Tuesday, February 28, 2006

TOP 10 MOBILE GAMES DOWNLOADS FOR JANUARY 2006

ELSPA has announced the January 2006 Mobile Games Java Download Chart©, compiled from information supplied by: 3, O2, Orange,T-Mobile, and Vodafone.

OFFICIAL MOBILE GAMES JAVA DOWNLOAD CHART © ELSPA
TOP 10 JAVA DOWNLOADS - January 2006
DATA SOURCE: 3, O2, ORANGE, T-MOBILE, VODAFONE
(title - developer)

TM TITLE DEVELOPER

1 TETRIS ® - JAMDAT
2 THE SIMS 2 - EA
3 PACMAN - NAMCO
4 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE - GLU MOBILE
5 BLOCK BREAKER DELUXE - GAMELOFT
6 EA SPORTS ™ TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR ® GOLF 2005 - IPLAY
7 TAMAGOTCHI - LIVING MOBILE
8 MIDNIGHT POKER - GAMELOFT
9 NEW YORK NIGHTS (SUCCESS IN THE CITY) - GAMELOFT
10 3D POOL - IPLAY

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

UIEngine's Stately Layering Model

What is the simplest way to cause a change to an application's display?

What causes an application to need/want to change its display?

What is the simplest way to model display content and display changes?

These are the central questions that the designers of UIEngine's programming language have attempted to address.

UIEngine's programming language, UJML, is XML-based. As can be seen in the previously posted examples, the language allows one to layout visual components within a element. However, unlike other similar languages, UJML does not rely on DOM-based scripting to alter the display. DOM scripting, as is done in DHTML, was deemed overly technical for people interested in designing and implementing rich user interfaces.

Instead, UJML uses a layering model where one chooses which layers to display at any point in time. Layers each are defined by a element and the program makes these layers visible/invisible based on user interactions and simple calculations.

Since a display change is typically the result of some value changing within the program, UJML associates each layer with a value. Since values are stored in variables, the layer is associated with a value that a specified variable may contain.

In the sample below, the variable layer is defined of type integer. Later, we see a layer defined (UJML refers to layers as states; this will be explained in a later post). It is to be displayed when the layer variable contains value 1.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ujml PUBLIC "-//UIEVOLUTION//DTD UJML
1.5//EN" "http://www.uievolution.com/dtd/ujml-1.5.dtd" []>

<ujml>
<application>
<state-variables>
<state-var name="layer" type="int"/>
</state-variables>
<display>
<box>
<width>
<eval>_getIntProperty(&_PROPERTY_INT_SCREEN_WIDTH;)</eval>
</width>
<height>
<eval>_getIntProperty(&_PROPERTY_INT_SCREEN_HEIGHT;)</eval>
</height>
<bg>&_COLOR_BLACK;</bg>
</box>
<label>
<text>Press FIRE</text>
<fg>&_COLOR_YELLOW;</fg>
<event name="onselect">
<accelerators>
<key>FIRE</key>
</accelerators>
<script>
// User pressed FIRE or clicked on label; diplay layer
layer = 1;
</script>
</event>
</label>
</display>
<states>
<-- A layer to be displayed when "layer == 1" -->
<state var="layer">
<transition value="1">
<display>
<box>
<x>10</x>
<y>10</y>
<width>100</width>
<height>100</height>
<fg>&_COLOR_AQUA;</fg>
<bg>&_COLOR_FUSCHIA;</bg>
<label>
<text>Layer One</text>
<x>4</x>
<y>4</y>
</label>
</box>
</display>
</transition>
</state>
</states>
</application>
</ujml>


See it run...

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

New Porsche Turbo and Cayman GTR Announced

Turbo

Wow, what a fantastic week for Porsche fans.

Earlier this week, Porsche release official pictures of the new 997-series Turbo and they also put up a mini-site for the car.



Power comes from a turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-six, making 480 hp at 6000 rpm and 457 lb-ft of torque from 1950 rpm to 5000 rpm. With the optional Sport Chrono Package you get an “overboost” that temporarily cranks full-throttle-boost pressure by 2.9 psi, pushing peak torque to 502 lb-ft. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds with the five-speed automatic, and 3.7 seconds with the standard six-speed manual.




