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Games Entertainment

Game Park Handheld Encourages Open Development 151

Posted by timothy from the kinda-steep dept.
DarkZero writes: "The Korean company Game Park has just started shipping their new handheld game system, called GP32. It has a USB port, internet connectivity, Wireless RF for multiplayer games, and most importantly, it stores its games on Smart Media cards and encourages open development of games by its fans. The first shipment will be available in a few days, most notably from Lik Sang, which has a lot more information about the product here and here."
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Game Park Handheld Encourages Open Development More

Game Park Handheld Encourages Open Development

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  • Opportunity? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by webword ( 82711 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:02AM (#2941708) Homepage
    Perhaps Open Games [sourceforge.net] can lend a hand?
  • Adhere to pre-established standards and use already established media formats.

    Hey, it probably shaves off their costs too.

  • Finally, they get it... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RinkSpringer ( 518787 ) <(un.knir) (ta) (knir)> on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:05AM (#2941717) Homepage Journal
    If you don't release the specs, people will reverse engineer it anyway... so why not do the world a favour and release them straight away. Besides, this will most likely show the company developers itself some neat tricks they never thought of... and it will make their console sell much better :) So, nothing to lose, but a lot to gain... If I see those consoles in the shop, reasonably-priced, I might even get one myself now :)
    • If you don't release the specs, people will reverse engineer it anyway... so why not do the world a favour and release them straight away. Besides, this will most likely show the company developers itself some neat tricks they never thought of... and it will make their console sell much better :) So, nothing to lose, but a lot to gain... If I see those consoles in the shop, reasonably-priced, I might even get one myself now :)

      The problem, is their business model. Most companies release their system at a revenue loss, and hope to make it up in the games. If there are tons of awesome games, that people can get for free, they might have a problem selling their own.
      • You think that an open system will immediately lead to tons of awesome games, that everyone can get for free? If so, where are all of the awesome free games for Linux/Windows/etc?


        (Yep, there's a few great games out there, but I'd hardly say tons. And the good games that are freely available are rarely anything like console games -- think nethack, etc.)

  • Sounds good to me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RainbowSix ( 105550 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:11AM (#2941737) Homepage
    Except their website says:
    Sorry, still working on a version that supports Netscape and other browsers.
    Check back later. This site works only on IE5 or Later.

    Like I haven't heard that before
    "Windows sucks! Open Source is good! But since everybody else uses Windows there is no point in developing for multiplatforms."

    To me, that destroys the spirit of Open Source.

    • In konqueror, I just changed my User-Agent to MSIE and it worked fine.

      • Unfortunately this is not an option, I'd like people to know that I'm NOT using MSIE. I'd rather choose not to see the web site in such cases.

    • Re:Sounds good to me (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Funny, the latest build of Mozilla and Konkeror worked fine for me.. I'd bet opera would too.
    • Well netscape 4.77 moz0.9.7 and konqueror did not work for me but I had just installed opera on my system so it did render. I will be changing the user agent in opera soon, but not to IE. While it might seem clever to do so its web logs full of user agent records saying IE that give these "web managers " the idea that its cool to write code renderable in IE only instead of writing to WC3 standards.
    • yes, annoying isn't it? Got the message for Omniweb, and tried IE5.1 on MAC OS X and got the very same message

      It's nice to see a portable handheld game system that MIGHT offer some serious competition to Nintendo, finally. The price I think is a little high for it to be very successful though. IIRC the GBA is now ~$70, and available everywhere.

      Hopefully they survive long enough to support a competitive price and wider distribution, along with a good game library. If they come up with a decent selection of RPGs they might just be able to carve out a nice niche even if they can never end of going toe-to-toe with Nintendo.

      Any word on battery life yet?
      or backlighting?
      who is/are lik-sang?

      ...and the ever mandatory(here) any get linux up on it?

      in any event, I'm still waiting for a tablet PC ala Newton with a common OS(pref not Windoze/x86) of some sort, good HWR, and all the bells and whistles(mostly) of a notebook at least, and at a notebook(or less) price. Should be feasible with 1.8" drives(no CD/DVD), PCMCIA, 802.11b, 10/100/1G ether, IrDA, USB, firewire, external video port, ~4 x 6 x 1" and possibly, the new fuel cell battery.
      • who is/are lik-sang?
        Lik-Sang [lik-sang.com] is a video game/console import/export company, operating out of (as far as I know) Hong Kong. They often sell weird Asian-only devices to the rest of the world. They have fairly nice prices, but in my experience the shipping that's added generally makes it hurt to buy from them. Still, they're the guys I have to thank for my Neo Geo Pocket Color, which is cool. ;^)
    • "Windows sucks! Open Source is good! But since everybody else uses Windows there is no point in developing for multiplatforms."

