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Gamepark Releases the GP2X Wiz
Posted by
timothy
on Thu May 14, 2009 12:05 PM
from the for-the-obscurantists dept.
from the for-the-obscurantists dept.
Craig writes "Gamepark have officially released the follow-up to its successful Linux handheld, the GP2X. The GP2X Wiz is a 533Mhz Linux-based handheld that's a similar size to the GBA Micro, with a touchscreen and 12 games preloaded into memory, many of which are demos of commercial games. The system comes with 1GB of flash memory, which can be expanded with SD cards. The Homebrew Community have already released ports of games such as Quake, Wolfenstein 3D, Warcraft and emulators for SNES, Genesis, Commodore 64 and the arcade emulator Mame."
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Hardware: The Portable Linux Based GP2X is Here 232 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Today sees the opening of the Official GP2X Site where you can see the new console from Gamepark.com, who last brought you the GP32 a fantastic console for homebrew developers. This console is a major step up with Dual 200Mhz cpus and is basically a Portable Linux handheld that can easily do ports like Quake, Doom and Emulators like Mame. Its Open Source SDK gives all amateur and commercial Developers the ablity to release software on a brand new console like the old Amiga/Commodore 64 days. More screenshots of the GP2X can be found at GP2x news."
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GP2X Linux Handheld Makers Don't Understand GPL 284 comments
Bjimba writes "Apparently, the developer community is having a lot of trouble convincing the makers of the GP2X Linux handheld to comply with the GPL by releasing source at the same time as binary firmware releases. This link leads to a synopsis of the issue, and yes, it's my own blog, but there's no ads."
Submission: Gamepark Release the GP2X Wiz by Anonymous Coward
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Huh? (Score:2)
I was under the impression that this was launched long ago, as I remember them (Gamepark Holdings) advertising it for sale at least a year ago. Doing a bit of research, I guess they thought it would be launched far sooner than they really could. I remember they had pricing available and everything.
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)
No... They had a holdup due to supply issues much like Pandora's had- otherwise you'd have both of them available right now for your gaming pleasure.
Parent
Successful? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Successful? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it made money it is successful. Since it did not fail, it is successful. There are lots of successful people and products I am sure you have never heard of.
Parent
Re:Successful? (Score:5, Insightful)
Whooosh.
If selling 60,000 units was enough to be profitable, then it's a success. Maybe not iPod-like success, but still a success.
Parent
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Did it break even or make a small profit? It's successful if it makes that criteria. It might not be wildly successful, but it's successful.
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If they sold 1 unit and made a profit then it would be a success.
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60,000 units of anything lacking a national advertising budget is pretty impressive. Just because it's not sold at walmart doesn't mean it has to sell a million units in it's first year. If you hand build 3,000 gaming PCs at your house one year under "PCOLAMAN GAMERZ PCS" brand and make $20,000 in profit after you salary and parts costs, is that successful to you? Or did you fail and should you give up.
Re:Successful? (Score:5, Funny)
Describing yourself as "a gaming fan" is quite generous, considering the GP2X was successful and you have never heard of it..
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Describing yourself as "a gaming fan" is quite generous, considering the GP2X was successful and you have never heard of it..
Not really; as I was about to point out (but this comment has already mentioned [slashdot.org]), the GP2X isn't really a direct competitor for the DS and PSP, at least not in most of the world. It's primarily marketed towards homebrewers; those not interested in that could quite conceivably have missed it, though I'm still slightly surprised that he/she has *never* heard of it at all.
Re:Successful? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Successful? (Score:4, Insightful)
I didn't realise the universal measure of success was whether you had heard of it.
Seriously though, success is relative. We're not talking about a DS beater here. They're a comparatively tiny company and their target is the very niche market of home-brewers and enthusiasts. From the stand point of the size of their company and their stated aims, they've been pretty successful so far.
Parent
Re:Successful? (Score:4, Funny)
let's put this in perspective [google.com].
Parent
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Hmm, I notice that both porn and the psp see a jump in searches right before Christmas.
Ouch (Score:4, Interesting)
Looks like it would cause a bad case of dual Nintendo Thumb. Also, where is the wireless? Am I missing this in the product description?
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Android? (Score:3, Interesting)
Does anyone know if this can/will run android?
I'm beginning to think that android should be on every portable, and for something like this that runs linux, one would imagine it's either doable at worst, or officially supported at best.
Any thoughts?
-Taylor
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Android is becoming the new beowulf cluster. Take any small device. Claim we should run Android on it. Instant +5 funny!
Re:Android? (Score:5, Interesting)
Android will likely run on the Pandora [openpandora.org]. The Pandora is the spiritual successor to the GP2X. (as opposed to actual successor)
A bunch of community/forum elites got tired of fighting with lame design choices like the difficult to use joystick, or poorly thought out DPAD, or removal of networking/debugging support; they're making their own dream handheld, which is significantly more powerful, and is designed right.
According to them, it has the best input scheme they've ever tried. ;) That could just be creators tooting their own horn, but after talking with them and reading their posts for the past year, I really doubt it.
The GP2X F100 was the best version of the GP2X, with every version after that getting worse. Updating firmware was absolutely horrible, as no less than five versions of the GP2X were released, all of them bricked by different versions of the firmware.
