Tag: Android

PUBG New State released

Lukas Rox Games , , , , , , ,
PUBG New State released

11th of November is not only Polish Independence day or Global Shopping Festival on Aliexpress. On November 11th 2021 new and improved PUBG was released for iOS and Android.

The main difference can be seen right from the menu: it’s the improved graphics. Unreal Engine makes sure that PUBG New State graphics quality will be close to last-gen console levels. Items are now dressed in PBR textures (so metals will shine, rubber will look dull, and so will plastics). Global illumination was also introduced to improve the quality of lighting even further. PUBG New State looks much more like the original PC counterpart (although it will look this way only on really high-end devices like iPhone 13, Samsung S21 or dedicated gaming phones the sort of Xiaomi Black Shark or REDMAGIC 6S).

There is another difference: while the PC version of PUBG was developed by PUBG Studio, the original PUBG Mobile was outsourced to Tencent. However PUBG New State was co-developed by PUBG Studio (so the same company as PC) and Krafton.

Controls in PUBG New State are very similat to PUBG Mobile, most likely to make the transition easy for existing players.

There are new weapon customization options similar to Call of Duty Mobile, which was missing in PUBG Mobile, so you can now customize your favourite weapons.

A daily login campaign with unique “New State” clothing is also running. Just log in daily and complete a set for your character. You can get a cool futuristic set as well if you take part in the monthly Premium Pass.

The game is available globally on Google Play and Apple App Store.

Still can’t update World of Tanks Blitz to 8.4 on Android?

Lukas Rox Games, World of Tanks: Blitz , , ,
Still can’t update World of Tanks Blitz to 8.4 on Android?

I have some good news for you: if you have Huawei or Samsung phone, you can install WoT Blitz 8.4 on your Android phone right away.

All you need to do is uninstall the Google Play version and use Galaxy Store on Samsung or AppGallery on Huawei. Both stores have the game updated to 8.4 and you can easily download it.

The donwside is that you will have to redownload all game content again. But that is still better than waiting for Google Play to approve Blitz 8.4, right?

World of Tanks Blitz 7th Anniversary

Lukas Rox Games, World of Tanks: Blitz , , , , ,
World of Tanks Blitz 7th Anniversary

On 25th of June, 2014 WARGAMING has released its blockbuster tank battler on iOS and Android: World of Tanks: Blitz.

World of Tanks: Blitz started small, with only 3 playable nations, only one game mode (Random) and only two supported platforms. But over the years a lot of content was added, and the most recent version 8.0 of Blitz has introduced a new line of American heavy tanks, Physical Based Rendering for tanks (with mud, water and snow which can cover the tank), realistically animated tank suspensions and many UI improvmenets. Plus there is currently 454 playable tanks across 9 nations, which you can play on iOS, Android, PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch (and you can use controllers!).

WARGAMING says thank you to it’s playerbase every year by giving away lots of goodies in the game.

And as usual, the longer you’ve played, the more gifts you will get:

One year or less

  • 3 Days of premium account
  • 100 Gold
  • 10,000 Free Exp
  • One year anniversary avatar

1 – 2 years

  • 5 Days of premium account
  • 200 Gold
  • 20,000 Free Exp
  • Two year anniversary avatar

2 – 3 years

  • 7 Days of premium account
  • 300 Gold
  • 30,000 Free Exp
  • Three year anniversary avatar

3 – 4 years

  • 10 Days of premium account
  • 400 Gold
  • 40,000 Free Exp
  • Four year anniversary avatar
  • Rising Fury Rare camo for all of your vehicles

4 – 5 years

  • 14 Days of premium account
  • 500 Gold
  • 50,000 Free Exp
  • Five year anniversary avatar
  • Stellar Shine Rare camo for all of your vehicles

5 – 6 years

  • 30 Days of premium account
  • 600 Gold
  • 60,000 Free Exp
  • Six year anniversary avatar
  • Venomous Shock Rare camo for all of your vehicles

6 – 7 years

  • 30 Days of premium account
  • 700 Gold
  • 70,000 Free Exp
  • Three year anniversary avatar
  • Stained Glass Epic anicamo for 10 tank

If your account was registered before June 25, 2016 will receive A Lucky V Container with guaranteed premium or collector tank drop. If it drops a tank you already have, it will drop A Lucky VI Container.

