REVIEW: K-Rally, Best Game of 2006!

REVIEW: K-Rally, Best Game of 2006! - General Topics

SuperCars (2)? Does it ring a bell? Gangsta Race? Dreamway? Ever wanted to play something like them – but something MUCH better, with freaking good visuals, sound effects, animation, in-game music, incredibly good controls and, last but definitely not least, possibly forthcoming multiplayer support?
I’ve often reported on the current state of the K-Rally project. Thanks to the excellent folks at Infinite Dreams (iDreams for short), who provided me a pre-release beta version of the Pocket PC version of this EXCELLENT racing game, I’ve been playing this title for a week (played it almost entirely through) and am absolutely astonished. Now that I’ve also received the final, commercial version, I’ve quickly played it through to see how it has changed; I've also used this chance to update my remarks / screenshots.
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(Note that this review is FULL of in-game screenshots - I've made some 60 of them. Make sure you click the links to see them - I haven't directly included them in the article to keep its size down.)
Best Pocket PC game of 2006?
I don’t think I exaggerate when I state K-Rally is by far the best Pocket PC game released in 2006. Yeah, SkyForce Reloaded, the best top-down shooter for the Pocket PC, is a very close second and there have been some other outstanding titles too; for example, Enslave in the action, Edge in the RPG and, for example, some new 4Pockets games in some other categories, but I’d say K-Rally is even better. (Actually, I’ve thought about whether Edge or K-Rally should be called THE best PDA game of 2006 as both of them are of really high quality and a lot of work has been spent on both of them. Then, I’ve chosen K-Rally because Edge is, originally, a Palm OS game.) Finally, I don’t think desktop conversions like the otherwise great Broken Sword or some Zuma ports, should be compared to native PDA titles like Edge, Enslave, K-Rally or SkyForce Reloaded. After all, they're ports "only", with most of the work (artwork, graphical, music, sound, map, conversation etc. resources and scripts) previously created for the desktop version.
Gameplay
This top-down 2D (note that it has MANY 3D effects, which will already be known to you if you have played SkyForce Reloaded) racing game is pretty simple by default: you race, possibly fire at other cars to slow them down (or, in cases, to destroy them), collect experience points and money (and different powerups from the road), buy upgrades to speed up your car / make it more durable etc. If you’ve ever played the, technically, much-much more inferior Gangsta Race and Dreamway, you already know what the weapons are for
You start the game with setting up a profile (this, incidentally, can be done any time if you, for example, find the Easy / Normal level too easy and would like to continue with the Hard level without finishing the easy/normal difficulty levels first). First, you enter your name and, then, the difficulty level must be selected. The Easy and Normal difficulty levels are very easy and don’t really present much challenge – at least in my opinion. Therefore, you may want to start with the Hard level at once. After this, you’ll need to select whether weapons are allowed. I strongly recommend enabling them – without them, the game becomes much more boring. Also, having weapons greatly enhances the strategies you can use to beat your opponents.
After all this, you start with 0 eXperience Points (XP’s). You need to collect these points to unlock different modes: with 0 points, you can only use the Tutorial mode. After finishing the tutorial, you’re given 100 XP’s and must select Quick Race to further increase your XP's – you’ll need 600 for the next step, the Championship mode.
After you’ve collected 600 XP’s, you may want to go straight to the Championship as it’s, in general, much more challenging than the plain Quick Race. Championship, depending on the difficultly level you’ve selected upon creating your profile, will offer 4, 6 or 7 leagues, each consisting of several (between, in general, 6 and 10) races.
After successfully finishing a league (if you're the first; if you aren't, you'll need to start from the beginning of the given league), you’re assigned a new car as can be seen in here (showing the best car given at the end of the sixth league on Hard level.) With this car, the maximal speed will be about 155 Mph (without turbo) with all the upgrades. (The latter, however, will cost you an arm and a leg – for example, the best engine upgrade costs $30000, which is pretty complicated to collect even in Hard mode and the last league, where the prize of the first is $3000-$3500. Compared to this speed, the speed of the car you’re given in the first league of all the three levels are really disappointing – about the half. Fortunately, as has already been mentioned, you aren’t forced to play through the easy / normal leagues if you go straight for the Hard difficulty level.)
After collecting 5000 XP’s, the Career mode will also be unlocked. It’s pretty hard even in Medium difficulty level (much harder than the Championship mode) so I really recommend playing through the Championship mode first, even if you’ve already passed the 5000 XP threshold (playing the entire Championship league through gives you some 30 000 XP’s). Also see the "Best practice" section below for more tips to follow.
Finally, there’re Random tracks (requiring 18 000 XP’s so you’ll need to play through at least both the easy and normal leagues – if you start with the former) where tracks are generated in a completely random way and a Ghost mode (requiring 3000 XP’s to unlock), which is great for practicing (it helps you in fine-tuning your controls by showing the route you've followed in the last lap) but is pretty boring and non-challenging otherwise.
Availability
The game is available for purchase at ClickGamer and Handango. The homepage of the game is here - really worth keeping an eye on it to see whether there're upgrades. Also, following the official forum is recommended.
It doesn’t have a trial version, which is pretty understandable, given that a simple dumbed-down (for example, only the first league – with a crappy, slow car; it’s only at later leagues that you’re given faster cars) would have been a severe impact on the demo – only based on my experiences with the slowest car, I wouldn’t be sure I’d buy the game. The same stands for in-game music: it’s only by playing some leagues completely through that you’ll see most leagues have at least four different, very cool and original music tracks. With an one-league demo, demonstrating this would be impossible. All in all, I understand why the iDreams folks haven’t come up with a demo / trial of the game.
In general, I’m strongly against Pocket PC developers not releasing trial versions – sometimes I even disqualify these titles from my full roundups. The case with iDreams, however, is entirely different – they produce really high-quality games and can be safely purchased without your getting, later, disappointed. I’m pretty sure your WM2003, WM2003SE or WM5 Pocket PC will run the game without problems. I haven’t had speed problems, only on my 195 MHz, non-overclocked HTC Wizard when using the stylus to control the car (as has been pointed out in many of my game reviews, the Wizard is especially sensitive to stylus usage - if you do keep the stylus pressed on the screen, the overall speed of the device decreases considerably). However, overclocking the Wizard (see this for a tutorial) to 240 MHz certainly helped this - then, the game became quite playable, even with the stylus. Note that in this case you can also disable extra visual effects in the Options menu to further increase the speed.

