November 22nd 2009 | Posted by
Derek Kessler
[ youtube link ]
Color us skeptical, but right now we have little reason not to believe PreCentral forum member Casperstar and the above video that he posted. Yes, that is a Palm Pre playing Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed Underground, and playing it well – like an iPhone. Obviously, something like this just isn’t possible given the current web tools-based Mojo SDK, it’s not even something that’s possible with the current GPU-disabled implementation of webOS.
While this could very well be a well-timed video, smoke, and mirrors show, we’re inclined to believe that it is the real deal, especially after corroboration by reliable inside-information forum member Modular. Casperstar claims that the video is of a friend’s Pre, a friend that works at Palm and is apparently willing to not only let it be videotaped, but even sent in two screen caps of the App Catalog on his device. The images show a view of a NFS-2G app and an apps list counting to 495 (!). While something like this would be easy to Photoshop together, there’s enough rough edges to the app view that give us a definite work-in-progress vibe. Then there’s that mention of requiring Nova 1.3.X – if you’ve been with the Palm community for a few years you may remember the rumblings of a Nova device or OS having been in development in Sunnyvale.
All that said, we’re hopeful that this is the real deal, and it shows that Palm has made more behind-the-scenes progress than this blogger expected. An update to webOS that enables the GPU and an update to the SDK that provides native access for apps like this would be a huge huge huge (yes, triple huge) coup for Palm and would quickly silence critics of the lack of quality apps. Is this something we’re likely to see soon? Boy, we hope so, but we wouldn’t count on it. As Casperstar said, this is internal testing material, not release candidate.
Oh, and this mystery version of webOS also has solved the app limit issue that plagues current Pre and Pixi owners.
As always, with something like this you should set aside a grain or two of salt. Palm obviously won’t confirm or deny this sort of stuff and we never see the game opened or closed. It would be easy enough to fake this with a combination of videos, patches, practice, a bit of Photoshop magic, patience, and a twisted sense of humor. Still… our fingers are most definitely crossed. We want to believe.
UPDATE: The MX Web has taken a close look at the App Catalog list image and believes this to be a hoax given a number of discrepancies between it and the App Catalog currently on devices. We’re not sure it’s enough to debunk this, given the other evidence that doesn’t quite match up but could easily be attributed to internal testing, but we as always remain skeptical.
Thanks to everybody that sent this in!
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>
Spanish Pre users needn’t worry about when they’re going to get 3D gaming, as Electronic Arts has come to the rescue. Available now in the App Catalog on Movistar in Spain is a new app: Need For Speed Undercover (GRATIS), for the price of gratis. Gratis being free. And as best as we can tell, it’s the full version that will run you $9.99 in the States.
Dear Santa,
