There are a lot of things about an old laptop that can be better than a next-gen mobile chip, but yea, it's almost certain that we could get a playable fps on iPad if we used no shaders, and not impossible that it would be almost as pretty and playable as the Tegra2. On a purely technical level, I would have chosen the same hardware target, but if you add in all the non-technical factors, some which you can guess, and some you can't, it was a no-brainer.

Reddit users could also help spread the word: here

If you could nudge the resolution requirements down just a little bit, there will probably be phones that could run it in the foreseeable future. I wouldn't be shocked if the 960x640 resolution of the iPhone4 becomes standardish for high-end phones in the next couple years. I would play VO on a phone, even if I had to squint a bit to read the UI.

800x600 is really the minimum resolution of our UI, and yea, it's possible that we could rework it to be usable at less than that. The problem isn't just the resolution, though. For one thing, if we treated the iPhone's new display like a full-size one, I think it would be awfully busy and hard to read.

More importantly, for any device without a keyboard, we would have a lot more issues with the interface than resolution. Solutions might well involve some of the screen being used as a virtual gamepad (which the sides of a 1024x600 landscape display might barely accommodate). So, we're focusing on "smartbooks" first, and making no promises about hardware other than Tegra2 with keyboard.

Yeah. I'd be interested to see how all the controls would work with a touchscreen-only interface. The accelerometer and gyroscope might be an interesting way to handle thruster control, but it would still be difficult to squeeze everything in.

it'd be good for traders and miners i'm sure or if I wanted to be in a certain spot of the universe when I got home, I dont know If i would want to engage in combat against someone with a stick.

It would also be a better way to log in and chat up the place instead of using irc

http://openpandora.org/ might be a better target than the iPhone at first anyway, resolution might be an issue though - as it's only 800x480 - but does have a keyboard, gaming nubs, a d-pad, a touchscreen, and uses a simaler gpu to the iPhone.

Nice to hear about a portable VO though!

Absolutely awesome! Since you're compiling for ARM, would you consider releasing a version for the Maemo OS? Maemo5 is the current incarnation and MeeGo is the final product for Maemo6+Moblin, that just found its first PC "netbook" style release and will be available on handsets soon. Maemo/MeeGo is backed primarily by Nokia, and is going to explode onto high end phones in the coming year. Maemo5 was the last "For nerds only release" on the awesome Nokia N900 handset, and Maemo6/MeeGo will be available on next-gen devices as well as able to be flashed to the N900. The N900 can easily run 3D OpenGL apps too!

If you can program for Linux on ARM, you can program for Maemo - it basically runs repos just like any other distribution. Maemo5 runs on a Debian base at current. There are no programming/licensing fees of any kind! Also you can code for it native in ANY language! More info...

http://maemo.nokia.com/ - Maemo info
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/ - N900 Hardware
http://talk.maemo.org - Various forums!

yes cause they have all this time to develop for every niche device on the market

Read the FAQ and return to your seats

That's certainly a possibility.

The trouble isn't in actually doing an additional port, that's probably pretty easy, like you say. The problem becomes in maintaining the port in every single build we do. Adding another platform is a hassle for us, we need to be sure the market case justifies it. We're pretty sure there will be a lot of interesting Android/ARM based devices coming out, from a variety of different vendors.

Well, for a niche device there is obviously demand.

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?/topic/54208-wtf-ok-who-listed-this-one/

Lol.

Wooo!

Neat guys! Looks like some of our old wishes are kinda coming true:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/17515

Maybe we'll see ya on G4 this year at E3?

I think it is an excellent step forward. Clearly the market for portable medium sized devices that fall between smartphones and full laptops is expanding. No matter which operating systems or hardware come to dominate the market getting early experience seems very sensible.

Neat guys! Looks like some of our old wishes are kinda coming true

Thankfully, mobile platforms have become a hell of a lot faster since then.

Maybe we'll see ya on G4 this year at E3?

Probably not, the demo we're doing is private, not on the show floor.

It's now on the front page of Slashdot.

Well, piss on my parade inc! ....i just wanted to see you guys on tv.... ....well more like youtube when someone tells me it on there.... .....i'll even probably forget about it and never actually watch it...

BUT IT WONT HAPPEN ANYWAY! *sigh*

When I suggested that you guys port VO to Android, I was joking. How are you handling input, and stuff? Most android tablets and stuff will be pretty much exclusively touchscreen.

No accelerometers?

Accelerometers would be a horrible way to control a spaceship.

Maybe it could be used for moving around and trading, but i don't see combat working.
And for the former, with FA on, you could do with thrust and heading controls, which could be achieved somewhat easily.

Feel free to prove me wrong tho