One of the possibly unintended uses of may PDAs may be their ability to help users pass time while waiting in meetings, motel rooms or on airline is the multitude of PDA games that are available for a variety of platforms. There may be some logical advantage to some of the games, such as brain teasers or word games, but many are simple a means of passing time.

During business conventions people may find they have time on their hands when there are no emails to answer, no scheduled meetings and during travel while waiting in airports they lack something to do to help the time pass. With many wireless units, especially those equipped with Bluetooth technology and Windows Mobile operating systems they can also play PDA games against other users.

Some of the classic video games such as Frogger and Monopoly have been tuned to work with many Personal Data Assistants and users often save the PDA games on removable memory cards so as not to hog the space available on the internal memory chips. PDA games such as Tetris can help a person pass hours while sitting in an airport lobby or while on the runway waiting for takeoff.

Game Sharing Common Among PDA Users

As PDA games began to increase in number and popularity, many users would willingly share them with co-workers with a simple transfer of the program. Resultantly, many game makers and distributors built in safeguards to prevent the game from being played on a different unit from which it was originally registered. Some build in limitations on the number of times the PDA games can be played without using a registration key.

There are packages of PDA games available with several games on a single memory card in the specific language for a certain operating system, which prevents them from being played on a different type of unit. Additionally, having them on a memory card makes it more difficult to transfer from one unit to another. This technology helps protect the game maker’s profits from the sale of their product allowing only purchased distribution.

Sports games are also popular among many travelers and are the most often used for wireless play between different users. PDA games started during a meeting can be continued across the continent as long as the two players maintain their wireless connection and have the same gaming capability. Typically co-workers with the same company will use the same type of units for compatible communications, making game playing simple.

PDA gaming can become inconvenient.

In an attempt to wean myself off of the Bejeweled 2 puzzle game on my iPAQ 4150, I decided to switch to Age of Empires, merely for research purposes, of course.

Insidiously, my proclivity towards Pocket PC game addiction reared its ugly head once again. It all began when I started playing Age of Empires during commercials while taking in Global News.

As it turns out, Bejeweled 2 had fewer negative repercussions on the domestic front as my wife Jessie has taken to dropping the occasional snide remark about my Pocket PC gaming.

This occurred most recently while conducting a Macedonian assault involving armoured elephants and long sword infantry.

I suspect that the novelty of pausing and rewinding live TV with our Rogers-supplied PVR has become annoyingly stale for her.

It's considered somewhat sacrilegious when Dr. House has been paused midway through delivering a sarcastic quip to a terminally ill patient.

At work, I failed to notice that my desktop PC had frozen during compilation of a quarterly report until half an hour had elapsed, forcing me to produce some deft pretexts when my manager stopped by on a so-called spontaneous visit to my cubicle.

PDA puzzle games usually involve short, quick plays, making for an all-season type of Pocket PC game convenience.

Mounting a real-time Pocket PC strategic assault means having to pay a bit more attention to the big picture, lest you get cut down by an enemy AI civilization rampage on the hardest difficulty level.

My iPAQ has provided more than enough blissful distractions during daily commutes to earn my own, personal award for The Ultimate Gaming Platform that also reminds me of mundane errands, meetings and contact phone numbers.

It's too bad RTS Pocket PC gaming and work don't mix well.

My diet will consist largely of Jawbreaker and Bejeweled staples for the time being. Away from work it'll be a different story.

Well, back to preparing my final AoE assault.

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Damian Julien is a Pocket PC gaming authority and long time general gaming hobbyist and reviewer.

He is an IT specialist by trade and has posted numerous articles on Pocket PC emulators, gaming and trends in the industry.

http://www.pdagameguide.com/

I came across some intriguing WiFi access news on the TechNewsWorld site.

Seattle residents in the US are partaking of WiFi access made available by the King County Metro Transit.

While some folks in Seattle may be thinking of checking their email on the go and similar mundanities, I'll be thinking along distinctly different lines if the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) suddenly adopts it.

Snails, Warfare Incorporated and some Stuntcar Extreme to whet my Pocket PC wireless multiplayer gaming appetite, for starters.

The only real problem would be convincing even the most dedicated PDA gamers in light of a recent, ill-timed bus shooting in the city.

Paranoia would presumably detract from the whole gaming experience.

Fortunately for Pocket PC and Palm gamers, there's been an enormous push towards WiFi hotspot availability recently.

My WiFi Hotspots gaming article spoke of the city of Philadelphia's talks to implement municipality-wide hotspot access.

It also mentions the recent WiFi access game agreement between McDonald's and Nintendo for Nintendo DS users.

It may be for the best.

It's advantageous to burn off some of the 1300 calories of a quarter pounder with cheese, large fries and large shake, albeit via rapid thumb movement.

With WiFi access becoming so prevalent, let's get ready for the plethora of WiFi PDA game goodness that will hopefully follow.

Damian Julien is a Pocket PC gaming authority and long time general gaming hobbyist and reviewer.

He is an IT specialist by trade and has posted numerous articles on Pocket PC emulators, gaming and trends in the industry.

http://www.pdagameguide.com/