Companies Challenging Sony's Multimedia Preeminence

[EdFrmBrighthand]

For years Sony reigned supreme in multimedia performance on the Palm platform. It offered MP3 playback for more than a year before Palm did. The same is true of hi-res screens. However, a couple of new devices are going to really challenge Sony in this area.

The first you already know about: the Palm Zire 71 (http://www.brighthand.com/article/Zire_71_review). I won't waste your time describing it again, besides saying that it offers multimedia capabilities comparable to anything from Sony, for less cost.

Today, another challenger is emerging. A new Palm OS licensee is going to announce in a few hours a handheld whose primary focus is games. It will offer a landscape-oriented screen, a joystick, side-mounted triggers, and other features designed to warm a gamer's heart. Unlike other portable gaming devices, like the Nintendo GameBoy, the Helix will be able to run Palm OS applications, making it both fun and useful. It will also be able play MP3s and video. It will include built-in stereo speakers and a stereo headphone jack.

Read more about the Helix at
www.brighthand.com/article/TapWave_Releasing_Gaming_Handheld

I'm not saying this to attack Sony or the Clie line in any way. I'm just pointing out that the Clie line is facing far more serious competition than it has at any other time since it announced the N series. Hopefully it will rise to the challenge with future models.

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the heads up! Sounds exciting esp since I am not emotionally bonded to Sony ;).

[sindu]

hmmmm very interesting indeed. Let's hope Sony can face the challenge and improve / innovate the Clie base PDA.

[n2ifp]

I thought Sony owned a portion of Palm? I am spoiled by the bigger screen, I could never go back :)!

[yawn]

From the article - "It will have 3.8 inch screen with a landscape orientation. "

[JackAxe]

I hope that they put a graphics accelerator in this thing.

<]=)

[archangel]

I laugh at the idea of the Zire 71 challenging Sony's Multimedia Preeminence. When a device has an MP3 player with such poor volume it can barely be heard if there is any noise in the room I don't consider it a competitor to the Clie. I guess the Zire's camera is what you were talking about.

As far as the other device goes, that could be interesting. I'm just wondering if there is a real market for a Palm OS gaming device.

[yOyOYoo]

I hope games that come out for this Helix will also be made compatible with the rest of the palms out there (sony and palm)

This would only bring gaming on the Palm OS to a much more refined level, better able to compete with some of the amazing games out for PPCs.

[SiliGoose]

Note that Sony is listed as a partner in the Helix. They don't say how or what Sony is doing to help though.

I don't necessarily see this as a threat to the Clie. It's main goal seems to be gaming so that makes the Gameboy Advance the prime target. If that's the case the Helix will need to be priced to compete with the Gameboy. $150 would probably be a decent target price.

However, it's possible this is how Sony can finally challenge Nintendo in the handheld gaming segment. Rumors of a handheld Playstation derivitive have been circulating since the early days of the PSX.

There is no graphic accelerator or dedicated 3D hardware in the Helix...3D is done in software.

[PEG-SJ30]

Doesn't sound that much better than the GamePark 32 (http://english.gamepark.com/):

http://www.gamepark.co.kr/tmp_english/GP32/images/l_gp32_3_s.gif (http://www.gamepark.co.kr/tmp_english/GP32/images/l_gp32_3.jpg)

[ashVID]

GP32 will blow this away. Programming for Palm and ARM is a PAIN which is why we have seen very few emus. The GP32 has a TON of good working emus that DESTROY anything the current Palms can do. This is a marketing device people, they want to port individual games and sell them to you for $10 - $20 each. What a crock!! Trust me, no Palm device can challenge Nintendo(I HATE Nintendo). I am sure they will require a license to be purchased in order to develop games as well. RUN WHILE YOU CAN!!!

ash =o)

[Unregistered]

naysayers abound as usual

[EdFrmBrighthand]

I hope that they put a graphics accelerator in this thing.
It has an ATI Imageon graphics accelerator.
I hope games that come out for this Helix will also be made compatible with the rest of the palms out there (sony and palm)
I think some of them will, but the Helix has a 320 by 480 pixel screen. If games are specifically written for this resolution, only the NX series and NZ90 might be able to play them.
Note that Sony is listed as a partner in the Helix. They don't say how or what Sony is doing to help though.
According to a source I have, Sony is supplying the screen. It also might be helping with the virtual Graffiti software, though that's just speculation.
Its main goal seems to be gaming so that makes the Gameboy Advance the prime target. If that's the case the Helix will need to be priced to compete with the Gameboy. $150 would probably be a decent target price.
It's going to be about twice as good as the GameBoy, with a much better screen, Bluetooth for head-to-head gaming, and the ability to use Palm OS apps. Nevertheless, according to an unnamed source of mine in the handheld industry, the Helix is going to cost $200.

