Craigix Discloses Information On New Gp2x?

[Megagun]

My cap is still firmly attached.

I also have pretty much no problems whatsoever with my MK2 stick. Could be because I never really used any form of DPAD extensively though.

I think I'm pretty close to beating Cave Story on my 2x...

Anyways, we seriously need that backlit keyboard. Backlit, yes. Backlit. Otherwise it'll be way too irritating to use, especially when it's dark.
We all know we want to irritate IRCgoers at night!

Name: GPx.. the... Game Portable eXtreme..
Just so we kan keep this domain. Har.

Oh, and Craigix, it seems that you're currently working on the menu system, right? Well if so, make sure you add enough keyboard shortcuts to various menu tasks. Nothing is better than knowing a system inside-out and quickly doing whatever you want using keyboard shortcuts.

 

[goobers]

BTW. Can we have a joystick rather than a d-pad... *runs for cover*

I cover you! tak tak tak!
It's not that I'm against D-pad, but I prefer a well manufactured stick.
Oh noooo... Here's the DaveC 3000 comin'!Of course if we're looking at emulation then ideally we'd have both digital... and a keyboard... and two analogues sticks and... it will look like this (we can fit the screen between the steering wheels) :

EDIT:
Heh - thanks Alex - image removed - can't embed it! (not that I don't like David Hasselhof... apologies if you have nightmares)
Link - http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/6.html


rofl! i've seen some designs in my time.... but that... wow. just wow.

 

[lubidog]

3D in a handheld it's weird to me.
I've played 3D nintendo ds with touchscreen and it is not very good... :unsure:
The same with psp, that analog thing is strange. Nothing like a keyboard and mouse.

Plenty of 3d games on the ds work wonderfully!

It is the biggest selling thing ever, so you must be wrong!!!

Seriously, without 3d this thing would never sell. I still reckon Zottd is perfecting his psx emu...

 

[Squidge]

Newer libraries are backwards-compatible, so all old stuff will run.

With all the different linuxes out there, and all the millions of different versions of libraries - this would be impossible to ensure 100% compatibility. Imagine I develop a game today, and build it using current libraries - will those libraries still be guaranteed to behave in the same manner today as in five or ten years time.

Yes. Libraries have minor and major numbers, the major number is embedded into your application, so you app requests "Library X, Major number Y". If the library is ever changed to be incompatible with a previous version, the major number is changed. End result is that worse case you end up with a couple of libraries of different versions for different apps, but thats far better than static linking everything, and gives benefits such as if the library is further optimised, there is no need to recompile all the apps that used it. Also, in some cases, it can mean more features in an app without recompiling too (eg. App asks for a list of available resolutions, and over time more resolutions are created in the library, so app can instantly use those new resolutions).

So people would be encouraged to use dynamic linking whenever possible.

QUOTE
An important thing is that nothing gets loose in time.You know, the worst thing about the gp2x's stick isn't that it sucks(, which it does). It gets loose from its platform in some months, making it even suckier.

Oh, no problem there, when you buy your console, Craigix will keep it for several months to ensure it doesn't get loose over time before sending it on to you

 

[Dzz]

Regarding the design, if it has to have a keyboard, perhaps something like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/20/sharp-r...erty-pocket-pc/

It would have to be wider to accomodate the wide screen and gaming controls, which would mean that the keys could be a bit bigger.

 

[X-Code]

Regarding the design, if it has to have a keyboard, perhaps something like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/20/sharp-r...erty-pocket-pc/

It would have to be wider to accomodate the wide screen and gaming controls, which would mean that the keys could be a bit bigger.



That's what I had in mind for a sliding keyboard system , it's not too bad.

 

[predatorramboxxx]

Regarding the design, if it has to have a keyboard, perhaps something like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/20/sharp-r...erty-pocket-pc/

It would have to be wider to accomodate the wide screen and gaming controls, which would mean that the keys could be a bit bigger.


this to would work good the dopod design

 

[cowai]

LOL, I can vision it in my head. Craig having all these gadgets stacked inside his apartment.

