Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

In fact, Palm has patched SDL 1.2 as "game SDK". The "unofficial" one -- the only currently available one -- is even using Scratchbox2, we still don't know what the official one is using (it could be a cross compiler, etc).

Totally awesome when compared to what Nokia is providing</ironic>.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

DRM support will be part of Maemo 6.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Title fixed. Please consider the impression your title will give.

Out of curiosity, what does EA games have to offer that would impress me? I looked through my collection of purchased games, and not a one of them is published by EA. Yes, they have acquired some great studios that produced some good games in the past, such as Bullfrog (which gives me rather a more negative impression than a positive one that they go around eating up otherwise good companies), but how would they be an asset to Maemo?

I know what bad they would do--they would insist on all kinds of intrusive DRM crap. My question is, what good could they do that would justify that?

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

So slight thread hijack... being that M6 isn't likely for the N900 (ignoring the whole future support issue)

I wonder if this means pay content will essentially never be available for the N900? Since the security framework isn't built into it... this would mean that although the QT apps from M6 have a chance of running on M5.. if the developers release paid/closed source only apps I could see that being a limit for the N900.

Random thought.. I don't/wouldn't use pay software anyway.. but I know that attracts developers.

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

A built-in, standardised DRM system is due for M6. There's nothing stopping developers implementing (or trying to implement) their own methods though. I expect we'll see a lot of online-activated games/apps, there'll be a few hardcoded to IMEIs (as a lot of S60 apps are), and I'm sure there'll be other techniques. DRM isn't really bullet-proof on any mobile platform though, it just presents a barrier to casual copying (and sometimes a barrier to normal use).

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

Seriously?

If you don't understand how having the largest 3rd party videogame publisher on your platform is a good thing, no explanation is ever going to be good enough. EA brings massive weight and legitimacy to any platform it comes to and also means that a lot of other smaller companies start to take notice and follow along as well.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you want to see what happens to a game console without EA, you can ask Sega what happened to the Dreamcast.

If you want content providers and game makers to come aboard and you want the N900 to really get into people's hands, DRM of some sort is going to need to be in there and it's going to be with Maemo 6.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Yeah, yeah i know they are to computer gaming platforms what Gore and Obama are to the Nobel prizes. You didn't answer my first question, though. Apart from any million-pound gorilla effect, what does EA actually have to offer on a meaningful level to someone who has a fairly picky and eclectic taste in games?

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

I sure did. As I said, the fact that EA would be supporting the platform is enough to get a lot of smaller publishers and developers interested in the platform, bringing more of an eclectic set of games to it.

Re: Why EA games are not likely coming to the n900
 

Actually i'm inclined to think that a big publisher moving into a niche market would tend to not bring in small studios. It simply doesn't make business sense. "Hey, this behemoth of a publisher that devours all in its way is supporting Maemo. Maybe we should develop for Maemo." :D

I'd be interested in seeing a study that tried to correlate that somehow, but i suspect it's a chicken and egg problem that is impossible to disambiguate.

Anyway, i still have no idea what games EA might possibly bring to Maemo that i'd like to play. I usually hear EA in the context of sports titles, which don't hold my interest. What are some of their best other mobile offerings that a hypothetical DRM-free paradise world would allow to show up on Maemo 5?

Re: EA games coming to the n900?
 

It's not really so much a M6 feature as it is also future hardware feature. For me DRM is more of a fault than a feature though and I'm sad if the main motivator for such a anti-user thing is finding it's way to maemo because of some lackluster mobile phone games, among other things.