Sunday, June 6, 2004
Windows Mobile Devices To Get Better At Gaming
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 06:00 AM
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Microsoft_Adding_D3DM_to_Windows_Mobile
"A high-level Microsoft executive made it clear recently that his company has no plans to release a portable gaming device. Instead, Microsoft will encourage game developers to create titles for handhelds and smartphones running Windows Mobile. To make this easier, the company is going to build a new group of gaming APIs into the next version of Windows Mobile."
Enter Direct-X for Windows Mobile, also known as Direct 3D Mobile, or D3DM, and is expected to appear in Windows Mobile 2005 devices. We know that D3DM is new and included in Windows CE 5.0, and now we know that the next version of Windows Mobile has D3DM, soooooo... it must be based on Windows CE 5. :mrgreen: Not really surprising. The big reason there was such a long time between Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 with little surface changes was the guts had to be ripped out of it and laid on top of CE 4.2. CE 4.x had gone back and taken a lot of stuff in Pocket PC 2000/2002 and put it in the core CE operating system, meaning Mobile Device developers at MS could focus on the UI and apps and not fool with tap-and-hold integration and other items. Theoretically, Windows Mobile operating systems could now be lifted off of an older version of CE and put on a newer one with relative ease. It was a painful transition, but now that it is done, we can reap the benefits. Had that not happened, we might not see a CE 5 based WM device until 2006.
You may ask why it is important to stay up on the latest CE version possible. Speed, stability and security are the key reasons. The analogy isn't quite correct, but think of Windows Mobile as Office and Windows CE as Windows. Having Office 2003 installed in Windows 2000 will work, but it isn't going to be as good as having it on Windows XP. :D
"A high-level Microsoft executive made it clear recently that his company has no plans to release a portable gaming device. Instead, Microsoft will encourage game developers to create titles for handhelds and smartphones running Windows Mobile. To make this easier, the company is going to build a new group of gaming APIs into the next version of Windows Mobile."
Enter Direct-X for Windows Mobile, also known as Direct 3D Mobile, or D3DM, and is expected to appear in Windows Mobile 2005 devices. We know that D3DM is new and included in Windows CE 5.0, and now we know that the next version of Windows Mobile has D3DM, soooooo... it must be based on Windows CE 5. :mrgreen: Not really surprising. The big reason there was such a long time between Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 with little surface changes was the guts had to be ripped out of it and laid on top of CE 4.2. CE 4.x had gone back and taken a lot of stuff in Pocket PC 2000/2002 and put it in the core CE operating system, meaning Mobile Device developers at MS could focus on the UI and apps and not fool with tap-and-hold integration and other items. Theoretically, Windows Mobile operating systems could now be lifted off of an older version of CE and put on a newer one with relative ease. It was a painful transition, but now that it is done, we can reap the benefits. Had that not happened, we might not see a CE 5 based WM device until 2006.
You may ask why it is important to stay up on the latest CE version possible. Speed, stability and security are the key reasons. The analogy isn't quite correct, but think of Windows Mobile as Office and Windows CE as Windows. Having Office 2003 installed in Windows 2000 will work, but it isn't going to be as good as having it on Windows XP. :D
