Review: i-mate Blackjack Multiplayer

Just wanted to thank the number of emails regarding the broken link on my PayPal button. It only goes to show that you all are still very appreciative of my efforts here in this blog and are trying to contribute! I've been playing around with the template a little bit - I still don't like the look of this one, I might revert back to a previous one, but as you may or may not know, Blogger gives you the template and you've got to muck it up all over again with all your customizations. So, bear with me as I keep changing its look, but thank you all again for your continued support! It's because of your continued support that I am able to try more things that can be related to the K-JAM, and of course to report and share it all the details with you. One of the things I was itching to pick up was a copy of i-mate Blackjack Multiplayer. It's available on their website for $11.99 for clubimate.com members, or $19.99 for the rest of the community; so, I decided to put one of their paid games to the test. Poo-poo to i-mate for not even providing a demo or a trial of their product. Here's $12 of my visitors' money to you because of that. Believe it or not, I've never played a multiplayer game on a desktop PC (I know - gasp!), but for some reason, I've been itching for multiplayer games ever since I had a Pocket PC Phone Edition device. After all, the Verizon Wireless-butchered Motorola V710 phone (which currently has a nice class action settlement now), had a simple multiplayer trivia game that was fun to play with, and the servers were always packed with players. If you own a K-JAM or JASJAR, it should have i-mate Backgammon Multiplayer already installed and bundled with your precious device, or at least it came on your Extended ROM initially. Whether or not you nuked it or moved it off to reinstall on your mini-SD card (recommended), is up to you. Since I don't know how to play Backgammon, it would have been nice if i-mate gave you a choice to install one of their i-games™ for free from their CD or website or something. As you would have guessed, i-mate is going in the direction of trying to get some revenue on the software side, since their hardware comes from device manufacturer HTC, and they can only profit so much from someone else's work. Other i-mate products, such as 1-view is seemingly pointless when you can connect to your home PC or use a free service like Orb to get access to your media anywhere. But, at least they've given us an EDGE (pun intended) with some of the new i-games™ already available for download. Let's take a closer look at i-mate Blackjack Multiplayer. After plopping $11.99 plus tax via my PayPal Debit Card on their website, their order system directed me to follow the download directions that was sent to my clubimate.com e-mail address. Since I didn't set up my clubimate.com e-mail address yet, I found myself lost for a minute or two until I found a tiny link on their website that was labeled, "Purchased content." There, it showed my order history and what appeared to be a permanent, yet personalized (to my order number and their product number) link to their game. I eagerly downloaded the ZIP file to find a desktop installer executable. It's a shame that if you're on your K-JAM and as mobile as I am, you'd have to find your way back to a desktop PC with ActiveSync just to install it, or at least get the extracted CAB file and throw it onto your mini-SD card. There is no serial number or registration code you have to enter to get the game running - just like Backgammon, it's a full-featured game right after you install it. As you can see from the inset screenshot, the game is played in landscape. Nice! I installed the game and launched it. The game's landscape orientation is upside-down from the K-JAM's normal landscape orientation with its keyboard! Not nice. I pulled open my keyboard, then touched an option on the screen, only to find out that the screen's menu option appeared upside-down from the rest of the options, to which it then put the game in the proper orientation of the K-JAM in landscape mode. Considering that the JASJAR uses the same orientation in landscape mode (I believe), you would think their own company would design a game that would be oriented for their devices! Oh well... I suppose I'll be waiting for version 1.2 to get that fixed (my reported version is 1.1 build 44). I never start a game right away. I proceeded into the Options tab as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, and I am able to select an avatar or even provide one of my own. The program looks specifically in the \My Documents\My Pictures folder, so it found the preinstalled images in that folder. I quickly exited out of the game, copied my image to that folder, then relaunched the game, and I was able to select my own picture there. My image was severely squashed and unrefined, so if you have Adobe Photoshop or some image resizer utility, make your avatar image to exactly 37x28 pixels and it should look fine in the game. You have the ability to toggle chat capability and sharing your avatar image with others, but from what I can tell, there's no "moderator" in the servers, so there's no telling what consequences there would be if you end up in a profanity match or share an obscene avatar image with your fellow online players. (Hey, I'm not hinting anything, just an observation!) Note that you can't change any rules of the game, in the event you want the gameplay similar to a particular casino, or if you just like to have the game played the way you want. The only other options available are changing the look of the cards' backs, your betting limits, and online time limits to prevent gamers from holding up the game for the rest of you. When you decide to play online (whether it be through your GPRS/EDGE or Wi-Fi connection), you have to log in with your clubimate.com ID, or you can click in as a Guest. Since this game is publicly available (some of their games are starting to appear on Handango.com), it's installation requirements are not brand-specific, meaning you can install it on any Pocket PC device. To be a clubimate.com member requires their website registration (it's free), but it can't be done through the game. An onscreen keyboard pops up to enter your login credentials. You can use either your K-JAM's keyboard or the screen to enter the information (would have been nice not to see on-screen keyboards anymore since you have a hardware one!). There are two "buttons" on the bottom of the screen for "Back" and "Next." You would assume you can use your K-JAM's soft buttons, much like Windows Mobile 5.0 where it puts the same softkey descriptions in the same locations. No. You have to click these buttons on the screen. When you've logged in to their servers, you can join a table or create your own. I was disappointed to find that there were no other online players at the few times I connected, probably because no one else bought the game yet! But, I'm hoping that's soon to change. When you're finally at a table and ready to play, you'll see your avatars along with the others online (I haven't found anyone to play with yet, so this I'm assuming). The entire interface is touch-screen driven, meaning that there are no keyboard shortcuts. Pretty disconcerting, since if you want to have the game play in the proper landscape orientation, you have to have the keyboard extended, though it won't serve any purpose in the game at all. The graphics are nice, which is a redeeming factor, but unlike other casino games I've played, there's no voice to announce your card values, or if to tell you when you win, or bust, or whatever. Instead, there are cute yet quirky sounds effects in its place. Little voice bubbles will appear for the dealer, telling you that she's shuffling cards or asking you to place your bet, for example. If you don't have an internet connection, you can play alone by clicking "Play Device." While it's fun, it's no different than having some freeware Blackjack game installed on your device. Is the game worth $11.99? I'm sure that the programmers put some time and effort into the game, and the fact that it's one of the few but slowly growing multiplayer games out there, it's certainly has potential. If they could reorient the game for their own devices, give it the ability to provide keyboard shortcuts for their own devices that have them (mind you, the buttons on the game interface are tiny, and having a 2.8" LCD screen doesn't help that either!), and even use the soft keys for on-screen buttons that clearly scream for it, I think they would have a winner on their hands. Here's hoping that my $11.99 includes free updates if and when one gets released. They do have Smartphone versions for many of their i-games, so it's more than likely that the games are compatible online between the platforms. So, if you're willing to plunk down the real cash for the multiplayer casino gaming (hey, it's only play money in the game, just real money to get the game), I hope to meet you at the tables! Click here to learn and buy i-mate Blackjack Multiplayer from their website, or through Handango.com. Again, thank you for everyone who continues to contribute and donate to the site, as it gives me a chance to continue to pick up more software and hardware and test it out for the rest of the community! What do you want to see next?