Pre gets NES emulation in Linux; our thumbs are in for a world of hurt

Sure, once you get Doom onto a device there isn't much stopping you in the homebrew department, but we thought the implementation of an NES emulator on webOS outside of the Classic environment was worth noting -- even if it happens to be astoundingly easy to pull off. All it requires is a quick trip to root on the device a compile of the FCEUltra NES emulator for Linux and bam, it's good to go. Hit up the read link for instructions (we're sure we're simplifying things just a tad) -- and no, the incredible appropriateness of using a Contra ROM to kick things off hasn't escaped us.

[ImPulsE @ Jun 14th 2009 7:12AM]

Looks like Pre has it's good spot in the "homebrew division"
I wonder, what's next? GBA emulator? Would love this one... :P

good to read such news :)

[Carpet @ Jun 14th 2009 2:01PM]

See I love Homebrew and the Pre looks to be nailling that market. This could be a cult device for years.

However, I still think the keyboard looks a bit pokey and small for my pudgy fingers.

[John @ Jun 14th 2009 3:00PM]

The Pre is like awesome fruit sauce!

[Tim Brown @ Jun 14th 2009 7:16PM]

@John, no the Pre turns a certain fruit into sauce! ;)

[Walt @ Jun 14th 2009 7:19PM]

Love to see a MAME emulator

[---- @ Jun 15th 2009 12:55PM]

great ... more junk for a piece of junk phone

[Ethos @ Jun 14th 2009 7:26AM]

GBA/NES/PSX emulator would be saweet. Though it is asking abit much. I do admire that you don't have to Ruin/Jailbrake the device to run custom Apps aswell as the App-Store stuff.

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:29AM]

I can see Genesis / NES emulation, but is the PRE actually powerful enough to run PSX games?

[NickNick @ Jun 14th 2009 7:34AM]

winmo can run many psx games at full speed with a samsung omnia, just youtube "fpsece 1.0". I'm sure the pre can top that easily.

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:55AM]

@ NickNick

I guess I'm just used to my Touch Pro's shitty ass graphics performance, thanks to HTC's ineptitude; also partially brought about because Qualcomm has the audacity to actually charge manufacturers to utilize proper drivers on their chipsets.

[The Observer @ Jun 14th 2009 11:10AM]

Its been only one week since Palm Pre release.. can you imagine what will come of this in one month?.. six months?

[Peter @ Jun 14th 2009 11:26AM]

There is a PSX emulator for the iPod touch. Since the Pre has a more powerful CPU/GPU combination than the iPod touch, it will be able to play PSX games.

[Crazy J @ Jun 14th 2009 2:26PM]

I can't believe nobody has yet said the famous phrase:

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Start!!!

*Select, Start (for two players)

(If there are corresponding buttons)

I can't remember, was it 30 extra lives or 50...

So... long... ago...

[NickNick @ Jun 14th 2009 3:40PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXKY-xQ9jqU&feature=related

:)

[MrNuclear @ Jun 14th 2009 8:22PM]

J, you're crazy!

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start.

[Crazy J @ Jun 14th 2009 9:47PM]

Hey Nuclear,

I can't believe I forgot the B and the A!

It really has been a long time. Good times, good times...

The developers of the new Contra should include that code into the new game!

[peter @ Jun 14th 2009 7:30AM]

*cough* Dingoo *cough*

[themovielife @ Jun 14th 2009 11:04AM]

Ugh, why don't you cough cough a desktop gaming machine while you're at it? Dingoo is great at what it does, but it's not a robust phone, organizer, 3g device, etc. If all you want is mobile emulation, then the pre is probably not right for you.

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:30AM]

I can just imagine this...

*plays Gradius through emulation*

*inputs Konami code*

*causes phone to reset in developer mode*

LOL. Yeah, that wouldn't happen, but it was funny when I thought about it in my head...

[Mizzike @ Jun 14th 2009 7:31AM]

I think they left it this vunerable to attract people to the homebrewery. Im certainly getting interested now. But with those shitty small buttons, you can't control shit

[Poo_and_Wee @ Jun 14th 2009 7:34AM]

It'd be cool if you could map loads of buttons to up, and have in the shape of a large dpad, and then map loads of buttons to a and b similarily.

[NickNick @ Jun 14th 2009 7:36AM]

just get a bt gamepad then

[KarlW @ Jun 14th 2009 7:37AM]

There isn't really enough space for that to work.

[MoodyNotMe @ Jun 14th 2009 7:53AM]

You can use one of these
http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/review/bt-gamepad-en.shtml

[Adam Zey @ Jun 14th 2009 3:55PM]

It's no worse than the iPhone/iPod touch; the screen has multitouch.

You can always close the keyboard and use it like an iPhone. And the screen, while smaller, is the same resolution as the iPhone.

For using it iPhone-style, though, the pre is thicker, so I'm not sure if that'll make iPhone-style controls less comfortable.

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:37AM]

If you could plug a gamepad into the USB slot on the phone -- AND actually be able to use it -- it would be an instant win

[wrabbit @ Jun 14th 2009 9:08AM]

I bet somebody's already working on that ;)

[themovielife @ Jun 14th 2009 11:06AM]

The Nokia 770 was able to run in USB host mode, so it might require some similar work.

