The PS3 modding community is taking advantage of the Pre’s open source Linux framework and its native ability to act as a USB drive. Specifically, a user called "blake_zero" on the psx-scene forums has ported KaKaRoTo’s PSFreedom source code, originally created for the N900, to the Pre.

By way of background, in order to run homebrew (non-commercial) software and save games on the PS3’s hard drive, gamers must run some code to open the PS3’s OS in a way that Sony does not permit or support. After one group of Chinese hackers announced a USB dongle that enabled this in August, KaKaRoTo created a way last week to use his Nokia N900, and then released the source code of his effort. Within a day or two, the source code had been ported over to the Pre (reportedly using webOS Internals’ instructions for kernel compilation). After following the instructions for compiling PSFreedom on the Pre and connecting it to a PS3, the exploit is apparently able to run and modify the PS3’s code.

While we at PreCentral do not advocate breaking either laws or user agreements, we are always impressed with those who push the limits of technology, and are proud that our own Palm Pre’s features make it such a valuable tool for doing so even on other platforms.

Check out a video of the jailbreak in action after the break!

Source: psx-scene; Additional Coverage: Engadget; Thanks to Jose Acosta for the tip!

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In the world of game emulators that are now available to webOS users thanks to  the recent webOS 1.4.5 update (I know, I know, sorry AT&T and Verizon folk), VisualBoy Advance isn’t the only name in town.   DreamEngine aims to bring the days of 16-bit gaming glory back into the fold.  Like most emulators you’ll have to supply your own ROMS,  though two – Magical Chase and Tennis – come pre-installed.  Performance is generally smooth thanks to the miracles of overclocking, though I found that the hardware keyboard controls can take a little getting used to and the view port is somewhat on the small side.  Still, it’s great to see more options like these bubble up in the ‘Catalog.  

Hit the break for a video of DreamEngine in action!

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What would you expect the founder of HP-acquired gaming computers building VoodooPC to talk about with regards to webOS? Gaming, of course. And Rahul Sood dug up a blast from the not-that-distant past: a video HP put together to show off their vision of the future of gaming – a mix of role-playing, augmented reality, and geocaching (video after the break).

Obviously the concept was ahead of its time then, and is still a bit out of reach today (at least in the remapping of cityscapes as the video envisions). But bringing it back to webOS, Sood couldn’t help but wax poetically about HP’s latest acquisition:

I’m glad we finally bought Palm and now the possibilities are truly great. If you have not tried webOS you truly owe it to yourself just to try it. It’s so freaking awesome. The biggest complaint right now is people want to see more hardware choices – I think we all know that.

So game developers, this was HP’s vision 3+ years ago. If you could think about using our hardware and future hardware — think scalable resolution, multiple cameras, fast graphics, awesome screens, touch, accelerometers, GPS, Bluetooth, WIFI, always connected, etc.

Just put it all together and create something truly unique.

We are in great concurrence with everything Mr. Sood has to say here, and we can only hope that HP’s guidance and giant bags of money will make this kind of awesomeness possible.

Source: RahulSood.com; thanks to everybody that sent this in!

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Rahul Sood, founder of luxury PC maker Voodoo, HP’s CTO of gaming and recent champion of webOS has finally sat down with Palm’s directors of dev relations Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer.  Discussion in this rare, audio only podcast includes: Rahul’s background with Voodoo, his passion for design, what HP has to offer the webOS community, his thoughts on where mobile gaming is going, and more.

Great to see execs like Sood fired up about Palm and webOS!

Source: Palm’s Developer Blog 

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We’ve mentioned before that the CTO of HP’s gaming unit, Rahul Sood, was excited about webOS. He’s not letting up and making a good point better in his personal blog by pointing out that there’s a big opportunity with webOS for game developers because the market for apps is still relatively small, in terms of competition, while the potential market of devices to play those apps on has the potential to explode into something huge once HP puts its cash and marketing muscle behind the platform:

So I’m calling out to all game developers. It’s time you followed the money and looked to the future. Opportunity is in scale. Web OS will have tremendous scale and reach. [...] rather than trying to stand out in a store with millions of apps in front of you, it’s probably a good time to get in while the getting is good on the ground floor. Feel free to contact me personally for the right contact within Palm.

