Craigix Discloses Information On New Gp2x?

[Alex.]

You guys are fantastic, you really are

 

[OMars]

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...

teşekkür ederim!, sağol! Or, if you know any arabic, Shokran Jazeelan!

So both of these things will be included? Will it not reflect a change in the price of this system?

 

[X-Code]

Probably not by the time that they get implemented methinks, this is all down to good timing

 

[woogal]

Will it not reflect a change in the price of this system?

How can there be a price change on something that doesn't exist or have a price :blink:

 

[OMars]

Will it not reflect a change in the price of this system?

How can there be a price change on something that doesn't exist or have a price :blink:

Haha.

You know I meant the final price.

 

[Cannibal]

I really do hope GP have learn't their lesson when it comes to component suppliers. I was one of those (un)lucky enough to get one of Craig's first GP2X batch. It had an awful display, wavey static lines and general noise all over the place. The replacement was an improvement but was far too dark and still had the lines shifting around. At that point I just thought they were all like that (Pre MK2), and I was going to have to put up with it.

Later on my GP2X got totalled, but luckily I managed to make an insurance claim which now brings me to my third GP2X the MK2. Looking back this is what the first batch should have been!

My heart did go out to the whole team at GP2X.co.uk, it must have been a bit of a nightmare dealing with all those returns. Craig, make sure your fist slams hard on the table this time No crap this time 'round!

...and thanks for supporting the community and taking the time to listen to us all

Cannibal.

 

[sam fisher]

I must have this! When its realeased of course...

 

[sixela]

Hmmm no word from Craigix yet...wonder what he could be cooking up?

 

[X-Code]

I'm still waiting for the Stella and cheesecake :lol: , but this thread is quite entertaining

---

Wonder what this Stella and Cheesecake thing is about?, read from page 14 of this thread onward

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showt...044&st=195#

 

[Eolair]

I'm looking forward to this device and it's probably a must buy....but why a d-pad? Is it just because the joystick is so miserable on the gp2x? Is that why everyone is asking for a d-pad? Just don't make the mistake in thinking that putting on a d-pad, any d-pad, will make it better. Just as there are bad joysticks there are bad d-pads. So I really hope some serious game play testing is done before chosing a specific control device. The choice of gaming controls might make it or break it.

Anyway...I'm not going to be one of the early adopters this time. That first batch of MK1's really ruined my impression of the gp2x. I really don't want that to happen again. So I'll be waiting for some reviews before I buy one. Especially from DaveC. If he's happy then I'm happy

 

[Tobriand]

Yeah, I'll be jumping on the bandwagon in due course as well - hopefully on a bandwagon that doesn't have the dross the the 2x has had to cope with. Especially if it has a nice distribution channel direct to the device.

Presumably the way to do it would be to adapt a piece of client software to read from the archive and interpret that in a hopefully fairly pretty way on screen...

Fingers crossed the specs are as impressive as they're being hyped to be!

 

[DaveC]

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.

The resolution is not the problem. It is the size and shape of the screen. It is very wide but at the same time short in height. In fact a standard 4.3" widescreen is actually *shorter* by a few mm than a 3.5" 4:3 screen. If you used a bigger screen you could make up for it but how big could you go? This means that if you had Megadrive on both for example the image would actually be slightly smaller. Not a big deal in itself as it is not THAT much smaller but if a new system were to appear shouldn't the screen be BIGGER for emus, not the same or slightly smaller?

Then the other problem with the dimension of the screen is the shape of the unit that it would need. This wideness would increase the size of the unit if it had a similar layout to the GP2X or PSP (pad on one side, buttons on other). So now the unit is larger but the emulated screen is basically the same size. Ok you say ditch the GP2X layout and go to something where the pad buttons etc are below the screen or something like that. Well now you have just made MANY games like Ms. Pac-man, CPS1 shooters, CPS2 shooters and 100s of other 3:4 (vertical) arcade MAME games very awkward to play as rotating the unit like a GP2X would be awkward and not practical. Sure you could just play these by having the game take up a tiny vertical strip down the middle of the screen with huge borders on each side. But the image would be *tiny*. Since 320 doesn't double evenly into 480 you would have to scale it fractionally too making it look ugly. So now you have to play all of these arcade titles tiny and crappy looking. These games would have a much smaller and fuzzy ugly image compared to what we can have *now* on the GP2X just by rotating and using the volume for action like now in MAME. A step backwards. So the upside is small but the downside can be large if you like arcade titles. I don't see a good solution with a widescreen to accomodate both good arcade game image quality and size AND compact size of the unit. You have to choose one or the other and loose one of them. And for that loss we gain? A menu on the side of the screen? It just doesn't seem worth it.