 

[Dzz]

Another design variation is this:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ductId=11040253

It would also have to be wider, but in this case, sliding out the keyboard would not have to make the dpad/buttons more awkward to access, though the keyboard ends up smaller. The keys on the unit are backlit, which is sort of nice I suppose.

One thing you can do is post a keyboard layout before deciding on it. I picked up one of these Vaio units on ebay to play with and the Sony designers made some pretty bad mistakes on the layout; the shift key is very difficult to use and quite hard to make combinations with, and some other problems as well. Having a lot of eyes look for obvious ergonomic difficulties might help avoid a dumb mistake.

Having the screen slide up instead of having the keyboard slide out does give the device a sturdy feel.

 

[Javacat]

Regarding the design, if it has to have a keyboard, perhaps something like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/20/sharp-r...erty-pocket-pc/

It would have to be wider to accomodate the wide screen and gaming controls, which would mean that the keys could be a bit bigger.


I'd been thinking along those sorts of lines, but in addition to that, when the keyboard/screen (whatever slides out of what) has moved all the way it sort of 'locks' into place and then the screen could be tilted up to create an angle between the keyboard and screen.

 

[X-Code]

Regarding the design, if it has to have a keyboard, perhaps something like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/20/sharp-r...erty-pocket-pc/

It would have to be wider to accomodate the wide screen and gaming controls, which would mean that the keys could be a bit bigger.


I'd been thinking along those sorts of lines, but in addition to that, when the keyboard/screen (whatever slides out of what) has moved all the way it sort of 'locks' into place and then the screen could be tilted up to create an angle between the keyboard and screen.



That's a nice idea

The thing about the sliding keyboard.... Hmm, it shouldn't be = to the depth of the machine or we would lose two shoulder triggers ( supposing that we have 4 that is ).

Edit: On the other hand I suppose that we wouldn't be using the shoulder triggers if we were using the keyboard d'oh! :lol:

 

[cappuchok]

Another design variation is this:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ductId=11040253

It would also have to be wider, but in this case, sliding out the keyboard would not have to make the dpad/buttons more awkward to access, though the keyboard ends up smaller. The keys on the unit are backlit, which is sort of nice I suppose.

One thing you can do is post a keyboard layout before deciding on it. I picked up one of these Vaio units on ebay to play with and the Sony designers made some pretty bad mistakes on the layout; the shift key is very difficult to use and quite hard to make combinations with, and some other problems as well. Having a lot of eyes look for obvious ergonomic difficulties might help avoid a dumb mistake.

Having the screen slide up instead of having the keyboard slide out does give the device a sturdy feel.


Nice find. I also mentioned the HTC/Dopod method of having a springloaded slide-out keyboard, but having a springloaded slide-up screen instead would certainly be more sturdy, and could add the possibility of tilting the screen relative to the controls.

My other idea would be having the slide-out keyboard not cover the entire back of the unit but only slightly wider than the screen width. That way it would act more like a "keyboard drawer" and it would still be possible to handle the game controls without the keyboard being in the way. Of course, that'd mean a slightly smaller keyboard than what would be possible if the entire back of the unit was a full keyboard, but it wouldn't have to be smaller than the HTC design - just add room on the sides (the same depth as the rest of the unit) for game controls but keep the keyboard the same width.

To help visualize it, just look at the Vaio design but move the screen down in line with the sides of the unit and the keyboard slides out below the screen. That'll give you a pretty good idea of how my idea would work (or not).

