Hands-on with NVIDIA's APX 2500, and yeah, it plays Quake

Yet another mobile platform, and this time with NVIDIA power. We had a chance to checkout the APX 2500 and its Quake skills at MWC today and we're definitely enthused about this new toy. Engadget Mobile has all the pics so just wander over via the link to see this thing in action.

[FordGTGuy @ Feb 13th 2008 10:15AM]

But does it play Doom?

[Tom Oliveri @ Feb 13th 2008 11:24AM]

yeah, who played quake anyways?

doom rocks

oh by the way, does this thing play doom?

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Feb 13th 2008 11:37AM]

That's not Quake-- that's Quake 3 Arena . . . much beefier game. Even more impressive that it can play it.

[nh @ Feb 13th 2008 2:21PM]

Come on Ford... you had a full 3 minutes to get that in before Carbonize. See what happens when you hang about?

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 3:22PM]

@nh - Both Ford and I posted at 10:15AM I think it's unfair to rank them down. Just mine was more humorous (damn my modesty). So given we both posted at 10:15 how did they have a 'full three minutes' ?

[Luis @ Feb 13th 2008 4:41PM]

Quake was MORE fun.

[nh @ Feb 18th 2008 7:18PM]

Ford posted less than a minute after you, but he could have posted in minutes 10:12, 10:13 or 10:14 and been the first one with the Doom comment.

Sheesh, why am I even explaining this? I'm gonna rank myself down.

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 10:15AM]

But does it play Doom?








Oh come on someone had to say it.

[Mic2000 @ Feb 13th 2008 3:17PM]

Who votes for Duke Nukem 3D?

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 3:20PM]

Hail to the King!

[jason @ Feb 13th 2008 10:17AM]

wow thats impressive, i want one

[SHoe @ Feb 13th 2008 10:21AM]

My 4 year old Palm OS device plays Quake - and the crappy controls are better than this. As if people will be playing Quake on this - yet Engadget gushes like a swooning school girl "it frickin' plays Quake 3, like a monster.". Really? How's that touch screen working out for you for simultaneous movement, free look, side-stepping, and firing?

[tyler @ Feb 13th 2008 10:24AM]

That is exactly what I was thinking. This thing would be cool for games. If it had buttons.. or a d-pad lol

[Jason Schloer @ Feb 13th 2008 10:37AM]

You're kind of missing the point. Nvidia's not trying to build a mobile device, just a mobile chipset/platform. It's running Quake 3 in demo mode to show off the ability of the processor, not the suitability of the interface.

[vcx @ Feb 13th 2008 2:06PM]

Infact.. if this device has bluetooth I dont think it should be too hard to write wireless mouse and keyboard drivers. That should solve all the interface problems. (as long as you can carry a keyboard and mouse on you along with ur phone)

[mlody11 @ Feb 13th 2008 10:23AM]

In light of this I propose...

But does it play fear?
But does it play Crysis?

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 10:27AM]

Does anything play Crysis?

And I personally think FEAR sucked.

[mlody11 @ Feb 13th 2008 10:29AM]

Ok... well then, lets agree and standardize on the next-gen slogan. Don't want to end up with a slogan-war claiming by slogan is better then yours...

[tyler @ Feb 13th 2008 10:31AM]

Personally, if you had a capable machine, then Fear definitely made you say 'Damn, that was cool' more than once. It did get repetitive at times and the ending was soft, but some of the stuff in that game was pretty creepy.

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 11:01AM]

Agreed. FEAR's graphics were good and it did get creepy at times. But boy did it get repetitive fast.

Engadget should have a poll on the next saying "But does it play ...."
A - Quake
B - Halo
C - FEAR
D - Crysis

[Scott @ Feb 13th 2008 12:21PM]

@carbonize

Quake was known for breakthrough 3D maps that were "true 3D" unlike Doom.
FEAR and Crysis are known for cutting edge graphics that bring modern gaming PCs to their knees.

Halo isn't known for any technological breakthroughs that I'm aware of. It's just a game people like.