If your account was registered before June 25, 2015, you’ll receive A Lucky VII Container with guaranteed premium or collector tank drop. If it drops a tank you already have, it will drop 2500 gold.

EVE: Echoes unvelied during EVE Vegas (formerly Project Galaxy)

Lukas Rox EVE Echoes, EVE Online , , , , ,
EVE: Echoes unvelied during EVE Vegas (formerly Project Galaxy)

On October 19th CCP has unveiled their second mobile game coming to iOS and Android in 2019 – EVE: Echoes.

The name of the upcoming title was known two days prior to EVE Vegas thanks to some smart EVE players, who found out that CCP has registered the trademark for Echoes, but it was unknown at this time for which game this new name will be used.

 

EVE: Echoes (formerly known as Project Galaxy) is supposed to be a scaled down version of actual EVE Online, with all core gameplay elements intact. The game promises an “authentic EVE Online experience for mobile devices”. According to the Apple Keynote earlier this year, the game will also feature AR capabilties on compatible Apple devices.

It isn’t easy to port a game as big and as broad as EVE Online into mobile world, but if CCP and NetEase stuck to the core gameplay elements, it should be possible. I was rambling about a mobile game in New Eden at least since 2013, which was the first time I had to cut back on my PC gaming. Then in 2014 I started playing World of Tanks Blitz, which is an awesome mobile game, ideally fitting those short bursts of free time you have when waiting for something, be it a doc appointment or during your daily commute. Mobile devices at the time already had enough juice (i nterms of GPU power) to run original EVE from 2003.

EVE: Echoes will feature an expansive map with thousands of star systems (judging by the video shown at EVE Vegas it seems to be a copy of the New Eden cluster from EVE Online, at least system names look familiar). Core gameplay elements such as exploration, combat, mining and trading are said to now fit inside your pocket. Players will be able to form corporations and wage wars over territories just like in it’s bigger brother. Developers even expect the same huge fleet battles happening from time to time.

From the technical side, the game will be running on NetEase’s proprietary engine called NeoX (why not Unreal 4? CCP has recently chosen to use Unreal Engine for all their upcoming projects). EVE: Echoes will be released on iOS and Android in 2019, but no information about minimum requirements regarding CPU/GPU or screen size have been announced yet. From Apple perspective, AR mode will require at least an iPad Pro or iPhone 6s.

Speculation and hints for CCP

  • I hope it will be possible to link EVE: Echoes to EVE Online in some way, namely use the same name and avatar we had for EVE Online.
  • Speaking of which, I hope for cross-game promotions
  • I hope it will be free to play with similar Alpha-Omega modes as EVE Online
  • I hope there will be an API for the new game, so I can use it with LMeve
  • I hope there will be data dumps, so we can make fansites 🙂
  • It would be awesome if the game was eventually released for touch-enabled x86/x64 devices like Microsoft Surface or my Asus Transformer 2 in 1 tablet.

 

 

Mobile apps for EVE Online on iOS and Android

Lukas Rox DUST 514, EVE Online, Games, Mobile, Tablets , , , , , , , , , ,

companion-apps-all

» For Windows Phone 8 apps, please go to this post «

This post is a synergy of my interests. If you are a returning visitor, you have most likely noticed that I write not only about EVE Online, but also about all things mobile: tablet PCs, mobile operating systems and so on.

Smartphones have changed the mobile phone market forever: almost half of all the mobile phones nowadays are smartphones. With CCP giving the community an API to access the in-game information, it was just a matter of time until first EVE related third-party apps have arrived.

