Nokia Quake III gains on-phone server, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support

Remember when playing Quake III at a decent resolution required a $5,000 Alienware? Man, those were the days. Now, we can't help but be thankful for a few special Nokia handsets (the N95 8GB, E90 and N82 in particular) that can all handle the game by their lonesome. In fact, the latest version of the software adds a few remarkably awesome extras. For starters, users can now take advantage of on-phone server support, meaning that your handset can actually host a Quake III multiplayer battle (and may we recommend the server name "trashaccident?"). Also of note, the devs have tossed in support for Bluetooth mice and keyboards. We know, right? Tap the read link for all the juicy installation instructions.

[Via Decoder, thanks Olli]

[William @ Nov 28th 2008 1:07AM]

this is amazing!
New technology is fantastic!

[Rincewind @ Nov 28th 2008 6:30AM]

Whilst I agree with your sentiment - the resolution is pretty low (240 x 320), so the opening statement "Remember when playing Quake III at a decent resolution required a $5,000 Alienware?" is rather odd, considering a pretty crap computer can run Quake III at 240x320 res!

[Félix @ Nov 28th 2008 8:39AM]

Yes a pretty crap computer nawadays ..
Quake III is like 7 or 8 years old, and back then it required some goddamn strong computer to make it run nicely.

[Flashpoint @ Nov 28th 2008 10:55AM]

I was running Quake III on a Pentium 3 450mhz with 256 MB RAM (maximum the computer could handle) and it ran pretty well.

But, in order to get the most out of a game like that, you need 3Dimensional controls - on the scale of, a PSP with dual analog sticks.

Lets hope the PANDORA gets a port of some old PC FPS games.

[Platinum_Skeet @ Nov 28th 2008 11:37AM]

So we'll be able to run Crysis from cell phones in the next 7-8 years (in theory)...

[Shinigami @ Nov 28th 2008 3:27PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UQVHJ3UFaA
Look at the date.

[Razor @ Nov 29th 2008 10:47PM]

I also call bullshit on that $5000 statement. While Quake III's system requirements were considered high when the game was first being developed, this changed drastically when the GeForce line of accelerators were released. The reason? Hardware based Transformation and Lighting, supported by the OpenGL graphics used in Quake III. GeForce users (like myself) were able to increase the complexity of the curved surfaces in the game with little to no performance hit.

All for alot less than $5000.

Even John Carmack expressed surprise that the system requirements were no longer that big a deal since the pace of hardware had accelerated drastically since the game's development started.

My "wicked-fast system" of the day would have been a Pentium II 300 oc'd to 450 (SL2W8) with 256 MB RAM and a Geforce 256 64MB, first gen. My equipment prolly was worth less than $2000.

[Joshua Walters @ Nov 28th 2008 1:14AM]

And in 100 years, phones will be running Crysis, and pigs will be flying!

[who? @ Nov 28th 2008 1:22AM]

1. It will be less than 100 years.

2. Livestock transportation via aviation is already commonplace.

3. The first person who replies to me in a numbered/list format is getting sued. That is all.

[andres @ Nov 28th 2008 1:30AM]

1. patent numbered list
2. pigs fly
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!

[Technex @ Nov 28th 2008 1:50PM]

The above is a example of why I keep coming back to Engadget ;).

[josh @ Nov 28th 2008 1:14AM]

would be hard to play.

[Matthew C @ Nov 28th 2008 1:29AM]

thats why they support bluetooth mice and keyboards - so it will be easier to play while looking at you 3 inch screen...

[maveric101 @ Nov 28th 2008 2:46AM]

because it's totally convenient to carry a mouse and keyboard in your pocket...

not saying that's not a reasonable solution, but the default phone controls have to work.

[Tes @ Nov 28th 2008 3:56AM]

Nokia N95 have TV out also.

[Fernando @ Nov 28th 2008 1:14AM]

Wow this is quite the awesomeness, shame Nokia hasn't used the 3d accelerator chip on more phones.

[thedesolate1 @ Nov 28th 2008 11:01PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1LkXHj2_dA&eurl=http://dailymobile.se/&feature=player_embedded
Runs like a champ!

[PyRo1509 @ Nov 28th 2008 1:17AM]

and yet i still get dropped calls...

[asg84 @ Nov 28th 2008 1:43AM]

think u are talking about iphone..........

[Steve @ Nov 28th 2008 4:02AM]

... and it's asg84 for the win!!!

[Brad @ Nov 28th 2008 1:20AM]

"18fps"? I've seen slideshow presentations with better frame rates.

[Cunthor @ Nov 28th 2008 1:31AM]

But can your slide show presentation make a phone call?

[eggothewaffle @ Nov 28th 2008 1:39AM]

"no one wants an over priced flashlight ..."

Oh the beautiful irony.

[Student Driver @ Nov 28th 2008 1:45AM]

"no one wants an over priced flashlight ..."

Strange, I thought the iPhone was selling fine. As for overpriced flashlights, I want to get that hand-cranked LED unit that will power USB devices. Sweet.

As for the game on a phone, I love it. After seeing the tech demo on my G1, I would like to see more of this.

[Zeus.:God @ Nov 28th 2008 2:16AM]

LOL!

