Craigix Discloses Information On New Gp2x?

[virusx]

Yep, a simple software that could be activated if you want.
Then this app will check the version of each Emu-Apps-Homebrew that are installed and ask (or not) you if you want to upgrade to last version.
Not number one concern but I just wanted to write down the idea.

 

[X-Code]

Sounds ok , I like package management systems

 

[dimitri2401]

Considering the specs Craig gave us, a sub $200 retail price seems hardly possible to me, especially for GPH which needs to make profits on the hardware, and the december 07 deadline (if I'm not mistaken) seems outstandingly close !!!
This announcement clearly was a surprise (I was waiting for a Gp2x with a D-pad, GPH arrives with a new system ).

As Exophase pointed out, without a real FPU, the N64 emulation would certainly be impossible, what leaves us with a device not far from the GP2x considering the systems it could emulate (probably the same as the GP2x + PSX and more MAME games). That's not a really big improvement.
I'm also a little bit worried about the devs on the 2x, which could become a deserted platform, without major updates (and that would be bad, really bad ).

I'm just hoping I'm totally wrong, that the new device's gonna be a fantastic handheld and that the Gp2x will continue to live for a verrrry long time
I'm excited and worried at the same time, what a strange feeling !

 

[Dzz]

And automatic wireless updates of softwares

Then it will need a package manager system. I'd like it but there is a lot of people that doesn't want it (they didn't want it for the GP2X)

I'll rant on this just a bit more (since this is the thread for it!). The problem is that we on this forum are self-selected by what the gp2x is. To within the margin of error, the gp2x ONLY appeals to the following people: software developers, hardcore emulation freaks, open source/linux nuts, and sysadmin wannabees. No wonder it isn't very popular, it threw away 99% of the people with money to spend!

Improving the system specs will upgrade one of those categories to "softcore emulation freaks" because the great and tireless work of getting Amiga, PSX, etc, to emulate well will only pay off in super-smooth emulators with better system specs.

But just for a second, never mind emulators. Suppose that there was a new gp2x that was exactly the same as the current gp2x except for wifi. Suppose that GPH or GBAX or whoever, built a nice back end that presented the latest "worthy" stuff in a completely painless way to a client app running on the gp2x+. Here's the test: your average 14 year old idiot must be able to painlessly select, download, install, and run the new game (or media player or whatever). Furthermore, the apps that get "approved" must also be instantly fun to that same average 14 year old idiot.

Now, the 14 and older idiots (a much larger market than geeks who like playing with configuration files) get a machine where they are presented, this week, with say SQDef, BattleJewels, and some other stuff. One click later they are playing. Next week they get Floaters, Blast Riot, and more good stuff. That happens forever, and it's free. I suppose commercial games could be sold alongside if there are any.

"Open" is a wonderful thing, but it is not an end in itself, it is a means that provides an environment where Alex can produce SQDef for the sheer joy of it. But he gets no audience because the machine itself isn't marketed toward many of the people who would enjoy it.

Probably this machine couldn't take on the PSP in popularity, but it could sure do better than the one for linux geeks and the High-IQ club.

Note: the people who like the geeky aspects of the gp2x still get everything they ever had.

 

[vampire8bit]

screw N64, it's not that great a system anyway. A lot of the games made for it were not very good. It should be emulated on a machine after this one. It's better to focus on the systems which many people wanted on the gp2x, to get those to fullspeed/near perfect, with fully playable controls, best display (4:3) and ergonomics:

snes, amiga, dosbox, pc engine/cd, sega cd, atari 7800, c64 vice without the skipping, msx and maybe some others I can't think of now.

The emulation of these systems have made a great start on the gp2x, it would be great to see them completed on this new handheld. ( I haven't mentioned genesis and nes as they are already full speed and can be ported over?)

 

[Javacat]

And automatic wireless updates of softwares

Then it will need a package manager system. I'd like it but there is a lot of people that doesn't want it (they didn't want it for the GP2X)

A package manager system for the GP2X is a bit pointless as it doesn't have network access (without modification) and all software needs to be organised in special ways on the SD card. If the new handheld had built in wifi and some sort of storage it would be a great way of handling software updates. Just connect to a wireless network and tell it to update all of your crap .

btw, bluetooth would also be nice so that I could use my GPS reciever with it (if GPS software ever became available).


I can't help but thing that for all of the different uses I'd want it for whether SD storage alone would be enough, unless it had lots of built in storage aswell <_<

Also, if it did have wifi and use Linux, it would be great to run kismet on. A perfect little wifi hacking handheld.

