Am I The Only Person Who Thinks The Gp2x

[bast525]

Okay I've been keeping an eye on the GP2X/XGP thing, not too close of an eye, but I was definately interested in the GP2X.

Then I see the specs and what I see doesn't seem very impressive at all... maybe I'm not reading it right or I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem to be all that much more powerful than the current GP32 (comparing to a GP that can run at 166mhz which mine can). It's got the same screen, for one. A slightly faster processor, more ram... and what else???

Then I read some rumor somewhere that that the GP2X would cost LESS than a BLU... And everyone on the forum talking about how it will run SNES perfectly or whatever, so I'm thinking... yeah that sounds cool, I'll have to get me one of those.

Now I see it finally listing on gbax.com, and the price is MORE than a BLU.

And still there seems to be no confirmation of if this thing is gonna be able to run full speed snes or who knows what else... understandable I guess since no one has one to program on yet... but now I'm way hesitant to put another $250+ (unit, shipping, at least one SD card) into yet another system to find that it may not even be that much more capable than the GP that I already have.

And what about retail games? Lord knows the GP32 had such a small amount of them, does anyone have an idea if the GP2X will be better supported? Also, will the GP2X be able to run GP32 fxe's? So I don't have to own both?

look, I'm sure this has been beat to death already, I dont hang around the forums much anymore... it just seems to me that this is a bit much... I mean this thing is comparable in price to a PSP. Now I know people would probably argue this til the cows come home, but really, is this thing going to run emus so much better than the GP32 or the PSP as to be worth another $200+? And please, don't go on about screen resolutions and all that, yes you have to use stretching on the PSP, so what? The games play fine, SNES is fullspeed now on at least 50% of the games (I'm thinking more like 80%), NeoGeo CD is perfect at 0 frameskip on most games... And as far as I'm concerned, the graphics look fine even stretched, they use some good filtering that makes everything look nice (no arguments here please, as I said, AS FAR AS I"M CONCERNED, I already know some of you don't think so highly of it). So for those of you who would still hold out for a GP2X over a PSP, please tell me what features of the GP2X are there that make you want one and why you think it is actually worth the money?

Don't turn this into a PSP vs. GP2X debate, I'm actually more just wanting to know what features are there of the GP2X that are so great that would justify such a relatively high cost, if I've already got a PSP and a GP32. I mean... part of me wants to buy one just because... well... I love handhelds (check my sig to see what I mean), and it's a darn cool looking little system, but damn... I can only afford so much!

 

[Qingdan]

Well, what I think is that, until we have the final unit in our hands, we can't really tell... Specs can give an idea but it's only specs, huh .

I think I'm gonna wait a few months before getting a gp2x (mostly because I don't have the cash right now) and see what it's going to be like .

And for sure i'm not going to buy a PS for various reasons .

Anyway, Gp2x has this superiority over PSP , you wont have to use "dirty" tricks to fool the Bios in order to run Homebrew and that's better to me .

Qing

 

[bast525]

first off, the hacks for PSP are so easy to do it really is a non issue. Secondly, it's a non issue for me either way, because I have a 1.0 and 1.5 PSP, and seriously, NO games have come out for PSP in ages that are worth a crap so I've had no reason to update anyways.

So for right now, my PSP is comparable to my GP32 in terms of just throwing emu's on there and playing them just like that. So I hardly call that the GPX2 having some kind of 'superiority'.

You're right on one thing though... it's kind of pointless to even discuss w/o knowing what the GP2X is capable of... if it can run perfect SNES and Neo Geo, good Mame with much more recent games... and the screen is nice like the GP32, then yeah it might be worth it. Throw in some good PC ports and it gets really interesting

 

[unlucky]

What we're all really looking forward to is the fact that it has 2 proccessors that are 200mhz but should be fully useable and have a good amount of cache to help speed things up for a portable device(unlike the psp just one 333mhz). So thats 400mhz hopefully, secondly this is the base clock speed (gp32's was 133mhz 333mhz is psp's max with bad battery life) we have no idea if we can then overclock to say 225-240 on each core. This is all very subjective i mean we dont have the console yet but with a bit of optimism and a small bit of searching you can soon see that with all the devs that are flocking to it and the non retarded community it should be really good.

