How about the Blackberry?

[ArchiveGuest]

(This post was originally by Snoogy)
I just got a Blackberry 8700c, so of course I would like to play Bejeweled on it. I miss it on my old Palm, but the BB has replaced it well.

[Kristopher]

From what I've seen of the BlackBerry, it only has the game capabilities of a normal cell phone. Bejeweled might work, but I doubt most games could be ported. BTW, there might be Bejeweled styled games for it already. :D

[plantagoo]

Hi!

Yeah. The 8700 is a powerful machine. I miss all the Astraware Puzzlers and the like...

On Blackberry your games are missing...

Greetings
plant

[tagbert]

I would love to have Bejeweled on my Blackberry 8100. The "pearl" trackball would work well with Bejeweled and that Cingular has picked up the 8100, there are tons out there.

I recently traded in my pocketpc for the Blackberry. The only think i miss is Bejeweled .

[nuclearw]

No response yet.. hmm I throw my hat in for the Blackberry as well, since now work is giving me one

[plantagoo]

Hi!

Astraware should look for the "new" platforms since Palm (yes, I know they'll hate me for that) is nearly dead - no innovation whatsoever...

Winmobile is market leader. But recently A LOT of people are switching to the Blackberry platform. At least 6 of my friends (all were brave Palm followers in the past years) switched to BB 8700 or 8100 aka Pearl. They love it. And they miss those great Astraware games...

Just my €0.02

Greetings
Erik

[SteveSpurlock]

I agree. I was just given a Blackberry Pearl at work and it's making it harder to cart around my PPC (Axim).

[plantagoo]

Hi!

Nobody seems to read, listen or care about this specific topic...

Hello Astraware? Are there plans to translate your great games to the now even more interesting Blackberry platform -> 8700, 8100 aka Pearl and the soon to be available 8800 aka BigPearl?

Please... please...

Greetings
plant

[Howard]

I'd love for us to be able to do everything that everyone would like - support lots of platforms, create new games, create licensed versions of existing PC games, update existing PDA titles... but we've only got a limited number of developers!

Take a quick look at our blog : http://www.astraware.com/company/blog.php - we've given some overview of what we're currently trying to do.

Blackberry (and its family) remains on my radar, but if we do add titles for this platform it will mean new coding, since development doesn't use the same language as we have for most of our existing titles. That makes new development for Blackberry take much longer than adding new platform support in other directions where we can keep the same game code (and just update our CTL.)

Howard.

[plantagoo]

Hi!

Thanks Howard for your statement. I can understand what you say.

My thoughts:

As for me is a question of market share. Palm OS is dead by now. Windows Mobile is a big thing. But the other big thing is the Blackberry platform by RIM. I didn't believe it myself.

I received a PN by Kieren back then in July 06 and he told me that he thinks a lot of Blackberrys are given away by companies and that they lock up their units so no 3rd party software may be installed. This maybe the truth.

But IMHO you shouldn't miss this market. A lot - and I mean a lot - of people around me are switching to Blackberry right now - they are all using it private - and they are "hungry" for 3rd party apps like Bejeweled or Mars needs Cows and other more "serious" software you don't provide.

They all came from Palm to MS Mobile to Blackberry. And I guess they'll stay a while... ;) :D

Take a look at the great upcoming Blackberry 8800 (built in GPS, small package, fullsize keyboard, large bright screen, good resolution, trackball)...

I just don't give up hope to be one of the first to play Bejeweled on my 8100/8800 (or whatever...).

You'll make it. You've got GREAT products.

TIA

Greetings
plant

[nuclearw]

Unfortunately I can see how difficult it would be. Currently I believe all the AW team are C/C++ developers. everything on the BlackBerry is JAVA, which would either require new developers, or a lot of learning time for the current developers to hone their skills with this new and unfamiliar programming language.

I know there are some similarities between C and Java, unfortunately I don't believe there are enough to make it a smooth process.

In the end I suspect AW will have to go blackberry, with the new generations of phones being released (I have an 8100(pearl)) and the 8800 looks slick. I can see the market expanding for Blackberry into the public sector.

Howard,

I look forward to the day I can play AW games on my BlackBerry :)

[BohemianCoast]

Hi!

As for me is a question of market share. Palm OS is dead by now. Windows Mobile is a big thing. But the other big thing is the Blackberry platform by RIM. I didn't believe it myself.

I've just bought a BlackBerry Pearl (8100), after years of using a Palm and a mobile phone, and I love it to bits. I *also* have a work BlackBerry, which is one of the locked-down-no-new-software types. But I'd love to have Astraware games to play on my own one.

I think the BlackBerry is a cracking little smartphone, just ace.

[plantagoo]

Hi!

So, I think Astraware is missing the train right now...

bplay (magmic) just released Bookworm for the Blackberry and Gameloft announced some titles for BB today.

Again - is there any chance that we'll (ever) see games of our favourite game company named Astraware on our favourite mobile solution named Blackberry?

Please, come on.

Greetings
plant

[kersti]

Work provides a blackberry and a nokia phone for me - not locked down :)

I know that in the next couple of months I'll be upgraded to a BB Pearl too

And since personal calls within reason are allowed on it, why would I carry other devices?

[kersti]

Unfortunately I can see how difficult it would be. Currently I believe all the AW team are C/C++ developers. everything on the BlackBerry is JAVA, which would either require new developers, or a lot of learning time for the current developers to hone their skills with this new and unfamiliar programming language.