Check the article again for the latest info on the Helix:
www.brighthand.com/article/TapWave_Releasing_Gaming_Handheld

[iebnn]

The screen is landscape, 480x320. They'd have to be recoded (the games) to work with 320x480. Some games might not work properly under that resolution, or would have to be rotated. I doubt companies like Midway would go to the trouble of supporting more than just the Helix.

And the GP32 is not a PDA. It can only play games for the most part (and video, mp3, etc but thats no advantage really, since most palms can do that now). You'd still need your clie with you. See the goodbye sony thread in the nx forums for more on this

[TechnoCat]

First off, the Z71 isn't multimedia competition to the Sony. We have a Z71; it's alright, but the lack of a DSP dramatically slows other processing (e.g. frame smoothness) when doing music.

Second, repeat that release date: late in 2003. Repeat again. Write it on a chalkboard 100 times. Doesn't anybody notice the effective meaning of more than six months off?

Sony already has a series (NX/NZ) with the screen, as does Garmin. And even the lowly SJ33 does video decently, so a graphics accelerator may not be critical... think about that one for a sec...

320x480. That's only 150K pixels. It's only double the CGA we used to run with no accelerator and a 4.77MHz processor. (Those of us with computers a full two decades ago, at any rate.)

Given the tiny number of pixels and the fast processor, just how valuable is a "graphics accelerator"? Drop that, include a partical accelerator instead, and let me zap other players when it looks like they're beating me. (Granted, it would be hard on battery life.)

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a TG-series with the 320x480 (to accompany the TG50 with keyboard) released in the September timeframe, with more RAM. Of course the NX-series needs freshening first. But if that happens (a TG55 with 32MB RAM/keyboard and a TG60 with 320x480, 32MB, no keyboard, for example), where would the Helix advantage be?

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by archangel
I laugh at the idea of the Zire 71 challenging Sony's Multimedia Preeminence. Yes, but it IS challenging the PPC . . . ;):D

[TechnoCat]

Originally posted by ashVID
GP32 will blow this away. Programming for Palm and ARM is a PAIN which is why we have seen very few emus.Programming for the Palm is a pain, if you do it right... meaning use their library/API calls rather than the standard C ones, for example. And the interface is, well, different. And C++ has too much overhead for Palm pre-OS5 to be quick. But that doesn't make it dramatically more difficult than the old Mac was, or windows when it came out. (Pre-MFC, you had to build your own event loop, your own string writers, etc.)

But programming for the ARM isn't difficult at all. It has a more elegant design than the congealed Pentium chips, less kludgy than the 8086, more powerful than the 6502. The only problem there is that assembly programming is inefficient given today's compilers and language optimizations.

As for competing with Nintendo, that may not be the goal. Swiss Army knives aren't that great at any one task, but they sell well because they do lots of things. That may be the niche of this device... allowing people to justify buying a game machine because, "it's really a Palm PDA"

I think it will get wiped by the next-gen Sony, primarily due to lack of a compelling advantage.

[Eric S]

Originally posted by SiliGoose
There is no graphic accelerator or dedicated 3D hardware in the Helix...3D is done in software.

While I'll agree that the 3D is probably done in software, the specs do list an ATI Imageon graphics accellerator.

[iebnn]

Tiny number of pixels? This is a portable, handheld computer. Don't compare it to giant desktop computers. For a handleheld game system, it either has the highest or ranks among the highest in resolution (certainly larger than the GBA).

The graphics processor is needed because this unit is geared towards gaming. There are not many games that are very processor intensive at the moment, but the ones coming will surely make use of it. And you must be using kinoma with the SJ33... that is a very old codec (cinepak), and does not compress very much. It does not require much CPU power, and thus its file sizes are gigantic (for the quality you get). Something like DivX is out of the question with the SJ33, but closer (maybe not yet, but definitely closer) to a possibility when a graphics processor is present.

And this is a landscape screen, so there will be a lot of exclusive games made for it (by Midway, etc). I doubt they will take the time to add 320x480 support (instead of 480x320) when they have only made agreements with the company making the Helix. Think of Sega and their T|T exclusive games.

"where would the helix advantage be?"
Keep in mind that you get the helix if you want to play more games on your PDA.
1. It has buttons made for gaming: shoulder buttons, and buttons of possibly GBA quality (not terrible sony buttons)
2. It has a dpad, probably 8directional. The T|T dpad is pretty bad, since it has the large button in the center. The clie gamepad is terrible in comparison.
3. It has the graphics processor, which will: A. allow new/better games to be made for it, and B. improve existing games, and possibly video playback
4. Exclusive software/games (since it is 480x320, I already explained why before)

etc..

