Hasta La Gadget!

Among those of us old enough to have played first-generation game consoles, few will have tried a Vectrex; we typically clung to the familiar Atari 2600 or rebelled with the still very mainstream Intellivision. Thanks to Rantmedia Games’ new Vectrex Regeneration for iOS, though, we can generate some what-if nostalgia. The app emulates the tall, vector-based system down to its idiosyncratic noises and color overlays, and those with the foresight to own an iCade controller get an extra dose of authenticity. Anyone with at least an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4 can try the freemium title with a free copy of Minestorm to experiment; if they’re fully inclined to drive down memory lane, a $7 Mega Pack will unlock 17-plus original games as well as newer indie releases. Vectrex Regeneration won’t make our parents have second thoughts about their holiday gift choices circa 1982, but it’s cheap enough to provide a valuable (and potentially fun) history lesson.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile

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Via: Joystiq

Source: App Store

Technology is quickly catching up to satisfy our nostalgia. We have modders making amalgams of old consoles, calculators that can run Pokémon and now this, a prime contender for Technabob’s non-existent app of the year awards – an app that lets Android devices run Windows 95 & 98 games.

The app is called Winulator, and it was made by a genius called Dan Aloni. Winulator implements “DirectX and Win32 calls”, i.e. it lets games run on the Android OS despite them being developed for the older Windows operating systems. But most of these games were made not just with a certain OS but also with certain hardware in mind, particularly Intel Pentium processors, and not the ARM processors found in today’s Android devices. Fortunately Winulator takes care of that as well. It can either compile as needed or “compile the entire binary before it runs.” In layman’s terms? StarCraft on your smartphone. Actually that’s a stupid setup but still. It’s possible.

Winulator isn’t finished yet, but Aloni is planning on releasing it via the Google Play market when it’s done. Meanwhile dig up your old installers and get to ripping.

[Winulator via Ubergizmo]

Electrostatic ink based E-readers aren’t exactly the best devices for moving images, due to their slow refresh rates and black and white screens. But that didn’t stop somebody from porting a SEGA Genesis emulator to the $99 Android-based Nook Simple Touch reader anyhow.

YouTuber ndncnbvcuyuys (try and pronounce that!) posted this video of his rooted Nook Simple Touch running the Genesis emulator, and playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It’s clear from the video clip below that the Nook is more than up to the task of emulating the classic 16-bit console.

I’m actually impressed how well the side-scroller plays, given its fast action and movement – though it’s unclear if the emulator supports sound. You can check out detailed pics of the emulator in action over on Imgur, and some other fun emulators running on the Nook Simple Touch here.

[via E-Reader Info]

The Windows Phone 8 SDK has escaped to the wild, and some sifting through the device emulator has dug up elements that Microsoft either skipped or only touched on lightly during the big unveiling in June. The most important addition may be the one customers see the least: backup. A WP7.hu search has the new OS replicating apps, settings and SMS messages in the cloud to prevent disaster, and that new SD card support will let WP8 owners shuffle photos from internal storage to the removable kind for safekeeping. There’s also more work on Internet Explorer than we saw before, with MobileTechWorld noticing that DataSense provides an option for Opera-like remote compression to save that precious cellular bandwidth.

Media fans might have the most to gain. If we go by The Verge, both the Music/Video and Xbox hubs are getting fresh coats of paint — both to integrate new ventures like Xbox Music as well as to jive more closely with the SmartGlass visual theme. Shutterbugs will like the long-awaited options to crop and rotate their work, pick multiple photos, and unify third-party camera apps under a Lenses concept. There’s even more clever features in store, such as a Maps update that finds nearby WiFi hotspots, so head on over to the sources to get a full sense of where Microsoft will be going.

Filed under: Cellphones

Windows Phone 8 SDK leaks show quiet upgrades to backup, media and the kitchen sink originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPowerUser (1), (2)  |  MobileTechWorld, WP7.hu (translated), The Verge  | Email this | Comments

Chrome? Who cares, give us Blazer! For those of you who just can’t let go of your legacy Palm OS apps, StyleTap has been delivering emulation software to salve your woes since about 2005. But, if you’ve been riding the Android train, you’ve been left out in the cold by the Canadian company. That all changes today with the release of StyleTap for Google’s mobile OS. The emulator supports any apps written for Palm OS 5.2 and earlier, as well as programs that use native ARM code. Of course, none of this comes for free. StyleTap wants 50 of your American dollars for the privilege of firing up Giraffe on your Galaxy Nexus. Check out the PR after the break for a few more details and hit up the source link if you just can’t wait to get your Grafiti on.

Continue reading StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

StyleTap brings its Palm OS emulator to Android, only asks for $50 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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