Game Developer - August 2011

TOOLBOX

product news Valve's Source SDK Goes Free

allows original PSP titles to access to high resolution rendering, as well as 3D stereoscopic output.

The engine also enables the use of PS3 wireless controllers with the remastered games, while supporting an ad-hoc mode through the appropriate application on the PS3.

A memory expansion feature handles the high resolution textures, allowing original PSP assets to be swapped out for the enhanced visuals. Common save data between old PSP titles and the new remastered versions also comes as part of the new engine.

The new series is being launched in Japan, with Capcom's monster Hunter Portable 3rd Hd Ver. hitting the store first. Further expansion into language and code base—a first for developers!" Adobe's Puneet Goel wrote on Adobe's Flash blog.

audience than plugins like Flash or Unity, and the company is helping promote many of those games through the GameSalad Arcade section of its web site.

While H TML5 web apps are playable natively on many mobile browsers, GameSalad Chief Product Officer Michael Agustin told Game Developer he doesn't see the option primarily as a way to do an end-run around the certification requirements and fees associated with mobile app stores.

"The App Store and the Android Marketplace still serve as the primary discovery model on mobile devices, where native apps often can provide a better overall experience," Agustin said. "That said, H TML5 has less friction because the content is delivered as you browse the Web, and there is no download or content to install."

GameSalad doesn't currently offer any built-in monetization options for HTML5 developers, but Agustin said he sees the web games as "the best way for players to learn about and experience mobile games before downloading them."

–kyle orland

Team For Tress 2.

Sony Reveals PSP Engine for Remaster Series

The engine behind Sony's upcoming PSP Remaster series, which is set to offer enhanced versions of past PSP games for the PlayStation 3, has been detailed in full.

The PSP Engine, as revealed at the Game Tools & Middleware Forum 2011 event in Tokyo, and as reported by Andriasang, is the base engine for the upcoming series, and will act as a connection between the PS3 OS and selected PSP games.

Sony's Kentaro Suzuki explained that the new engine the U. S. and European territories is planned.

–mike rose

GameSalad Adds HTML5 Publishing to Game Creation Tool

GameSalad has announced that users of its drag-and-drop game creation engine can now publish titles that work with the HTML5 standard, and embed them for play on any compatible web browser.

With most major web browsers now supporting HTML5's options for heavily interactive web apps, the company says the option gives a game a much bigger potential

Adobe Flash Builder Update Adds iOS, BlackBerry Tablet Support

Following up on its recently-debuted support for Android, Adobe has updated its Flash Builder development suite to support iOS and BlackBerry PlayBook devices, allowing developers to make cross-platform apps with one codebase.

The Adobe Flash Builder MXML editor (formerly known as Adobe Flex Builder) allows creators to build cross-platform applications for mobile, web, and desktop applications using ActionScript and Adobe's own Flex framework.

"Developers can quickly build and distribute apps through the Android Market, BlackBerry App World, and Apple App Store using one tool chain, programming

Microsoft Releases Non-commercial Kinect SDK for PC

Microsoft has officially released a non-commercial beta version of a long-promised PC software development kit for its Kinect depth-sensing camera, for use in C++, C# and Visual Basic projects.

The SDK, which is available for download now, provides academics and hobbyists access to raw sensor streams from Kinect's RGB and depth-sensing cameras, as well as its directional microphones.

The software will also provide automatic skeleton tracking for up to two people and audio processing features such as echo cancellation and source recognition. It comes packaged with over 100 pages of documentation and a number of demos.

Hackers have been using homebrew Kinect drivers since just after the hardware's launch to develop everything from art projects to autonomous robotic helicopter guidance systems. Hardware maker PrimeSense released a set of open PC drivers for the hardware last December.