennis by Sega. I still play my Dreamcast to this day and have great times with the Tennis game on it.

jgregoryj1 said:
I should have clarified I am strickly meaning MC3. And I wrote this thread after I just got out of a online game where everyone was like 7 or 8 kills and one guy had 53 kills which I think is bumpkiss. Anyone know if Iphone users and android users play online together? Reason I ask is becuase Iphone users are able to hack their games to do all sorts of stuff, run faster faster, shoot fire out of a handgun, all head shots, etc.
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Well with the iPhone players can use the gyroscope for aiming. That would give them a huge edge but I don't think that that's the case because GL would heavily advertise(yeah I'm American, Yank, fat, whatever *yawn*) that it has cross play.
People can hack and cheat on Android as easily as they do on iOS. I saw a guy who could run 10x faster than every else but I didn't report him because he was on my team and we won because of him lol. And besides, GL will most likely not respond to my email or do anything about it...
I've seen guys get 40+ kills with nothing but headshots. While I do accept that there are guys that are that good, I highly doubt that they would spend the amount of time that they do on MC3 instead Call of Duty (unless they'are cheating of course).
I've seen people cheat on other Android games.
Sent from my R800x using xda premium

bobbysteels216 said:
Well with the iPhone players can use the gyroscope for aiming. That would give them a huge edge...
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Have you ever tried using the gyroscopic aiming? It's really not practical at all. Matter of fact, pretty much everyone I've shown it to on my iPod Touch thinks it's a horrible gimmick that they'd never use seriously.

TLRtheory said:
Have you ever tried using the gyroscopic aiming? It's really not practical at all. Matter of fact, pretty much everyone I've shown it to on my iPod Touch thinks it's a horrible gimmick that they'd never use seriously.
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I have an iPod Touch as well. Once you've master gyroscopic controls on a fps, it'll make you a formidable foe. It's easier to look around and get headshots.
Sent from my iPod Touch 4G
using Tapatalk

Dead Space works flawlessly with the Touch Analog pads.
Thing is with some games it doesn't work that well such as Gameloft games.

Well obviously,it doesn't have analog sticks.
Those touch pads are there so you won't cover the screen with your moving thumbs,not just to mimic analog sticks.

Has anyone tried the icontrol pad analog sticks? They have to be better than these "man nips" lol
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
I guess it's a fair deal tho because everyone has to stop moving to take aim so really everyone is at a disadvantage because of the sloppy game system
My opinion is that the control things are crap. Even if the developer can use them right most of the time it's hard as hell and not even fun anymore.
Whats the point in playing a game if no fun? Yup exactly, NONE!
so yeah I agree with OP. FPS on this game are ****e
even the "good" ones still have problems because of the nature of the beast.

Hogwarts said:
Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
I guess it's a fair deal tho because everyone has to stop moving to take aim so really everyone is at a disadvantage because of the sloppy game system
My opinion is that the control things are crap. Even if the developer can use them right most of the time it's hard as hell and not even fun anymore.
Whats the point in playing a game if no fun? Yup exactly, NONE!
so yeah I agree with OP. FPS on this game are ****e
even the "good" ones still have problems because of the nature of the beast.
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I do love playing FPS shooters on the Xplay im just saying it feels like despite the fact you would think we have an advantage over touchscreen users, it seems like we are the ones at a disadvantage. Maybe if a developer makes a FPS and does an ass kicking job in tweaking the touchpads we might have an edge then... but again if that or when that happens

