Quickies: Pac Man, NS Basic, Brando, Ringtones and More

Posted By: Ryan Wednesday, November 10, 2004 1:11:09 PM

The official version of PAC MAN is now available for the Palm OS, a NS Basic programming book has been greatly updated, Brando is offering free shipping, a massive ringtone suite has been released for the Treo and much more in this quickies update.

PAC-MAN Exclusive at Handango
Namco America announced their strategic partnership to make PAC-MAN, Ms. PAC-MAN, Galaxian and MAPPY for Palm OS available through Handango's network of sites. Handango will be the exclusive download partner via PC distribution for these games through the end of February 2005. The games are now available for $14.99 USD each. The arcade classic, MAPPY, will be available this holiday season.

NS Basic Programming for Palm OS
The second edition of Michael Verive's book, NS Basic Programming for Palm OS, is now available. The book has been updated to include all the features up to NS Basic/Palm 4.4, including ARM-native runtime, Embed and Grid libraries and support for 5-way navigation. The 316 page book is full of samples, explanations and real world advice. A CD is included with a special version of NS Basic/Palm, plus all the samples and a good selection of helpful utilities and programs for developers.

Brando WorkShop Annual Free Shipping period starts
One of the best PDA accessory stores, Brando WorkShop, is now offering free shipping for a limited time. It runs from now until December 20th. All orders are charged for the product amount only, no shipping cost.

1200 Ringtones for the Treo
PalmGSM has released a new product containing over 1200 polyphonic ringtones for Treo 600 and Treo 650. These collection contains of three packages: Pop and Rock, R'n'B and RAP and Films and TV. The collection can be downloaded from PalmGear.

Chatopus v1.62
Chatopus 1.62 has been released with support for the newly released Tungsten T5 and Treo 650. In particular, the Tungsten T5's 5-way navigation mode is now supported, The palmOne Tungsten T5 device is the first device to ship using the PalmSource standard API for 5-way navigation. Chatopus also provides a series of interesting articles on how to use it beyond instant messaging, such as real-time news and IM bots.

Math Facts for 4th Graders
Hot Lava Software is proud to offer a Palm OS delivered course titled "Math Facts for Fourth Graders". This mobile learning test was created using the new Learning Mobile Author system. The Math Facts for Fourth Graders was created by teachers and tested by fourth grade students for building self confidence and improving marks.

2004 NBA Schedules
Infuzer has followed up its successful launch of free schedule downloads for the 2004 NFL season with the release of the team schedules for the 2004 NBA Season. Each free schedule can be added to a user’s PC or PDA calendar. It is fully compatible with the Outlook, Palm Desktop and Lotus Notes calendar platforms. Users can select any team schedule and it will be imported to their PC or PDA calendar in a single click. Additionally, users may opt-in to the premium NBA service which will update final scores, give previews and recaps of each individual regular season game right into the calendar entry.

PalmInfocenter Forums
The PalmInfocenter forum software has recently been updated and active discussions are going on all the time. Check out the new discussion boards. If you have a PIC member account you are already registered!

Help support PIC
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$20 for a ringtone?

just_little_me @ 11/10/2004 4:25:18 PM #
Or even for a bucket load of ringtones...?

Yeah sure, sign me up... I'll take the Eiffel tower while I'm here too...

Anyone can do this for free if they have a brain (Voice Of Reason, I guess that leaves you out, sorry).


JLM.

RE: $20 for a ringtone?
Gar @ 11/11/2004 12:42:57 PM #
Have you seen the numbers on how much ATT is making off selling ring tones. Sure, some folks can make their own. And the whole rest of the world will drop the 20 bucks and be set. No matter how easy it is to do, most folks figure their time is worth 'something'. And at 20 dollars for 1200 tones that breaks down to an easy sale for them.

-----------------
My wife has to sell a lot of candles (www.ccandles.com) to buy her new Palm.

Galaxian

mswunder @ 11/10/2004 5:27:51 PM #
Just purchased, downloaded, and installed Galaxian on my T3. Game locked up over and over, then finally got a general protection fault. Each game lasted exactly one second. Already requested refund -- seems like Handango's website is nicely set up for issuing refunds -- so there's a plus!

mswunder
RE: Galaxian
just_little_me @ 11/11/2004 12:20:11 AM #
Ditto. Crashed here after about 2 seconds... deleted after about 15 seconds...

You're much better off with Xcade IMHO...


JLM.

RE: Galaxian
Rhauer @ 11/12/2004 9:51:40 AM #
Same here. Crashed within seconds. I don't get how a program can be released with such obvious and quick bugs. $14.95 and it doesn't even utilize the extra real estate of the T3. Graphics are just so so.