Also, make sure if you have a WM5-upgraded hx4700 or Dell Axim x50(v) you don’t install it into the main storage, only on a storage card. The reason for this is that the game often writes to state / config files in the home, which, if it’s in the built-in flash ROM, will, sooner or later, result in a time-consuming compaction. Please also see the comments here on this matter.
Compatibility
The game is compatible with all WM2003+ devices (not compatible with previous OS’es; that is, don’t expect PPC2k2 compatibility, unlike with, say, earlier builds of the original SkyForce). I haven’t had any problems on any Pocket PC’s I’ve tested the game on: the Pocket Loox 720, the Dell Axim x51v, the HTC Universal (all VGA devices), the QVGA HTC Wizard (running at 240 MHz to avoid stylus speed issues), the HP iPAQ 2210 and the WM5 Airis T620 (QVGA devices) and, finally, the WM5 HP iPAQ hw6915 (a square-screen device).
It runs in both portrait and landscape modes, using landscape orientation (with a game area wider than the height) in the latter. The ability to work in both cases is of great help for users that have Pocket PC models with a not very good screen, polarization-wise (for example, the x50v/x51v). Kudos to iDreams for this too!
It also supports vibrating; I’ve, however, after playing the game on the HTC Universal and HTC Wizard, haven’t seen it being used at all – not even at running on mines. I don’t know how it’s supposed to work. In the official iDreams forum, this S60 thread states you need to enable vibration on your S60 smartphones. On my doing so on my PPC PE’s (by switching off sounds entirely), I couldn’t make it work either. Hope this minor glitch will be addressed by the developers.
Note that the game does NOT use high resolution on VGA devices, despite what the blurb at ClickGamer states (“Pocket PC VGA resolution (fullscreen 640x480)”). It uses pixel doubling. However, if you're a VGA owner, this shouldn’t stop you from giving it a try - the visuals are really-really good even with pixel doubling!
Controls
Fortunately, everything related to controlling (including manual turbo mode, which isn’t really needed in the easy and normal difficulty level but you MUST use it in the last two leagues of the hard difficulty level) is accessible on the screen, by using the stylus. As a rule of thumb, you will want to control the car by the “analogue” stylus as it offers far better controllability (except for, sometimes, the car’s being hidden under the stylus) than the “digital” hardware D-pad.
You’ll only need the latter (if you don’t reconfigure your buttons) for shooting rockets and putting down mines. If your Pocket PC has a jog dial, you will want to play the game in Portrait mode, use the stylus to control the car (even including the manual turbo mode) and use the jog dial for the two kinds of weapons – it’s FAR easier to control the car this way than using the D-pad. On my Pocket Loox 720, which has a jog dial, it’s a treat to play the game using the jog dial to shoot / mine.
Unfortunately, the excellent PPC PE utility SmartSKey (see this for more info) doesn't work with title either, as with most other games.
However, the game does support the volume slider of some? most? Pocket PC phones if you explicitly redefine the game keys in Options. Just double-click Rockets and press the volume slider upwards and do the same with Mines and downwards. This will work independent of SmartSKey and makes gaming much easier on a lot of devices; for example, the HTC Wizard.
In-game tips; some stuff you need to be aware of
The game offers numerous (there’re about 33-34 of them and they’re shown in a sequence) tips upon starting to race. Some of them are just ads (like this), some general wisdom and / or silly stuff (also see this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this) , some more useful ones (also see this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this), some mention future (not yet existing) upgrades.
There are, however, two tips (mostly shown in the introductory, obligatory Quick Race) that can cause misunderstandings. One of them (see this) states weapons slow down your car. This is REALLY misleading and is not at all true. I’ve even done some speed tests. With the fastest car & all the possible upgrades, the car is capable of about 155 mph, with fully loaded weapons AND without them.
The other (see this) states you can earn 200 XP’s with reading the manual. This is pretty misleading too (at first, I’ve also searched hard for this in order to collect the 600 XP needed for unlocking the Championship mode as quickly as possible) – the PDF manual can only be read offline and you can’t make the game give you the 200 XP in any way. Yes, you’ll need to work through some Quick Races to gain access to the Championship mode.

Bets
You will be offered bets several times during championship (example here). In most cases, I was able to win these bets. Don’t forget to select the largest available bet by pressing the Right arrow on D-Pad. Don’t be afraid of the tip “Don’t bet too much, otherwise, you may get into debt” too much – you'll never have negative balance because you can't bet more than your currently available cash.
Sometimes you’re even asked to kill another player. In these cases, as this task isn’t very easy, you’ll be offered ten times more money and the target car will always be denoted with a red arrow so you'll always know what car to shoot rockets at / drop mines in front of.
Playability, chances
Without any hacks, I had no problems (I didn’t need to restart a league) up until the sixth league (there are seven of them) of the hard level. I, however, had to restart these two leagues several times to get thru (particularly the last one). They are really though – even with money hacks. Without them, it’s almost impossible to remain the first.
Hacking
It’s possible to hack the save file to increase your money (yeah, it’s sometimes VERY handy to have a very strong coder / programmer background ). Then, it’ll be possible to buy all the upgrades at once as can be seen for example in this screenshot. I don’t, however, publish how this should be done as I don’t want people upload “hacked” results to the online high score ranking. Don’t e-mail me on this matter either – mails asking for the hack will end up in the bin
Path finding algorithm – some minor flaws
Unlike most other racing games, there are no natural (terrain) barriers between (even close) roads. Therefore, the game has some built-in protection against users that want to cut corners to gain some advantage. This, in cases, can cause some problems because of a small flaw in the algorithm. You must be aware of this flaw to avoid being placed back on the road, which, in some case, when every second counts, can even lead to your losing a race.
The algorithm works as follows: when you just leave the road (not very far) but there isn’t anything between you and the road, nothing happens. However, if there’s a terrain obstacle (except for the three flags, which can also be seen in the bottom right corner of this screenshot) between you and the road, independent of its size, you’ll be replaced on the road. This may be somewhat annoying on straight roads where you drift off the road, without any intent to cut corners. The iDreams people may want to consider reviewing the algorithm or completely getting rid of it and implementing terrain obstacles to avoid players’ cutting corners.
Note that, before I’ve found out how the algorithm works, I’ve only had two or three cases where it caused some headaches; therefore, it’s not that big a problem. When (and if), however, the multiplayer add-on arrives, this may become an issue – after all, in multiplayer, even the slightest algorithmic flaws can be deadly. (See the example of, say, Blizzard’s Starcraft on the desktop PC, Mac and N64.)
Best strategy?
You can gain some REAL advantage if you always make sure you have at least one mine before starting a race. Then, just drop it, right after starting and getting in front of (some of) them, to get rid of at least one of your opponents for the rest of the game because opponents you take out so early in the game will battle with other opponents (which slow them both considerably down) to get further, not you.
After that, if you do maneuver well, these opponents won’t cause you any problems. Also try to put mines in front of the car that is just behind you.
The same stands for rockets – try to shoot them from as close as possible. For example, if a faster car has just overtaken you, you’re still very close to him to shoot him. The same stands for when you run into him: you can even use rockets while your cars are connected.
Using this strategy, I’ve managed to defeat many opponents even when I used much slower cars than theirs.
As far as the career mode is concerned, the best startegy to follow is just staying on the easy levels (you won't be able to beat almost anyone on Normal / Hard maps with the default car, not even fully upgraded) until you collect 25000 bucks to buy the fastest, most expensive car. With that, even Hard maps / races will be a breeze and you'll be practically unbeatable, even with a non-fully-upgraded car.
To effectively collect money on the Easy maps, I recommend either the $50 map or, if it's offered (sometimes only a $300 race is offered, which isn't as lucrative as the $50 / $100 / $200 races), the $100 / $200 races. They offer the most for the first place-winners.
Boss levels, game state backup
There are boss levels at the end of all the three difficultly levels (that is, after the first 4, 6 and, finally, 7 leagues). As far as both the easy and normal bosses are concerned, I’ve found them pretty easy to defeat. If you, however, are afraid and don’t want to replay the entire easy / normal / hard league (if you lose three times to the boss in turn, you will need to restart the entire set of leagues - nt just the last one, as is the case with not being the first after a standard league), you may want to consider backing up the profile0X.sav file (where X is the number of the used profile; 0 if you use the first profile in the row) in the home directory of the game (\Program Files\ Games\KRally if you install the game to the default built-in storage) before the game and, if you are defeated and would need to replay the entire league, just copy back the file.
Documentation
The game has an excellent online documentation. It’s really worth reading.
The game, as has also been pointed out, also has a(n obligatory – you must make it through in order to start earning Experience Points) built-in tutorial (screenshot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), which explains the basics.