      "99.9% of the world's population use Windows! But lets spend tons of money to engineer our site to work with the Open Source users' browsers even though they are all too cheap to buy our products!"

  • This is pretty cool. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BiggestPOS ( 139071 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:12AM (#2941738) Homepage
    But have you played PocketNES on the GBA? Its pretty fucking sweet.

    Site is Here [pocketheaven.com]

    I load this shit up on my 128 megabit flashcard, and play all day at work, and This sure as HELL isn't Nintendo supported :)

  • gonna have great games (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Lumpy ( 12016 )
    Capcom is developing for it.. and I see a few cool titles from them in the games list.

    This could be a GB/GBA killer... espically if they release a Devkit that can be used under linux, BSD, and that other operating system...

    Imagine if someone was to port SDL to it, game development for it would accelerate tenfold.
    • This could be a GB/GBA killer... espically if they release a Devkit that can be used under linux, BSD, and that other operating system...

      Oh yes a devkit for Linux and *BSD should be a high priority for anyone trying to create a GB/GBA killer. I know my 10 year old cousin makes all his purchases based on whether or not there is a Linux devkit.

      // Sarcasm ends here

  • To go Straight to the ENGLISH version of this page (Score:4, Informative)

    by BiggestPOS ( 139071 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:15AM (#2941750) Homepage
    Try this link

    http://www.gp32.com/English/main.asp [gp32.com]

  • GBA Compatability? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Talez ( 468021 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:20AM (#2941772)
    I see it uses an ARM-7 just like the GBA... only running at 75MHz rather than the measly (IIRC) 16MHz that the GBA pushes...

    With the right software, would it be possible to emulate the rest of the GBA hardware in realtime and use the SMC to store GBA roms, thereby giving this handheld an already large library GBA games?

    Just a thought, though the legality of that kind of thing would be dubious at best really...

    Talez
    • Not only that ! a 75Mhz ARM-7 will have no trouble emulating SNES or Genesis hardware ( based on 8Mhz 68000 IIRC ).
      • no trouble emulating SNES or Genesis hardware

        Which of course, brings up the most glaring, major question about this unit:

        Why the HELL are there only two action buttons? Okay, I can see a limitation of four, *possibly*. But realistically, six is the appropriate number, as any fighter game fan will tell you (I'm not, so four is enough for me, but I'm not ignorant of the demands of other genres).

        It also makes it impossible to easily emulate many other systems. Gah. I don't see why they did it - at least it looks like the select button can operate as a third button, which would make a good chunk of CRPGs playable.

        --
        Evan "Wonderswan, you're off my to buy list, Game Ax goes to the closet" E.

        • Actually it has 'L' and 'R' buttons at the top side of the machine. So altogether, it has 4 action buttons.
          • Actually it has 'L' and 'R' buttons at the top side of the machine. So altogether, it has 4 action buttons.

            Oddly, I looked at the specs (fairly) carefully (on LikSang's site), and missed those somehow. Four face buttons, two system buttons and two triggers would be a nice setup, IMO - not too cluttered, and you could map the buttons fairly easily to most common setups.

            Maybe the next version (please let this take off enough so that it makes decent money) will have more buttons, more memory, and a faster (switchable?) processor.

            --
            Evan "Visions of FFIV in my hand dancing in my head" E.

      • No, it's not compatible with binaries for Game Boy Advance (because they have different hardware and memory maps), but if it has the right kind of hardware, it may be possible to make libraries such that a properly written game can be built with -lgba or -lgpark to get the same game on both systems.

        Not only that ! a 75Mhz ARM-7 will have no trouble emulating SNES or Genesis hardware ( based on 8Mhz 68000 IIRC )

        Minor correction: Super NES was based not on Motorola 68000 but on a 3.6 MHz WDC 65C816 processor with some added memory-mapped instructions plus a 2.0 MHz Sony SPC700 (a cheap 6502 knockoff) on the sound side.

        But if the GamePark doesn't have Mode 7 hardware, it won't be that able to emulate Super NES in real time, and developers probably won't even be able to port Super NES games to it (as they are doing with the GBA, which has twice the graphics power of Super NES).

