New version of Battle Cake (X-Mas), a great, Microsoft Bluetooth Stack-friendly multiplayer game is out!

http://www.hitech.herocraft.com/bcxmas.htm

I don't play much on my Pocket PC's (I simply have no free time). When I do, I play multiplayer games. It's very cool to play friends over the Net, or, in the same room. As there aren't many multiplayer titles for the Pocket PC, I welcome and thoroughly test every game that offers any kind of multiplayer capabilities. Now that two of my new, Windows Mobile 5-based Pocket PC's, the Dell Axim x51v and the HTC Wizard (also known as i-mate K-jam, Qtek 9100, MDA Vario etc.) have the crippled Microsoft Bluetooth stack, the chances of getting multiplayer games work have become even lower than on my previous, WM2003(SE) PDA's having the far superior Widcomm Bluetooth stack. This is why I was very happy to see the new version of Battle Cake (X-Mas) to natively support both Windows Mobile 5 and the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. What's new?

1. it's WM5 compatible
2. in multiplayer, the very annoying Bluetooth slowdown/lag problems are all gone, even if you host the game on a comparatively slow Pocket PC. For example, when I hosted the game on my iPAQ 2210 (WM2003 400 MHz PXA-255 CPU) or on the HTC Wizard (WM5 195 MHz TI CPU) with four players, I noticed no annoying slowdowns. The same stands for the iPAQ 1940 – its server hosting lag was unacceptable in the previous version. Now, the lag is almost non-existing. The game is so fast that it's possible to play the game with four players at the same time without serious lagging.
3. there're are new multiplayer game modes
4. the main menu background is completely different, along with its background music, which is far better and more original than the previous "Jingle bells" (it's not stereo, though...)
5. unified Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Edition installer (the original version had separate installers for the two platforms)
6. in multiplayer, the opponents' direction is shown with green circles on the edge of the screen (in the screenshot, with three opponents)

Unfortunately,

1. it still can't find the Pocket Loox 720. No matter how I tested, of the five BT-enabled test PPC's (iPAQ 1940, iPAQ 2210, Pocket Loox 720, HTC Wizard, x51v) the Pocket Loox 720 (PL720) was never found as a client. In this screenshot, the x51v hosted the game and found all the other client devices – except for the PL720. Furthermore, as with the previous version, the PL720 still can't host games either.
2. there's still no in-game music.
3. sometimes you need to rerun the search (in cases, several times) on the server so that it finds all the client PDA's.

To make a long story short, give it a try, particularly if you have a PDA with a Microsoft Bluetooth stack - you won't regret it. (By the way, it was by an accident that I've run into the new version. I've been updating my Multiplayer PPC Game Roundup with WM5/MS BT stack (Dell Axim x51v/HTC Wizard)-specific compatibility information and routinely checked all the game links inside to see whether there're new versions of the titles when I run into an announcement at the bottom on the Handango page. Nowhere else was the new version announced and not even the version number has been changed, which is a pity, because this game indeed worth checking out for anyone that wants a native Bluetooth game compatible with their Microsoft Bluetooth stack.)