Multiplayer
The authors may release a multiplayer update in the near future. It’ll be, as usual with iDreams’ games, multiplatform – that is, you’ll be able to play your mates with non-Pocket PC’s (as could you play them in earlier iDreams multiplayer-enabled games). Also, as far as the Pocket PC version is concerned, they promise support for both the Widcomm and Microsoft Bluetooth stacks (unlike the previous two multiplayer-enabled titles), which means it’ll be compatible with 99.9% of current Pocket PC’s.
Compared to Gangsta Race / Dreamway...
(Please follow the links to see a review of these two games.)
I don’t think it’s even worth comparing K-Rally to these old(er) titles. There is just no comparison: K-Rally simply blasts them both away in almost every respect (except for, maybe, the, on VGA devices, high resolution support of Dreamway. The latter, however, doesn’t add much to the overall gameplay and enjoy factor of the game). This will be particularly true when multiplayer support is indeed released.
Pros
Even better than SkyForce Reloaded, the, up to now, best action game for the Pocket PC
Astonishingly nice visuals: fog, 3D effects, tracks on the road etc.
Unique, really good, not repeating (but, unfortunately, mono) retro music tracks in most leagues (I have counted at least four of them – there may be even more, I’m not sure) – as was the case with SF Reloaded
Very cool sound effects: laughing, explosions and even ambient sounds like birds etc.
VERY fast: it was only on really low-end Pocket PC’s (for example, the cheapo Airis T620) that I had to decrease the graphics detail. The game was extremely fast and responsive on all other devices with all effects enabled
Multiplayer, when and if it comes, will add even more to the game! Multi-platform multiplayer (as is the case with earlier iDreams titles), support for both the Microsoft and the Widcomm BT stack, four simultaneous players etc.
Incomparably better than ANY top-down 2D racing games on the Pocket PC
(the Finnish flag in here, in addition to the Polish, American and English one Yeah, the iDreams folks do pay tribute to some of the superpowers of rallying Also, I’ve seen a Finnish name in the Championship opponent list – Marko. I wonder if, given iDreams’ strong ties to the demoscene, it has anything to do with Marko Mäkelä, the well-known Finnish Commodore scener)
Cons
Sometimes annoying pathfinding algorithm flaws
No trial version
Verdict
I don’t think you should miss this title. It’s a must – it’s REALLY good, far better than, I’d say, most other Pocket PC games. Give it a try even if you aren’t a racing / action fan and/or didn’t like Gangsta Race / Dreamway much: I’m pretty sure you’ll be satisfied.
Other links
See other remarks on the game at AximSite, iDreams' forum (for example, this thread), here, here and here.
Finally, don’t forget to check out my other game reviews here. I also recommend the game reviews in the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog by Ben Stanley, Al Harrington and Eric Pankoke.
UPDATE (12/25/2006): AximSite frontpage

Review slightly updated.

Article updated; a lot of new, career mode-related, useful tips added.

UPDATE (01/10/2007): German-language Pocketplayers.de has published a review of the game (Babelfish here). They are also very hapy with the game. Note that the Babel translation has rendered the verdict almost useless; it's as follows:
"As expected, iDreams has released a first-class game. All who doesn't dislike auto racing games and doesn't dislike using weapons (that is, both racing and action fans) should check it out. Even when some many visual effects are already known from Skyforce Reloaded, the visuals of the game are still excellent and so is the sound.
While there indeed are still minor problems, they will hopefully be fixed. The game has still delivered really great fun while playing. Currently, the game is between 9 and 10 (90...100%). Without the problems, it'd receive almost or even 100%."

yeah i liked this game too, very addictive.
but i had everything unlocked and had finished career and champ races in 3 days.

on my TyTN k-rally is ~10FPS - is it normal????
WM6 (Official Russian ROM) AtiFix installed