        • FYI GBA doesn't have Mode 7 hardware either - Mode7esque effects are normally achieved by messing with the hardware sprite registers between scanlines.

          • FYI GBA doesn't have Mode 7 hardware either - Mode7esque effects are normally achieved by messing with the hardware sprite registers between scanlines.

            Not sprites, but backgrounds. Mode 7 is created by setting up DMA to copy new values into the background's rotation and scaling registers before each scanline. And the Game Boy Advance has not one but two layers of Mode 7 (in graphics mode 2), in addition to the sprite scaling and rotation functions. I should know; I'm working on a GBA puzzle game that uses such an effect (but in graphics mode 1, which has two normal tile layers and one Mode 7 layer).

            • Good point, well made. Just a bit of a thinko there. Although in theory at least you *could* use sprites for the same effect if you didn't mind eating most of your sprite memory and/or having extremely chunky backgrounds. :)

              • Although in theory at least you *could* use sprites for the same effect

                Not exactly. If you're just rotating and scaling a background in 2D, it might work, but in pseudo-3D as F-Zero and Mario Kart use, no way. For one thing, scaling a sprite above 2x isn't going to work because of the limit on a sprite's width. For another, it's much harder to change a rotated sprite's origin per scanline than to change a Mode 7 background's, and because you can't set it to a subpixel, you won't easily be able to get the sprites to line up at the joint. For yet another, GBA DMA likes contiguous destination addresses, and the sprite rotation and scaling registers are not contiguous by any means.

                if you didn't mind eating most of your sprite memory and/or having extremely chunky backgrounds. :)

                Sprite memory and background memory are completely separate in GBA. In tiled modes (0, 1, 2), you get 64 KB of memory for background textures and maps, 32 KB for sprite textures, 1 KB for sprite vertices, and 1 KB for the palette lookup table.


                ...i assume "iapetus" isn't related to "japheth" or "geppetto"...
                • I know the sprite and background memory is separate - I was referring to the idea that it might be possible to use sprites to generate a Mode 7 background effect (badly) - hence I wasn't referring to the actual background memory but that part that would be used for storing the sprite 'background'.

                  As for lining up the sprites at the joint, getting them to cover the screen correctly shouldn't be hard, but I agree that lack of sub-pixel rendering would result in extremely ugly seams.

                  Anyway, as you say, the right way to do this is with rotation/scrolling backgrounds, so it's just idle thought to see if what I'd mistakenly said could actually be doable. I'm very much of the opinion that it could - just that it wouldn't be worth it and it wouldn't work very well. :)

    • Re:GBA Compatability? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dennism ( 13667 )
      Actually, it's a ARM 9 series instead of the 7 series in the GBA -- but, I don't know what the differences are.

      As far as emulation, it appears that the GP32 has a framebuffer for the video, and no tile modes, sprites, scalling, etc, etc, that allow the GBA to do such really cool stuff with only 16mhz.

      The GP32 might be able to do GBA quality games, but not through emulation -- even partial emulation. The GBA hardware is just really really powerful.

      I'd imagine that the quality of the games for both of these machines is going to be about the same, with the GBA probally having the upper hand. The GBA has a slower processor, but more advanced graphics capabilities. The GP32 traded the advanced graphics for a faster CPU. Both approaches are valid, and for a company with limited resources, the approach taken with the GP32 is going to be cheaper. With the GBA, Nintendo wanted to make a machine that not only was an advanced handheld, it also had to be reasonably compatible with the SNES and the GB/GBC line. The GBA handles both of those requirements just fine. The GP32 doesn't.

      I've also seen people on here talking about MAME ports, and so on -- I don't think that MAME is reasonable for a limited machine. But, since this thing only has a framebuffer, it might be a good start. With the GBA, it has a tile mode that is very similar to a lot of the early hardware that's being emulated -- which makes it real easy to emulate the graphics.

      Any emulator for either of these machines should be re-written to take advantage of any capabilities the machines have... in the GP32's case, though, it doesn't appear to have any more capabilities than at souped up PC from the early 90s. :(

      I may still get one of these, though. If it proves that emulation on this thing can be done reasonably well (anyone seen PocketNES and Foon on the GBA yet? That's impressive, but they both take advantage of the tile mode the GBA has), this may be fun to have in the bag along with the GBA for long trips. But, not being able to stop into a local store for new games is a definite disadvantage.

