| Game: | Developers with more than one product: Infinite Dreams titles | OmniGSoft titles (3D Mini-Jetfight 1.2 and Dogfight 1.5) | Fathammer titles | Mobirate titles | RealDice titles (Multiplayer Championship Poker - Texas Hold'em 3.07 and Backgammon 1.1 ) | i-mate titles | DreamQuest titles | Chess games (in addition to the DreamQuest title): Chesscapade 1.52sv1.24 | Valentin Iliescu Chess | Intelli Chess 2.7.33 | Olmichess 2.61 | Battleship games: ZIO Space Tactics 1.0 | Handmark Battleship 1.06 | Game: | Misc titles: Quartz 2 1.2 | RocketElite 2.1 | Warfare Incorporated 1.2 | TapzMania: Bug Killer 1.01 | CUBE | CanTris | Snails 2.6 | Game: | The Travel Collection 1.6 | Classic Checkers 2.0 | The Great Gold Rush | PopperZ 1.0 | Battle Cake 1.1 |
| Misc : Price | Both $9.95 | Both $19.95 | $11... $19.95 | Both $14.95 | $14.95 | $14.95...$19.95; Backgammon comes free with i-mate phones/ROM upgrades | All $19.97 | $18.00 | free | $24.95 | $14.95 | $5.95 | $19.99 | Misc : Price | $6.95 | $18.99 | $29.99 | $11.95 | free | free | $19.95 | Misc : Price | $9.95 | $5.95 | $14.95 | $12.99 | $14.95 |
| Genre & addictivity / replayability/ recommendation | Arcade / one on one; highly recommended for Widcomm users! | Flight simulator - one on one shooter like the old (1991) F29 Retaliator on the PC or ACE2 on the C64; pretty good over BT PAN or Wi-Fi P2P | Racing games (one on one), very good over BT PAN or Wi-Fi P2P, even on outdated Pocket PC's like the iPAQ 36xx series | Billiard/ bowling; I found the billiard game fun when played in one on one mode | As far as Poker is concerned, it's the best MP poker game. If you're into the genre, you will want to give it a try, esp. if you have a VGA device. The Backgammon title is very good too (esp. on VGA), but not necessarily better than the direct P2P-enabled and, therefore, much more flerxible (LAN capabilities) Travel Collection. The latter lacks a VGA-resolution screen though. | Mostly card/board games and a pool (billiard) one. The latter is pretty cool in MP. (See my remarks on the comparison to the Mobirate pool game!) Being non-Appforge-based, much faster games than the DreamQuest titles. | These are the games that I like the least. They're pretty slow (Appforge!) and the LAN networking model could be better | You may like it - check out its capabilities. | Recommended: multiplatform, always working and free. No central database though. | Not recommended as yet: only guest ICC account and other severe bugs; therefore, useless for serious gaming. | Highly recommended if you have a PPC2k2 device; otherwise, forget it. | One on one; if you like battleship/torpedo games, I recommend this over the Handmark title because of the much lower price tag | one on one | Genre & addictivity / replayability/ recommendation | Arcade Bejeweled-clone; parallel game; recommended for BT PAN/native MS BT stack or Wi-Fi P2P users | Arcade; Highly recommended if you liked, for example, Choplifter, Lunar Lander or Fort Apocalypse on old 8-bit platforms. Great sounds/visuals. For BT PAN or Wi-Fi P2P users. | RTS one on one; highly recommended if you are not a hardcore RTS fan (meaning very high, Starcraft/ Warcraft III-level expectations); BT PAN, Wi-Fi P2P, Internet and native Widcomm BT support. | Arcade; one on one/ cooperative game with great scener music; runs on everything supporting BT serial ports (even very old/odd BT stacks) | FPS, one on one; if you like FPS games and have an x50v/x51v, this is the game to go for | Tetris; parallel play, which is not as fun as one-on-one games; still, worth a try. Works over BT PAN, Wi-Fi P2P, IR, Internet | Turn-based Worms clone; one-on-one, highly recommended. Server is often offline though. | Genre & addictivity / replayability/ recommendation | Six board games (incl. chess); highly recommended! Internet- and LAN-based MP gaming. | Checkers; Better than the i-mate and the DreamQuest Checkers titles; inferior to The Travel Collection | Arcade, played on the same field and, therefore, 1v1-like; very enjoyable! Highly recommended for BT PAN (no support for MS BT stack) or Wi-Fi P2P users. | Arcade, definitely weaker than The Great Gold Rush; recommended for MS BT stack users only. | Nice multiplatform native Widcomm + MS BT arcade game with several players at the same time; highly recommended |