Related

The definitive, ONLY guide to playing arcade games on Windows Mobile

Arcade games... If you have ever read WikiPedia's related article, you know it well enough arcade machines had the status as the forefront of new game releases and, by using the latest, sophisticated graphics and sound chips, used to present a far better gaming experience than any home computer or even home gaming console of that age for about 15 years - at least before 1995.
The golden age of arcade games was, as has been stated, probably before 1995. The arcade titles of that age were considerably better than anything achievable on a home computer or console. For example, consider the game Scramble. When it came out in 1981 as an arcade title, at the age of the Atari 2600 (home console) and the VIC-20 (home computer), naturally, neither of these home systems were able to provide at least something close to the gaming experience of the "real" arcade title. For example, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum (which was only released a year later; the game even later: in 1982, Melbourne House's "Penetrator" and in 1983, Bug-Byte's "Cavern Fighter") had much inferior ports, and this is true of almost every home systems of the early eighties.
This trend continued through the entire eighties, well into the early nineties. It was only in 1990, with the release of SNK's dual (AES (home) and MVS (arcade)) system NeoGeo, that a home console hit the market with exactly the same games as its arcade counterparts. NeoGeo has received some really nice games; most importantly, the vastly successful Metal Slug series, which is a very popular 2D platformer title even today.
However, the NeoGeo didn't really sell to home costumers as well as, say, SNES or Sega's Genesis; mostly because of the price of the cartridges (about the twice of those of SNES) and the comparative (compared again to SNES and, before its release, the technically even less comparable NES and Genesis) rarity of titles. This means it was only with the advent of really powerful home computers that the age of arcade machines started to decline. Still, a LOT of these games are of very high quality even by today's standards, particularly when compared to the lack of quality games on mobile platforms like Windows Mobile. Therefore, emulating arcade machines (and running arcade games) on mobile devices is much more important than on desktop Windows with, at times, much better native titles.
When you hear the word "arcade games", don't think of 25-year-old "crap" like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Frogger and the like. Some people only like referring to these really old titles as "the" arcade games. That's in no way true: the Metal Slug series and the 19XX-series (starting with the old 1942) are also arcade games. Therefore, anyone stating "arcade games are very old and technically very bad games not worth emulating" only shows he/she doesn't have a clue about what he's saying. Or, if he's an arcade emulator developer, he may just be explaining why he hasn't implemented any support for any new system ;-)
As arcade games were produced even in the 2000's, there are really quality titles around. For example, I don't think you'll be able to show me a 1942 clone for Windows Mobile that is better than 19XX or 1944 written for the CPS-2 arcade machine (and perfectly runnable on a better Windows Mobile handheld!) This means there is a plethora of up-to-date, visually and, sound-wise, absolutely stunning action games well worth emulating on our mobile devices.
Keep in mind that, in this complete guide & tutorial & roundup, I refer to all the games ever released for arcade machines - both 25-year-old early games and 5-10-year-old, really advanced ones. Of course, I'll put definite emphasis on emulating newer systems to ease the lack of high-quality, comparable 2D action titles on Windows Mobile (WM for short).
Why should you bother?
To bring up memories (or, if you prefer simple games)
To play (more recent) games better than anything else on Windows Mobile in the genre
and, of course, because Windows Mobile is able to run these titles.
Downloading games
Look for “MAME” sections on ROM sites. Some ROM sites have dedicated NeoGeo and/or CPS-1 and CPS-2 sections. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to give you links. If you open your eyes and use Google, I'm sure you'll find the ROM sites in a fraction of a minute.
Don't be afraid of these sites - I've tested the ones coming up as the first after some quick Google searches. Not one of them continued any viruses and all MAME downloads were usable and CRC error-free.
After downloading the ZIP files, just copy them in the roms subdirectory of your emulator. Do NOT decompress them!
Note that MAMECE3, unlike the two other, more recommended emulators (Finalburn and PocketCultMAME, which must be manually copied to the handheld) comes with a CAB installer. This means you'll manually hunt for the roms subdirectory. If you install it to a storage card under WM5+ or in the built-in storage with any operating system version, it'll be at \Program Files\MameCE\Roms\ (with WM5+, on a storage card, prefixed with the path of the card itself). With operating systems prior to WM5 and a storage card-based installation, it'll be in \MameCE\Roms\ on your card.
Finalburn Alpha 0.09
First and foremost, the most important arcade game emulator you MUST check out is the WM port of Finalburn Alpha (current version: 0.09), the only REALLY usable CPS-1 / 2 and NeoGeo emulator. You can read a complete review & tutorial on the title HERE (click the link!); therefore, in here, I won't really elaborate on it - except when directly comparing its features, speed and compatibility to other arcade emulators.
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Its main strength is its speed (in which it's just unbeatable), sound quality (in that, not even PocketCultMAME comes close, let alone MAMECE3!) and features like on-screen tap areas. Its main disadvantage is, however, the complete lack of running non-NeoGeo / CPS games. That is, it won't be able to run anything released before 1990 - and only about 10-20% of later games. However, the titles still available for the platform (and playable on a current WM device) are still overwhelming - this emulator is really nice!
Finally, it's capable of running even (most of) the latest (NeoGeo / CPS) games. For example, 1944 - The Loop Master was released for the CPS-2 in 2000. Still, Finalburn emulates it flawlessly.