 

[X-Code]

Package installation via a package manager could be done in offline mode too, you would only need to tell it the local location... As for storage, It doesn't have to be internal, it could be SD card based

This could be useful but could somewhat complicate the matters more than help solve them though.

Dunno, maybe it's just better to do all the usual stuff the usual way and be able to download an executable via WiFi and execute it without the need for a package manager.

I wish we knew what kind of machine we're talking about :lol:

 

[virusx]

Now, the 14 and older idiots (a much larger market than geeks who like playing with configuration files) get a machine where they are presented, this week, with say SQDef, BattleJewels, and some other stuff. One click later they are playing. Next week they get Floaters, Blast Riot, and more good stuff. That happens forever, and it's free. ...

I'm figuring something more like a simple file downloader.
It's automatic but you download the same files.
A completely packaged system wouldn't be cool

 

[EvilDragon]

Oh, 800x480 isn't that bad for emulation.
PSP is bad, because the screen is too hires for 320x240 emulated games (leading to pictures in thumbnail size) and too lores for doubling the games resolution (which makes them ugly when scaled).

This is no prob with 800x480, you can double the size for a nice picture and have some space to the left/right of the picture left where you could put some information like Disk access stuff for UAE or Shortcut-reminders for some emulators, etc.

 

[Javacat]

Now, the 14 and older idiots (a much larger market than geeks who like playing with configuration files) get a machine where they are presented, this week, with say SQDef, BattleJewels, and some other stuff. One click later they are playing. Next week they get Floaters, Blast Riot, and more good stuff. That happens forever, and it's free. ...

I'm figuring something more like a simple file downloader.
It's automatic but you download the same files.
A completely packaged system wouldn't be cool



Don't you think that going into the command line on a handheld console and then doing:
apt-get install psx4all

would be cool?

 

[Dzz]

Now, the 14 and older idiots (a much larger market than geeks who like playing with configuration files) get a machine where they are presented, this week, with say SQDef, BattleJewels, and some other stuff. One click later they are playing. Next week they get Floaters, Blast Riot, and more good stuff. That happens forever, and it's free. ...

I'm figuring something more like a simple file downloader.
It's automatic but you download the same files.
A completely packaged system wouldn't be cool

Not cool to you, because you enjoy wrestling with this stuff, that's why you're on this forum. You can download stuff yourself and run an alternate menu as your shell, and write bash scripts or do whatever you want. I'm suggesting a different vision for the market of a device like this that leverages the work of all the great software developers instead of burying their work on a handheld that the average person wouldn't touch with rubber gloves.

I did not mean to imply that you or other people like you HAVE to use the dummy one-click-to-get-cool-stuff interface or limit yourself to "blessed" applications to protect you from frustration.

 

[moxie]

I'll rant on this just a bit more (since this is the thread for it!). The problem is that we on this forum are self-selected by what the gp2x is. To within the margin of error, the gp2x ONLY appeals to the following people: software developers, hardcore emulation freaks, open source/linux nuts, and sysadmin wannabees. No wonder it isn't very popular, it threw away 99% of the people with money to spend!

[...]

Now, the 14 and older idiots (a much larger market than geeks who like playing with configuration files) get a machine where they are presented, this week, with say SQDef, BattleJewels, and some other stuff. One click later they are playing. Next week they get Floaters, Blast Riot, and more good stuff. That happens forever, and it's free. I suppose commercial games could be sold alongside if there are any.

[...]

Note: the people who like the geeky aspects of the gp2x still get everything they ever had.

Hear, hear! This is also the point of the backwards compatability that craigx mentioned (I think) - Instead of "Buy this really great little handheld now, and you'll be able to stare at it dumbly for the next three months until enough devs has had enough time to start writing 'hello world'", you'll get "Buy this great handheld, and you'll be able to play Vektar, Sqdef, Wind&Water, Ruckman...right away". I mean, I was far from an early adopter to the GP2x, and still when I bought it, the homebrew stuff was (with a few exceptions) less than impressive. The emulators were starting to take shape, but they were far from being at the level they are today.

If someone is actually planning to try to sell this to normal people, they need launch titles of some quality. The likes of Sony and Nintendo does that by paying lots of money and shipping out dev systems. GPH (or whoever is behind this) don't have this possibility, and therefore the backwards compatability is the key to actually selling in any money-making quantities.

And, of course - We will be able to turn off the package manager and write stuff for the new machine, if we want to. The thing is to present instant appeal to the others.

 

[OMars]

Am I the only one listening to mfk? He just said that the system is not by GPH and that it will not have wifi or a touchscreen. I would believe him, because he is a distributor, too.

