Response to the previous two articles on my tablet PC gaming project ( first , second ) has been positive, and as long as people continue to express interest in it, I'll keep posting updates. So with this in mind, I thought it would be useful to dedicate the next few posts to describing how well different games do or don't work with the Samsung Q1's touchscreen interface, and what problems I've run into getting them going. Note that some of these issues will apply more generally to netbook gaming—for instance, a few popular netbooks have a 1024x600 screen size, so you see resolution-specific issues come up there, too.

In this first post, I'll just go through the games in my library that I've now had the chance to install and play on the Q1UP. I'd also like to solicit your feedback on which games from the GOG.com library you'd like me to try next, since GOG has kindly offered to let me have some download codes for this purpose.

So far, IWD1 has been the best experience on the Q1UP. Installation went off without a hitch, and the widescreen mod works perfectly to set the resolution to 1024x600. I'm still amazed at how good this game looks; it can hold its own visually with anything around today.

The way that the interface is laid out—with large, finger-friendly buttons on the side for inventory, character, and game management—is ideal for a touchscreen. This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I did this project, and it works super well here. I can do all my inventory swapping and buying/selling by dragging and dropping with my finger, and because this type of thing takes up a fair amount of time in most CRPGs that's a good thing.

I also find that I can easily navigate the dialogue trees with my finger, since tapping anywhere on the same horizontal as the text will select it. You can also scrub up and down with your finger to highlight different lines, before releasing to select one.

Source: Ars Technica