We seem to be back to a more normal month now, with a few dozen updates and less than 10 new releases. But there’s a lot of gems there: the new Kodi Media Center, version 16.0, updated versions of Xash3D, Daikatana and RCTW which should all be a little faster. Among the new releases, Call to Power 2 stands out as an excellent Civilization game that can run on the Pandora. Definitely better than, let’s say, FreeCiv.
The bluetooth function of the Pandora must have been one of the most underused ones since its launch. There’s only one time that I think I was able to use it: for connecting it to a bluetooth GPS. And… that’s it. BT Audio never worked for me (even in Slackware) despite the Pandora managing to connect and pair with other devices. With the new firmware 1.74, we finally get working bluetooth for audio streaming. YES.
It’s been a while since we did not talk about PPSSPP, the open source PSP emulator available across most platforms, including the Pandora. Last time I mentioned it, it was for the 0.9.6 version, and since then there’s a lot to say about it. Obviously the Pandora is nowhere near powerful enough to run most games made for the PSP (especially the 3D intensive ones), but there’s now a good collection of games that run pretty well.
It took a long time to get to this point, but ED and his team has finally achieved it! A fully working Pyra prototype! Looks like you won’t have to wait too long now to get your hands on something tangible (hopefully within 2016) to replace your existing Pandora, or to jump on the ship if you did not have any Pyra-like handheld until now.
After last month’s crazy run of updates and releases, this past month looked quiet instead! But do not kid yourself there was still a lot to talk about, such as the release of OpenFodder, a remake of the engine behind Canon Fodder on the Amiga back in the days! Oh and by the way, It’s been 3 years that Pandoralive.info launched !
So, what, maybe you are thinking “are you kidding me, there were already fun racing games on the Pandora so far!“. Sure. Like one of my all-time favorites, Super Cars III (actually a remake of Super Cars I and II) as pointed out in my earlier article. And there’s the excellent F-1 Spirit Remake, very challenging but very fun as well once you get the hang of it (and it’s also a very nice example of how PtitSeb optimizes his ports for the Pandora). But these two games, as excellent as they are, are 2D racers, and while we have a good collection of 3D racers (TORCS, Ultimate Stunts, Super Tux Cart, Skunks, and more…), even the FOSS-loving person in me faces the harsh reality that we all know too well: it’s not because it’s Free Software that it’s great.