Ahh but a good programmer would relish the opportunity for the challenge - why not do a google and let them spend some time each week learning something new?

[CKay]

oh kersti, AW does have good programmers, and I'm sure some of them are trying to learn new stuff, INCLUDING JAVA, all the time! But this discussion really gets deep into a company's business model. When AW's hard-working programmers are ready to jump into the JAVA world, they will. They are keeping a watchful eye on the market and the changes that are on the horizon. I for one would hate to give up my T5 (no, no, don't take away my baby! :-) but I once had a RIM pager and I loved their thumbboard and the ease of use. Right now the market is mostly business-related...but maybe soon it'll become more consumer-oriented. And, let's face it, we LOVE GAMES! But those businesses who "loan" us the use of one of their blackberry units, well...they don't take too kindly to employees loading up with a bunch of fun stuff. (I can't tell you how long I carried around TWO CELL PHONES just because of that reason)... patience my friends...breathe deep...chill...peace.

[Astragali]

OK, first of all, I'm not an expert on this, so please feel free to correct me. Of course, not being an expert has rarely stopped me from having an opinion :D (total ignorance does, though... but anyway...)

I would suspect that AW wouldn't just want to cater for the Blackberry if they were going to create Java-based games; after all, as popular as those fruity little numbers might be, chances are that it's still a drop in the ocean compared to the other types of phone out there. And naturellement, AW would want to get as big as return as possible for their investment.

(OK, I'm not Howard (me being sat in a poky bedroom in Connecticut is proof positive of that), but it doesn't seem like an unreasonable assumption considering AW is a business :))

Which brings up an issue... screen resolutions all over the place. True, AW already deals with the multitude of resolutions for Palm, PPC and WMSP, so it might not be too much of a hassle to add in the resolutions for cellphones (my RAZR, for example, has a QVGA screen). All the same, I'm glad I'm not in their shoes! (OK, the part of me that doesn't like the idea of the poky bedroom is yearning for different shoes(???), but I'm rambling...)

But I've found that trying to find games for the phone is a major pain - out of the sites I've visited to download games for the RAZR, games which claim to be compatible either have a screen display smaller than my phone, or don't work with the buttons on the phone, or both. So attempting to deal with all those possible combinations of buttons and their functions could be a nightmare!

Insquidentally, I know that there's at least one person at AW who knows Java :)

Mark, who often finds he can't first-guess a person, let alone second-guess them...

[Howard]

There's a whole lot more to making a business in Java gaming than a lot of people realise (including a lot of people who go into business... and back out a year or two later!). The main issue is not the development (and with the poting to hundreds of different devices, that can be some effort!), but the business side. The Java game market for mobiles is still very much driven by brands (which requires a high licensing cost and lengthy legals), and the sales all have to happen directly through carriers, which is again a lengthy process. Many developers have created games which have never seen a public release because of this challenge. Even if you do get a game released, if it isn't one of the "top 5" on the deck of each phone, it won't get a substantial number of sales.

I've always felt that Astraware can thrive and continue by being an expert in a narrow range of platforms (even if our potential market is smaller). Being a leader in our fields is a preference above vanishing without trace in the wider Java world.

We are expanding our platform support - but slowly, and in places where we can make a real difference and continue to lead. Look for more news about that shortly!

Howard.

[OicheShamhna]

In the end. It's numbers, And here is how it works for me. I was a Windows Mobile user. I got a Blackberry and have no intentions of moving back. Therefor I will no longer be buying games from Astraware. They don't make games for the Blackberry so I have no need for them. I will move to companies that do support the platform. Seriously, I am not going to switch mobile phone platforms to play a game. The truth is RIM is very successful at what they do, and the phone are moving quite nicely. Check there stock. There move to the consumer market has been met with open arms. So with A major group of people moving to the iphone and Blackberry if other companies don't pay attention they will not be around. The mobile phone industry is moving at lightning pace and those that don't learn to move at the same speed and adapt will perish, And that is the simple truth.

[richard00]

Have a read of this press release (http://www.astraware.com/company/press/index.php?item=handmarkPR).

Through the new relationship, Astraware will expand its existing UK games development studio to develop new high profile licenses as well as continuing work on original titles. In addition to Palm OS® and Windows Mobile®, Astraware will release their first titles for Symbian® S60® and UIQ® in the first quarter of 2008, and will add games for BlackBerry® devices later in the year.

Richard

[WauloK]

Since they have to write the BB games in J2ME I wonder if they will work on other devices :D

[plantagoo]

Have a read of this press release (http://www.astraware.com/company/press/index.php?item=handmarkPR).

Better late than never. Palm will never come back I suggest (they just closed their 34 retail stores).

I don't know. Isn't it a little bit late to jump on Symbian now and even later to the Blackberry platform?

I LOVE Astraware games, really. But I hope they'll take a move to support all the market leaders which are RIM, Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian - they currently support ONLY ONE of them! Sorry, but this is a fast growing and also fast changing market - and I hope they stay in touch.

I'd support the iPhone the first day the SDK is released in February! 4 mio very happy customers (lot's of consumer ones) are eagerly awaiting "fresh food".

I'm looking forward to play those games again: Bejeweled 2, MnC, Bookworm, Chuzzle, etc. etc. etc.

Greetings
Erik