[iebnn]

TechnoCat: As of now, Palm OS has serious memory management issues that make programming some types of games, especially emulators, a big pain. Talk to the guy who made xcade.

[EdFrmBrighthand]

The problem with the GameBoy is you can't take it to the office. If your boss comes in and finds your GameBoy on your desk, you are going to have some explaining to do. Even if your boss doesn't care, a lot of 30-year-olds feel silly playing with a kid's toy. The Helix will be a professional-looking device that no adult will be embarrassed to carry around. If your boss asks, you can show him the calendar and productivity apps.

Besides that, aside from its large game library, the GameBoy doesn't have much going for it. The screen stinks and its feature set is fairly minimal. The Helix is going to offer a higher-resolution screen with much better color and head-to-head gaming with Bluetooth. Even better, it will allow you play MP3s and video. And run the thousands of Palm OS apps. All this in a device that, according to my source, will cost just $200-$300.

I'm not saying its going to crush the GameBoy. Parents will still love the relatively low cost and rugged design. But Tapwave will sell plenty of Helixes to adults who are looking for more than a toy.

[hansschmucker]

About memory managment. Well Sony showed use that is's pretty easy to asign more of the RAM as heap memory, it's just not standard compliant. But since it doesn't stop any old software from working, it's probably what tapwave will be doing as well

[TechnoCat]

Originally posted by iebnn
Tiny number of pixels? This is a portable, handheld computer. Don't compare it to giant desktop computers. For a handleheld game system, it either has the highest or ranks among the highest in resolution (certainly larger than the GBA).True, but irrelevant. There's a reason "graphics accelerators" didn't hit the market until we had very high desktop resolutions; math.

Roughly speaking, the complexity of rendering goes up as maybe an exponent, I'd guess between a square and a cube, of total pixel count. So size matters immensely [after] a certain total pixel count point. And 150K total pixels is, quite simply, a low number. Ancient decrepit 4.77MHz processors were pushing those numbers around just fine, and they were less optimized for it than today's 66MHz DragonBalls and 200MHz OMAPs.

I suspect the accelerator is more a marketing gimmick. They'd probably do better to provide swappable pages and bit-blitting.

[archangel]

Its definitely not got to bother the Game Boy at all. Gaming is not just about graphics its about the quailty of the games. The Helix may have a better screen, but is it going to have games the quality of Castlevania, Zelda, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc? I have a hard time believing Palm or even PPC gaming will ever approach games like that. I use my Clie to play stuff like Acid Solitaire, Atom Smash, or Shanghai, but I don't need a dedicated Palm gaming machine for those kind of games.

BTW, the Game Boy SP has a great screen and was made just to fill this segment of the market. I take mine with me and I'm not ashamed at all to take it out and play it when I have a break. Its actually a perfect counterpart to my NX60 since they are both clamshell. I would be more ashamed to explain I paid $300 for a device designed to play Bejewelled.

[EdFrmBrighthand]

Originally posted by archangel
Helix may have a better screen, but is it going to have games the quality of Castlevania, Zelda, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc? I have a hard time believing Palm or even PPC gaming will ever approach games like that.
Tapwave says it has been working with Activision, Infogrames, Midway, and Digital Eclipse to produce titles for the Helix. The company intends to license well-known games and encourage other developers to write new ones for it.

[ashVID]

Originally posted by EdFrmBrighthand

Tapwave says it has been working with Activision, Infogrames, Midway, and Digital Eclipse to produce titles for the Helix. The company intends to license well-known games and encourage other developers to write new ones for it.


This was my original concern. They are able to sell the device at a loss because they plan to make it up by BENDING YOU OVER and overcharging you for software/games. The keyword here is "license".................scary. If it doesnt sell, no one will want to make games. The hardware, while impressive for a Palm, is not good enough to lure the big boys. You will be stuck paying for inferior ports of OLD games that you probably already own or have owned. If people DONT by games and use it as a Palm then the model will fail. This device will garner a small niche market and die a slow death. They really needed to wait until the hardware was better and the OS was better.

I dont want to get into the piracy arguement but personally I dont have a problem with having ROMS. They are no longer for sale, most of the ones that I want to play I OWNED at one time or another and they have LONG since made their money. I think it is FAR more disgusting that they are trying to RE-SELL you a half@ss port trying to appeal to your sense of nostalgia.


ash =o)