It's funny because there's a Flashlight application for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

[atheos @ Nov 28th 2008 2:29AM]

And I used my Nokia as a flashlight already 5 years ago because that was one of the most useful apps out there that didn't cost $20. Oh, wait... Symbian software still is $20 and/or crappy as hell :D

[Fernando @ Nov 28th 2008 3:05AM]

@atheos, they have free symbian software now, it's true! even a quake III arena port, ever heard of it?

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 3:51AM]

"It's funny because there's a Flashlight application for the iPhone/iPod Touch."

And they all are useless and cost a shitload for no reason! :p

[Dinesh @ Nov 28th 2008 1:22AM]

WOW! It's amazing what phones can do nowadays. I need to get my hands on an N95.. still using the E61 *shrug*

[John Carmack @ Nov 28th 2008 1:24AM]

does it play Doom?

[CJ @ Nov 28th 2008 8:38AM]

Yes, I think you'll find that it does.

[Jimmy @ Nov 28th 2008 1:27AM]

But is it really playable? I mean look at the on screen score... the Bot is beating the user 4 - 0 on a 10 frag limit game >.

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Nov 28th 2008 1:29AM]

This is exactly what Microsoft needs to do to get into the all in one portable device. Have a phone powered by Tigra, with Zune functionality for music, Xbox Live, and the ability to output to a television.

[Brian @ Nov 28th 2008 1:41AM]

Why would this be on Nokia first, instead of Windows Mobile?

[Student Driver @ Nov 28th 2008 1:49AM]

Probably because TouchFlo 3D was too taxing. :-) However, this on that new unit from Asus at 800MHz would be pretty sweet. Hell, I think I was running the Quake 3 DEMO on a P2 266, and it kicked ass on my O/C'd 300a @ 450 (now THOSE were the days) and 2 Voodoo2 cards in SLI. I guess I should try the open source version of this on my Dell Mini 9 and see how it fares. After that, Forsaken...

[Surur @ Nov 28th 2008 2:53AM]

What makes you think its a Nokia first?

All WM phones support the bluetooth HID profile, meaning keyboard and mice work already.

This video was added to youtube 2 years ago http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tNJXjNBgmLs

[asg84 @ Nov 28th 2008 1:56AM]

this will look good on 5800 .

[Rauha @ Nov 28th 2008 2:59AM]

No it won't.

5800 is a rather cheap mid-range model. It doesn't have hardware 3D support. It will either run 2-5 fps or won't run at all.

[iEye @ Nov 28th 2008 1:59AM]

http://www.shop-batteries.com = credit card scam and felonies

Thanks for the spam John = criminal + sex offender...

[Romequez @ Nov 28th 2008 2:14AM]

I'm less fascinated by the fact that it can run Q3 and interested in the mouse support. To me that, plus an external monitor, sounds closer to the idea of the phone as a replacement than just keyboard support.

[Daza @ Nov 28th 2008 3:02AM]

Well the N95 has TV out support (AFAIK) so it would be interesting to see if it could handle it. I imagine it would be running at a very poor resolution, but it's still an amazing feat.

[Doug @ Nov 28th 2008 2:41AM]

Ooooo Shiny! I bet it will be 5 years.. Cell phones will run Crysis. (-;

[sevenape @ Nov 28th 2008 3:05AM]

The good thing about these phones is the TV out.. so in theory if you're stuck in a hotel room with wifi you could link it to the TV and play online... Not sure if that's better than rinsing the porn channells and minibar though

[abhisheksuman @ Nov 28th 2008 3:15AM]

Situation: You are hosting Quake 3 multiplayer on your phone and you are kicking ass. You get a important phone call. What will you do?

A. Wish it was a handheld which does not make calls and just play games.
B. Curse the person who called you.
C. Curse yourself for not putting the phone in offline mode.
D. Exit the game and take the call.
E. Game hangs / Phone hangs and you curse Nokia / Game Developer.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 3:56AM]

I take B and ignore the call until I'm done playing.. When I finish playing, I will call the person and I will make sure he has never heard so many swear words in his whole life

[Estrelo @ Nov 28th 2008 5:16AM]

F: Take the call while the server keeps running in the background. It's called multitasking, and Symbian has it.







...UNLIKE TH... nah, too easy.

[Félix @ Nov 28th 2008 5:44AM]

Symbian or BB OS for exemple and Android too ... oh and LiMo :)
(I don't know about WinMo)
Actually any OS exept the i..

[Phoenix @ Nov 28th 2008 8:14AM]

Yes, WinMo.

[bhtooefr @ Nov 28th 2008 8:25AM]

Palm OS also lacks multitasking, although some apps have worked around that, behaving like TSRs. (Try running pTunes, IM+, and Opera Mini (via the (rather buggy) IBM J9 JVM) at the same time, though. That's a recipe for a soft reset if I ever saw one.)

(The AMX 68000 kernel that Palm OS 4.x and earlier used actually supported multitasking, but Palm didn't buy a license to the kernel that allowed those APIs to be exposed. Not completely their fault, I mean, they had no idea that their glorified organizer would actually NEED to multitask 10 years later.)

[Patriks7 @ Nov 28th 2008 3:53AM]

I bet someone (*cough*iEye*cough*) is jealous he can replace a battery..