      Oh, and as far as programming the GBA goes, you haven't really had fun programming until you try programming for the GBA -- things that take lots of coding on the PC (sprites, paralax scrolling, rotation, scaling) are all available in hardware on the GBA. You can make a small program to move a sprite around quite easily. And if assembly language is something you are interested in, you can't get a better platform to learn on than the ARM -- it's a joy to program for compared to the x86 or even other RISC processors like the PPC.

      So, to sum up my long rant, if you're interested programming for consoles, and want to get in cheaply, it looks like the GBA or the GP32 would be a nice start, with the GBA being a better (IMHO) platform to start with. The GBA has much more support in the homebrew community already, with gcc already targeting the GBA, and tons of source code available for use. I can't imagine that the tools for the GP32 are too far behind, being based on the same CPU family, and standard interfaces like SMC and USB. But, even still, the GBA has the leg up, especially if you want it for something more than just playing homebrew games and a handful of games in Korean.

      Either way you go, programming for a console is very fun -- you have complete control of the machine, with no OS to get in your way. You have a blank slate, so go write what you want.
      • The ARM9 family is actually quite interesting. TSMC has a 940T as a macrocell from the fab, so let's assume its a 940T for the now, that means it has a cache, 4k-I 4k-D. There is protection logic for memory protection but no MMU. Without the MMU, only uClinux is going to happen for it. I seriously doubt that little device has the MMU. Compatibility with the ARM7 is close to 100% with differences relative to exceptions (5 stage pipe vs 3 stage), There are some other differences wrt data aborts during load and store multiple.

        A nice processor, ARM's compiler tools are something to behold also, really really good code generation.

        Hedley

  • All they need now is Java! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GameNutz ( 556033 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:26AM (#2941797)
    If they could release a JVM for the device, imagine how large the development community would be. Possibilities...... -GameNutz

  • web site allegedly supports only IE (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I tried pointing Mozilla at the site, and it tells me it doesn't support Netscape, only IE. Now, I happen to be on my iBook at the moment, so it did cross my mind that perhaps they hate OS X. Or, perhaps, all the other slashdotters are using IE?

    In any case, don't you think it a bit odd, that a company that is supposedly promoting open source software, is not even open to all browsers? I say, wolf in sheep's clothing -- let's not get all gushy about everyone who makes claims to openness -- let's use a little bit of litmus here before we start posting pure corporate marketing propaganda on slashdot.

  • MAME please. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AntipodesTroll ( 552543 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:32AM (#2941812) Homepage
    Please? That would rock, having a GBA-type handheld that could play MAME, or atleast some of the less memory/CPU intensive MAME titles. MAME needs a game-oriented low-cost handheld platform.

    (I cant see wether this is wishfull thinking or not, as the links seem to be down.)
  • The success or failure of game systems depend on two factors:

    1. The quality of the games that are available.
    While open source/free software development is a noble concept, if the games aren't built, they will not come. Honestly, how many of us here who play games use Linux or Free BSD boxes *exclusively* for game machines? I play games on Windows boxes because the games are there. Until there are handheld games the quality of those produced for GameBoy, the GP32 will never sell well. If I want to play "snake", I can do that on my cell phone.

    2. Inertia.
    If I've invested in a hardware platform for games that I'm satisfied with, I'm going to continue to use that platform, and buy more games for it. The GP32, or any future handheld game system, will have to offer qualities or features that aren't on my current platform.

  • Sweeet (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Toodles ( 60042 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @11:42AM (#2941849) Homepage
    If you are interested in the development for this device, you can check out the SDK, emulator, and other items here [devrs.com] from Jeff Frohwein, the staple of the Gameboy, gameboy advance, and other hand held home brew development 'scenez'.

    I hope it works out well in practice. The only thing I fear is that we will only have a batch of emulators running on the gp32. For most home brew development platforms (ps1, dreamcast, gameboy, gameboy advance), emulators and demos are about all that exist; full games, even puzzle games, can take an awefull long time to develop.

    Toodles

  • How Can They Stop Piracy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by atam ( 115117 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @12:10PM (#2941956)
    Considering the GP32 uses the easy-to-copy Smart-Media card to store games, how can they stop freeloading software pirates from copying the games? Commercial game develepors would probably stay away from it if it becomes (or even is preceived) as a pirates' platform.