| Main RAM memory consumption | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Must be explicitly copied from the RAM to a storage card after installation | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can all be installed on cards, only the 60k TransportMgr.dll is installed into \Windows | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Main RAM memory consumption | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards; the only file that remains after uninstall is \Windows\ customer.inf | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Installs 3 .mod files (308k) into \Program Files\ Games\ ModMusic\ | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | One 181k .EXE; can be anywhere | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Main RAM memory consumption | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards | Can be entirely installed on storage cards |
| Number of maximal players in a game | 2 | Many players (but they will slow down the game considerably!); new players can leave/join games any time | 2 | 2 | Several with Poker, two with Backgammon | 2 with 2-player games like Checkers and Pool; more with card games | 2 (for example, Chess) to more | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Number of maximal players in a game | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | many | 2 | 2 | Number of maximal players in a game | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| MP game type | cooperative / 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | 1v1 | MP game type | parallel | Parallel | 1v1 only at the time | Parallel + 1v1 (same field) | Cooperative (?)/1v1 | Parallel | 1v1 | MP game type | 1v1 | 1v1 | Parallel/1v1 (same field) | 1v1 and two team modes for more than two players | 1v1/team (as of the new, 02/2006 version) |
| In-game chat | - | - | - | - | + | + | ? | - | ? | + | - | - | - | In-game chat | - | - | - | - | ? | ? | - | In-game chat | + | + | | - | - |
| Game: | Developers with more than one product: Infinite Dreams titles | OmniGSoft titles (3D Mini-Jetfight 1.2 and Dogfight 1.5) | Fathammer titles | Mobirate titles | RealDice titles (Multiplayer Championship Poker - Texas Hold'em 3.07 and Backgammon 1.1 ) | i-mate titles | DreamQuest titles | Chess games (in addition to the DreamQuest title): Chesscapade 1.52sv1.24 | Valentin Iliescu Chess | Intelli Chess 2.7.33 | Olmichess 2.61 | Battleship games: ZIO Space Tactics 1.0 | Handmark Battleship 1.06 | Game: | Misc titles: Quartz 2 1.2 | RocketElite 2.1 | Warfare Incorporated 1.2 | TapzMania: Bug Killer 1.01 | CUBE | CanTris | Snails 2.6 | Game: | The Travel Collection 1.6 | Classic Checkers 2.0 | The Great Gold Rush | PopperZ 1.0 | Battle Cake 1.1 |
| Operating system compliance (other than WM2003(SE) on the PPC), including other platforms: PPC2k (non-ARM)? | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | + | - | - | - | + | Operating system compliance (other than WM2003(SE) on the PPC), including other platforms: PPC2k (non-ARM)? | - | + | + | - | n/a | + | - | Operating system compliance (other than WM2003(SE) on the PPC), including other platforms: PPC2k (non-ARM)? | - | + | - | - | - |
| PPC2k2? | - | + | +; both games work great over BT PAN + autodiscovery | - | - | - | + | + | + | + | + | + | + (BT PAN + host IP enter works OK) | PPC2k2? | + (WM2003 and PPC2k2 versions are separate downloads) | + | + (native BT) | + | n/a | + | + | PPC2k2? | + (BT PAN, host IP entered) | + | +; works great over both BT PAN and Wi-Fi P2P | - | - |
| WM5? | + | + | - (!) | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | (+) | + | ? (problems on x51v A06; works OK on Wizard) | WM5 | + | + (in Wi-Fi p2p MP mode, really slow on the Wizard and, albeit there's connection and the enemy ship is also displayed, constantly displays "NO CONNECTION" in the center of the screen. In single player, worked OK) | + | + | n/a | + | + | WM5 | + | + | + | + | + |
| Multiplatform? If yes, can be played against other platforms? | + (Symbian S60/90/UIQ / Smartphone / Palm) /+ (Symbian S60 and Smartphone only) | + (PC) /+ | + (Symbian S60/UIQ) / Smartphone / Gizmondo/ Tapwave)/ + | - | + (Palm OS and, with Poker, also MS Smartphone and desktop Windows; the latter is free) / + | - | + (Symbian / Palm / PC) / + | - | + (Smartphone / PC) /+ | - | - | - | - | Multiplatform? If yes, can be played against other platforms? | + (Symbian S60/S80, UIQ, MS Smartphone, Windows desktop) / + | - | + (Palm) / + | - | + (PC) / + | + (PC, PsPC, H/PC) / + | + (Smartphone / H/PC / PC / Palm) / + (PC) | Multiplatform? If yes, can be played against other platforms? | - | + (PC)/+ | - | - | + (Symbian S60/90/UIQ / MS Smartphone / Palm OS5)/+ |