MAME-derivatives or ports
MAME is probably the most widely know multiplatform emulator emulating almost 10 000 arcade games, starting from the oldest and ending with the latest titles. It runs flawlessly even on slower Windows devices (for example, even, CPU-wise, underpowered UMPC's) and is REALLY recommended for a quick test to see what kinds of games you can (hopefully) also play on your mobile device.
To do this (test and/or play arcade games on your desktop Windows computer), you will need to download and utilize the desktop MAME. I'll explain this in the following section. Note that this has nothing to do with WM - just a quick explanation of what you should do in order to be able to play these games on your desktop computer (including UMPC's, notebooks and the like).
The desktop MAME
Download mame.rar from here - there, you’ll need the topmost file (now, it’s mame0115b.exe). UnRAR it to anywhere. Move your ROM ZIP files to the roms subdirectory of the emulator. For NeoGeo games to play, you’ll also need THIS file. Just put it in the home directory of MAME.
To start a given game, directly execute MAME.exe (in the home directory), passing it the name of the ZIP file (also the official MAME name of the game) like this:
mame 19xx
This will start the game (if everything is OK). Upon the first running of each ROM set, you’ll need to at least once press Left and, then, Right on the cursor block of your PC. Then, after the game has loaded, you’ll need to press 5 (with two players, 6) to insert (virtual) coins and, then, press 1 (with two players, 2) to start the game. In one-player mode, the games are controlled by Ctrl / Alt + D-pad; in two-player mode, the other player is controlled by D: left; F: down; G: right; R: up.
Now, back to the question of Windows Mobile: what arcade emulators are there on the platform? Now follows PocketCultMAME, the best generic MAME port.
PocketCultMAME
(main game selector of version 0.4a)
(main game selector of a 0.5 preview)
Currently, this title is by far the best generic MAME port. This means it's able to run both 25-year-old classics (which Finalburn Alpha is fully incapable of) and (comparatively) new titles.
However, it should NOT be used for NeoGeo / CPS emulation - in that, Finalburn Alpha is WAY better. Should you be unsure about what runs under Finalburn Alpha and what needs the more generic, but slower PocketCultMAME, you may want to deploy the ZIPped ROM files under both emulators. If Finalburn runs the game flawlessly, then, just stick to it and don't even test the game under PocketCultMAME - believe me, it'll be FAR slower with should enabled (if it runs at all).
For emulating significantly older stuff (games from the entire eighties - not just the 25-year-old titles), however, it's the emulator you must check out.
There are two versions of the emulator: 0.4a (currently the fastest version with, compared to the newer one, more limited compatibility) and 0.5WIP, a MUCH slower, experimental tech demo with much broader compatibility.
This means you should download both versions. Always try to run a title under 0.4a first and only give a try to 0.5WIP if it doesn't run in the older emulator.
Note that version 0.4a has two additional EXE files as a separate download. One of them, noCYCLONE, is related to the Motorola 68000 emulation and using it instead of the default one will result in a certainly visible speed penalty. It, however, offers somewhat improved compatibility with some titles otherwise incompatible with PocketCultMAME 0.4a. That is, if an otherwise as compatible listed game doesn't run in the standard version, just exit it and run these two files instead to see whether, then, it runs or not. Affected games are for example 'Black Tiger', 'Rampage' and 'Pang'; see for example THIS for more info.
Conveniently, unzip the two additional EXE files in the same directory where the traditional executable of 0.4a, PCMAME.exe, resides. As these files are named differently, they won't override the default file, PCMAME.exe. Putting it in the same directory results in not having to copy the same ROM files in more than one directory on your memory cards.
Still speaking of add-on downloads, 0.5WIP also has an additional download fixing some NeoGeo issues. As PocketCultMAME should NEVER be used to run NeoGeo games (it's just too slow for this), you don't necessarily want to download / install it.
Using these emulators are pretty straightforward and if you know how Finalburn Alpha is used you also know how PocketCultMAME is: after starting the application (PCMAME.exe with version 0.4a and PocketCultMAME.exe with 0.5WIP), you're presented a list of the compatible, playable ROM's in the roms subdirectory. You select one and start the game. During the game, you insert virtual coins to the game, (keep) press(ing) the Start button and, then, play.
Also, you can do some settings. For the two current versions, I've compared these in the following chart. Make sure you follow the links to see the screenshots of the individual settings. This will really help you in discovering the emulator.
The chart is available HERE (CLICK THE LINK!).
Note that you WILL want to fine-tune these parameters; most importantly, you WILL want to disable sound, should you encounter speed problems. Also, if you have a Dell Axim x50v / x51v, you MUST enable 2700G support for greatly increased speed.
To demonstrate why it's worth fine-tuning these parameters, I've made some very serious benchmarks to find out what the speed culprit is (it turned out to be the sound, unlike with, say, Finalburn) and how the different settings have an affect on speed.
I've run the tests on three different devices: the Dell Axim x50v / x51v (VGA WM5 device with the 2700G 3D chip equipped with a 624 MHz Xscale CPU), the HP iPAQ h2210 (an older, QVGA WM2003 model with an older, less efficient, 400 MHz Xscale CPU) and a Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 (520 MHz VGA WM2003SE).
Note that the chart only contains data on the first two models; with FPS display enabled, nothing runs on the Pocket Loox 720 (only a black screen and a part of the "FPS" text is displayed in the bottom left corner). (Note that this problem may be pretty common with all F-S models; see THIS.) This means I don't have quantitive results on the Loox. However, it, subjectively, delivered pretty playable results. With the Loox, I could only display the FPS in MAMECE3 (in 1941, 38 fps without sound; 20 with it). Note that, except for the last column, I've only en/disabled one feature / changed one parameter a time to see how it affects speed.
The chart is available HERE (CLICK THE LINK!).
As can clearly be seen, you WILL want to disable sound with more action-packed games. With much older, less CPU-intensive games like Scramble, you can safely keep it on. If this doesn't help or you still need additional speed, you may also switch to the "Steplines" mode to only display half of the scan lines. And, of course, if you do own a 2700G-enabled Dell Axim, make sure you enable the 2700G support. While it, because of the pixel doubling, results in for example hard-to-read text, its speed gain is enormous.
Note that the "doc" subdirectory of both versions contains the lists of compatible games and a quick intro to the emulator.
Fixing your ROM images with RomCenter
The author of PocketCultMAME frequently asks users to fix the ROM’s they plan to use; that is, to convert to the (ancient) MAME format used by the emulator. Unfortunately, as using the recommended application RomCenter isn’t really explained anywhere (except for some not very detailed forum posts still missing some very important steps like THIS, THIS and THIS) this may prove to be an impossible task for many. This is why I’ve written a mini-tutorial to fixing ROM images.
Download RomCenter from HERE (don’t get the 3.0 Alpha; the latest stable release, 2.71, accessible on the Download page, will do just fine), install and execute. Go to File / Open datafile manager and click Add…. In the file selector dialog, look for pcmame.dat (or, as far as version 5 is concerned, pcmame05.dat) in the home directory of the (two) Windows Mobile PocketCultMAME’s. Note that you can safely import both if you plan to convert the format of your ROM’s into both 0.4a and 0.5WIP. Click Close after finishing adding the file(s).
Now, open the drop-down list under the menu bar of the menu bar of RomCenter. Select the file you’ve just added (pcmame.dat for 0.4a or pcmame05.dat for 0.5) as can be seen in here.