 

[TandeM]

What we're all really looking forward to is the fact that it has 2 proccessors that are 200mhz but should be fully useable and have a good amount of cache to help speed things up for a portable device(unlike the psp just one 333mhz). So thats 400mhz hopefully, secondly this is the base clock speed (gp32's was 133mhz 333mhz is psp's max with bad battery life) we have no idea if we can then overclock to say 225-240 on each core. This is all very subjective i mean we dont have the console yet but with a bit of optimism and a small bit of searching you can soon see that with all the devs that are flocking to it and the non retarded community it should be really good.

​

[buzzkill] PSP is 2 x 333MHz [/buzzkill]

Guess I should say something pro-GP2X now...

*insert advantages of having 2x the PSP's RAM + NAND Flash, Linux, open SDK, SD storage, OC potential to 250MHz+/core, hi-res TV-out, digital stick, 4:3 screen, SDIO potential, (presumably) low defect rate, (usually) nice friendly community, etc.*

 

[Reesy]

bast525, stop beating around the bush and get one. I mean your collection would incomplete if you don't and you wouldn't want that

Seriously though don't compare the cpu speeds between the GP32 and GP2X, it does not give an actuate picture. The GP2X will run much faster than the GP32 at 166Mhz because

a) it has a 32bit interface for the memory
B) the memory speed is faster

So not only does it have a cpu that runs much faster than the GP32's cpu but it also has another one that runs at the same speed and with the help of Squidge can be used for anything we want.

Plus the fact its got a non clicky super doopa joystick thingy, that can do diagonals.

Addionally its got other 2D graphics processors which can also be used to speed up emulation.

Come on Bast525, get your money out. You know it makes sense

 

[haplo]

This certainly shouldn't be a psp vs gpx2 debate since they are selling to different markets. The psp is a gameing device. As such with consoles they sell the hardware underpriced LOOSING money on it because they make it up on the games that are hughly expensive.

The gpx2 is a home brew geek toy. It is for geeks who want to code stuff on. And play with. There are not as far as I know, major plans for massive expensive commercial games. So no revenue there. They actually have to seel the hardware at cost and make profit from that.

Also, normal consoles guard their specs and SDKs and sell/license them to high paying development teams, so even when they arent making the games them selves they are still making money off them.

The gpx2 comes with the SDK free.

So Gamepark has to make all their money off the hardware. its going to be brutal. I think we should thank, if not praise them for giving us such a wonderful toy to develop for and play with. Its a wonderful oppurtunity.

 

[woogal]

Then I read some rumor somewhere that that the GP2X would cost LESS than a BLU...

....Now I see it finally listing on gbax.com, and the price is MORE than a BLU.

​

This has been answered time and time again (the last time being yesterday by craig). The price was lower until everyone started bitching about 32MB not being enough.

And what about retail games? Lord knows the GP32 had such a small amount of them, does anyone have an idea if the GP2X will be better supported? Also, will the GP2X be able to run GP32 fxe's? So I don't have to own both?

​

Again, look at yesterdays topics. This was all discussed in detail then.

 

[Apeiron]

You own 2 psp's but think that £124.99 is expensive?

 

[Yuglooc]

Word. And then again i have heared that the PSP's second CPU is locked and can't be used in homebrew.

Comparison
GP32 : 166mhz ARM
GP2X : 2x200mhz ARM (~300-400mhz)
PSP : 333mhz

 

[Cyclops]

The CPU alone without overcloclocking, a stack of extra graphics features, apart from a second core. The GP2X has 50% more mhz than the gp32(thank you efegea), on to of 8x as much ram. It has design improvements, real USB cable(my life is complete), I can buy moden and cheap storage. I can replace all my old cards with one new one. It runs a common OS, with a common SDK, hell it will mean the end of renaming to a 8.3 extention and allow faster/more efficent storage ie 128mb means 128mb not 25mb in wasted space(not to mention this is a good advertising tool), ease of development is becoming a major factor. Extra buttons that mean that emulating devices like the SNES practical. 64mb nand for all you app needs, and remember running linux means these can all be compressed again, and the think looks more modern, through in a battery indicator and its already alot better. Finally its a real Movie player without muching about with resizing/re-encoding just copy it across and your done, and you can play it on your TV. That without everything else being faster inside from memory access, to storage access. PHEW.

The only thing that is not a major step up from the GP32 is I liked the volume dial, and to tell the truth. I think they would have been better putting proper buttons, on the left hand side, and had software take care of it.

I do think that the GP2X needs to demonstrate its capability, and soon, to stop these posts, whether its a SNES/GBA/CPS1(2)/Amiga or Quake 1/2;Hexen 2;Matathon 1/2/Infinity or Wesnoth/Ur-Quan Masters.

