Hi guys!
I've been a longtime fan ever since Virtual Families 2 released. I remember when people were so excited for a new game to release and the forums were buzzing with discussion. Whenever I'd look at the old topics here it's like I'm looking at a time capsule, when people were eagerly sharing their discoveries.
I was always curious about your old games, such as Village Sim, Little Pocket Pet and even the casino games. At the time I'd never heard of a pocket PC before, and wondered what it was like to play them. It seems like people really loved them, judging from the forum posts here. And they were influential too - Village Sim paved the way for Virtual Villagers, after all!
I got to play LPP and VS through some preservation websites and an emulator, and they were really fun. It was cool seeing the villagers' colorful hairstyles and even the pets' cute designs. (I even got a couple mutants!)
Even though Palm OS and Pocket PC have been obsolete for a while, there's been strong efforts to preserve them recently. There's a Palm emulator currently being developed that could allow us to play games on our computers or smartphones. (It's called CloudPilotEmu)
Imagine playing Village Sim, LPP or the OG Tycoon games on a portable PC again!
If you haven't played them yet, the Palm games are quite different from their computer versions. For example, Plant Tycoon originally had 4 magic plants, and there were no species names so it's super hard to find them. Village Sim had 12 puzzles instead of Virtual Villagers: A New Home's 16, and Little Pocket Pet doesn't even exist on PC (there ws gonna be some type of sequel that most likely got canceled).
That being said, it would be a shame to let such groundbreaking and cute games fade away into history. Not many people know about your Palm/Pocket PC games. I've been trying to do everything to preserve them, from writing a Plant Tycoon guide to even making my own "Hall of Fame" for Little Pocket Pet. (I could share them here if you're curious) But there's no legal way to obtain the full versions of your Palm/Pocket PC games as of now.
Consider this my humble request. As an avid fan, I would love it if there was an official way to play the full versions of your oldest games. All of them - from the 3 casino games, Fish and Plant Tycoon, Little Pocket Pet and Village Sim. It doesn't feel right to get them unofficially, if you know what I mean.
I'd even be willing to pay a few bucks if that's what it takes.
If your old PC games can be released to the public, then why not these ones?