QUOTE
It's not related with GP or GPH.

QUOTE
A touch screen and wi-fi... don't hurt yourself for small things.


@mfk: Can you confirm that it will not have wifi? I would be really bummed if it didn't.

 

[Dzz]

If someone is actually planning to try to sell this to normal people, they need launch titles of some quality. The likes of Sony and Nintendo does that by paying lots of money and shipping out dev systems. GPH (or whoever is behind this) don't have this possibility, and therefore the backwards compatability is the key to actually selling in any money-making quantities.

Yeah. If GPH wasn't completely uninterested in their own product, they could actually re-launch a "re-imagined" gp2x (without actually changing the hardware at all) by building a slick iTunes-clone instead of using wifi. That would require them actually talking to devs and users, and building channel partnerships, so it is of course a ridiculous idea.

A non-GPH effort of this type would probably have to start with a "soft launch" for a time, building out the back end and supporting the devs to produce a catalog of titles. I don't mean paying them (us), I just mean providing information and encouragement.

 

[moxie]

Am I the only one listening to mfk? He just said that the system is not by GPH and that it will not have wifi or a touchscreen. I would believe him, because he is a distributor, too.

QUOTE
It's not related with GP or GPH.

Hm...Since we're all just rumourmongering here anyway, here's a thought:

The people behind this is: Craig? Having found a venture capitalist somewhere, and having good contact with the few people at GP{H} that actually are technically minded and knows what a gaming device is about, he has founded a little company with some money person and some korean engineers, in which the engineers design the device much like the last time (take an almost finished board, add the necessary extras and put it in a case), but this time done right, the money man pays for it (hoping to actually make money back later), and Craig deals with the marketing part?

Finally, Epicenter would be justified in shouting at Craig about the poor quality of "his" handheld

Yeah. If GPH wasn't completely uninterested in their own product, they could actually re-launch a "re-imagined" gp2x (without actually changing the hardware at all) by building a slick iTunes-clone instead of using wifi. That would require them actually talking to devs and users, and building channel partnerships, so it is of course a ridiculous idea.

A non-GPH effort of this type would probably have to start with a "soft launch" for a time, building out the back end and supporting the devs to produce a catalog of titles. I don't mean paying them (us), I just mean providing information and encouragement.

Indeed. I started fuming a bit a few days ago, along the likes of "Hey, people, were talking GPH here - You wont see the device until may 2009 at the earliest, and then it will have the screen bolted on backwards anyways, so what are you all riled up about", but then again, if this isn't a GPH effort, it might actually end up with something useful in foreseeable time.

 

[lubidog]

[/quote]
The people behind this is: Craig?
[/quote]


This is what I thought, but if it was Craig, surely he would have spoken to all the devs here about what they want to have to play with! This point worries me, why isn't Squidge, Zzottd, Noidz et all already privy to the info and getting their 'toys' ready!

That would make more sense, build a machine for the devs to release their imagination! I want Exophase to have what he wants! Then I get stuff!

Well, weeellll?

 

[Dzz]

why isn't Squidge, Zzottd, Noidz et all already privy to the info and getting their 'toys' ready!

Maybe they are. I know I'm not, but that doesn't mean anything.

 

[moxie]

QUOTE

The people behind this is: Craig?

This is what I thought, but if it was Craig, surely he would have spoken to all the devs here about what they want to have to play with! This point worries me, why isn't Squidge, Zzottd, Noidz et all already privy to the info and getting their 'toys' ready!



To me, it has sounded like at least a few of those mentioned are somewhat in the know. Squidge sounded somewhat clued up somewhere in a post I cant be arsed to find at the moment, for instance.

"Somewhat clued up" about this device, of course. I'm in no way implying any general cluelessness on squidges part here - rather the opposite. Just to prevent misunderstandings

 

[X-Code]

Heh, maybe Craig plans to buy GPH with some help :lol:

Anyway, I hope that whatever this turns out to be... Turns out to... be

 

[techFreak]

Am I the only one listening to mfk? He just said that the system is not by GPH and that it will not have wifi or a touchscreen. I would believe him, because he is a distributor, too.

QUOTE
It's not related with GP or GPH.

QUOTE
A touch screen and wi-fi... don't hurt yourself for small things.

@mfk: Can you confirm that it will not have wifi? I would be really bummed if it didn't.

I never said that it won't have wi-fi or touchscreen. I think you got me wrong. These are really simple additions. You don't have to fight for them. Community wants Wi-Fi so it'll be definitely included. Same for touchscreen...