Most of the Apps available for the two biggest smartphone platforms, namely Android and iOS, can be divided into three large groups:

  • character tracker
  • market tracker
  • industry helper

Majority of these third-party apps are free, but some of them use ads and donations to cover developer’s costs.

Unfortunately I neither own a Windows Phone 7 device, nor have a working emulator of it, so this review will not cover WP7 apps. Sorry!

It is also worth mentioning, that CCP has plans to deliver their own mobile applications for DUST 514 and EVE in the near future. Developers did not reveal any specifics besides Neocom app for DUST 514, which will run on PS Vita and will deliver almost full interaction with the game, except for the core FPS gameplay. Neocom for PS Vita is said to allow managing fittings, accessing market and so on.

Read more about CCP plans for mobile devices:

Since this post is rather long, please click “Continue reading” –>

Read more

Android 4.0 running on x86 CPUs

Lukas Rox Mobile, Software, Tablets , , , , , , , ,

This morning the android-x86 team has released a RC build of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. It comes in a few flavours: Asus EEE-PC, Asus notebook and AMD Brazos to name a few. If you have a different netbook, fear not: the EEE PC build should run just fine.

I have installed the new build on my Acer Aspire One AOA110 (ZG5) and most features work out of the box:

  • Atheros WiFi card
  • Intel 945 graphics
  • Touchpad
  • Android Market
  • Fake SD card
  • Camera
  • Suspend – a bit buggy

Unfortunately, ethernet networking is still not supported (it’s been this way since 3.2), so this build will not have connectivity when running in VMware or Virtualbox. The same applies to the ethernet adapter in netbook itself.

EDIT: The following ISO image supports Ethernet on Virtual Machines: http://www.buildroid.org/Download/android-x86-vm-20120307.iso.gz Please keep in mind that this build does not have Android Market/Google Play.

Remember not to install GRUB if you install Android alongside other operating systems – it will leave other systems unbootable!

To remedy this, I have added these lines to my /etc/grub.d/40_custom file:

menuentry "Android-x86 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
linux /android-4.0-RC1/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=eeepc acpi_sleep=s3_bios,s3_mode SRC=/android-4.0-RC1 DATA=
initrd /android-4.0-RC1/initrd.img
}

UPDATE: First paid 3D game that works on Android x-86 is Fruit Ninja. Congratulations, Halfbrick!

And here you can have a look at some screenshots from this new build:

Android Honeycomb 3.2 running on x86 CPUs

Lukas Rox Mobile, Software , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich running on x86 PC/netbook: check this post

The Android-x86 project has recently released Android Honeycomb 3.2 compiled for x86 processors. It can easily run on a PC, laptop, netbook or even inside a virtual machine. Moreover, this version includes Android Market! Unfortunately, the current RC2 build does not have any Ethernet kernel modules compiled, so it is not possible to access the Internet if you install it on a VMware or Virtualbox virtual machine.

Is it just a toy for geeks or can it be actually useful? I vote for the latter, but not just yet. Developers need to notice and support the new platform first. We also have to know, that some netbooks have already been sold in dual boot Windows – Android configuration (look for Acer Aspire One D250). Android can be actually more useful for netbooks than Windows. This is due to short boot times and lots of useful widgets, which display information right on the desktop. I have successfully used Android 2.2 for a while on my Acer Aspire One for some time, and I was only missing the Android Market and a bit more stability regarding power management (problems with waking up from stand-by).

But as you recall, I have also mentioned the need for developer support. Why? Because Android running on x86 CPU will only run SDK based apps. It won’t however work with more advanced games or apps written in NDK. Why? Because NDK apps are compiled for a specific CPU – ARM in this case. NDK based apps would have to be recompiled in order to run on x86 CPUs. So until x86 Android becomes a widely recognized platform, we will probably not be able to run most games and programs on this platform.

UPDATE: First paid 3D game that works on Android x-86 is Fruit Ninja. Congratulations, Halfbrick!