The GP2X is the Best value handheld ever.

 

[lubidog]

Come on Bast, you are a collecting fiend!

When Reesy of all people tells you to get one, how can you resist?

I am excited about the film viewing possibilites. I watch a lot of films on my psp (thanks ebay!!!!!!!), but I don't wanna take it down the gym. The GP2x will be good for this. And I feel funny about all the piracy that is around at the moment for the psp. Heck, there's a guy on ebay selling every game for the psp on a couple of DVDs for around £30/$50!!!! That's just plain bad, and could harm the potential for future games for the sony handheld. I would rather loose all homebrew/emus for the psp and stop the piracy.

The GP2x, though must do snes. This is the only real reason I am buying one. Everything else I have already. But a few dozen snes rpgs at full speed, with the ease of Ressy's DrMD should be worth a lot.

Plus, I like toys! And really Bast, you need them all, don't you?

 

[psj3809]

You own 2 psp's but think that £124.99 is expensive?

​

Totally agree with you there ! I cant see how he can moan, looks like his rich parents buy him whatever he wants !!

When i was young when computers first came out they were very expensive, the Sinclair Spectrum was about 150 pounds, C64 200 pounds, the BBC computer which most parents wanted was about 400 pounds. Back then in the early 80's that was tons.

Then the Amiga came out and that was about 600 pounds to begin with.

To me the cost of a new GP32 isnt that bad at all, sell your old one on ebay for 40 or 50 pounds to put towards the cost of it.

When things like this first come out (The Playstation II cost a ton to begin with and was still eagerly snapped up) the price is sometimes a fraction higher then is reduced over time.

Either way when someone already has PSP's its quite amusing to hear them moan about the cost when the device is a fair lot cheaper than a PSP !

 

[lubidog]

Er, Bast is a married man...

 

[Prophet]

Honestly, there is always the option of waiting a while and see how it goes.

You don't HAVE to buy a GP2X at launch.

But personally, no I don't think it's too expensive. If you REALLY read through the specs, and about the SOC it uses, it's more than just a slightly faster GP32 with extra RAM (which is how you seem to see it).

Also - last year I bought a BLU and it cost more than GP2X. You can't compare a new system's launch price to an old system's current price. The BLU did cost more (or perhaps about the same in some places) than the GP2X when it came out.

I mean this thing is comparable in price to a PSP. Now I know people would probably argue this til the cows come home, but really, is this thing going to run emus so much better than the GP32 or the PSP as to be worth another $200+? And please, don't go on about screen resolutions and all that, yes you have to use stretching on the PSP, so what? The games play fine, SNES is fullspeed now on at least 50% of the games (I'm thinking more like 80%), NeoGeo CD is perfect at 0 frameskip on most games... And as far as I'm concerned, the graphics look fine even stretched, they use some good filtering that makes everything look nice (no arguments here please, as I said, AS FAR AS I"M CONCERNED, I already know some of you don't think so highly of it). So for those of you who would still hold out for a GP2X over a PSP, please tell me what features of the GP2X are there that make you want one and why you think it is actually worth the money?

I own 2 PSP's.

I've used all the same emus you mentioned and others. A lot. I also donated money to YoyoFR for SNESTYL. There's definitely some really good emus for PSP. NeoCD is a brilliant masterpiece - much better than many commercial games on PSP.

But the PSP has a terrible dpad, and using the analog pad is a poor substitute. Playing fighting games (to any degree of serious accuracy) is just frustrating and unpredictable because of the controls. Plus the screen, great as it is, has some real issues - ghosting for example. And try seeing it ouside or in certain lighting conditions - it's impossible to see sometimes!

For those reasons alone, I'm looking forward to the GP2X.

But look, if you aren't convinced, just wait and see.

 

[mr.mirko]

Then I see the specs and what I see doesn't seem very impressive at all... maybe I'm not reading it right or I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem to be all that much more powerful than the current GP32 (comparing to a GP that can run at 166mhz which mine can). It's got the same screen, for one. A slightly faster processor, more ram... and what else???

In short, thats all.

The gp2x uses one CPU, with a second core. You can use the second core to speed up limited software. Only hand written assembler code will benefit from the second core. So after all i would call the gp2x a gp32 with more ram and 33Mhz faster.

And still there seems to be no confirmation of if this thing is gonna be able to run full speed snes or who knows what else... understandable I guess since no one has one to program on yet... but now I'm way hesitant to put another $250+ (unit, shipping, at least one SD card) into yet another system to find that it may not even be that much more capable than the GP that I already have.

