Both members of the Game Republic, an alliance formed to bring together companies within the games industry, Astraware and Revolution were brought together when Revolution first began development for the PDA and sought Astraware's expertise in the field.
With the quality of titles we see coming out of Astraware's doors we can expect good, solid, classic titles for our PDAs over the next few years - bringing some of the games we're always trying to play on emulators to the native PalmOS and PocketPC formats.
The first title being developed by this mighty alliance is, unsurprisingly, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, a mid 1990s classic first released for the PC and Playstation which spawned a series of sequels we have been playing since.
"The story opens in Paris with an explosion in a cafe, and unfolds as American tourist George Stobbart and photo-journalist Nico Collard set about investigating the explosion and are drawn into a globe-trotting adventure involving conspiracies, cults and murder, all revolving around the Knights Templar."
The handheld version is due out in the coming months, in time for Christmas we hope."Broken Sword is ideal for the PDA," commented Charles Cecil, managing director, Revolution Software. "The game retains its unique ability to captivate and enthrall and its loyal fan base still active today is a testament to its enduring power. Our agreement with Astraware will allow the game to reach an even broader audience. With their skills in handheld development, the are a perfect partner for this product."
"We are excited and proud to be working with Revolution Software to publish their highly-acclaimed titles to handheld devices," said Howard Tomlinson, CEO of Astraware. "Their Broken Sword games fill a gap which has long been open - for titles with great stories and fantastic presentation. We believe that Revolution's games will appeal to handheld users around the world, just as their PC games have done."
This, we think, could be the key turning point where the line between PDAs and mobile gaming systems starts to blur. Currently cutting-edge games consoles like the PSP bear a price tag, features, and specifications not dissimilar to PDAs on the market- and as we have learnt from the Zodiac, PDAs are capable of outstripping mobile games consoles in every department bar console-quality native games.
PDAs are to handheld games consoles what PCs are to their living room counterparts. Now our games consoles are becoming more like PCs and our PDAs are becoming more like games consoles. This could mean some healthy competition for the PSP and DS might evolve out of the PDA market rather than pounce on us like the Zodiac, if it does it will have a lot more chance of survival.
