MattCrowley
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Green Throttle Games Atlas and Arena hands-on (video)
Amid Nintendo's latest piece of kit and the buzz for the next generation of home consoles, a quiet voice is whispering in the consumer's ear: Android, it says. Between dual-analog gamepads, crowd funded hardware and hardcore gaming tablets, Google's mobile OS is gaining ground among gamers. It certainly has Guitar Hero co-creator Charles Huang's attention -- he's teamed up with Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend (who both had a hand in building various Palm devices) to create Green Throttle Games, an outfit that joins the ever-growing legion of firms out to convert your Android device into a full fledged gaming console. How's it work? We dropped by their Santa Clara offices to find out. %Gallery-171176%
Green Throttle Games wants your Android device to become your next console (video)
Early next year, the traditional console giants will face a new challenger in the form of crowd-funded OUYA, and now Green Throttle Games has arrived to show you its take on the future of sofa-based gaming. Founded by familiar names such as Charles Huang of Guitar Hero fame, and Palm's Matt Crowley, the company asks why buy an expensive console when your Android phone or tablet has all the hardware you need? The idea is that not only can you play games on your touchscreen device, but when in range, hook it up to a TV, pair a couple of the Bluetooth Atlas Controllers, and have yourself a makeshift console. Green Throttle is making its own games for the platform, and already has some third-party developers on board, but wants more to bulk up its "Arena" app catalogue. From today, the free SDK is available for download, and hardware development packs -- complete with controllers -- released for purchase, although stocks of these are limited. More news on the consumer launch is expected "in the near future," but while you wait, let the founders walk you through their vision in the video above.
Palm: lack of microSD slot on the Pre purely a "design" decision
Palm Product Manager Matt Crowley is holding a week-long Q&A session about the Pre on Facebook, and some pretty interesting discussions are taking place. Most interestingly, so far, is Crowley's answer when questioned about the (for many) cringe-inducing lack of a microSD slot on the company's much-hyped device in-the-making: "Design was the highest goal on the Palm Pre project. The phone has to look and function great in the hand and up against the face on a call. The decision to include or not include expandable storage is an easy one when design is the highest priority. The physical size of the device would have been compromised if we added another physical component to Pre. Just a millimeter can seriously impact the curvature of the design in a way that minimizes the design intent. We wanted to maintain a slick curved slider design without building out too much thickness. When you look at the two parts of the product and see how thin they really are, you may be amazed that we were able to fit everything in. And yes, all the stuff does fit." Now, we're pretty into the design of the Pre, but this kind of strikes us as a lame answer. Regardless, you can toss your own questions into the ring until January 28th. [Via Palm Infocenter]