+1 Mr. Sood. We’re liking the idea of getting more iPhone ports like Angry Birds, sure, but we’re also liking the idea of getting some games that take advantages of the unique features in webOS even more – how about an RPG that uses multiple cards, one for each character in your party? What webOS features could a developer take advantage of in a gaming scenario?

Source: rahulsood.com; thanks to everybody who sent this in!

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In late April Palm alerted developers that a new version of the Software Development Kit (SDK) would be landing in "early May." We guess that May 14th still counts, and sure enough emails are going out now to developers to encourage them to download the "webOS SDK/PDK Beta Release" and test their apps against it.

We also got some deets from an anonymous tipster who lets us know that that this OS could be called webOS 1.4.5 and indeed the major change is that Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) apps are properly ‘jailed’ so they can’t muck up the entire device. In other words, 3D games and the like from independent developers can more easily be added to the Official App Catalog since those babies will properly be put in their corner. Hybrid PDK/SDK apps (the sort of access that DataViz says is necessary for DocsToGo) are still going to be a ways off.

More exciting is that the release should bring PDK apps to the Palm Pixi, which up to now has been left out in the bitter, bitter, non-3D gaming cold.

We’re expecting this version of webOS to hit in late May or early June (or as the latest email states it, "Several weeks").

Thanks, anonymous tipsters!

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 While we’re always happy to announce new games, we also appreciate the webOS love from GameFly, which has recently updated its free GameCenter application for webOS (along with Android and iPhone platforms). According to Gamefly, the new features in the webOS app include Calendar Notification (allowing users to mark calendars for upcoming new releases) and news, updates and price changes for webOS games. Gamers and wannabes alike can download the new release via the link from the PreCentral App Gallery.

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Game developers interested in accelerating profitability of existing and future apps are invited to join Palm to learn more about webOS at two upcoming conferences.
We’ll  kick off an exciting week at the Flash Gaming Summit, hosted by Mochi Media, on Monday March 8th at UCSF’s Mission Bay Conference Center. This one-day conference brings together the [...]

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Now that Palm has finally come to their senses bringing 3D games to the webOS platform — they made the announcement of this great news at CES 2010. They will be present at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, even though their new Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) is limited to a few select developers for [...]

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Gaming has always been a sensitive topic with the WebOS.  HTML/CSS/Javascript leads to quick app development, but unfortunately limits game development.  Palm has attempted to help, giving a Mojo animator to help with 2D animation in javascript, and setting up a game development forum section. But let’s be honest, fast-paced 3D games with the current WebOS is likely to be a non-starter.

Previously we discussed Flash as possibly being solution.  However, to many, Flash just isn’t good enough and people kept crying out "We want OpenGL". Since Palm seems set on sticking it with html/css/js applications, that could be difficult.  Or maybe not.  Early last August, Khronos Group, the guys behind OpenGL, made the big announcement that they were now working on WebGL, which will bring OpenGL to the browser via javascript binds, with support from Google, Mozilla, and Opera:

First announced at the Game Developers Conference in March of 2009, the WebGL working group includes many industry leaders such as AMD, Ericsson, Google, Mozilla, NVIDIA and Opera.  The WebGL working group is defining a JavaScript binding to OpenGL® ES 2.0 to enable rich 3D graphics within a browser on any platform supporting the OpenGL or OpenGL ES graphics standards.

The working group is developing the specification to provide content portability across diverse browsers and platforms, including the capability of portable, secure shader programs.  WebGL will be a royalty-free standard developed under the proven Khronos development process, with the target of a first public release in first half of 2010.

Considering the WebOS is based off Linux, it certainly seems like OpenGL wouldn’t be especially difficult to port to it.  Then developers could use WebGL to integrate 3D graphics into their WebOS application. A surprisingly elegant solution, albeit something we’ll have to wait until 2010 for.

Not too long ago we saw a Palm job posting for a Game Frameworks Engineer. We can only hope the people who work on the Mojo gaming framework plan on implementing WebGL as it becomes available.  Not only would it save development time from making their own 3D graphics API, but it looks as though WebGL has the potential to be an industry standard. The WebOS has shown Palm is on the cutting edge of web-based technology, here’s hoping they continue that by adopting WebGL wholeheartedly.

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