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-- Handspring Gameface (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=8667)

From an article on the new HS products in this morning's WSJ:

"Handspring will introduce a new attachment called GameFace, which turns the Visor into a gaming device. GameFace is a faceplate, complete with joystick and buttons, that fits atop the Visor. The accessory, which will begin shipping later this year, will retail for $39.99 and come bundled with Zap!2000, a space-attack game."

I guess that explains how they plan to market the Prism as a gaming device. Can't wait to actually see what this thing looks like...

Geoff

Here's a picture of the gaming face. Looks kinda cheap for $39...

http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/news/2000/10/16/newvisor.htm

[Edited by Taki on 10-16-2000 at 10:40 AM]

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Taki
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I like it. Maybe now I can play other games besides Solitaire. Now if only Gambit Studios would make a Liberty module.

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here is a link to the pic. Looks VERY cool. Can't wait to get one.
http://www.handspring.com/DynamoCom...gecache/739.gif

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"Whoever said bigger isn't better...Lied!"

Hmmm...interesting idea, but it probably will work better for games that don't require you to easily access both buttons. For example, with your right hand (thumb?) on the joystick, it doesn't seem too easy to get to the right button. If you need to easily access both buttons, I think the preferred method is to put them together, like having the todo and memo buttons as 'A' and 'B', with the datebook and phonebook buttons as left and right. But you couldn't easily slap a joystick on top of this configuration. The joystick would probably help a lot with games that need you to do lots of 2-dimensional movement instead of just left-right, though.

I think it is great that somebody listened to all the wishful hoping for a gameboytype control for the games on the visor. It may not fit every game, but it is clever. It would be nice if they didn't bundle it with Zap though, some of us have already purchased it.

Games! Now we need games!

This looks _too_ cool. I downloaded the demo of Dreadling when it was first was released and found it hard to play, but the gameface could make it a "must-have" for me. And in regards to getting other shoot-em up's for Visor/Palm, has anyone looked into snapping up the rights for games to dead platforms like the Lynx or Game Gear and porting them onto the Palm?

Put on your GameFace and let's go!

Why didn't they just make the scroll buttons into a game pad when designing the new models? The gameface is neat and all, but having an actual 4-way game pad ON the visor would seem to lend itself to all sorts of applications (namely apps that require virtual screens larger than the Palm screen such as Mapopolis, etc...)

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
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A thought:

It looks like left/right on the "joystick" hit address book and to-do list, respectively.

This means that games that don't already meet that configuration or have ajustable controls will need to updated to take advantage of it.

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Jeff

haha for $39 you can get a GameBoy pocket... for an extra $30 you can get GameBoy Color! This attachment is really silly in comparison. They should have just reconfigured the buttons on the prism instead

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
Why didn't they just make the scroll buttons into a game pad when designing the new models? The gameface is neat and all, but having an actual 4-way game pad ON the visor would seem to lend itself to all sorts of applications (namely apps that require virtual screens larger than the Palm screen such as Mapopolis, etc...)

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
I couldn't agree more. Ever since the Prism was announced with hints from HS about courting the gaming community, I've hoped that the the buttons would be rearranged into a diamond or substituted with a 4-way pad. But no such luck.

40 bucks? That's pretty steep. And yellow? Ugh...

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

it kinda reminds me of the 'joysticks' for you numeric part of the keyboard you could buy in the XT era...

funny I idea but I wonder if it would sell...
I wouldn't pay that much for it...

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quote:

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Originally posted by JHromadka
Maybe now I can play other games besides Solitaire.

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A step to left....

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
Why didn't they just make the scroll buttons into a game pad when designing the new models? The gameface is neat and all, but having an actual 4-way game pad ON the visor would seem to lend itself to all sorts of applications...

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quote:

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Originally posted by jazzlover
Where did you find Solitaire for the Visor?

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

I agree that a built-in pad would have been preferable. I wonder if Palm mandates the current button arrangement in it licensing agreements?

However, I did play with a prototype Gameface (called GameOn at the time) a few weeks ago and I have to say it worked surprisingly well! Zap!2000 was a lot easier to play.

That said, $39 is pretty darned steep for this, as nicely engineered as it is. You can count me in for one, but I'm pretty hardcore in my gaming.

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Denny Atkin / [email protected]
Editor-in-Chief, Handheld Computing Magazine / www.hhcmag.com

OOohh just imagine




[Edited by Visor Guy2 on 10-19-2000 at 05:02 AM]

quote:

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Originally posted by Visor Guy2
OOohh just imagine

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>That way you could even design a Game Pad which would hit
>two buttons at once on the diagonals, thus making it a 8-
>way pad (if it doesn't do that already. Anybody?).

It does do diagonals with the current arrangement. So finally, Archon may be playable!

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Denny Atkin / [email protected]
Editor-in-Chief, Handheld Computing Magazine / www.hhcmag.com