Bored Already?

[gaterooze]

Prometheus: great post.

 

[raul]

Just wondering if anyone who has had their Pandora for a while is now starting to get bored of it? For me, I installed a few emulators and played the games I remembered and enjoyed back in the day (ie Mario, Sonic etc), but since I've been playing them recently anyway on the PC, they don't seem to be as enjoyable. I have been trying to get into the other games from the NES, SNES and Megadrive era that I didn't originally play back in the day, however it seems that no matter how hard I try, those games just seem dull. Maybe it's just a nostalgia thing where playing old games simply brings back memories, even though they might be crap games?
I can see me making use of the Pandora whilst away from home, eg travelling on a train or by plane, but I don't do much of that. Everything else I need such as web browsing I do on the home PC. I think it's probably just that the Pandora is a portable device and probably better suits people who are away from home for long periods of time maybe? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Pandora will come in handy for me as I could potentially see myself watching a few videos on it when I know I'm going to be away from home for a few days without a TV or computer, but right now, it's not really coming in that useful.

How are other peeps finding the experience? I keep thinking I would maybe have more use for an Ipad right now - could easily see myself on the bed browsing web pages on that lovely screen, or reading ebooks and pdfs in portrait mode. I just can't justify the expense at the moment!

I agree with you, for me its not only the pandora, but any device. I think is part of growing up and having different interests and responsabilities.

I was a hardcore gamer when I was 5 to 12 years old, I am 25 now, and I cant enjoy the games as much now, its the nostalgia and I play a couple of times until I lose all my lifes and thats it, I move to the next game.

It is sad,but true.

 

[peelie]

as one of the many still waiting for a pandora there are not enough expletives to described the opening poster!

 

[Prometheus]

I don't think that's very fair to say, peelie. Everyone is different (and no two people are not on fire), and so are their usage cases.

 

[-Tj-]

@silverspring

Do you play modern games, too? You may be one of those types that can't enjoy the older stuff as much once they've become accustomed to the newer stuff.

I have a friend who's been a gamer all his life, but now can't go back to retro. I stopped hardcore gaming 'round about the time I started working full time (at a game company... the irony) and never got back into it heavily. However, I've been into emulation since the late '90s, and most of the old games I used to play as a kid still hold my interest.

I could go on and on about the theories and differences in development, but that's neither here nor there. If you're bored, you're bored.

Maybe try to think of it as a portable computer rather than a portable gaming device. I bought into Pandora because of its versatility, not as a be all, end all portable gaming system. I liken it to buying a new computer. A couple years ago I bought a top-of-the-line laptop in its size and weight class. It cost me a pretty penny, too. I had to preorder it since it wasn't even out at the time, but a few days after I took delivery of it I was bored of the hardware. After a while I forgot all about what it was, and instead looked at it for what it is. It's a tool, something I use to do a lot of things, things it was meant to do.

If it's doing everything you expected it to do but are still bored of it... well... maybe eBay.

 

[SomeGuy99]

I've felt increasingly bored, apathetic and distant from modern games. They just seemed to be getting worse, and offering less, and stuck in various cliches of recent times.

A lot of older games are also dross (remember when every game was a crappy platformer?) but the best ones have a spark that the best ones now lack. The problem with old games is that I've played all the decent ones... or it feels like it!

For me, it all went downhill after Oblivion and GTA4; Morriwind and GTA San Andreas were two of my favourite games from the last generation... and with better technology they could only become more awesome right?! Not for me. Oblivion had nicer graphics, combat and physics but completely lacked the depth, intricacy and thrill of Morrowind. GTA4 had even nicer graphics, and really amazing physics... but also took away many things.

How can these teams expect me to be enthusiastic after taking away content and features from my favourite games? They offer me a bare cupboard and expect me to be pleased?!

The same thing goes for Nintendo. New Super Mario Bros was a step backwards when you consider the sophisticated gameplay of Super Mario World, and the lush imagination of Yoshi's Island. And apparently they would prefer I play Zelda on a train or boat, and have no overworld, no treasure chests and no secret caves... hmmm, okay! I'll settle for less, sure!

 

[second exodous]

I was a hardcore gamer when I was 5 to 12 years old, I am 25 now, and I cant enjoy the games as much now, its the nostalgia and I play a couple of times until I lose all my lifes and thats it, I move to the next game.

It is sad,but true.

