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Gamepark Holdings Officially Announces the WIZ Handheld
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Aug 26, 2008 01:15 PM
from the no-more-aa-goodness dept.
from the no-more-aa-goodness dept.
Croakyvoice writes "Gamepark Holdings, the makers of the GP2X
Console, have today announced
the successor, which is called the WIZ. The new GBA Micro-sized console features
a touchscreen, Linux OS, an Arm9 533MHZ 3D processor with 64MB of ram and will
have commercial games on sale at launch in October. Best of all for fans of homebrew
and emulation on the GP2X, all that needs to be done is recompiling of sourcecode."
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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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Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you for getting that out of the way early. :)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wot's up with naming things after urinating? First the Wii, then the Wiz. Wot's next? The P33?
Additional Info (Score:5, Interesting)
As for other support, I'm kind of disappointed that they went far enough to support Lyrics (Lyc) files but they only support TXT for their E-Books. I would be nice to see Plucker [gutenberg.org] supported by default so that all the Project Gutenberg books would be readily accessible in something better than just plain text. But, I suppose that's just a matter of recompiling [plkr.org] for the targeted architecture. I wonder if proprietary e-Book formats will ever be supported on devices like this? That's probably just wishful thinking--why would Amazon divert sales of the Kindle to something like this?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Flash 7 is pretty ancient tech at this point. The vast majority of Flash games are Flash 8 with many of the new ones being made in Flash 9. However, the Nintendo Wii has the same limitation, so you may find Wii gaming sites [wiicade.com] to be useful on the device.
emulation (Score:5, Funny)
Can someone write an emulator so that we can we WIZ on our Wiis?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Emulators are inefficient, and the Wii is not the most powerful of the current gen:
WIZ might make Wiis wheeze...
The Pandora (Score:5, Informative)
Although the Wiz is the "official" successor, the successor in spirit (and with a much more open development process, and much more likely to actually get up-to-date source code published - the GP2X firmware versions aren't always open-sourced properly) is the Pandora... www.openpandora.org - which is due out at roughly the same time as the Wiz.
Most of the developers for the GP2X are actually putting their weight behind the Pandora first - I know, I'm a GP2X software porter of things like Simon Tatham's (of PuTTY fame) Portable Puzzle Collection... (Blatant advert: http://www.ledow.org.uk/gp2x/ [ledow.org.uk] for that particular one). This is mainly because GPH are notorious for poor information and stock-status. Most countries had trouble importing the GP2X before it was EOL'd anyway, and you don't get anything useful out of the company at all.
Forget the Wiz, open the box....
Re:The Pandora (Score:5, Informative)
* ARM® Cortex(TM)-A8 600Mhz+ CPU running Linux
* 430-MHz TMS320C64x+(TM) DSP Core
* PowerVR SGX OpenGL 2.0 ES compliant 3D hardware
* 800x480 4.3" 16.7 million colours touchscreen LCD
* Wifi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth & High Speed USB 2.0 Host
* Dual SDHC card slots & SVideo TV output
* Dual Analogue and Digital gaming controls
* 43 button QWERTY and numeric keypad
* Around 10+ Hours battery life
Parent
Re:The Pandora (Score:4, Interesting)
Really? Just copy paste? No effort to even say something from your own head? Wow, how informative.
It added more to the discussion than your AC whining did.
Parent
Re:The Pandora (Score:4, Interesting)
I would not go so far as stating 100 hours. The rather large (for a handheld, that is...) Li-Ion battery they expect to ship it with will give it roughly 10 or so hours of runtime with the power consumption of the components on the bringup board I got. This is at the clock speed of 600MHz. Underclock it and it'll consume a lot less juice and with the DSP core in there, it should be able to play MP3's, etc. with much less juice. Something like 20+ hours, maybe.
Parent
Re:The Pandora (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
A qwerty keyboard? Is that some kind of joke?
That thing is suffering HORRIBLY from feature checklist mentality. Just throw more and more features at it in the hope of attracting people who just read the feature list, without any regard for making a system that makes sense as a whole.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you know ANYTHING about the history, community, or purpose behind the GP32, GP2X and Pandora?
The Pandora is not intended to compete with the likes of the PSP or DS.
It is intended as the ultimate homebrew/retro-gaming/emulation device. As such, a keyboard has been a highly requested feature; it will be perfect for emulation of things like the C64, Amiga, DOSBOX, etc. Not to mention making it practical as an ultra-mini notebook.
Believe me, they are not just "throwing features in" to try and attract buyer
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The Pandora, on the other hand, was developed in response to what the GP2X community was interested in, with lots of feedback and every step. As a result we have two fairly different devices on the way: a GP2X "micro" with improvements all around (but an unfortunately lack of regular buttons on the right hand side) and
I can't afford one (Score:5, Insightful)
I went to the site, and there was no listed price. "Son, if you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford one". Too bad, It looks like something I would really like.
Maybe the lack of a price on the "buy it now" button was an oversight; if so, they need to get their heads out of their asses. Very few of us are Bill gates or Larry Ellison; we can't buy things we don't know the price of.
A lame website makes me think they must have a lame product as well. Be careful with your sites, folks! A good site will sell a bad product, but you can't even sell a good product on a bad site.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
A hand held disappointment? (Score:5, Funny)
Must... resist.. penis joke... Damn it! too late.
Parent
Re:Cheezy Anime (Score:4, Insightful)
All of the games look like cheezy anime. I am not impressed or amused. This just looks like another hand held disappointment.
If it's meant to be like the GP2X and GP32 (of which some misguided person made the same criticism), then you're missing the point. Those were primarily meant for those seeking a more open, hackable handheld that can run emulators and all sorts of other things. They're not really competing with the DS or PSP, which would be better choices if you just want to play games- or at least the kind of mainstream games that Nintendo and/or Sony want you to play.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
so make your own.
Re:Cheezy Anime (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate that fallacy.
Just becasue someone can't do something doesn't mean that can't identify something that is crap.
I can't build a jumbo jet, but if someone made one with square wheels, I would point out the flaw.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've transcribed the first section of the specs from the brochure:
Product Name: GP2X Wiz
CPU ARM9 533MHz, 3D Accelerator
RAM: 64MB
NAND Flash Memory: 1GB
Size: 121(w) * 61(h) * 18(d)mm
Wwight Approx. 93g (Without battery) / Approx. 136g (Including battery)
External Storage: SD Card
USB Function: 2.0 High Speed
O/S: Linux
Battery: 2000mAh Lithium Polymer
Buttons: Up / Down / Left / Right, A/B/X/Y, HOME/SELECT, Volume Up/Down, Power On/Off/Hold
Display: 71.12mm(2.8inch) OLED Touch Screen Panel
Resolution: 320x240 (QVGA)
E
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
How could it not be cheaper than the Pandora? The Wiz has a much less powerful SoC, the Pandora has the most powerful SoC out there (TI OMAP 3530), with WiFi, Bluetooth, a keyboard, analog dual nubs on top of the D-pad and the *proper* other buttons (a double D-pad?? What the hell are these guys smoking?). Also a 800x480 screen vs 320x240. Oh and I'm not even talking about the vast battery life in the Pandora. That's the sort of thing that make the difference between just another PMP/console and a cutting e
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)