All gp32 stuff will run on the gp2x. Snes will run, until someone will port it to the gp2x. There are a lot folks devving NOW for the machine. And get Hardware this week. So at launch some emus are ready. But dont dream to mutch. AS the gp2x is only a better gp32, it will not run mutch more things.

Playable psx or N64 will NEVER happen. ( cpu too slow, no 3D )

In my eyes the gp2x is too expensive. The regular price is 184 Euro at craig, and 165 Euro at EvilDragons web shop. The machine does not have w-lan or a touch screen, or anything that would be usefull for emus and gaming. The machine will be sold as an Video and Audi playback device ( An media player is preinstalled) But for 199Euro i can get a mutch better media player at ouer local food market. Including 3.5" display and 20gb harddisk, divx and all on. ( But no emulation support)

So, whats really missing is this machine ?

A bigger display. ( 4" and up, like psp )
Blue tooth, or w-lan. For multiplayer on the street.
Touchsceen to play scummvm as a charm.
And the most important thing, less ram, more cpu power.

look, I'm sure this has been beat to death already, I dont hang around the forums much anymore... it just seems to me that this is a bit much... I mean this thing is comparable in price to a PSP. Now I know people would probably argue this til the cows come home, but really, is this thing going to run emus so much better than the GP32 or the PSP as to be worth another $200+? And please, don't go on about screen resolutions and all that, yes you have to use stretching on the PSP, so what? The games play fine, SNES is fullspeed now on at least 50% of the games (I'm thinking more like 80%), NeoGeo CD is perfect at 0 frameskip on most games... And as far as I'm concerned, the graphics look fine even stretched, they use some good filtering that makes everything look nice (no arguments here please, as I said, AS FAR AS I"M CONCERNED, I already know some of you don't think so highly of it). So for those of you who would still hold out for a GP2X over a PSP, please tell me what features of the GP2X are there that make you want one and why you think it is actually worth the money?

I must decide between a psp and gp2x in the next weeks, its very hard to descide. Full professional games, against "until now, nothing". Btw, playing emus on the gp32 is fun, but sometimes i want to play something new. 3D, or not, but new, not only the old things. btw, its nice to have 3000+ games on one card, but sometimes boring.

btw, what would nintendo say if the gp2x could emulate the gba, at full speed ? I bet it would not take a long time, until Nintendo would erase gph from the planet.
It happened with the N64 Emulator, some years ago. ( the voodoo pc emu ).
It happend with the psx emu for pc. ( Bleem was no longer sold )

Just my final words...
The gp2x is a cool device for all devvers out there. For homebrew and music playback. I do not say video playback, couse the display is too small.
In some month you can get some emulators for the machine, and play 1000+ games on it. ( like your gp32 now, possible some more ).
The PSP is a full professional device, with very good games, getting a lot fun. You can run also emus, and backups of your games from memory stick. I personal like the bigger screen for video playback.

Its up to you.

 

[Jarska333]

Er, Bast is a married man...

​

So he has a rich wife to buy all of those things.

I wish they'd given GP2X a girls name...

Kinda like Amiga...

 

[timeslip]

Playable psx or N64 will NEVER happen. ( cpu too slow, no 3D )

Thats odd since im currently playing FF7 on my 200mhz axim x30 pocket pc which strangly enough doesnt have a 3D processor either - Unless somebody slipped one in while i wasnt looking

 

[Jarska333]

You may play it, but is it playable, hmmmm? I remember trying PSX-emu on my Matrox MG200, no 3D-card. It ran. Cloud was missing his head, and the game was little more than a slide-show...

But damn, Mr. Mirko's post really depresses me.

 

[Prophet]

Playable psx or N64 will NEVER happen.  ( cpu too slow, no 3D )

Thats odd since im currently playing FF7 on my 200mhz axim x30 pocket pc which strangly enough doesnt have a 3D processor either - Unless somebody slipped one in while i wasnt looking

​

Hehe. I know the emu you're using. It's f-ing amazing. It really blew my mind last year when I had my Asus PocketPC (now sold though). IIRC I was getting like 20-30 fps on Ridge Racer. All without 3D hardware! The only bad part was controls - the PocketPC controls are just awful.

And the author is interested in trying to port it to GP2X. I don't really have high expectations though, I think it would be a cool tech demo mostly. My main hope for GP2X is a good NeoGeo MVS/AES emulator and other 16bit platforms.