Despite the lame joystick, the F100 v1 was the best because of projects like USB networking, USB debugging, and even a Java VM. Then GPH replaced the USB chip with a cheaper one, cutting two of those features, and they continued to make bad choices after that.
Despite all this, the community persists.
The GP2X has very lackluster hardware, but emus are reported to run better on it than on a PSP or even iPhone. (despite both of those having significantly faster hardware) That's because of the relatively open nature of the platform.
Most of the GP2X community (gp32x) is throwing their weight behind the Pandora, because it's fully open, rather than just relatively open. We don't want to have our input ignored, then fight with lame design choices. We want the devs to listen, and we want a platform that has mature open source drivers available - a platform like the OMAP 3530. :)
Parent
I'll wait... (Score:2)
I got bitten by the crappy hardware of the first GP2X (4-contact digital "fake analog" stick so about 75% of the movable area was "dead zone", and diagonals were almost impossible), lousy battery life, tendency to blow capacitors...
I'll wait until this thing has some solid reviews on it...
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Yet another correction (Score:2)
... 12 games preloaded into memory many of which are demos of commercial games
No, if you read the announcement - they are demos of games currently in development. It appears there are no games available now except for what's pre-loaded onto the device itself.
Not sure why you'd buy this now...
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alternative to this which looks more promising (Score:5, Informative)
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You're right. It does look more promising.
I'm just looking at the site now.
Why the hell haven't any of the big companies released something like this?! How?! How?!
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[Citation Needed]
The Pandora people have posted plenty of pictures and videos of their prototypes, working units, production samples, etc to demonstrate that their project is real.
There was a Linux-based console that turned out to be a scam recently but it wasn't the Pandora. Perhaps you are thinking of that?
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Somebody mod the parent as troll - we've seen many update pictures/videos in the last few months with the final prototype pieces being built and tested. In fact, an update video showing the first fully assembled prototype pandora (with final case, keyboard and gaming controls) should be posted online in the next day or so.
That's about as far from 'vaporware' as you can get; nobody goes to that much trouble and expense to design and build a device only to not bother selling it. And since OpenPandora isn't pu
What's that in Geek? (Score:2)
* Powered by a 533Mhz 3D accelerator plus flash engine
What's this in geek?
Why are they pointing to some web forum instead of the manufacturer, anyway?
* The new console boasts a 533MHz ARM9 CPU with 3D acceleration.
That's better, I think.
Re:What's that in Geek? (Score:4, Informative)
It is a 533MHz ARM9 based SoC with OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenVG 1.0 hardware support and APIs to use the same. This means you can do OpenGL 1.4 type games with reasonable performance. It probably doesn't have the oomph to do ioquake3 stuff (CPU's just not there) but it should do the things they're claiming of it all the same.
Parent
The size of WHAT? (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sorry but the author of that sentence has never even seen or held a Game Boy Micro in person.
From the specifications alone, you can see that the GP2x Wiz is 50% bigger and 70% heavier than a GameBoy Micro:
Game Boy Micro:
- 50Ã--101Ã--17.2 mm (86860 mm3)
- 80 grams (built-in battery)
GP2x Wiz:
- 121x61x18 mm (132858 mm3, 50% bigger)
- 136 g (with battery)
As far as processing power goes, however, the GP2x Wiz wins. No debate there.
I'm also not a fan of what seems to be a dual-gamepad setup, even if the pad on the right is supposed to be used as "buttons" (and even if the pad is split in four equal parts, it's still a gamepad). Weird, to say the least.
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Something I haven't seen really, and would like to see in handhelds is a strain gauge under the buttons to measure downward button pressure.
I can imagine dozens of ways to use that force intuitively in games, from throwing objects in sports games to modulating throttle, brake and steering control in car racing games.
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Something I haven't seen really, and would like to see in handhelds is a strain gauge under the buttons to measure downward button pressure.
You mean like the buttons with area-sensitive underlying contacts in the Dual Shock 2 and the area-sensitive touch screen in the DS, neither of which got used by a lot of games?
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The pandora is getting mighty close to completion; the last few boxes will be ticked in the next couple of weeks before mass production begins.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The original GP2X(the predecessor to the Wiz) had an analog stick
Actually, it wasn't analog. It was digital and had a very bad contact layout, which is why it had such lousy diagonals.
Re:any detailed specs? (Score:4, Informative)
Wikipedia is your friend [wikipedia.org]
Parent
All you need to know (Score:3, Funny)
is that NOBODY beats the Wiz!
Re:All you need to know (Score:4, Funny)
Alright then, I'm taking out my credit card.
Oh wait, it's maxed out!
VISA beats the Wiz!
Parent
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If you look at specifications for things like RAM and Flash chips, it's always in bits. I'm talking about manufacturers here, not end-user products.
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Gamepark (GPH) is Korean.
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Apple still sells iPod (Score:2)
When this thing was announced, there was no iPhone, Android, etc. Are handheld game-only units still relevant at this point?
They are if you don't want to spend $70/mo on another phone contract. Consider that Apple still sells iPod products, including the iPod Touch PDA, even after the introduction of the iPhone.
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Can anyone actually confirm that anything electronic isn't made in China these days?
To somewhat quote Armageddon: "PSP, iPod touch, Nintendo DSi... all made in China."