Palm unleashes webOS PDK beta on the public

If you've been looking to get in on some of that red hot game development action that Palm's been all about lately, check it out: among the announcements at this year's GDC, Palm has announced the release of its public beta PDK for webOS. This bad boy promises to let devs "use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app," just the thing for porting game titles to the webOS platform. And it's available now! Hit the source link to get started -- and maybe someday we'll finally get to play Mr. Jelly on our Pixi. We can dream, right?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Palm webOS PDK Public Beta Now Available

Palm Demonstrates New Games at Game Developers Conference

March 09, 2010 09:00 AM Eastern Time
Game Developers Conference 2010

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Game Developers Conference (GDC) – Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) today announced that a public beta version of the Palm® webOS™ Plug-in Development Kit (PDK) is now available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). Palm is demonstrating new games from early PDK developers in its booth at GDC (No. 2016).

The PDK complements the Palm webOS Software Development Kit (SDK), letting developers use C and C++ alongside the web technologies that power the SDK and mix them seamlessly within a single app. The PDK enables new functionality, including immersive 3D graphics, and gives developers who have built games for other platforms an easy way to bring their titles to the webOS platform. Developers can download the beta PDK and start developing today, but distribution of games built with the beta PDK will require functionality provided in an upcoming Palm webOS update.

"Palm webOS is the go-to platform for great games on two of the three leading carrier networks," said Katie Mitic, senior vice president, Product Marketing, Palm, Inc. "We have both the developer tools and the hardware necessary for a world-class gaming experience, and an impressive portfolio of webOS game titles from top-notch developers to show for it."

At CES in January, Palm introduced 12 games built by four leading developers with early access to the PDK:

* "Asphalt 5" (Gameloft)
* "Brain Challenge®" (Gameloft)
* "Glyder 2" (Glu Mobile)
* "Let's Golf!" (Gameloft)
* "MONOPOLY" (EA Mobile™)
* "Need for Speed™ Undercover" (EA Mobile)
* "SCRABBLE" (EA Mobile)
* "Sudoku" (EA Mobile)
* "Tetris®" (EA Mobile)
* "The Oregon Trail" (Gameloft)
* "The Sims™ 3" (EA Mobile)
* "X-Plane" (Laminar Research)

Since then, more than 20 exciting webOS titles have been launched by these early-access developers:

* "Apollo" (Laminar Research)
* "Assassin's Creed™ – Altair's Chronicles" (Gameloft)
* "Brothers In Arms®: Hour of Heroes" (Gameloft)
* "Castle of Magic" (Gameloft)
* "Deer Hunter 3D" (Glu Mobile)
* "Dungeon Hunter" (Gameloft)
* "Earthworm Jim" (Gameloft)
* "Gangstar: West Coast Hustle" (Gameloft)
* "Giant Fighting Robots" (Laminar Research)
* "Guitar Hero 5 Mobile" (Glu Mobile)
* "Hero of Sparta" (Gameloft)
* "Real Soccer 2010" (Gameloft)
* "Real Tennis" (Gameloft)
* "World Series of Poker: Hold'em Legend" (Glu Mobile)
* "X-Plane Airliner" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Carrier" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Extreme" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Glider" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Helicopter" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Racing" (Laminar Research)
* "X-Plane Space Shuttle" (Laminar Research)

"The Palm webOS PDK is extremely powerful and far-reaching, as evidenced by the number of titles we've been able to bring to the webOS platform in a very short time," said Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing, Americas, Gameloft. "It's quite difficult to make a great phone that's also an outstanding gaming platform; Palm has been successful delivering both."

More information about the beta PDK is available at the Palm Developer Center (developer.palm.com). More information about games for Palm webOS is available at www.palm.com/applications.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. creates intuitive and powerful mobile experiences that enable consumers and businesses to connect to their information in more useful and usable ways. The company's groundbreaking Palm® webOS™ platform, designed exclusively for mobile application, introduces true multitasking and Palm Synergy™, which brings your information from the many places it resides into a single, more comprehensive view of your life.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels, and at the Palm online store (www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at www.palm.com.

Palm, Synergy, and webOS are trademarks of Palm, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

[jhoff80 Posted Mar 9th 2010 12:03PM]

@LindsS Not sure why anyone would want webOS in an iPod Touch product, honestly. Most of the benefits of webOS are just that, that it's constantly connected to the web and keeping everything synced together.

[LindsS Posted Mar 9th 2010 12:12PM]

@LindsS

Well they seem to be pushing all these gaming opportunities which wouldn't need the internet. For me though I am around a wifi connection all during the working day and when I get home.

[donv69 Posted Mar 9th 2010 2:00PM]

@LindsS Well the way Apple went about it is they followed their customers and where the apps went. Only when they saw where the iPhone was headed did they decide to promote games and deliver an iPod Touch.

Palm will most likely do the same, deliver what the market dictates. I think it's too early to build a device when all people hear is iPad and iPod Touch.

[mrkalel Posted Mar 9th 2010 12:32PM]

I'm not even worried about games... Not that interesting to me... But I want to see more solid apps that have full GPU & harware access (ala mic etc)

[mcfine Posted Mar 9th 2010 2:13PM]

@mrkalel Same here. I couldn't care less about crappy phone games. Can I get a real media player with audio and video codec support? Remote desktop? Ustream client? FTP client and all the other useful stuff I miss from my old WinMo phone.

Thats what is missing from my Pre. The basic functionality of the OS is awesome but its really lacking in the useful app department. Hopefully this gets things started.

[sweet greggo Posted Mar 9th 2010 12:34PM]

Get on it, code monkeys! Make my Pre dance!

[sharpy2534 Posted Mar 9th 2010 12:47PM]

they need to make a landscape slider with a large high res screen. i would be all over that.

[hollis Posted Mar 9th 2010 1:41PM]

I think I really want palm to make my next phone.

[NuShrike Posted Mar 9th 2010 2:10PM]

Is Microsoft the only mobile company at this point moving in the opposite direction with it's anti-native development strategy?

[jsrampton Posted Mar 9th 2010 5:19PM]

Sweet

[cyber4111 Posted Mar 9th 2010 6:19PM]

Well, it's easy porting games over@ webOS, than you gonna do on Android. With the PDK,developers can just concentrate on porting their games or Apps,with no resources or extra time. The developers can port their games in a matter of days, very easily.With webOS all the software update is the same.Whereas on Android, you got so many different updates on different phones,so it will be a no no, porting games to Android because of so many uncompatible phones,with different updates. I have the Pre plus,& Nexus One,but I like the Pre more because it's just so easy to work with.It's more of an all around entertainment device,whereas Nexus one is more of a business tech phone which is cool too.

[Mr iPhone Posted Mar 9th 2010 7:08PM]

Where or How do I get that or one of that type of wallpapers????

[namyboyz44 Posted Mar 9th 2010 7:27PM]

I hope Field runners get ported!! go Palm!

[sr1329 Posted Mar 12th 2010 5:01PM]

It's about frigging time.