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MWC 2010: 'Better than PSP quality' Rally Master Pro coming free to Sony Ericsson handsets

Extra resolution means extra textures

MWC 2010: 'Better than PSP quality' Rally Master Pro coming free to Sony Ericsson handsets
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| Rally Master Pro

It's always good to Fishlabs CEO Michael Schade, even if he is wearing a suit and a tie.

It's not every day that a game developer gets to sit on the stand of 3D chip company Imagination Technologies at a show such as Mobile World Congress, so it's worth making the effort to be smart.

The reason for his presence was Fishlabs's forthcoming deal to bundle a high-end version of its Rally Master Pro game on Sony Ericsson phones, the Satio and Vivaz.

These use Imagination's PowerVR SGX chips, hence this is the first time the game has been publicly shown.

Of course, the game has already been successfully released on iPhone, but what's really surprising when seeing it running on Schade's Satio is the difference you get thanks to the 640x360 screen, combined with the additional texture resolution that the device enables.

"This is better than PSP quality," Schade says as he makes his way around a mountainous rally stage at high speed.

"People didn't believe me when I said this was the best version of Pro Rally ever, but it is."

Indeed, it's one of the best looking mobile games I've seen.

The game is using the same engine and running at the same 30 frames per second that you get on the iPhone 3GS, so in addition to the texture changes, most time was spent tweaking the user interface - for the highest resolution screen - as well as dealing with the loss of multi-touch in terms of the controls, and a downgrading of the audio content, again for device-specific technical reasons.

As well as being embedded in new purchases of the Sony Ericsson devices, the game will also be available for free download for those people who have already got a Satio via the PlayNow Arena store - probably around the end of March.

Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.