[Templarian @ Jun 14th 2009 11:48AM]

And the palm pre's micro usb is in the perfect spot to attach a pad if they wanted to expand the design. Could be an instant success.

[peter @ Jun 14th 2009 7:39AM]

What´s with the screen? I don´t remember NES in portrait-mode.

[Kelmon @ Jun 14th 2009 7:43AM]

If I remember correctly, aren't there web sites that run NES emulators? If so, can you use these sites via the browser in the Pre? I only mention this because, if usable, such sites would allow you to play NES games without needing to muck about with your Pre and downloading ROM images. With unlimited data plans available, why bother running this stuff locally if the cloud can do it better, more conveniently, and without costing you anything. Besides, if this content is available online then surely the WebOS would be perfect for wrapping this into a dedicated application.

Feel free to shoot this down.

[XChrisX @ Jun 14th 2009 7:53AM]

Not 100% on this but I believe those sites are flashed base, which the Pre is lacking. Pretty neat, been running emulators on my iPhone since 1.1.4, and before but this should be great for the Pre. Too bad the keyboard totally sucks, and is pretty much unusable.

[Kelmon @ Jun 14th 2009 7:56AM]

How is its Java support?

[sgallagan @ Jun 14th 2009 8:45AM]

Yeah XChrisX, the iPhone keyboard is much better to play games on.

[Priper @ Jun 14th 2009 12:28PM]

@ Kelmon
This is the plugin that lets u run NES on Firefox. I've used it and it's really neat, like you said, that the games don't require roms. I like where this is going with the Pre
http://www.firenes.com.ar/

[Kevin Smith @ Jun 14th 2009 4:47PM]

@XChrisX

Good point, the iphone keyboard is much better for gaming!! ..... Oh wait ... ???

[VanillaSpice @ Jun 14th 2009 11:13PM]

Holy shit! What is wrong with you people?

All they said was, "the Pre keyboard sucks and is pretty much unuseable."

They DID NOT say "the iPhone's keyboard is better".

They DID NOT say "the iPhone's keyboard can be used for gaming."

Are you people of such limited mind that you can only conceive of "bad or good" and nothing in between? Do you not realise that a person can simultaneously believe that the Pre's keyboard sucks and the iPhone's does also, to a lesser or greater degree? My goodness, are you children? Disdain for one device *does not* equal praise for an arbitrarily-selected (arbitrarily selected by you) competitor! It's basic reasoning!

You might have well as assumed that they were praising the G1's keyboard, or the keyboard of the Omnia, or the BlackBerry, or any other smartphone out there! I'll say it again - disdain for one device does not equal praise for a competitor that you've arbitrarily selected out of thin air!

Judge people on what they actually say and *not* on the words that YOU put in their mouth.

[Kelmon @ Jun 15th 2009 2:55AM]

That's real nice, guys. I raise a question about whether the Pre could play NES games via a web application and you guys go off and argue over the Pre and iPhone's keyboard. Couldn't you start your own thread for that or, better, not at all because we've heard it all before?

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:48AM]

Question about the PRE!

Does the browser have full Flash support? Like if I go to Gametrailers.com (for example), can I watch videos in the browser? Or will I have to download them like I do on my Touch Pro + Opera 9?

[wrabbit @ Jun 14th 2009 9:09AM]

No full flash support yet, but Adobe is working on something. Don't know the details but I'm sure you can google it :)

[m3nphls @ Jun 14th 2009 5:19PM]

any smartphone w/o flash is a total fail!!!!

on my iphone i can go to a free porn site and watch streaming porn on my phone!!!!

[Alex @ Jun 14th 2009 7:52AM]

The iphone 1g could already do this

[matt @ Jun 14th 2009 7:51AM]

No it couldn't.

[Aaron @ Jun 14th 2009 7:58AM]

And congratulations! We have our first, completely irrelevant iPhone post of the article! Tell 'em what he's won, Johnny!

*ahem*

You've won an all-expenses-paid trip to the land of being downranked! But not to worry, as there are plenty of other people who were anxious to take the same journey, all waiting with open arms in the realm of the iTard.

Have fun, you stupid asshole!

[sweet greggo @ Jun 14th 2009 11:23AM]

@Alex

and so could my Moto Q a full 2 years before the iPhone, along with a slew of other phones. What's your point?

[Sy @ Jun 14th 2009 11:31AM]

@sweet greggo

So I guess the Pre doing this is pointless too. Perhaps that is Alex's point?

[Nathan B @ Jun 19th 2009 5:37PM]

What's relevant is that the modder community got it together working in 2 weeks after the phone's release without an official SDK or such, not that it's possibe - we all knew it was.

[Thijs @ Jun 14th 2009 7:56AM]

I actually find this very smart of Palm. Homebrewers are usually the early adopters, and by making the Pre very "hackable" it'll gain a lot of traction. Sony did the same with the PSP I believe. Once it had a descent userbase they started to lock things up again.

[redcard @ Jun 14th 2009 8:35AM]

Not really. Give the Pre 6 months before it dies a death. It's too average

[Phoenix @ Jun 14th 2009 9:43AM]

it's really anything but average...