Now, go to File / Add ROM path. In my case, it’s c:\ArcadeRoms\. The items will be quickly scanned and loaded, but still not displayed. To do this, just click the name of the path (NOT “Games database”!) in the left pane.
Now, right-click ALL items in the right pane that have a yellow (NOT a green and NOT a red!) icon in front of them. Select “Fix ROM” in the menu. The file will be fixed. The resulting (fixed) file will be placed in the same directory, overwriting the old (bad) ROM image.
Note that because of the overwriting behavior, you may want to fix a COPY of your original ROM files.
(Mega)MAMECE3 9.5
(in game)
(in the game selector screen)
This very old, but still usable emulator may also be of interest, particularly if, for some reason, PocketCultMAME isn't able to run something. This is because PocketCultMAME is much better in every respect, particularly screen tap, auto fire and sound-wise. With MAMECE3, you definitely will NOT want to enable the sound because it's really annoying and really bad.
There are two versions of the emulator: MAMECE3 and the much larger Mega MAMECE3. Now that, with the advent of very cheap memory cards, the 6 Mbytes difference in size doesn't really matter any more, I recommend the second - theoretically, it supports more than a thousand games, as opposed to the 100+ MAMECE3.
Unfortunately, it's, along with the sound problem and not supporting auto fire / screen tap areas, is definitely less compatible with newer titles than even the 0.4a version of PocketCultMAME, let alone 0.5WIP.
You may also want to reconfigure game keys (1 2). Note that UI Menu stands for the in-game menu.
Finally, a not really recommended title,
iMAME v0.07
This title is based on the very old MAME version .261.
This application, reviewed for example HERE, is very restricted in that it only contains drivers for 19 arcade games of the early eighties. The lack of support for other titles means you can't even play for example Scramble or Zaxxon on it - you can in no way make it run any other titles than it contains built-in support to.
As with the other titles, you need to download ROM images off the Web to make it work. This may turn to be pretty problematic because most of the images of the games it supports have been removed from ROM sites because of ESA - that is, it's much easier to get hold of, say, the Zaxxon ROM than that of, say, Pac-Man.
As it is REALLY limited, playable ROM-wise and doesn't have anything to show up with (not even Scramble or Zaxxon), I don't really recommend this title. BTW, this - the complete lack of support for extra functionality like on-screen tap areas and the lack of support for anything else than the 19 classic games - was the reason for my not including it in the Comparison Chart either.
Verdict
get Finalburn Alpha. When compatible with a (newer, NeoGeo or CPS) arcade ROM, it'll deliver by far the best results.
get both versions of PocketCultMAME. When Finalburn Alpha isn't compatible with a (non-NeoGeo or CPS) title, the two versions of PocketCultMAME may still be. Always try running a given game in 0.4a first and only if it turns out to be incompatible move to 0.5WIP because of the much lower emulation speed. Also remember to check and, when necessary, convert your ROM sets before playing to avoid later incompatibility problems. If a as compatible marked title still doesn't run under 0.4a, make sure you give a try to the two alternate main EXE files to see whether they help.
You can also get Mega MAMECE3, but remember to prefer PocketCultMAME to it. The latter has better (on-screen) controls, autofire and WAY better sound.
Only get iMAME if you don't need anything else than the 19 built-in games.
The comparison / feature / compatibility chart
It's available HERE. DO CHECK IT OUT!
As usual, I present you a reliable, dependable chart comparing all the reviewed titles (and the desktop MAME). In addition to comparing features like state loading / saving, screen tap areas, auto fire etc. (please see my earlier emulator reviews for an explanation of these; I won't do this again in here), I've also checked the compatibility of many titles.
Recommended articles
My other game emulator reviews in the Games section of the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's Expert Blog. I plan to cover / discuss ALL emulators available for Windows Mobile and have already published some of these articles. Do make sure you follow / read these articles - nowhere else will you find a better source of emulation-related information, I'm absolutely sure.
Other articles / links of interest
Rich Hall’s Play Arcade Classics on Your Handheld and Pocket PC. Note that, the article being some six years old, the links to the ROM repositories don't work any more.
An iMAME review
A shortish article on MAMECE3 and iMAME
It's possible to run Metal Slug X in the PSX emu
The reasons for PocketCultMAME to be slow on x50v / x51v
Some compatible games with Cult
RomCenter - how it shoud be used? 1, 2, 3. Note that you will still want to prefer my mini-tutorial instead.
pocketcultmame 0.4: there's a way to save
Compatibility reports of, for example, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Game speed reports
Reports on Time Pilot, Time Pilot 84, 10 Yard Fight, Zaxxon and Super Space Invaders
What ROM versions there are; which to prefer if there are more than one
A MegaMAMECE3-related AximSite thread
New MAMECE release with 68k ROMS support
MAMECE3 compatibility reports: THIS, THIS, THIS (with for example a lot of WonderSwan, PlayStation discussion and elaborating on THIS generic PPC emulation article. Make sure you read the feedback in the thread before believing everything in that article!) and THIS.
PocketCultMAME preview available (PG)
Hi-res issues
.36 ROMsets torrent (additional explanation)
It's unlikely MAMECE3 will ever be updated (a 2004 post - nothing has been released in the meantime)
A related Russian language thread

top thread gotta look into this

Do finalburn and MAME only play there "own" roms or do they play nes for example to?

marcovit said:
Do finalburn and MAME only play there "own" roms or do they play nes for example to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No NES support - check out my NES Emulation Bible for NES-related emulators at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=306705

Games news (11/17/2007): New Orions & Azgard update, free, decent Bejeweled-clone etc