| Game: | Developers with more than one product: Infinite Dreams titles | OmniGSoft titles (3D Mini-Jetfight 1.2 and Dogfight 1.5) | Fathammer titles | Mobirate titles | RealDice titles (Multiplayer Championship Poker - Texas Hold'em 3.07 and Backgammon 1.1 ) | i-mate titles | DreamQuest titles | Chess games (in addition to the DreamQuest title): Chesscapade 1.52sv1.24 | Valentin Iliescu Chess | Intelli Chess 2.7.33 | Olmichess 2.61 | Battleship games: ZIO Space Tactics 1.0 | Handmark Battleship 1.06 | Game: | Misc titles: Quartz 2 1.2 | RocketElite 2.1 | Warfare Incorporated 1.2 | TapzMania: Bug Killer 1.01 | CUBE | CanTris | Snails 2.6 | Game: | The Travel Collection 1.6 | Classic Checkers 2.0 | The Great Gold Rush | PopperZ 1.0 | Battle Cake 1.1 |
| Networking model: bird's-eye view | Native (Widcomm-only) BT | LAN server-based; server can be hosted on both PPC's and PC's. No central server / native BT / other means. | BT PAN/ Wi-Fi P2P LAN-only with auto-discovery | BT native auto-discovery | Central server | Central server-based | Central server-based (LAN couldn't be tested) | Central server-based | Central server-based | Central server-based | Central server-based | TCP/IP, IR | TCP/IP, IR | Networking model: bird's-eye view | TCP/IP; native (MS) BT | TCP/IP, IR | TCP/IP; native (Widcomm) BT | Serial BT | TCP/IP with standalone PC-based LAN server | TCP/IP, IR | Central server | Networking model: bird's-eye view | TCP/IP + central server | Central server | LAN (BT PAN/ Wi-Fi P2P) with autodiscovery | Native (MS-only) BT | Native (MS, Widcomm) BT |
| Networking model: thorough elaboration: Serial BT support | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Networking model: thorough elaboration: Serial BT support | - | - | - | +; works great with all the BT-enabled devices | - | - | - | Networking model: thorough elaboration: Serial BT support | - | - | - | - | - |
| Native IR support | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | + | + | Native IR support | - | + and even serial ports; choosable serial port (usable any serial port under COM5) | - | - | - | + | - | Native IR support | - | - | - | - | - |
| Native BT support (if present): MS BT stack compliance and tests? | - | n/a | n/a | + (1.4+ only!) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Native BT support (if present): MS BT stack compliance and tests? | + | n/a | - | n/t | n/a | n/a | n/a | Native BT support (if present): MS BT stack compliance and tests? | n/a | n/a | n/a | + | + |
| Widcomm BT stack compliance and tests? | + (add-on BT DLL's needed with some devices) | n/a | n/a | - | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Widcomm BT stack compliance and tests? | - | n/t | + | n/t | n/a | n/a | n/a | Widcomm BT stack compliance and tests? | n/a | n/a | n/a | - | (add-on BT DLL's needed with some devices) |
| Is it fully automatic (no need for pre-pairing)? | + (finds servers automatically, no need for BT pre-pairing) | n/a | n/a + (finds servers automatically (no IP input is needed) if the PAN is manually started; also works over Wi-Fi because of generic multicast discovery) | + | n/a | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Is it fully automatic (no need for pre-pairing)? | + (MS only) | - | + (finds automatically, no need for pre-pairing) | + (no IP entry is needed; however, serial ports must be set and the two PDA's preferably paired before the game) | - | - | - | Is it fully automatic (no need for pre-pairing)? | - | - | n/a | + (everything is automatic, even enabling the BT unit) | + (finds clients automatically, no need for BT pre-pairing) |