  • I haven't lusted after a device in a while (Score:5, Insightful)

    by donglekey ( 124433 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @12:18PM (#2941985) Homepage
    This is some cool cool stuff. 75 Mhz is not just over four times as fast as the GBA, it is faster than all the previous generation consoles. Imagine a portable gaming console that is faster than a N64, but renders at half the resolution. Smooth graphics indeed.

    Everything is so standard that this could have so many uses besides the normal 'game system'. With wireless RF it could be used as an RF remote, chat program with other people, a wireless LAN debugger, or to unlock cars. It is an MP3 player already. It could emulate just about anything. If you had a wireless LAN that would open up all sorts of possibilities like internet browsing and PC communication.

    Unfortunatly though, I think this will fail as a game system, because they just won't be able to get it out there where people will notice it. Game should be plenty easy to develop for, but that doesn't matter if no one is doing it. If history teaches us anything it is that this won't be a gba killer, but I still want one so bad.

    Also, if the games are on smart media, how is it that they can cost only 34 dollars?
    • maybe you download the games over the net to your own smart media card, after paying for them? that is the only way i can see that they could charge that little for them, unless they have their own tiny capacity flash media
    • Also, if the games are on smart media, how is it that they can cost only 34 dollars?

      You can a 16 MB Smart Media for $10 at retails (according to pricewatch). So I would assume that if you OEM cards bulk at local Korean suppliers, it would probably cost only a couple of buck each.

    • This is some cool cool stuff. 75 Mhz is not just over four times as fast as the GBA, it is faster than all the previous generation consoles.

      Except is the graphics a dumb frame buffer like VGA? If so, it'll be hard to make even a scrolling game, let alone a mode 7 or super-fx style game.

      • Remember it's a RISC cpu one instruction, one cycle (except for branches i think), there is also a framebuffer mode on the GBA.
        Now if the hardware is enough to get some mpeg decoding on it, and we will have the wearable pr0n device nr0... you know it's not the most hitech computer that wins... the pr0n make all the difference... ;)

        /K
      • are you mental? I just spent 15 minutes and made a simple side scrolling example for my daughter in C with SDL using a VGA framebuffer...

        if you cant do that then you really have no idea how to make games... as I am just learning SDL so I suck because I lack expierience...

        sorry... a dumb frame buffer like VGA is no problem at all.

        • I just spent 15 minutes and made a simple side scrolling example for my daughter in C with SDL using a VGA framebuffer...

          I've done the same thing with Allegro (very similar to SDL). I was more concerned about the frame rate that the system would be able to push.

    • 75 Mhz is not just over four times as fast as the GBA, it is faster than all the previous generation consoles. Imagine a portable gaming console that is faster than a N64

      The N64 ran at about 90MHz. This new toy is a bit slower and most likely doesn't have the audio/video coprocessor that the N64 does. Don't expect it to run the likes of Goldeneye or Zelda 64.

      ARM processors in general are a little weak. Think of a 75MHz ARM as roughly comparable to a 25-40 MHz Pentium (no, such things never existed) without an FPU. Puzzle games, yes. 3-D shooters, no.

      --Patrick

  • I'm glad the dev'r site could be viewed from Konqueror, gosh! but anyway - is there not a lot of potential if this is even marginally successful? The usual game ports/emus, yes, but even the possibility of a new rich handheld platform?
    USB connectivity? Smart card? program a sweet little shell on there (probably specialized, as there's essentially no keyboard), and use it as a PDA! Could be lots of fun.
    der_m
  • ...until someone ports NetBSD to this thing?

  • Non-troll question (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ed Avis ( 5917 ) <ed@membled.com> on Saturday February 02, 2002 @12:43PM (#2942095) Homepage
    But does it run Linux?

    Seriously. It has an ARM9 and 8Mbyte RAM, you could port ARM Linux to the thing and use it as a poor man's Ipaq.

    Oh - one more thing - imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
    • The problem is the GP32 has no touch sensitive screen. So you would have a hard time entering any info on the device or navigator the application software.
      • I guess you're right. The cheap alternative to a touchscreen would be ten finger-sized buttons on the underside of the unit. You could type by pressing chords in the same way as those odd keyboards that never really took off.
      • The problem is the GP32 has no touch sensitive screen. So you would have a hard time entering any info on the device or navigator the application software.

        It has a USB port, which means you can use a USB keyboard and joystick.

