Registered: Oct 1999
Location: richmond, va, usa
Posts: 46

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

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 219

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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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

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

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 70

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!"

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

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.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 34

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.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Phoenix, Az, USA
Posts: 25

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!

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

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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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

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

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 35

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

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

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...)

---

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

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...

---

Don't forget that it was ZDNet that said it was a "gaming machine," not HS. The Prism version won't be out until next year anyway.

I, too, hope it comes in something besides yellow.

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

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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<IMG WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="50" SRC=http://www.visorcentral.com/images/visorcentral.gif> VisorCentral Discussion Moderator
Do files get embarrassed when they get unzipped?

Registered: May 2000
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Posts: 163

quote:

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

---

Registered: Nov 1999
Location:
Posts: 145

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...

---

A neat way to do this would just to have shifted the up down keys to the left, between the calendar and the addressbook button. 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?).



Not only that, but the assymetrical face plate would have a stylish look, and not look so much like a Palm clone.
Whaddya think? A little Cassiopeish?

Maybe our Japanese friends can help us there...they're really on this soup-up-your-Palm stuff. (See "Pink Visor" thread.)

[Edited by Goyena on 10-18-2000 at 02:53 AM]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

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

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Burlington, VT, USA
Posts: 127

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

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Mountain View, CA
Posts: 211

OOohh just imagine




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

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 31

quote:

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Originally posted by Visor Guy2
OOohh just imagine

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This image is SO FAKE.

Hahaha... couldn't resist. A 4 way button would be terrific though

-Al

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Burlington, VT, USA
Posts: 127

>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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Editor-in-Chief, Handheld Computing Magazine / www.hhcmag.com