Hogwarts said:
Ok guys heres the word on the street.
TLDRTheory loves the touch pads. he thinks the are the best thing since sliced blogna...
The only game I find enjoyable / easy to use is FIFA 12 or other overhead games like age of zombie / fifia 12
The FPS games suck, the only one ever considered decent by gamers was Rainbow 6 and even then it's like way to ****ty. Without auto aim you can barely get a lock on a moving target and I'm not joking.
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Click to collapse
*Yawn* ...oh, you again.
First of all, the saying is "Best thing since sliced bread," and I've never said anything about being in love with them. When put in the hands of a competent developer, they serve their purpose. Just because I say they work doesn't mean I prefer them over a more tactile solution.
For what it's worth, I'd actually have rather had twin analogs more akin to what's featured on the iControlPad... but since Xperia PLAY's software support is about 5x more than what iControlPad has, Xperia PLAY it is.
Second, have you played any FPS released in the past decade? Even the most popular, most highly acclaimed series out (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) integrates auto-aim, so you've already failed if what you aim to prove is that Xperia PLAY's integrates auto-aim out of poor quality.
Even still, it's not like auto-aim is a necessity to have precise aiming on Xperia PLAY. Dead Space on Xperia PLAY already proved that; without a doubt, there's a such thing as a control scheme competent enough such that you can lock on for headshots without having computer-aided guidance.
Yeah, some games need auto-aim... but that's because their touchpad integration wasn't made as responsive as EA's was in Dead Space. If Gameloft ever stepped up to that level, Modern Combat, Shadow Vanguard, NOVA 2, BiA2 and all the rest could ditch their aim assistance... that's a developer-side issue, not a fault of the hardware.

I guess I'm in the minority but I feel the control pad is an advantage. I generally suck at FPS games but having played MC2 online numerous times, I have had quite a few matches where I held my own. I never really got frustrated about not being able to get kills, and I enjoy them. Either the people I'm playing against suck, or theres something good to these analog touchpads. Just my 2 cents....

I think it's really bad with Modern Combat 3, I hate touch screen controls, but the analog sticks are just way below par. Minecraft on the other hand, feels like a dream!

jgregoryj1 said:
I do love playing FPS shooters on the Xplay im just saying it feels like despite the fact you would think we have an advantage over touchscreen users, it seems like we are the ones at a disadvantage. Maybe if a developer makes a FPS and does an ass kicking job in tweaking the touchpads we might have an edge then... but again if that or when that happens
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amen brotha word up
that is the truth speek
I play shadow gun without da analog sticks
it's much easier to get da headshot on da alien muffs without them
using them it's like it never be landing the reticle rite on da head of da bloke
the only games I like using it for are ones where accuracy dont matta like age of zombies or summin

Help me choose a watch and a quick favor!

How are you guys doing?
I have been looking for watches lately, and I decided I want to get one but not sure where to start since there are a billion watches out there.
My price range is approx 100-170 dollars.
I figured i'd ask you guys which watches would be best.
The main reason why I am wanting a watch is because they banned watches from my work, and I am addicted to a game called "brave frontier" so it would be awesome to play that game on it.
I need the watch to:
Work with sim card
Play brave frontier
Best battery life
Please post up which watch you think I should get and WHY.
And, my favor, can someone please take a picture of what the game "brave frontier" looks like on one of these watches? I want to know if its playable or not being that the screen is tiny.

ryvandal said:
How are you guys doing?
I have been looking for watches lately, and I decided I want to get one but not sure where to start since there are a billion watches out there.
My price range is approx 100-170 dollars.
I figured i'd ask you guys which watches would be best.
The main reason why I am wanting a watch is because they banned watches from my work, and I am addicted to a game called "brave frontier" so it would be awesome to play that game on it.
I need the watch to:
Work with sim card
Play brave frontier
Best battery life
Please post up which watch you think I should get and WHY.
And, my favor, can someone please take a picture of what the game "brave frontier" looks like on one of these watches? I want to know if its playable or not being that the screen is tiny.
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Click to collapse
Huh? Never heard of a company banning playing games while "WORKING". Just ludicrous...?...lol
Now to answer your question...I have tested every name brand SW and quite a few Chinese "no names". Games are near impossible to play on this screen size. And due to the lack of a quality GPU, many games won't even boot or run.
Example: I tried an early APK of the original angry birds on the Omate TS Xtreme and was not impressed at all.
I took a look at Brave Frontier... Looks like a game that not only is going to need high-end specs, but also a decent screen size. In the developer's FAQ'S, this game was designed for the newer, modern devices with a minimum of 1GB of RAM and noted that even the LG G2 has issues with smooth game play and excessive heat.
I was going to mention the Neptune Pine as a possibility with its 2.5" screen, but they have yet to confirm a 1GB RAM model. However, your budget is not going to get one of these on your wrist. The good news, for you, is the Pine has now been delayed to an October release... Maybe you can put away a few more Benji's by then.
Other than that, spec wise, the AI Watch has hardware that rivels most decent phones, but sports only a 240x240, 1.5" display. In addition, I would imagine that you would have to do a Xposed mod on the game to work within those dpi limitations...if you got it to run, that is.
Sorry I can't give you better news... But it won't be long before something will pop up. Keep your eye on the Pine. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