 

[Dzz]

A "detachable" keyboard seems like a decent idea, but I'm not sure how to make it work on a gaming device. Presumably while playing a FPS you won't be steering around with ASDWX which would be really awkward on a chicklet keyboard, you'll be using the pad or stick or whatever. But you still need to get at the keyboard commands. Something like this:

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/files/mis...e_ameo_kybd.jpg

Seems to look okay at first, but I think it would be difficult to game with (though it's probably fine for writing code or whatever other bizarre things people think they'll be doing on this thing)

 

[Javacat]

A sliding keyboard, like the keypad on the Motorola Z8 would be pretty cool (and sexeh!).

Edit: gah! it's not very obvious on the introduction to that phone, but as the keypad slides out it sort of curves up, making the screen raised at an angle.

 

[X-Code]

A "detachable" keyboard seems like a decent idea, but I'm not sure how to make it work on a gaming device. Presumably while playing a FPS you won't be steering around with ASDWX which would be really awkward on a chicklet keyboard, you'll be using the pad or stick or whatever. But you still need to get at the keyboard commands. Something like this:

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/files/mis...e_ameo_kybd.jpg

Seems to look okay at first, but I think it would be difficult to game with (though it's probably fine for writing code or whatever other bizarre things people think they'll be doing on this thing)




More or less what I was thinking of, it could also act as a cradle and charger base

 

[woogal]

Anyways, we seriously need that backlit keyboard. Backlit, yes. Backlit. Otherwise it'll be way too irritating to use, especially when it's dark.
We all know we want to irritate IRCgoers at night!
And make the backlight come on when the keyboard is opened. I've been playing around with a Qtek 9100 (HTC Wizard) the last couple of days and the backlight only comes on after a key has been pressed, which is fine once you've started typing but hardly useful for trying to find the first key.

 

[Moparx]

I've been watching the thread since it first started and I must say that the device does seem to be rather interesting project from what we know so far.
It would be great to have a package manager available as it would obviously save a little bit of time that was reserved for manually moving files over to an sd card.

I would really only use the device as a gaming platform so I hope it doesn't turn into what amounts to an overly expensive and feature bloated PDA.
If that happens I wonder how cost effective it would be to market a stripped down version to cater to those who only want a 'upgraded' GP2X.

Regardless, I would probably buy it as long as it didn't go excessively over the $300 range.

I can't wait to see the finalized design and specs

 

[Metal-Geo]

Heh...

How about the controls (buttons and direction thingy, whatever) on the keyboard? Would mean we'd have a much bigger screen.

Although, that might be uncomfortable after a long time of gaming. But heck, I'm just here bringing in some ideas.

 

[virusx]

Having the screen slide up instead of having the keyboard slide out does give the device a sturdy feel.

This Sony looks good!
I took the gp2x today to try to figure out where a keyboard should be placed.
I found that it will depend of the all design of the handheld. Where are going to be placed the Dpad/sticks/buttons?
We can't build a handheld depending on the keyboard, so the keyboad should be designed after the all thing I presume.

The problem is that most well designed keyboard (like the Sony one), are useless if you can't lay the handheld on a surface (or one of your hand, or your knees).
While having the handheld on both hands, the design is restricted to less areas:
Under each hand, separated in two parts or on the sides.

Having a perfect keyboard is going to be a hard task

 

[Fox_]

i have the HTC Blue Angel, which is a great machine. Anyway, the keyboard slides out of the base, the friction to keep unit "closed" is maintained by a roller which presses down beside the keyboard. Over time, this wears into the plastic. It has started to happen to mine after a few years. I think using such mechanisms is a bad idea outright. Many pda's have issues with ribbons breaking and wearing as well, as I dont know the financial situation for this project I cannot comment on where shortcuts will be made, however, ribbons that flex are also, a bad idea.

I think a detachable kb is a good idea, It would have to be a connection which supports the weight of the unit and doesnt allow flex. I keeo thinking of something that is alike the ds controller things, the silicone skins with attachments. (docking station of sorts?)

:lol: I apologise if you dont understand, I am rather drunk at the moment and the screen is moving in ways it shouldnt. Time for bed methinks. I have work in the morning.

~Fox