Deffinitely my favorite game but I think I'll wait till it is stable and $9.95

Quickies!!

abosco @ 11/10/2004 6:16:23 PM #
Wish we could have quickies like these more often. Simple way to keep up to date on the latest news that isn't exactly deserving of a frontpage headline.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T637
RE: Quickies!!
G M Fude @ 11/10/2004 7:00:25 PM #
I'll second Alex's comments, Quickies are a good idea. I forgot about Brando's freebie shipping period last year, for example. Thanks Ryan!
RE: Quickies!!
achitnis @ 11/10/2004 10:26:57 PM #
Totally "thirded" :)

Such quicky news items are really handy, and should be made a weekly feature as well as a "weekly roundup".

And is also an excellent way to pump the Support-PIC engine. ;)


Atul Chitnis
http://atulchitnis.net

RE: Quickies!!
Strider_mt2k @ 11/11/2004 6:38:09 AM #
Make me #4 on that list.

Great stuff there!

RE: Quickies!!
Admin @ 11/11/2004 12:10:21 PM #
I hear you guys, thanks for the ideas... It has been sometime since the last one, I will try and make this a weekly thing once again.
RE: Quickies!!
digilaw @ 11/11/2004 5:51:30 PM #
That would be great!

PAC-MAN?

ardiri @ 11/11/2004 3:52:54 AM #
    Namco America announced their strategic partnership to make PAC-MAN, Ms. PAC-MAN, Galaxian and MAPPY for Palm OS available through Handango's network of sites. Handango will be the exclusive download partner via PC distribution for these games through the end of February 2005. The games are now available for $14.99 USD each. The arcade classic, MAPPY, will be available this holiday season.

i dont know who they got to do the coding for this; but, it is buggy as hell.

a quick load on POSE (emulator) shows that it brings up a lot of "read from unallocated chunk of memory" and memory leaks within the application. reading from an unallocated chunk of memory can cause resets in weird cases; but, it shows that this application wasn't tested fully.

a quick test on the Treo 600/650 shows that they didn't even code the "5 way navigator" correctly, pressing left and right doesn't do anything :( they do differ from the normal 5-way navigation keys; but they have been standardized. the 160x160 version also doesn't display the "presented by namco" screen correctly either.

while the game is playing, it isn't too bad; a bit sluggish at times (native ARM would have helped). sounds a good, graphics are great. just missing a few small items that would make this a classic hit all over again.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: PAC-MAN?
Altema @ 11/11/2004 10:24:56 AM #
This new mess is quite a contrast from the version by Horace Ho, which has worked on every device I've ever had without a single crash.

RE: PAC-MAN?
Admin @ 11/11/2004 12:12:23 PM #
What's up with companies releasing buggy retro games?

First it was the Sonic game that was pretty slow, now they can't even release a well working version of Pac Man, how long have they had to iron the bugs out of that title?

This is pretty unacceptable for a major classic title and publisher like Namco.

RE: PAC-MAN?
ardiri @ 11/11/2004 12:33:51 PM #
    What's up with companies releasing buggy retro games?

    First it was the Sonic game that was pretty slow, now they can't even release a well working version of Pac Man, how long have they had to iron the bugs out of that title? This is pretty unacceptable for a major classic title and publisher like Namco.


this is definately an issue.

i have emailed namco offering some of our services for converting some of these games so that they will work perfectly on all palmos devices (we've been doing games for years). unfortunately, these types of contracts go to the lowest, but less experienced bidders - and, they are all out to save a few bucks.

any "decent" developer would have found these bugs i found after playing it for two seconds. for the dpad on the treo devices, i will probably have to patch the binary myself. i doubt namco may get it fixed fast. i haven't even run it on devices with hires+ or weird resolution support.. should be fun :)

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: PAC-MAN?
digilaw @ 11/11/2004 5:52:24 PM #
PalmOS seems to be plagued by this problem recently. I wonder what's with the trend? It seems commcerical offerings are getting worse while 'homebrew' offerings are far superior (filez, LJZ, GuineaPig anyone). Excepting the offerings by Mobile Wizardry, of course ;).

RE: PAC-MAN?
just_little_me @ 11/12/2004 6:45:34 AM #
Pretty sweeping statement digilaw... without any real evidence to support... you can't tar every company because of one crap game from Namco. There are hundreds and hundreds of commercial Palm OS developers who work their arses off. We just don't all toot our own whistles like Aaron at the drop of a hat... :-P


JLM.

RE: PAC-MAN?
jasondeno @ 11/16/2004 10:20:30 AM #
downloaded demo and installed on my Treo 600.

ran ok, but didn't support the 5way (well, up and down work, but not left and right). lame.

What the heck?

razorpit @ 11/11/2004 6:50:59 PM #
2004 NFL and NBA schedules but no NHL? Why is hockey always treated like a redheaded stepchild? ;)

RE: What the heck?
honus @ 11/11/2004 7:23:33 PM #
There isn't an NHL schedule yet -- well not a valid one -- and probalby won't be one until at least next fall.

palmone wifi sd card in Miami

geebah @ 11/12/2004 10:22:48 AM #
Hello to all S!
Does anyone know a retail shop in Miami that I could buy a palm
sd wifi sd card???

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