| Game: | Developers with more than one product: Infinite Dreams titles | OmniGSoft titles (3D Mini-Jetfight 1.2 and Dogfight 1.5) | Fathammer titles | Mobirate titles | RealDice titles (Multiplayer Championship Poker - Texas Hold'em 3.07 and Backgammon 1.1 ) | i-mate titles | DreamQuest titles | Chess games (in addition to the DreamQuest title): Chesscapade 1.52sv1.24 | Valentin Iliescu Chess | Intelli Chess 2.7.33 | Olmichess 2.61 | Battleship games: ZIO Space Tactics 1.0 | Handmark Battleship 1.06 | Game: | Misc titles: Quartz 2 1.2 | RocketElite 2.1 | Warfare Incorporated 1.2 | TapzMania: Bug Killer 1.01 | CUBE | CanTris | Snails 2.6 | Game: | The Travel Collection 1.6 | Classic Checkers 2.0 | The Great Gold Rush | PopperZ 1.0 | Battle Cake 1.1 |
| Non-native, TCP/IP LAN-based tests/info (if supported): LAN Wi-Fi p2p test (PL720, iPAQ 2210 / iPAQ 3660 + SanDisk Connect Pro, HTC Wizard, Dell Axim x51v) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | +; tested on four devices at the same time; works great | +; worked great in every tested combination | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | + | + | Non-native, TCP/IP LAN-based tests/info (if supported): LAN Wi-Fi p2p test (PL720, iPAQ 2210 / iPAQ 3660 + SanDisk Connect Pro, HTC Wizard, Dell Axim x51v) | + (tested with four test devices at the same time) | + | +; auto-discover over both Wi-Fi and BT LAN (no IP entering necessary); tested with all the test PDA's | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a | + | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | Non-native, TCP/IP LAN-based tests/info (if supported): LAN Wi-Fi p2p test (PL720, iPAQ 2210 / iPAQ 3660 + SanDisk Connect Pro, HTC Wizard, Dell Axim x51v) | + | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | +; tested with up to 4 Wi-Fi devices; worked OK | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) |
| LAN BT PAN test (PL720, iPAQ 1940, iPAQ 2210, iPAQ 3660 + Widcomm 1.3.1) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | +; tested on three devices at the same time; works great | +; worked great in every tested combination | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | + | + | LAN BT PAN test (PL720, iPAQ 1940, iPAQ 2210, iPAQ 3660 + Widcomm 1.3.1) | + (over a manually set-up BT PAN) | + | + | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/t (doesn't run on non-2700g devices) | + | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | LAN BT PAN test (PL720, iPAQ 1940, iPAQ 2210, iPAQ 3660 + Widcomm 1.3.1) | + | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | +; worked great in all cases, except for the iPAQ 1940 | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) |
| LAN discovery to avoid having to enter the server's local IP into clients? | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | - | + | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | + | - | LAN discovery to avoid having to enter the server's local IP into clients? | - (but, at least, stores previously entered server IP's, up to 5 addresses) | - | + | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/t | - | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | LAN discovery to avoid having to enter the server's local IP into clients? | - | n/a (no TCP/IP LAN support) | + | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) |
| Non-LAN TCP/IP-based tests/info: Non-LAN, fully TCP/IP-based, central server-less P2P: supported? | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | + (but unplayable over laggy connections) | n/a (no non-LAN support with arbitrary IP addresses; only LAN discovery supported) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | - (central server only) | + | + | Non-LAN TCP/IP-based tests/info: Non-LAN, fully TCP/IP-based, central server-less P2P: supported? | + | + | + | N/A | ? | + | - (central server only) | Non-LAN TCP/IP-based tests/info: Non-LAN, fully TCP/IP-based, central server-less P2P: supported? | + | - (central server only) | n/a | n/a | - |
| General TCP/IP: Does the host display its IP address (if the game is not using a central server-based model)? | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | + | n/a (no non-LAN support with arbitrary IP addresses; only LAN discovery supported) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | n/a (central server only) | - | - | General TCP/IP: Does the host display its IP address (if the game is not using a central server-based model)? | + | n/t | + (over LAN, it also has auto-discovery) | n/a | n/a | + | n/a (central server only) | General TCP/IP: Does the host display its IP address (if the game is not using a central server-based model)? | + | n/a (central server only) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Game: | Developers with more than one product: Infinite Dreams titles | OmniGSoft titles (3D Mini-Jetfight 1.2 and Dogfight 1.5) | Fathammer titles | Mobirate titles | RealDice titles (Multiplayer Championship Poker - Texas Hold'em 3.07 and Backgammon 1.1 ) | i-mate titles | DreamQuest titles | Chess games (in addition to the DreamQuest title): Chesscapade 1.52sv1.24 | Valentin Iliescu Chess | Intelli Chess 2.7.33 | Olmichess 2.61 | Battleship games: ZIO Space Tactics 1.0 | Handmark Battleship 1.06 | Game: | Misc titles: Quartz 2 1.2 | RocketElite 2.1 | Warfare Incorporated 1.2 | TapzMania: Bug Killer 1.01 | CUBE | CanTris | Snails 2.6 | Game: | The Travel Collection 1.6 | Classic Checkers 2.0 | The Great Gold Rush | PopperZ 1.0 | Battle Cake 1.1 |
| If it supports the central server model: manufacturer-provided Internet server (or local one?) | - | - | - | - | + | + | + | + | + | +; ICC accounts don't seem to work in the PDA version! | +; FICS-compatible! - only on PPC2k2 | - | - | If it supports the central server model: manufacturer-provided Internet server (or local one?) | - | - | - | - | + and a server run on a PC | -; no public server available; runs flawlessly on the desktop PC; PPC2k2 only! | + | If it supports the central server model: manufacturer-provided Internet server (or local one?) | + | + | n/a | n/a | - |
| Your own server on your desktop? | - | +, even on the PDA | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Your own server on your desktop? | - | - | - | - | + | + (Java-based - therefore, prolly runnable even on a PPC) | - | Your own server on your desktop? | - | - | n/a | n/a | N/A |
| Cradle vs firewalled (!) GPRS (TCP/IP) test | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | - (unplayable over laggy connections) | n/a (no non-LAN support with arbitrary IP addresses; only LAN discovery supported) | n/a (no TCP/IP support) | + | + | ? (couldn't test because of trial restrictions; others reported it works OK) | - (didn't connect over EDGE/GPRS; did connect, however, via two AS Internet pass-throughs it worked flawlessly) | - (didn't work over GPRS) | - (has only managed to challenge desktop-logged opponents) | + (a cradled PPC2k2 device vs a desktop PC) | N/A | N/A | Cradle vs firewalled (!) GPRS (TCP/IP) test | n/t | N/A | N/A | N/A | ? | + (PPC2k2 only!) | + | Cradle vs firewalled (!) GPRS (TCP/IP) test | - (physically, it uses p2p communication for gaming) | + | n/a | n/a | N/A |
| If there's a manufacturer-provided server, average number of available opponents at a given time? | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Not many - between 0...2 during the test | Very few | Very few (between 0 and 15) - for example, I've never seen any Chess players | Never seen anyone else | You can't play strangers, only your MSN buddies | Hundreds of them | Really a lot -after all, it's FICS! | N/A | N/A | If there's a manufacturer-provided server, average number of available opponents at a given time? | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Never saw anyone else than me | If there's a manufacturer-provided server, average number of available opponents at a given time? | haven't seen anyone except me | haven't seen anyone except me | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Opponents choosable on the server? | N/A | + (named games freely joinable) | N/A | N/A | + | - | +; opponents listed | + | + | + (to a certain degree) | + | N/A | N/A | Opponents choosable on the server? | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | + | + | + | Opponents choosable on the server? | + | + (decent solution - buddy list) | n/a | n/a | N/A |
| Other server-side goodies (ranking system, saved high scores) | N/A | - | N/A | N/A | + | Chat, named accounts (the latter only available for i-mate device owners!) | ? | + (ranks?) | - | +; a complete ranking system (useless from a PDA because of the restrictions/ bugs); chat notification working even on the PDA (blinking letter icon) | + ranking system; no ingame chat, unlike with Intelli Chess! | N/A | N/A | Other server-side goodies (ranking system, saved high scores) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | ? | +; very good! (PPC2k2 only!) | - | Other server-side goodies (ranking system, saved high scores) | - | ? | n/a | n/a | N/A |