Linux-Based Gaming Handheld To Rely On Low Material Cost, Indie Apps 137
dartttt writes "Robert Pelloni and his team are working to develop an indie handheld gaming console, the 'nD,' which will run a number of indie games. The device will support 2D games only, and will run a custom-developed, embedded Linux firmware. It will have its own Game Store, which will allow users to download games. The SDK will be released soon, and is based on open source gaming standard SDL. Developers are being told that they can actually start making and compiling games on Windows, Mac and Linux using a 320x240 resolution."
Re:Excellent (Score:4, Informative)
It's all about volume, not portability (Smartphones are a bad example to compare to because the prices are artificially inflated to prop up the scummy cell business model).
Near as I figure it, they kitchen-sinked the engineering of the thing with all the wizz-bang features of 8 years ago, then took too long in getting it out, so now it's just a another portable game system that costs more than any two of its competitors. Combine that with the lack of big-title support, the ever-increasing smartphone saturation and, in some cases, memory of the nightmarishly bad hardware used in its spiritual predecessor (GP2X), and you end up with not a bang for the buck as a gaming machine.
Failing that, you can look at the handheld computer angle of it. Again, the price is too high, and for many of the same reasons: the pocket-sized IM, SSH client, email-checker, VLC remote, etc... All filled better by smartphones now. If Pandora could beat them on price, they might have something (although it would be a hard sell since that would still put it up against the iPod Touch), but clearly, they can't.
So their target market is pretty much shorn down to the geek who has the disposable income to afford one, the desire for a conversation piece/genital extension, and the lack of creativity to come up with anything better to do with that $500.