One fine morning, Ral, Mindy, AJ, and Jing go to play badminton when an evil being appears and kidnaps Mindy. Things seem pretty grim until a mysterious, old man named Lao Pi materializes and offers Ral an enchanted badminton racquet. He explains that the racquet can deflect any attack back at an enemy but cannot do direct damage by itself. All games; Trending Products; Bestsellers; Preorders; Games by genre. Action Games; Adventure Games; Action & Shooting Games; RPG Games; Simulator Games.
- Badminton Warrior Mac Os Download
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At a Glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Works fine with the Mac after you convince the Mac it’s a regular keyboard
- Smart layout for FPS and MMO games
Cons
- Limited usefulness beyond games
- Not marked as Mac-friendly
Our Verdict
Gamepads don’t really work well as controllers for first-person shooters and online role playing games. Those games are thoroughly optimized for use with a keyboard and mouse, but that’s not to say that those controls can’t be improved upon. Enter WolfKing’s Warrior, one of the more unique gaming input devices I’ve seen.
Though it’s billed as a “gaming pad” by WolfKing, calling it that leads to you think of a PlayStation or Xbox controller. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Warrior is a USB input device that’s technically recognized as a keyboard when you plug it in. It’s circular (about the size of a small plate) and it includes 55 keys and controls placed in a radial pattern. All of the keys you commonly use to control your first-person shooter and role-playing games are within easy reach of your fingers, and it doesn’t take long at all to adapt to them.
Although the Warrior comes with no software, getting the Mac to recognize it is a plug-and-play affair—with a caveat. Generally, when the Mac encounters a new keyboard, the Mac asks you to press the keys immediately to the left and right of the Shift keys at opposite ends of the keyboard, so the Mac can figure out if you’re using a Japanese, European or English keyboard layout. This is a bit easier said than done with the Warrior, because there’s only one Shift key. It takes a few keystrokes, but eventually the Mac gives up and just asks you to select which keyboard you think the Warrior is. Identifying it as a regular English keyboard works.
The Warrior’s 55 keys are the most commonly used keys you’ll find in most FPS games, and in many MMORPGs as well. What’s more, most of those games feature some sort of key remapping capability, so if you come across keys that aren’t normally used, you can typically get them working without too much of a problem. The main ones used to circumambulate in games—W,A, S and D—are right underneath your index and middle fingers, while the space bar—most often used to jump—is only a thumb press away. Number keys, keys often used to initiate voice chat (if you’re using a headset), auxiliary keys used to activate alternate weapons settings and adjust inventory, are all laid out within easy reach of your hand.
The Warrior does take some getting used to because it isn’t a QWERTY layout, and if you’re accustomed to touch-typing in your games, your muscle memory will need remapping. Once you get the hang of it, your performance will increase with the Warrior fairly rapidly.
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The white layout with chrome accent is complementary to Apple keyboards (WolfKing offers the Warrior in a number of custom colors so you can match it to your décor). The USB cable is a good five feet long. While cordless or Bluetooth connectivity might be preferred, that would obviously add expense to the device. Underneath you’ll find a couple of risers that can lift the upper portion of the Warrior by about an inch, just as you find on many standard keyboards.
Three function buttons on the other rim of the keyboard let you adjust volume up and down or activate the Escape function. A red LED lets you know when the keyboard is powered.
WolfKing also sells a full sized QWERTY keyboard with an additional 40 key layout similar to the Warrior on the left hand side; it’s called the Timberwolf. What stops me from recommending it is that none of the extended media function keys that span the top of the keyboard work with the Mac (the Timberwolf needs Mac OS X driver software to do that). If you can get by with just the standard keys plus the circular layout, the Timberwolf does work with the Mac.
The bottom line
Not everyone will find the Warrior useful or necessary. But if you’re an avid FPS or MMO player and you’re looking for an edge, the Warrior can provide you with one – presuming you take the time to really get the hang of it and use this keypad to its full ability.
