Ultima IV - iPad Port Screens

Thought I'd mention some screens of Ultima IV running on an iPad through through Xu4 at Ultima Aiera - seems like the sort of game that would match the format quite nicely to me.
More information.

Never understood the point of this. It's not as if this could ever become available generally since Apple doesn't allow GPL'd applications in their store.

Its the GPL that doesn't allow Apple, not the other way around. Or at least it wasn't so Apple doesn't try anymore.

I wasn't aware that U4 was under the GPL. I was pretty sure EA still retains the copyright and controls it unilaterally.

There are many GPL'd games in the app store. For examle, Battle For Wesnoth has been in the store for a long time and is pretty popular.

Unless EA gets behind this (which they won't), I would bet on it ever being available in the Apple App store, even for free. Too many trademark/licensing issues. Of course if you jailbreak your iPad, that's a different story.

Better use of effort would have been to do it in Android, since rooting of Android devices is much more common and a hell of a lot easier.

ah, I was remembering the complaint regarding VLC for the iPhone and I thought it extended to every app using the GPL. So far only a few GPL apps have been removed, which started with GNU Go.

There's not a blanket ban but a constant back and forth between Apple and the free software foundation.

It makes sense - Apple is a private company. I get tired of tiny companies, the blogosphere, and even governments, constantly demanding Apple play by some rules with their store other than their own.

That's what happens when you have the dominant position in a market, especially if you use that position to squeeze out competitors. We have anti-trust laws for a reason.

I don't see where EA can really bitch about it because you still need the game, it's just a front end. Also, it's not like they aren't giving it away for free anyway. It's like GemRB for Android, yes it will play Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment, but you still need to own the actual games.

I agree that this is better suited for Android though. I really wish RPG creators/convertors would get on the Android bandwagon, or hell even game companies. I'lll gladly pay for decent Android RPGs.

But how do you get the game files onto your iPad if they are not included with the acquisition of the front end from app store?

Thanks for the GemRB link…I completely forgot about that. Time to play Baldur's Gate on my phone!

Originally Posted by blatantninja
But how do you get the game files onto your iPad if they are not included with the acquisition of the front end from app store?

Is there some method to transfer data to a jailbroken iPad? I freely admit to utter ignorance when it comes to Apple products.

I think distributing the game data with xU4 sort of defeats the purpose of it though. Again, this goes back to this being much easier to do on Android since you could easily put it on an SD card and not even have to root the device.

Originally Posted by Motoki
Is there some method to transfer data to a jailbroken iPad? I freely admit to utter ignorance when it comes to Apple products.

There has been a way to transfer files to an app through iTunes for a while now. You can, for instance, transfer PDFs and e-books to the reader app Stanza this way. I'm sure you could transfer U4 data files with the same method. But I doubt that Apple would accept it that way, because the app will have no functionality on its own. That's a no-no.

Originally Posted by blatantninja
But how do you get the game files onto your iPad if they are not included with the acquisition of the front end from app store?

I don't know much about this stuff but I remember Jeff Vogel discussing the process of getting the Avadon beta for iPad onto testers machines - I don't remember the details, though.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
I don't know much about this stuff but I remember Jeff Vogel discussing the process of getting the Avadon beta for iPad onto testers machines - I don't remember the details, though.

Testers can put an ad hoc build on their device. You would need to have an ad hoc distribution profile installed on it and then you can just drag the build onto the device in iTunes. Should be pretty painless, but it has to be authorised by the developer (he needs the devices unique ID).

Distribution through the jailbreak scene with Cydia would be much easier.