mghtymse007 said:
Huh? Never heard of a company banning playing games while "WORKING". Just ludicrous...��...lol
Now to answer your question...I have tested every name brand SW and quite a few Chinese "no names". Games are near impossible to play on this screen size. And due to the lack of a quality GPU, many games won't even boot or run.
Example: I tried an early APK of the original angry birds on the Omate TS Xtreme and was not impressed at all.
I took a look at Brave Frontier... Looks like a game that not only is going to need high-end specs, but also a decent screen size. In the developer's FAQ'S, this game was designed for the newer, modern devices with a minimum of 1GB of RAM and noted that even the LG G2 has issues with smooth game play and excessive heat.
I was going to mention the Neptune Pine as a possibility with its 2.5" screen, but they have yet to confirm a 1GB RAM model. However, your budget is not going to get one of these on your wrist. The good news, for you, is the Pine has now been delayed to an October release... Maybe you can put away a few more Benji's by then.
Other than that, spec wise, the AI Watch has hardware that rivels most decent phones, but sports only a 240x240, 1.5" display. In addition, I would imagine that you would have to do a Xposed mod on the game to work within those dpi limitations...if you got it to run, that is.
Sorry I can't give you better news... But it won't be long before something will pop up. Keep your eye on the Pine. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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Uhhh.... you pretty much answered all my questions literally perfectly....
Thank you for everything I appreciate it all.
you are saying that these watches can't really play anything that complex, but on the zgpax hes playing emulators and what not.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2575556
And there are other youtube vids of people playing pretty 3d games. I wonder if it would work on that watch...
I am still curious if someone on here could just try the game out to see what it was like.... just for fun y'know? (ASWELL, in the game, you can turn down the quality and all the graphics to just have a bare bones game)

Being able to play games (Dreamcast running on mine) and being able to play them well are two different things. If the game uses device buttons, gameplay will be near impossible. If the game uses onscreen controls, gameplay suffers significantly. Angry birds, which has pretty much minimal onscreen controls, is still pretty much useless on the tiny smartwatch screen. Any game with more than one or two buttons ends up having the screen covered with your fingers. Even Angry Birds you spend most of the time with the screen covered by your fingers.
You want an easy example of how the gameplay will be for any game. Find a screenshot of the game and print it out the size of the watch's screen and put your fingers on the onscreen buttons.

Lokifish Marz said:
Being able to play games (Dreamcast running on mine) and being able to play them well are two different things. If the game uses device buttons, gameplay will be near impossible. If the game uses onscreen controls, gameplay suffers significantly. Angry birds, which has pretty much minimal onscreen controls, is still pretty much useless on the tiny smartwatch screen. Any game with more than one or two buttons ends up having the screen covered with your fingers. Even Angry Birds you spend most of the time with the screen covered by your fingers.
You want an easy example of how the gameplay will be for any game. Find a screenshot of the game and print it out the size of the watch's screen and put your fingers on the onscreen buttons.
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makes sense, the game in question (brave frontier) does not have any buttons, but an auto play button which i would be using. which is why i am curious how it runs and looks.