To me the best solution would be a VGA (640x480) touchscreen. The ones that I have seen on PPCs etc are all 3.7" which would give a bit bigger image than we have now on the GP2X. This would still allow a unit to be layed out similar to the GP2X and have plenty of resolution for PC titles, emus, ports etc. It would still be compact and allow rotation of the unit for great image size for all arcade titles. This would be a much more versitile and logical solution.

 

[Dubya']

I would rather the gp3x be more of a gaming device than a pda.
plus without a touch screen it would hopefully keep the costs down

If it had a touchscreen, I could imagine a very nifty universal remote control app that could use an IR transmitter plugged into and powered by the USB port.

Dedicated remotes like this with LCD screens can cost hundreds.

 

[TelcoLou]

OOo, can I play the speculation game too?

I want mine equipped with a vaporizer

 

[predatorramboxxx]

OOo, can I play the speculation game too?

I want mine equipped with a vaporizer

this sytem will be pretty much pointless if it cant emulate psx fullspeed or if it cant run n64 games. I dont mind if the n64 emu to be how psx emu is right now. i also want a fullspeed dosbox and it to play some windows game. pre 2000 games would be nice..
i mean wat is the point of this system if it cant do anything much more then the gp2x..
whoever called the zodiac a bad system should be banned from life

 

[Alex.]

NFS2, dare I dream?

(And without saying, Prehistorik 2?

 

[jmetal88]

And without saying

Too late, you said it.

 

[icurafu]

A good point made earlier was to ensure that the product appeals to a wider market, such as the soft-core emulator geeks who are confused easier by installation. Rather than developing my own wish list has been repeated a thousand times over, I’ll look at this instead.

The GP2X had a lot of soft-core emulator gamers already. They are the ones asking all the questions and getting rude responses like “RTFM” or the like.

Anyway, the demographic for the GP2X was:
• Expert Emulator Gamers
• Expert Retro Gamers
• Linux/opensource champions
• Handheld Collectors
• Cheap Gamers
• Developers

If the product is easier to use, you will add the typical retro gamers like some of my co-workers, who used to play lots of games but have different interest these days. To these people, the GP2X is attractive because it promises to relive their childhood. However, even a simpler version of the GP2X would require finding your own ROMz.

Typical emulator gamers on the other hand know how to get roms and are only scared away from the GP2X because it doesn’t emulate the DS, N64 or above or that it is difficult to get emulators to work. Not that they know it when they buy the GP2X. But atleast it allows them to badmouth the system in and Digg/forum/whatever when it does not meet their expectations.

Cheap gamers would be interested in the GP2X, only if it was a viable alternative to the DS. For this, we have to have quality homebrew and it needs to be there at lunch.

To ensure that for the next generation the market is widened, the following is needed:
• Content Management System - Connected to a CMS server via wifi, Bluetooth or USB via an application proxy. Hit one button and all registered apps update themselves, firmware upgrades, drivers updated and added.
• Great launch titles - When the GP2X was released, it had Quake which was a great title, but there needs to be more like this with youtube videos.
• Effective UI - A user interface that integrates with CMS and is easy to use, while at the same time does not remove control from expert users.
• DRM – Call it whatever you want, but developers who make games for the system need to know that there is a central location for selling games that all users are aware of and that their games are protected from piracy. DRM can be made to work only with certain devices.
• Lithium Batteries – Normal people can’t see the advantages of replaceable batteries. Lithium batteries allow for a more attractive form factor.
• Cheap Gimmicks – Wifi and GPS might sell the device better if they are supported, but shouldn’t bloat the cost of the device. GPS can be sold as a sperate USB addon sold separately via a relationship with generic Chinese manufactures. There are a few good Linux GPS apps that need to be ported before a feature like that can be announced.
• Mainstream Accessories – A good example of this was the iffy support of the USB DDR mat. Get a cheap generic, re-badge it as GPH or whoever you are selling for and make a lot of sales. Other good ones is the “Official joystick, gamepad.”
• Easy to use SDK.

If someone starts work later on a CMS, I would be happy to help, and since I am a security developer, I would be interested in coding a DRM like applications management system.

 

[Alex.]

Wow, updates to software via Wifi? How would you know how to keep save files for upgraded games, for example? Could each dev include an update script in the package that tells the unit what files to delete or to overwrite based on the version you already have installed?

It will be very difficult to get right, and to get all devs to go along with it. Installing software for the GP2X is as easy as unzipping and then dragging-and-dropping, if people really can't handle that much work for free games and apps, then...

 

[Dzz]

Deleted. Sorry, was being whiny.