Games news (11/17/2007): New Orions & Azgard update, free, decent Bejeweled-clone etc
1. Azgard Defence and the two Orions (Legend of Wizards and The Second Age) have been updated!
These three (unfortunately, Pocket PC-only – no Smartphone / Symbian / etc. versions are available) astonishingly good games (Orions: Legend of Wizards and Azgard Defence won this year in the Turn-based Strategy and in the (plain) Strategy categories, respectively - and they certainly deserved it!) are a must-get for all Pocket PC users. (See my review of the latter HERE and that of Doug Goldring of the former HERE.) Now, they have received updates.
The changes to Orions are as follows (with my remarks in italics):
Balance Changes:
* Tython is now slightly stronger. (More HP and attack damage)
* Tython's casting no longer costs water elements. I’m not entirely sure this, along with the previous balance change, was a nice idea – after all, Tython has already been THE best way for mass re-healing. Now, a player having this card will be next to unbeatable (if he’s playing using the right strategy and is, otherwise, decent)
* Lightning Bolt damage increased to 6.
* Remade Avatar. The most important change as I really didn’t see the point in this card at all. Nice the developers have listened to me.
* Guardian: now loses less health each round. Great, now, it’s much more useful because it won’t die that fast
* Fixed cast cost for Spider. This was more of a bug and should belong to the “Common bugs” section IMHO
* Imp: Health increased. Nice idea because it was REALLY weak – now, combined with Diablo (which, unfortunately, has been made pricey), it’s much better than before
* Infernal: Level lowered to 10.
* Diablo casting now cost 1 Fire and weakened a little. Oh dear, it used to be SO cool to quickly make other Fire creatures unbeatable...
Common Bugs:
* AI no longer casts Scylla's abilities too much. Oh dear, now, we can’t take advantage of this bug to quickly bump up our Water elements…
* Leviathan, Nixie, Demon - elemental issues solved. (No more exchange nothing for fire/water). See previous remark
* Fixed Black Market issues.
* Fixed Necromancer multiplayer issue.
Incidentally, the homepage of the developer has a poll called “What game would you like next?”. Currently, “Orions: Duelist Edition (No campaign, all new cards)” has 95% of the (currently, 365) votes. This is certainly good news: we DO want more and even more cards (and, preferably, lounge-based multiplayer support!) Personally, I haven't played the campaign part of the game much - I like the dual gaming much more. Therefore, I'm absolutely satisfied with the (current) poll results.
2. A VERY decent, really multiplatform, freeware Bejeweled clone, Snowed In 6: Deep Freeze, has been released!
Last year, I’ve reviewed the previous game, Snowed In 5 - Flaked Out, in the sequel and kinda liked it – except for the lack of music.
The new sequel is available HERE for download for ALL (!!!) non-Java mobile platforms – even for Symbian S80, S90 and GP2X (not only the "traditional" ones like Pocket PC, MS Smartphone, Symbian S60(v3) / UIQ)! Quite a feat, isn’t it?
The Pocket PC version, as with the previous sequel, supports all screen resolutions (even square screens) and the VGA version natively supports hi-res, which is also very good news. Unfortunately, it (still) has no in-game music, in which it’s certainly inferior to the two Bejeweleds, the absolute star in this category (mostly because of its music). But, after all, you can run a MOD player in the background, playing back the music of Astrware’s classic as is thoroughly explained in my related tutorial. Then, you'll get a 100% - in high resolution if you have a VGA device (again, Bejeweled doesn't support high resolution on VGA devices).
3. OmniG Software has released Super-G Stunt for both the Pocket PC and the MS Smartphone platform
Unfortunately, OmniG Software's new title doesn’t support the 3D accelerators (the 2700G in the Dell Axim x50v / x51v Pocket PC's (or the GoForce 5500 in the O2 XDA Flame / Toshi G900.) Their only title to support the 2700G (but not the 5500) was Chopper Fight reviewed HERE.
As these games heavily depend on 3D, this is pretty much a showstopper for me, mostly because the new game is suffering from the same problem as ALL the other OmniG Software titles; most importantly, the REALLY repetitive music and pretty dull gameplay. Not recommended - if you want to play something like this, go for for example Warelex' Sky Racer instead (reviewed HERE) instead (not that that title were THAT good...).

Games news (11/17/2007): New Orions & Azgard update, free, decent Bejeweled-clone etc

Gaming news: PDAMill’s Wild Gears; Resco Table Soccer for free; GF5500 in DoomGLES

1. PDAmill has released Wild Gears, a Micro Machines clone
Famous game developer company PDAmill has just released Wild Gears, a pretty decent top-down racing game certainly worth a try. The features include:
• Gorgeous Cartoon Art
• Four different cars
• Intuitive controls that make full use of Windows Mobile touch screen
• 15 awesome tracks to race on
• Rockin' Soundtrack with over 20 minutes of music
• Four different Cups to compete in!
• Records Menu keeps track of all your best track and lap times
• Auto-save
Your first question will surely be (if you’re into gaming, that is): How does it compare to K-Rally, the King of all top-down racing games on all mobile platforms, including Windows Mobile (see review HERE)? Well, it has both cons and pros.
Compared to K-Rally...
It’s worth pointing out that the PDAMill folks pay special attention to their titles’ flawless running on low-end Pocket PC’s plagued with the infamous touchscreen bug I’ve elaborated on, for example, HERE. I’ve thoroughly tested the game on my non-overclocked HTC Wizard and found it extremely well done and the graphics not stuttering at all even with the stylus resting on the screen. This certainly wasn’t the case with K-Rally. On the other hand, I’ve found the game slightly slower on my VGA Dell Axim x51v than on my (even low-end!) QVGA devices. In this regard, K-Rally might (still) be a better choice.
Pros:
- runs definitely better on low-end Pocket PC’s with touchscreen CPU usage issues
- the control scheme may turn out be better for many (see below)
Equal:
- in-game music (both games have very cool music; PDAMill’s musician is Jaybot, after all, which guarantees high-quality, non-repeating music. And we all know how nice the “scener”, “retro” music in K-Rally really is.)
- no multiplayer in either titles. iDreams still haven’t implemented this in their title (too bad) and PDAMill surely won’t. Let me cite Jaybot from PDAMill: “You know my opinion on multiplayer support on windows mobile devices already: nobody uses it It's a nice extra feature to have, but we've never been able to justify it since Snails.”
Cons:
- (no MS Smartphone version: bad news for touchscreen-less Smartphone users)
- slightly slower on some? all? VGA devices - in this regard, K-Rally is better optimized
- no weapons, which really restricts the strategies you can use. In the initial design documents, the PDAMill folks did have lots of different things planned, of course (including battle mode, stunt mode, etc). They, however, simply didn't have time to fit it all into this release. So definitely in an update, sequel, whatever. Let's hope for the best
- Landscape mode only – bad news for users with devices with landscape polarization issues like the Dell Axim x50v / x51v. In K-Rally, you could switch between the two modes (that is, you could just stay with Portrait if your eyes are sensitive to the polarization issues)
There isn’t much point in comparing it to Gangsta Race and Dreamway (old Micro Machines clones) - this title is FAR better, particularly music-wise (just like K-Rally).
Controls
The car (as opposed to most other racing games, where the D-pad can also be used) can ONLY be controlled via the touchscreen. There is a compass on the bottom of the screen, which lets you set both the speed and the direction of the car. That is, the touchscreen controls are WAY different from all the Pocket PC alternatives. In K-Rally, for example, the stylus’ distance from your car sets the speed of the car and the car always accelerates in the direction of it. This is entirely different in Wild Gears. If you’ve been a K-Rally player, the new control scheme takes a few minutes to get used to, but after awhile it grows on you and you may actually prefer it to the full screen controls (especially on tight turns, and... when intentionally ramming another car out of the way). In addition, the PDAMill folks want to get everyone used to the on-screen analog stick idea, as it's something they foresee being very, very useful in future titles (for example in a 3D platformer, along the lines of Mario64).
Of course, this approach has (other) major advantages too; most importantly, no cars will ever be hidden under the stylus (some people have complained about this with K-Rally).
Verdict
All in all, go give the trial version a go – it’s certainly worth a try. It’s available HERE.
2. Resco Table Soccer, which is a very nice game particularly on high-resolution VGA devices, is free (!!!) until 03/12. Get it HERE - it’s REALLY worth it!
3. DoomGLES, the only 3D hardware accelerated and, what is more, free (!!!) Doom port for Pocket PC, has been updated to support the GoForce 5500 hardware chip in some models like the O2 XDA Flame and the new i-mate Ultimate 6150 / 8150 (see review of the latter HERE).
So far, very few (only two: Call of Duty 2 and GeoRallyEX), otherwise, Intel 2700G-enabled 3D titles have had support for GoForce 5500 (see THIS compatibility list). Now, you, at last, have an excellent Doom clone as well. Hope Kokak also manages to make his recently-released HereticGLES. Also see THIS PG thread if interested. Finally, please don’t forget to donate some money to Kokak if you would like to see future development – I’ve just done so.

