Flash Gaming

[AireTamStorm]

The only thing that is in the grey is the emulated games. A video player is a very important feature for a device like this. It isn't in a grey area at all, not one bit.

If it uses proprietary licensed codecs, its in a grey area. This includes, but is not limited to:
WMV
VC1
DivX
MP3
AAC
ATRAC (lol!)

Edit: Not that I care!

 

[MagicPants]

i would find it unacceptable for this kind of device not to have a really good flash player, ready for easy playing with the touchscreen.

I agree with you, but it's probably not going to happen on launch. The hardware guys probably have their hands full. Cool thing about this being an open device is that anyone* can do it. I'd just suggest that if anyone does do it and in open source it'd be cool sometime down the road integrate it with the device really slickly.

I've noticed that playing flash games in a browser in full screen mode works really well, though you need to get rid of the tool bars which is kind of a pain. I also saved some flash games to disk and tried them off-line. I'd say about 2/3 of them work.

One issue I might have underestimated is that flash games can take quite a lot of horse power, at least the ones I like (tower defense / shooters), so I'll have to wait and see.

* well probably not "anyone" as in me, but "anyone" as in someone else, and for free

 

[CandidStan]

The only thing that is in the grey is the emulated games. A video player is a very important feature for a device like this. It isn't in a grey area at all, not one bit.

If it uses proprietary licensed codecs, its in a grey area. This includes, but is not limited to:
WMV
VC1
DivX
MP3
AAC
ATRAC (lol!)

Edit: Not that I care!


Wouldn't that be not such a grey area if the user had to supply them?

 

[AireTamStorm]

If it uses proprietary licensed codecs, its in a grey area. This includes, but is not limited to:
...
Edit: Not that I care!

Wouldn't that be not such a grey area if the user had to supply them?


As that is what most modern Linux distributions do, yeah. Ubuntu doesn't come with mp3 playback for instance, but every time you try to play one it offers to download and install a codec for you automagickally. My how the times have changed...

 

[avik]

i would find it unacceptable for this kind of device not to have a really good flash player, ready for easy playing with the touchscreen.

My desktop doesn't have a great Flash player (it's decent at best), and that's only because I'm on GNU/Linux on an AMD64 platform. What are the chances that the Pandora, which uses an ARM processor, will have a good Flash player?

Okay, the Flash specs have been opened up, but work on creating an open-source implementation haven't progressed much. I sincerely want there to be such a player, both for the Pandora and my desktop, but I wouldn't be surprised if I have to wait for years before that happens.

 

[Joshsux]

Omg yes, Flash games rule, On my PC i use a program called: Total Video Player, it's awesome i really hope they work on it.

 

[bigtruck]

My desktop doesn't have a great Flash player (it's decent at best), and that's only because I'm on GNU/Linux on an AMD64 platform. What are the chances that the Pandora, which uses an ARM processor, will have a good Flash player?

Have you looked into nspluginwrapper? It lets you use the 32-bit flash plugin on 64-bit systems, and works much better than gnash or swfdec.

As I typed that I got the idea of porting nspluginwrapper to the Pandora, but unfortunately it is mainly for x86_64. There is a PPC version that requires the use of qemu and doesn't run very well, so making an ARM version for the Pandora would probably be very difficult.

 

[MagicPants]

Why is it that I have a great gaming PC at home, one at work they don't mind me playing games on (within reason) and I'm super excited about a 4 inch handheld that does the same thing?

Do I need to be able to play games at all times? Like when I'm driving to work? Do I really need access to full length movies while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store?

Yes, yes I do.

 

[sindbad]

Unlikely to have games, just movie streaming. Swfdec runs youtube and many other sites, gnash is a lot behind right now.

I have a feeling of deja-vu.

 

[zaoin]

Could Pandora play Flow?

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

 

[sindbad]

I highly doubt it, but you can try playing it with swfdec and gnash. If either one of them works, you're in luck.

 

[fusion_power]

The only FLASH games I play are Tower-Defense Games, so I don't know if this problem is in every Flash Game. But somehow they are incredibly slow onto the PC. My Machine is old but even at the modern DualCore of my buddy, these Games are just slow if the onscreen Action is heavy. Full CPU Usage always. I don't know if flash is just the wrong plattform for such games or the games are just bad coded, I don't know. I haven't found a good TD-Flash game yet without (later ingame) slowdowns included.

So I wonder, how these Games would run onto the Pandora?

http://www.novelconcepts.co.uk/FlashElementTD/play.asp
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18047
http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=17995

 

[sindbad]

Again, I highly doubt it. The main problem is that the flash implementations that are open source and would work on the pandora are very incomplete.

As a secondary issue, flash is terribly inefficient and can defeat even the most powerfull machines.

 

[mindlord]

Why is it that I have a great gaming PC at home, one at work they don't mind me playing games on (within reason) and I'm super excited about a 4 inch handheld that does the same thing?

Do I need to be able to play games at all times? Like when I'm driving to work? Do I really need access to full length movies while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store?

Yes, yes I do.

:lol: I'm right there with you man.

 

[fusion_power]

As a secondary issue, flash is terribly inefficient and can defeat even the most powerfull machines.

Very true. I hope the Sauce is at least open enough to make a OPTIMIZED, EFFICIENT Flash that uses every available Hardware-Speed. At least for Youtube &Co. Video playback. I know there are talented Coders out there and I'm sure they already have their hands on the new "open" Flash.

If Firefox will be ported onto Pandora, maybe it will include the full Flash Plugin to?

 

[sindbad]

If Firefox will be ported onto Pandora, maybe it will include the full Flash Plugin to?
NO. Firefox is already ported to the pandora.

The adobe flash plugin is only available for x86 processors, while the pandora uses an ARM one. It cannot be ported because it's closed source.

Moderators: I am formally and respectfully requesting a sticky about the flash plugin.

 

[kloplop321]

you aparently did not do research; there is an open source(and updated) version of a flash player called GNASH; and according to how I can view it's source files here: http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/gnash/?root=gnash
I think you can recompile it..
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/#downloading

 

[CandidStan]

How about we all wait for the Pandora to be released, before jumping the gun on what can and cannot be done.

 

[Svartalf]

you aparently did not do research; there is an open source(and updated) version of a flash player called GNASH; and according to how I can view it's source files here: http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/gnash/?root=gnash
I think you can recompile it..
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/#downloading




GNASH can play many flash animations...at about 1/2 the speed of the comparable x86 flashplayer from Adobe- this is the latest stable beta, running on the same machine.

In all honesty, while it's promising, I wish people would hold back a bit before claiming it's a fix for the problems with Flash on Linux.

How about we all wait for the Pandora to be released, before jumping the gun on what can and cannot be done.

Heh... They'd have to get Adobe to come up with a version of flashplayer or the "Flash light" they're plugging for PDA's and smartphones- and then PAY 'em for it.

I think it's plausible to see it happen, but not likely. It's not that it can't be done- it's more of a "is it actually going to happen before the first 3k batch sells out or not" type thing. I'm of the opinion nobody's going to chunk down that kind of change and GNASH isn't QUITE there yet to fill in the gap there.

 

[Kyo]

gnash is far from being perfect. Let's hope they improve it, now that the flash specs are out