Modder Dave Bennet has probably found the best (and only) use for his smartwatch – playing Half-Life on it.
The legendary shooter from Valve is running on an Android LG G smartwatch using an SDLash app that emulates Goldsource, the engine that the original Half-Life ran on. Obviously the game is purely proof of concept and is as good as unplayable due to the watch’s tiny screen, but just being able to do it is pretty cool, right?
Bennet says that the game runs pretty impressively hitting up to 60 fps, but naturally struggles when textures like lava and running water need to be rendered. Due to the 1.65 inch screen, the touchscreen controls are fiddly, nigh on useless, and swiping left causes the device to exit the app. Check out Bennet’s text write up to have a go at the mod yourself.
Since the watch is obviously able to handle the Goldsource engine, it’s not unreasonable to think that we could see modders bringing all sorts of classic games to your wrist pretty soon. Amazing!
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.