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 12:32PM]

I know they are all different that's why I used them as examples :| The point being which game will be th enext one to be used to rate how good a portable electronic device is or how well hacked they can be.

[nh @ Feb 13th 2008 2:31PM]

With the rise of the machines I think a more suitable benchmark question for a machine's power would be:

Does it play soccer?

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 3:23PM]

No the new benchmark will be can it start a nuclear war and then create a range of cyborgs to eliminate what is left of mankind.

[absurdio @ Feb 13th 2008 5:05PM]

I'd like to propose option E.

E - Does it play Portals?

...

[Flashpoint @ Feb 13th 2008 10:24AM]

I don't care if a handheld can play Doom or Quake so long as it has MULTIPLAYER.

I wanna see them port an ultramobile version of CALL OF DUTY 4.

I am amazed that we have the power to create volumetric shading and dynamic lighting on a handheld. It took my Pentium 3 450mhz with Geforce2 and 256 MB RAM to run Quake 3 reliably.

[Tony Rayo @ Feb 13th 2008 12:12PM]

It exists... it's called the DS =p.

[Churma @ Feb 13th 2008 10:24AM]

But does it play p0rn?

[Derbeste @ Feb 13th 2008 10:29AM]

Screw Doom...

Will it play WoW?

[Julian @ Feb 13th 2008 10:42AM]

Dell Axim X51v plays quake too and it's 3 years old. No news here.

[Kamokazi @ Feb 13th 2008 11:00AM]

The x50v did too (naturally as they were the same hardware). It ran suprisingly well, was quite playable on most levels. I impressed quite a few people showing them that (those who knew what Quake III was, anyway). They used a Intel 2700g GPU and Xscale 624Mghz CPU.

[Karl Viklund @ Feb 13th 2008 10:42AM]

FPS?

It's funny that they always have to show screen shots of Q3. That game it very easy to run on even old computers. It's very easy to run. And if I remember right the engine is open sourced so it would be easy to optimize it for different devices.

[FThorn @ Feb 13th 2008 10:48AM]

But, is it easy to run?

[sean @ Feb 13th 2008 10:51AM]

I wish I knew.. but Quake 3 and it was impeccable.. no hitching, stuttering...

[moon.razzia @ Feb 13th 2008 11:05AM]

But... but... my Nintendo DS can play Quake too.

[Skeezle @ Feb 13th 2008 11:18AM]

Ahh, Quake3 - the hundreds of hours of my life I wish I could get back. Sweet, sweet addiction.

Scared me away from gaming, actually!

[Blackster @ Feb 13th 2008 11:21AM]

sean sean
i'm dissapointed! that's quake 3 arena and not merely quake! ;)

[sean @ Feb 13th 2008 11:25AM]

That would never have fit in the hed :) I'm just luring people in don't you know

[Blackster @ Feb 13th 2008 11:36AM]

as always ^^

[r3loaded @ Feb 13th 2008 11:31AM]

Would love to have any of the UT games on a phone with that hardware. Then I'll have an excuse for shouting out "M-m-m-monster kill" in a public place :)

[Lifelion @ Feb 13th 2008 11:33AM]

Is it ARM or x86 based?

[Geonerd @ Feb 13th 2008 11:38AM]

Storage size??

A2DP Bluetooth??

[dean @ Feb 13th 2008 1:04PM]

Does it play Wii Sports?

[CosterMonger @ Feb 13th 2008 1:08PM]

want.

[Mark @ Feb 13th 2008 1:20PM]

It plays Quake and all, but does it blend?

[PhilxBefore @ Feb 13th 2008 1:34PM]

More importantly, does it microwave?

[gm76 @ Feb 13th 2008 2:00PM]

Yes it plays Quake (III) and yes it makes all of these people post lame "Does it...?" jokes.

[Shinigami @ Feb 13th 2008 2:53PM]

I want 3 please :)

[sevendegrees @ Feb 13th 2008 2:55PM]

yeah, but can you actually play the game, i mean... where are the controls?

[CosterMonger @ Feb 13th 2008 3:25PM]

USB? {hopefully}

controller + mount = sweet.