Yeah, I have to agree with this, I can't play video games like I used to. When I was 5-12 I could play non stop for days but now I can't sit down and play for more than an hour or so. I don't know if I have ADD(attention deficit disorder, sometimes in kids video games can distract them for hours and hours where adults that have it find it hard to play game for long periods of time) or games just aren't made well to keep adult's attention like say a book.

@ silverspring: For me if the Pandora only played games I would have never have gotten it, it is way way too much money for just games. I got it because I like to hack around Linux, I wanted a small computer to check e-mail and browse the web when not at home and a low powered one to do torrents on. If you're only looking at games and you're an adult the chances are you won't use it much. Use the Pandora for more, like I said above take a few days and try to do all your web/communication stuff on it and see how much you use it after those few days. It's a new device and you need to get used to it.

 

[gibberish]

for me, gba emulation was always the thing i looked forward to the most. unfortunately it's not up to par currently, so yes i'm not using it much until gpsp emerges.
having said that, i am about half way through zero wing (mega drive) which i'd never played before and am enjoying quite a lot.

 

[paddy]

i have an xbox with 250 gig worth of emulation on it,a psp with 29gig worth of emulation,fullspeed ps1 and some movies as well and my mp3s that play while i play nearly any game on the psp at the same time,my pc for some mame and sega model2 emulation,the pandora games controls have not been used,quite frankly the pandora has been so far a total letdown when talking about emulation.watching movies is superb,browsing the web is great and listening to online radio and messing with linux all amazing but games lol fucking rubbish and thats not forgetting the not so great dpad,spongy buttons ,fucked up nubs making games like quake3 hexen2 a joke to try and play let alone use the mubs as mouse cursor and buttons,and non usefull sticky shoulder buttons.

pandora so far for me is not a games system at all,mini laptop yes and great at it.

 

[renegadechic]

werds

well, its early days yet but i wouldn't write it off. its been in the hands of very few people and people arent even up to grips with the hardware let alone programming for it so i think the emulators will come. as far as dpad goes ive only been aware of positive comments, and the nubs just seem to need a wider exploration of settings to get working.

 

[gibberish]

i can't agree with the dpad comments... i'm no hardcore gamer but for me the dpad is the best i've ever used.
the nubs though, yeah, unusable as anything but a mouse imo.

 

[raul]

I bought it as a replacement for the Wiz, and yes it is far superior. But for web browsing, im'ing , other tasks, My HTC incredible lets me do it faster. It is not meant to be a replacement for your phones or PC's, it is an emulation platform -that allows you to do extra stuff- and of course the portability and long battery.

Maybe someday we will have a gadget that does it all.

Somewhere I read a quote that something like "Once you have it, it no longer satisfies", and that's very true, the expectation of having something is more appealing than when you get the thing. ie In relationships I find more enjoyable the part of getting to know someone, expectation, not knowing if you are going to score or not than when it actually becomes a "girlfriend relationship".

 

[paddy]

yep it still remains to be seen and it is early days but the dpad well is good i guess but the rest of the controls are not so good and i recon the nubs have a flaw of some kind,they are scratchy and do not calibrate properly,more that my two units were like this as others have the same problem,i do hope its a software issue with the desktop mouse emulation prolly is but still many scratchy nubs out there that do not centre properly and my left nub is much stiffer and very scratchy,not good.

the shoulder buttons well the right one is next to useless and the main game buttons on my old unit were ok if not very squeeky but on this new unit AY buttons are really spongy,not much travel on both those buttons,hardly what i bought the pandora for as i wanted the best handheld gaming system you can get for controls and for emulators,both aspects are bad but at least emulation can get better.

 

[silverspring]

However there are some classics that go beyond being merely a game and give you an experience hard to forget. If you've never played it go to http://www.scummvm.org/downloads/ and Download Beneath A Steel Sky. This game will give you unforgettable characters and a story line worthy of a novel. If you don't want to do the puzzle aspects of the game just use a walk through guide and follow the story line. If you can't get any joy out of playing this then you need to give your pandora away and find another past time, finger painting perhaps.

Also of note Disc World 1/2

Thanks, I will certainly have a look at that

 

[silverspring]

@silverspring

Do you play modern games, too? You may be one of those types that can't enjoy the older stuff as much once they've become accustomed to the newer stuff.

