So I'm selling my extra PC and I'm going to buy a PPC. Looks like the Axim x51v is the best there is. Small, light, VGA, 624MHz, 16MB video memory, CF, SD, whats not to like? (seriously if there's something to not like let me know)

But I have a few questions first. This being the games forum, I'll put them first.

1. How good are the graphics capable of being on a PPC? I mean even a Windows PC with 624MHz and 16MB video RAM @ VGA could play games like Half-Life; whats the most pretty games PPC has to offer? Keep in mind the only other PDAs I have owned have been Palm OS based PDAs, with very limited 3D ability.

2. To play a Windows game on PPC, must it be completely ported in all cases? I know games like Doom, Quake, etc are on PPC because they are open source, but for a game like Half-Life, does it ever have a chance of being on PPC without opening the source, or is Windows Mobile 5 TOO different from what HL requires?

3. What are the best games for PPC, specifically the x51v? A list, maybe?

edit:

4. What about emulators? Surely you can emulate just about anything under the sun with 624MHz and VGA display... what are the limits? Any primitive PS1 emus?

Any other thoughts? Your help is greatly appreciated!

1. The x51v has great 3d graphics, probably the best of pdas on maket today. Trust me, the x51v has 640x480 vga display making it a gamer.
(Example of Acky's XP Breakout in VGA)


2. Quite a few windows games are also on the ppc. I dont know what happens to non open source games though.

3. Just look for games that are vga and windows mobile 5 compatible. That way youll have the best games for both the os and the graphics.

4. There is a playstation 1 emulator for pocket pcs. Get it here. Many people like to emulate snes games on the ppc, b/c smaller roms, and faster on older pdas/etc.

Welcome to Aximsite, I am not your vga person, b/c i own a qvga, but there are many others here...

Dell Axim X50
Windows Mobile 2003SE
Think Outside IR Keyboard
8GB CF Card (Apps, Movies)
2GB SD Card (Music)

Best Pocket PC Freeware Sites:
FreewarePPC
Pocket PC Freewares
PdaGold Freeware

"If it aint broke, don't fix it..."

 

Thanks a ton for your reply, very helpful.

I'd obviously be interested in older console emulation too, I just assumed it was easy. I'm coming from a Tapwave Zodiac (320x480, Palm OS 5), which had one emulation bundle capable of emulating GB, GBC, NES, SNES, Genesis, WS, TG16, and some others at full speed... on 200MHz! The PS1 emulator for it played most games at like 5fps though. I'd assume coding for PPC is much easier than Palm because the code is more widely known.

Anyone know any good 3d PPC games I can take a look at?

Heck yes! I can help you. On the CD that comes with the x51v, you are given a demo of Enigmo, among other things. Oh! Here's a thread that should help you:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=98674

That's the chip that's in the X51V, so all of those games are compatible. The graphics in most of those are of extremely nice quality. The PowerVR demos (Especially the car-racing one, which looks amazing, near PSP quality.) are a huge show-off of what can be done.

Oh, and view my X51V website, where you can see a (15fps for now) video of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 running on my X51V. The game can actually get much smoother, but the camera could only record at 15fps. I'm going to update that video sometime in the near future.

Anyway, you can emulate every single one of those consoles on the X51V. There is an emulation bundle similar to that, but it is commercial and not every module is as fast/smooth as they could be. It's called Morphgear, but there are plenty of freeware alternatives to it also. Google it. (*Gasp! I apparently cannot use that as a verb anymore! Google "no google as a verb" haha )

Palm m130->Pa1m0ne Tungsten | E->Dell Axim x30 High...But now, a glorious Dell Axim x51v + 1GB Sd Card and a 2GB 80x CF Card!!!

VIEW MY PDA!!!

My X50/1V Site, for nothing but the x50/1v PDAs!

I have a ton of games on my X51v, but my absolute favorite is Pocket UFO, a FREE port of the old PC game X-COM Enemy Unknown. While it's not VGA, it looks great on the Axim.

Tom