YouTube user Dave Bennett has managed to get the original Half Life to run on an Android Watch.
Having previously ran Half Life on other Android devices, Bennett arrived at the idea that the same process could be used for the Android Wear smart watch. By using the app SDLash to emulate Half Life’s source engine GoldSource, Bennett successfully ran it in a semi-playable state.
Although a little fiddly to control thanks to the small screen, the game works relatively well. The main issue is frame rate, ranging from as low as 2 up to 60 depending on the player’s environment. However, the Android Wear is capable of rendering all of the game’s graphics and it is technically ‘playable’ as the game is fully functional.
Dave Bennett has released an online tutorial on how to install Half Life on your Android Wear, which you can read here. There’s also a video of how the game performs below.
This is the latest in a string of modding successes, from the ability to play MS-DOS text games within Twitter to another user getting DOOM playable within DOOM itself. With Bennett describing his running of Half Life as a “proof on concept” in the above video, it could be possible we’ll be seeing more ambitious games on wearable tech sooner rather than later.