EDIT: I have just installed the Honeycomb 3.2 on bare metal – Acer Aspire One (AOA 110 / ZG5). The eeepc build works out of the box, with smooth accelerated graphics, working WiFi and Android Market.

Works out of the box:

  • WiFi
  • Sound
  • Touchpad
  • Browser
  • Android Market
  • Mail
  • Settings
  • Widgets

Does not work:

  • SD card emulation (storage works as USB instead)
  • Screen will sometimes rotate randomly
  • After one sleep/wake cycle it can’t wake up.
  • Voice commands (Audio error)
  • Ethernet (there is no kernel module)

To install it alongside an existing linux distribution, about 3-4 GB of space is required. You can use GUI based GParted to shrink your exisiting linux partition, or console based e2fsresize. DO NOT LET THE ANDROID INSTALLER TO INSTALL GRUB – it is known to cause your previous linux unbootable. Instead, after performing the Android installation, edit your existing GRUB2 configuration (Ubuntu example for /dev/sda5 below)

sudo vi /etc/grub.d/40_custom

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

menuentry "Android-x86 Honeycomb" {
  insmod ext2
  set root='(hd0,5)'
  linux /android-2011-11-13/kernel quiet root=/dev/ram0 \
     androidboot_hardware=eeepc acpi_sleep=s3_bios,s3_mode \
     SRC=/android-2011-11-13 DATA= DPI=160
  initrd /android-2011-11-23/initrd.img
}

Save file, run update-grub

How to tether tablet PC to mobile phone

Lukas Rox Mobile , , , , , , , ,

Many people ask me recently how to tether a Wifi iPad to mobile phones. Fortunately, a guide already exist under this link: Internet Tethering vs 3G Tablet. I hope this guide helps those who already have a Wifi-only tablet, and all those, who still haven’t decided between 3G and Wifi tablet PC.

Galaxy on Fire 2 THD released in TegraZone

Lukas Rox Games, Mobile , , ,

Galaxy on Fire 2, a famous game developed by FISHLABS has been updated for the nVidia Tegra 2 chip, which is powering some of the most desired Android tablets, such as Motorola XOOM. Xoom owners can now enjoy GoF 2 with updated graphical assets (shaders and high quality textures for example).

If you are a lucky Tegra 2 based device owner, you can download the game here: http://www.tegrazone.com/games/galaxyonfire2

Tegra HD screenshot12 Tegra HD screenshot11 Tegra HD screenshot10

EDIT: iPad 2 will not be abandoned by FISHLABS either; Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD is already available for Mac and is coming soon to iPad 2, according to ign.com and developer forums. A Windows version is also on the roadmap. Screens from the Mac version look quite tasty 😉

New tablet PCs in Orange Poland

Lukas Rox Hardware, Mobile, Tablets , , , , , ,

Polish network operators do not necessarily go along with the Tablet PC boom. Last thursday Orange has introduced two new Android-based tablet PCs into their offer:

  • HTC Flyer
  • Motorola XOOM

Orange already had two slates in their offer: Samsung Galaxy Tab and Orange Tablet (rebranded Huawei S7 device). Pricing looks quite good, compared to no contract option, so this might shake polish Tablet PC market a little bit (and actually make it grow):

HTC Flyer and Motorola Xoom pricing with a 24 month Orange Free contract is as follows:

  • Orange Free 99,90: 1799 PLN
  • Orange Free 129,90: 1479 PLN
  • Orange Free 159,90: 978,99 PLN
  • Orange Free 189,90: 839 PLN
Tablet PCs in Orange PL
Tablet PCs in Orange PL

Source: www.orange.pl

EDIT: Wojciech Jabczyński, spokeperson for TP and Orange Poland, has confirmed on his blog, that two more tablet PCs will be introduced in Orange: Dell Streak 7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Curious thing is how Samsung goes around the ruling from a german court, stating that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 cannot  be sold in European Union. It seems however, that this ruling does not apply to Poland, and the new Samsung slate will be available soon.