Development tool provider Metrowerks will be at next week’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) demonstrating the newest version of their development tool for Mac OS X: CodeWarrior for Mac OS, Version 8. WWDC 2002 runs May 6-10 in San Jose, CA, and will focus on Mac OS X.
Version 8 is Metrowerks’ most comprehensive toolset for Mac OS to date, according to Andy Mastronardi, director of desktop products. The product supports four languages (C, C++, Objective C and Java) and provides Mac developers with the ability to build both Mac OS X and Classic Mac OS applications utilizing Carbon, Cocoa, Java and Classic Mac OS technologies.
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“We feel that version 8 offers a tremendous value to the Mac community,” Mastronardi told MacCentral. “Cocoa support is something that developers have been asking for as part of the IDE.”
CodeWarrior for Mac OS, Version 8 adds support for the Cocoa application environment, an Objective C class library created by Apple that lets developers build native Mac OS X applications. In addition, the new version includes Apple’s Interface Builder, which enables developers to quickly design and build user interfaces for their Cocoa and/or Carbon applications. Developers who use Metrowerks’ PowerPlant framework (the popular C++ class library for the Mac platform) for Classic Mac OS can now use PowerPlant to create both Mac OS X and Classic Mac OS applications quickly and efficiently, Mastronardi said.
“We think that Interface Builder is one of the biggest additions to the toolsets,” he added. “We feel we’ve given the Mac community everything they need to complement their development cycles, as well as in the area of tools.”
Matt Henderson, Metrowerks’ technical lead on Mac OS tools, told MacCentral that they had worked closely with Apple to incorporate Interface Builder with Codewarrior. Also new in version 8 is the Code Completion feature for C, C++, and Java languages, which provides fast access to the prototypes and parameters of any function in a project. This is designed to enable developers to write code more quickly, without stopping to look up hard-to-remember functions and symbols, Henderson said.
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“Code Completion is a very cool feature that we’re proud of,” he said. “It’s a time saver as it lets you instantly look up any function while typing. You can fill in info without a lot of searching through source code for something that you can’t remember.”
CodeWarrior Development Tools for Mac OS provides the ability to develop on multiple hosts and for multiple targets, meaning developers can build software for both the Mac and Windows operating systems, using the same development environment, Henderson said. Using CodeWarrior tools for cross-platform projects minimizes code changes between platforms and eliminates the need to support different development environments on different platforms, he added.
Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools for Java technology let developers graphically design their software in an interactive environment. Using Metrowerks’ Java RAD tools, developers can write less code, build easier-to-use software and complete their projects faster, Henderson said. Because Metrowerks’ Java RAD tools can be used selectively, they don’t get in the way of development, he added.
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The CodeWarrior IDE includes a class browser designed to allow developers to navigate and conveniently edit their code. The class browser builds a database of the symbols in developers’ code, so that they can instantly look up the definition or implementation of any symbol in their projects.
Carbon remains the primary development environment for Mac OS X and Apple is “fully moving Carbon into the future,” Henderson said. Cocoa certainly has its fans, especially among former NextStep/OpenStep developers, as does Java. Even though the Java support of Mac OS X is impressive and has Apple solidly behind it, Java hasn’t yet caught on as a mainstream application development platform on the Mac, Henderson said.
Later this summer, Metrowerks will release a multimedia tutorial for the Version 8 tools. The tutorial will provide developers with instructions on how to use the CodeWarrior IDE. Mastronardi said that this was a nice feature for newcomers to the Mac space and those new to programming. Look for the tutorial about a month after CodeWarrior 8 ships.
CodeWarrior Development Tools for Mac OS, Version 8, will be released May 31 at a suggested retail price of US$599 per license and $299 for renewal. Or you can get a combined package for Mac OS and Windows development for $799 (or $449 renewal). The combined package is also available in a specially priced academic version for $119.
However, from now through May 30, Metrowerks is offering special pre-release pricing for Version 8 of CodeWarrior Development Tools for Mac OS. The special price is $499 per license (a $100 savings) and $249 for renewal (a $50 savings.) For the combined Mac OS-Windows package, the pre-release price is $599 (a $200 savings) and $349 renewal (a $100 savings).