UPDATE (03/09/2008): I've forgotten to directly compare the graphics of Wild Gears and K-Rally. In this regard, K-Rally is way better with its excellent light and particle effects, pseudo-3D environment (for example, trees) and scrolling. (Thanks to my blog reader Natestera for pointing this out!)

Thanks for the info and links.

Misc news (07/10/2008)

Hardware
There’s a really interesting article comparing the built-in camera of the four most widely discussed new Windows Mobile phones: HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. There is also a dedicated PPCT thread HERE, with some of my comments.
Games
(game announcement heads-up source: PocketGamer.org)
1. Xassar's Quest is a new RPG from ClimbWalls. I’ve played it a bit. Unfortunately, the developers’ being a newcomer definitely shows: it’s quite bug-ridden. It’s really slow on my VGA HTC Universal while it offers no high-resolution VGA support. It isn’t faster on my HTC Wizard either. Also, it very often shows just a white screen to the gamer, which, fortunately, goes away after a screen tap. I could only make it faster by disabling both the sound engine and the “high graphics”. The latter, fortunately, only resulted in a much uglier “fog of war” effect and had no effect on the character / enemy / object sprites. After this, I wasn’t able to re-enable sounds / music to see whether it’s the sound engine that really slows the game down.
On the other hand, it has nice, stereo music; might be worth a try if you’re into top-view RPG’s. Otherwise, forget it and wait for a heavily bugfixed, optimized version – currently, it’s just too slow. There’re several other RPG’s for Windows Mobile offering much better playability. Or, if you have a (preferably high-res) Palm or a sufficiently powerful VGA Pocket PC, go for EDGE (on Pocket PC’s, with the Palm emulator StyleTao), the probably best RPG ever released for PDA platforms.
2. There’s a new adventure game, Igor, from a new Windows Mobile gaming publisher company, Summer Goth Studios. I’ve played the demo through (it took me about 10 minutes – yes, the demo is VERY short). I’ve requested a review copy; the developers promised it, along with a lot of enhancements, would be sent to me in about a week. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I manage to play it though. At a first glance, it seems to be better than some of the anti-adventure games like Lost in the Pyramid. As the demo was really short, making it impossible to get a real picture of the quality and abundance of the in-game sounds (the demo was pretty bad in this respect), music (if any – I haven’t encountered any) and whether the storyline is (any) good, I can’t say more about the title.
3. It was some three months ago that GameZoneProject has released Towers Trap for multiple smart phone platforms (both Windows Mobile platforms, Symbian and desktop Windows), a real-time strategy game. A new, 1.1 version with a sound bugfix has recently been released.
It’s looks a bit like PocketMoreGames’ Tower Defence and is highly recommended, the most recommended game of the bunch. Make sure you give it a try. Note that it makes use of the high resolution of VGA screens, which is pretty much welcome in games like this. Unfortunately, the tutorial message boxes don’t display the end of several messages; fortunately, you can still do some guesswork, which means you can easily absorb the tutorial. This isn’t a problem on QVGA devices, where, in addition, the game is MUCH faster than on VGA ones.
4. ConcreteSoft has come out with another camera-controlled (remember their 3D Lawn Darts?) game, PBA Bowling, for both Windows Mobile platforms and, in addition, the BlackBerry. As I am not a big fan of bowling titles, I don’t really want to review it. I’m not a big fan of camera-based control either. However, as some other people have had much more success with the 3D Lawn Darts’s camera control than me, I think with some patience you’ll learn how to control the swung / force.
5. Rowanvale Software's Danger Dan is a platformer game. It’s certainly worth checking out if you like light, entertaining puzzle / platformers - you most probably will like it. It also has a great tracked scene music.
Hacks, projects
Some people have been trying to make the add-on applications coming with the HTC Diamond work on other devices. So far, without success. The dedicated threads are as follows:
- the Diamond YouTube player. I, as the author of the YouTube Bible, am especially interested in this project. So far, very few people have managed to make it work. See THIS for more info.
- the new (v. 3.3.5) JBlend MIDlet Manager coming with the Diamond is stated to render Opera Mini with large fonts on VGA devices, which is a must on (W)VGA phones with a physically small screen. See THIS.
There is also a thread on hacking the RMVB decoder from the Samsung i780 HERE. I haven’t managed to make it run on my HP iPAQ 210; hope you have more luck.
The XDA-Devs ROM hackers have managed to release a decent WM 6.1 ROM for the HTC Oxygen (s310). I haven’t tested it before making absolutely sure the ROM upgrade won’t kill my call recording capabilities – currently, the main reason for my sticking with the s310 as my main phone. Feel free to provide any feedback on this issue.
My projects
I’ll attend a three-day lecture series of Osman Nuri Ucan (Istanbul Unversity) on "New approaches in turbo codes and their applications" in a week. I’ll report on it in my (hopefully) really soon-to-be-published Digital TV Bible, which will heavily discuss turbo and other kinds of coding. (Only for die-hard Electric Engineers - that is, not for the faint-hearted!)
I’ve also written a full Multiplatform Modem Bible for three smart phone operating systems. A preview version is available HERE. I plan to publish it as soon as I get feedback from the Joiku folks (and cleaning up the style / the English a bit). If you really want to check it out even in its half-baked state, feel free to do it / comment on the factual contents (but not the structure / English – they will still be fixed) - hopefully in 16-20 hours.

A quick update: Towers Trap is 6,47 € instead of 9,95 € (that is, about 10 US$) until 07/13/2008 at http://www.mobile2day.com/en/product_1018501_details.html
Well worth the price, I'd say.

Database Info

welcome