        • Probably not. Being a USB host (like a PC) is not at all the same as being a USB device. You can't connect a keyboard to your mouse, and type coordinates. ;^) They're both devices, not hosts. The GP32, from the looks of it (which might be deceiving, but I really don't think so), is a USB device. You connect it to a PC to transfer games and stuff, play multiplayer games, and so on, but it can't drive a USB bus of its own. Too bad.

  • Open standards my ass. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fsck! ( 98098 )
    Their site doesn't support Netscape or other browsers (read:gecko). They're "working on it." It's embarrasing and hypocritical when /. links to a site which won't even render with free software. Mark this down as flamebait if you wish, but who we think we are kidding here?

  • Just Two Face Buttons?! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rayonic ( 462789 ) on Saturday February 02, 2002 @01:01PM (#2942161) Homepage Journal
    Why on Earth do they have just two face buttons? Sure, triggers are nice and everything, but the addition of just two more little plastic buttons on the front would allow much greater depth (or at least convenience) to any game.

    Better yet, squeeze on six face buttons and we'll be able to properly play all those Capcom fighters that are coming out for it. I'm still puzzling over why Nintendo didn't put more buttons on the GBA, and now this system has the same problem too? Is there some kind of conspiracy?
  • The GP32 site does not mention whether the display has backlight. If it has backlight, it would have a huge advantage over the GBA. The display on GBA without BL is so difficult to see under non-optimal lighting condition. It is a waste of all the extra colours avalible on screen. It is also spinning out a new industry for accessories to provide front or backlight on the display for the unhappy GBA owners.
    • Yeh.. if it is backlite, it will have several advantages over the gba.. Judging from the pictures, the GP has a slightly better form factor for those of us that have hands bigger than the average 5 year old, the screen is 3.5 inches instead of the 2.5(i think) of the GBA, and the games themselves should be a bit cheaper than GBA games..

  • Logo (Score:2)

    by ameoba ( 173803 )
    Looking at the website, the first thing I noticed was how much their logo resembles the Sega Dreamcast logo.

    Indeed, an ill omen.
  • I just looked on lik-sang, and the price of the gamepark is 199 while the gba is 69 (at amazon.com). it seems that they priced this way out of the market, when you could by a gba and three or four games for the price of one gamepark. Also, for 200, you are entering the territory of consoles and pdas. for a little more you can get a pda, which will play many games (albeit with a much worse interface), but you get all the fratures of a pda. also, if you just wanted a game system, well, you could spend the 199 on a gamecube.
    I would have considered buying this for around 100 , but for almost 200 it doesnt seem worth it, considering you are guarranteed hundreds of games for the gba over the next few years. and among those, there will be many excellent games (like golden sun). whereas with the gamepark, what are you guarranteed? hundreds of crappy tetris clones?
    cristiana
    • It IS a PDA, technically. You can read e-mail, browse the web, and play Mp3s on it. It's also powerful enough to emulate any console previous to the PSX and N64.
  • Looks very cool but unfortunatly costs $199 and that doesn't compare too well with the GBA which has more games and costs around $80.


    But as a purely geek toy, I like it. For Joe sixpack, no chance.

    • Well, I bought an mp3 player with monochrome display for approx. $300, and this GamePark thingy is cheaper AND offers more functionality. So I really wouldn't compare it to a GBA...
  • You can see some screenshots of the games and you can even download some games and an emulator Here [skynet.be]

  • I included in-depth info on the GP32 as part of my last story submission [slashdot.org] (originally titled, "Wireless Handheld Gaming"), but apparently Taco didn't think it was too interesting, so the whole GP32 section was snipped out. Somehow discussion about wireless GBA via add-on peripherals doesn't seem as interesting without a point of reference, such as a handheld that icludes such capabilities built-in from the start.

    I'm personally watching Korea as far as Japanese-style games development goes. Nowadays it's not uncommon to see huge Japanese fan bases for Korean games, mostly RPGs and sim games. Not only is a Korean company now the home of SNK's venerated King of Fighters series, but original games like Tomak [thegia.com] are coming out and impressing Japanese fans.

    < tofuhead >

  • Neat (Score:1)

    by N. ( 180581 )
    I never really believed that thing would ever be released...
  • I tried to submit a story in September about the GP32, but obviously it wasn't posted on /.

    My site (www.HandheldHQ.net [handheldhq.net]) has been covering the GP32 since October, so I'm not simply bragging when I say it's got more coverage than nearly any other site. I hope my site doesn't get Slashdotted from merely posting it here, but oh well--at least some more people can learn about this handheld, which I am really hyped about.

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