Cayman GTR

Farnbacher Loles Motorsports will unveil the Cayman GTR at the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring race weekend, March 15-18. At the heart of the GTR is a Porsche 3.8 liter S or X-51 engine in either 375 hp or 405 hp variations. Drawing on Farnbacher Loles extensive racing success, the GTR also features a unique adjustable suspension designed to work in concert with the sizable increase in power.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

What can you create with UIEngine?

Let's take a look at what you can do with UIEvolution's UIEngine ...

The Chronicles of Narnia





So... how cool is that?!

A GameSpot review. An IGN review.

Trivial Pursuit



A Gamespot review.

Keeper's Quest



A Wireless Gaming Review article.

Square-Enix Gallery



A Wireless Gaming Review article.

ESPN BottomLine

WebPreview

Mobile Movies.com

WebPreview

Squareville Shuffle



Squareville Wasabi




What can you build with UIEngine?

Monday, February 06, 2006

Porsche Cayman S Joins the Stable

At some point in my love affair with cars I decided that mid-engined sports cars are the cat's meow for me. Unfortunately, all the affordable mid-engined cars available over the past 10 years have been convertibles. While I've owned a few 'verts in the past, they are not at the top of my interest list, for few reasons:

1) Their chassis rigidity is always a compromise compared to a fixed roof coupe.

2) They are much louder inside, even with the top on, than a coupe.

3) They look good only with the top down.

So, in my quest to own an affordable mid-engined sports car I've had to "settle" for buying convertibles with their optional hardtops and driving them exclusively with the hardtop on, even in the summers. Believe it or not, people think that is weird... go figure.



The first mid-engined car was a 2001 Toyota MR2 Spyder; a new model for Toyota in their renewed attempt at attracting younger buyers. For me, it was a great choice becase it cost only $22K and it was so rare that I could get my money back if my fantasy of mid-engined car dynamics turned out to be a nighmare!

Well, the Spyder was a joy to drive. I kept it for a year and then sold it for the same amount as I bought it!



A year later I purchased a pre-owned 2000 Porsche Boxster S, also with a hardtop. I wanted a mid-engined coupe so badly that I had the soft top removed to get rid of its dead weight and drove the car for two years with the hardtop on the car. It was another mid-engined driving dream. I even took it to Laguna Seca Raceway in late 2003; that was a rush!

Yes, there is a pattern to the color :)

After returning from Laguna Seca I sold the Boxster... and continued to wait for a mid-engined coupe as the rumors of a Boxster coupe were indeed starting to increase in frequency... the waiting begins...



In late 2004, Lotus finally began importing their lightweight mid-engined Elise to the US. American car nuts had waited since 1996 for the Elise to get here; it was worth the wait. The yellow streak ended however; this time it was to be Burgundy.

The Elise is an amazing track/weekend car, but it isn't exactly the best choice for an every day driver.

Fear not, Porsche finally ships a reasonably affordable mid-engined coupe in mid-Jan 2006. A Speed Yellow copy joined the stable on Superbowl Sunday ...





A new adventure begins...

Saturday, February 04, 2006

UIEngine "Listens" to User Input

Use the <event name="onselect"> tag to capture key presses and mouse/stylus clicks/taps.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE ujml PUBLIC "-//UIEVOLUTION//DTD UJML
1.5//EN" "http://www.uievolution.com/dtd/ujml-1.5.dtd" []>

<ujml>
<application>
<!-- paint background -->
<display>
<box>
<width>
<eval>_getIntProperty(&_PROPERTY_INT_SCREEN_WIDTH;)</eval>
</width>
<height>
<eval>_getIntProperty(&_PROPERTY_INT_SCREEN_HEIGHT;)</eval>
</height>
<bg>&_COLOR_BLACK;</bg>
</box>
<!-- draw text -->
<label>
<text>Hello World!</text>
<fg>&_COLOR_YELLOW;</fg>
<!-- wait for keypress or mouse click -->
<event name="onselect">
<accelerators>
<key>FIRE</key>
</accelerators>
<script>
// User pressed FIRE or clicked on label
</script>
</event>
</label>
</display>
</application>
</ujml>


Learn more about UIEvolution's UIEngine.