Yeah I do dabble with modern games as well, although I'm certainly not a hard-core gamer by any means. I don't think I've become accustomed to the newer stuff to be honest as I don't particular think the gameplay is any better than the retro stuff. When I say dabble with modern games, what I mean is have a quick blast now and again admiring the graphics and how far things have progressed on a technical note. And if anything, the gameplay is not as good as the retro stuff anyway IMO.
I remember the old days and thought the games were great back then, in particular the gameplay and how addictive it was. Now when I play, I usually don't get past the first couple of levels without thinking "bah, that's another job done for the day".

 

[silverspring]

@ silverspring: For me if the Pandora only played games I would have never have gotten it, it is way way too much money for just games. I got it because I like to hack around Linux, I wanted a small computer to check e-mail and browse the web when not at home and a low powered one to do torrents on. If you're only looking at games and you're an adult the chances are you won't use it much. Use the Pandora for more, like I said above take a few days and try to do all your web/communication stuff on it and see how much you use it after those few days. It's a new device and you need to get used to it.

Yeah the Pandora is indeed a mini computer and has far more potential than playing old games. To be honest, I think I just buy things for the sake of it without actually thinking about how useful it will be to me personally. I'll not be the only gadget man (or woman) im sure.
I don't think I could really use the Pandora to browse the web much - screen too small for starters. For me, browsing on the Pandora would only be for when I was away from the home PC for long periods, and that doesn't happen too much. I too like to hack around Linux, but again, I mainly use Ubuntu on the home PC for that.

 

[silverspring]

Somewhere I read a quote that something like "Once you have it, it no longer satisfies", and that's very true, the expectation of having something is more appealing than when you get the thing. ie In relationships I find more enjoyable the part of getting to know someone, expectation, not knowing if you are going to score or not than when it actually becomes a "girlfriend relationship".

Haha, that's me :lol:
For me, it seems to be the whole build up of excitement, then at the event or after there is a massive anticlimax
Then you go on to spend more money.... and so it goes on....

 

[SomeGuy99]

Who knew that living in the future and being amongst the richest people on the planet would be so unfulfilling?

I blame a lack of hoverboards. Everything is better in that future.

 

[Clean3d]

There are quite a few reasons I'm writing this reply on my Eee PC as opposed to the Pandora. The keyboard is not one of them.

I'm terrible at forming paragraphs out of random thought I've been having, so here's something a little more nerdy.

• It's unfair, but there's absolutely no way the Pandora could have lived up to the expectations I'd built up over nearly 2 years of waiting. Just too much hype on my part.
• I overestimated the Pandora's capabilities in the Dosbox arena. I purchased several games online that I'd hoped to play, only to find them unplayable.
• The community's gotten a little elitist, IMO. There are some brilliant users who are very helpful, but my mood dropped when people started saying "the Pandora is a device for hackers and people who like to tinker... and no one else". Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the idea. Can't casual Linux users like myself have fun too?
• Feels like I'm the only one left out. This ties into me not being a "hacker and tinkerer" , but all the folks on the forums who are satisfied with the Pandora seem to magically have more software options than the average user. I'm eagerly looking forward to playing Battle for Wesnoth, but it's not in the apps repository yet and the download link I had previously has been removed. ScummVM is something I haven't found yet as well...
• Battery power! I don't know what you folks are doing, but my Pandora definitely won't last 10 hours. IIRC, my battery dropped 10% just sitting with its lid closed for an hour.

I know these are the "early days" and this list is ultimately the one of a Pandora user who just isn't experienced yet, but it's tough to adjust to the idea of my Pandora not being able to do some of the tasks I'd hoped for, as well as not living up to some of the claims made about it right out of the box. I expect most of the items on my list will be obsolete in a couple months...

...but it's so hard to wait!

 

[Wolfsclaw]

[*]Feels like I'm the only one left out. This ties into me not being a "hacker and tinkerer" , but all the folks on the forums who are satisfied with the Pandora seem to magically have more software options than the average user. I'm eagerly looking forward to playing Battle for Wesnoth, but it's not in the apps repository yet and the download link I had previously has been removed. ScummVM is something I haven't found yet as well...

Battle for Wesnoth:
http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/pandora.cgi?0,0,0,0,29,25

ScummVM:
http://blogs.distant-earth.com/wp/?p=89



edit: Also, http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54783-serious-batterywifi-issue/ might address your battery issue.