Craigix Discloses Information On New Gp2x?

[Dzz]

wow davec likes the design! We are wittnessing a major breakthrough here ;-)!

I wonder if there is a way to make 3d games more playable. Is a stick plus a dpad possible or would that become too huge?

This design idea does look pretty decent; I"m not sure exactly how the L/R buttons work into it (I mean if it has to have four of them; if two is enough then it's great as is).

I might be the only one on the planet that likes the little analog nubbin thing that the PSP has; something like that placed under the buttons on the right could be helpful -- but it's probably not a standard part and might add to the expense (plus everybody but me despises it!)

 

[Megagun]

The screen has to be the thick part, with the keyboard being the thin part that slides out.
so:
###__
with # being main unit, and _ being the keyboard.
Why? Because otherwise, you'd have the shoulderbuttons on either a tiiiiny screen, (no room for 4 shoulderbuttons then, which I think we all agree is what we need) or on the thick keyboard part, which is irritating since then you'd have your shoulderbuttontriggerfingers behind the screen, plus your fingers can get inbetween the trigger and the screen after you've pressed any of the shoulderbuttons... So definitively the keyboard needs to slide out, and NOT the screen slide out..

Also, if no backlit keys (which are a must) can be used, please position the battery light (and perhaps an extra, more bright light) so that those light the keyboard.

 

[DaveC]

wow davec likes the design! We are wittnessing a major breakthrough here ;-)!

I wonder if there is a way to make 3d games more playable. Is a stick plus a dpad possible or would that become too huge?

This design idea does look pretty decent; I"m not sure exactly how the L/R buttons work into it (I mean if it has to have four of them; if two is enough then it's great as is).

I might be the only one on the planet that likes the little analog nubbin thing that the PSP has; something like that placed under the buttons on the right could be helpful -- but it's probably not a standard part and might add to the expense (plus everybody but me despises it!)


And it would ruin my vertical shooters/arcade games h34r:

The TS can be used for analog stuff though (like the DS). The PSP has no TS so it needs that nub more.

 

[pferguso]

I hope that since there is rechargeable battery in this, that you can charge it thru the USB port! I hate having to remove the batteries each time.

 

[A_SN]

Well, that'd make a 3.44" screen...

I don't quite understand?


If you take a 4.3" wide 800x480 screen, and that you hide parts of it so that you only get to see a 640x480 area of it, then this area will be 4.3 / 800 * 640 = 3.44" wide, which is close enough to the GP2X's 3.5", which itself is large enough, IMHO. And it's not like we can have a true 640x480 screen anyways, we've already covered that, so it's either have a long console like the PSP, or have a console more like the GP2X/GBA with the unique feature that is having part of the screen under the translucent plastic cover to produce funky light effects under the keys.

 

[Nova]

Fixed a bunch of design things. Oh, and is there maybe a slight chance of craig et al being having legal action thrust upon them by straying too close to irivers design?

:S

EDIT: Also added a scroll pad, as that's always useful, for example scrolling up and down webpages, or long lists of games and songs, etc.

 

[X-Code]

Could use fibre optics for backlighting or outlining of the keys... Ok, forget it, too complicated and not really needed... But I do think that you should be able to tilt the screen once the keyboard is fully extended ... So maybe some clever bit of engineering and a hinge that can be locked in various positions would be... Interesting.

( only silly ideas, but if someone want's to try and draw them... Feel free :lol: ).

I like the DaveC modified Metal-Geo design as a base... It's a good start

 

[Dzz]

Well, that'd make a 3.44" screen...

I don't quite understand?


If you take a 4.3" wide 800x480 screen, and that you hide parts of it so that you only get to see a 640x480 area of it, then this area will be 4.3 / 800 * 640 = 3.44" wide, which is close enough to the GP2X's 3.5", which itself is large enough, IMHO. And it's not like we can have a true 640x480 screen anyways, we've already covered that, so it's either have a long console like the PSP, or have a console more like the GP2X/GBA with the unique feature that is having part of the screen under the translucent plastic cover to produce funky light effects under the keys.

Would you drill holes in the hidden part of the screen for the D-pad and ABXY buttons?

 

[Zeladin]

...If the keyboard is to be used on the go, it has to be the thick part, otherwise the console will be too inclined to tippled out of your hand (what fun!). I can't see that being too much a problem for the shoulder buttons, and then you would stick all the connectors on the base.

 

[Megagun]

If you take a 4.3" wide 800x480 screen, and that you hide parts of it so that you only get to see a 640x480 area of it, then this area will be 4.3 / 800 * 640 = 3.44" wide, which is close enough to the GP2X's 3.5", which itself is large enough, IMHO. And it's not like we can have a true 640x480 screen anyways, we've already covered that, so it's either have a long console like the PSP, or have a console more like the GP2X/GBA with the unique feature that is having part of the screen under the translucent plastic cover to produce funky light effects under the keys.

Yes, and you'd win the most-horrible-design-and-wasting-batteries-to-the-max award.

It's like buying an expensive sportscar, stabbing the engine with a screwdriver a few times and then saying "Oo, now it makes pretty fountains!"

 

[A_SN]

Would you drill holes in the hidden part of the screen for the D-pad and ABXY buttons?

Didn't we say it'd be a touch screen? (my point is, the buttons could use that)

Well OK, maybe that's a flawed idea, but I'm not convinced widescreen consoles are such a good idea, size wise.

 

[tim0391]

Fixed a bunch of design things. Oh, and is there maybe a slight chance of craig et al being having legal action thrust upon them by straying too close to irivers design?

:S

EDIT: Also added a scroll pad, as that's always useful, for example scrolling up and down webpages, or long lists of games and songs, etc.

nova are the pictures underneath supposed to be buttons cos that would be awesome B)

 

[X-Code]

Look like quick access buttons ... It is a cool idea.

 

[LordFu]

Those of you worried about width, look at a psp or a Nokia Internet Tablet.

I have an N800, and it's far from "too wide".

While a 3:4 screen would be nice for some emus, it's just not going to happen. With this widescreen, 3:4 games and videos will be practically the same size as the current 2x screen output at twice the resolution, and you have a widescreen, which many emus can make use of, ex: CPS2.

 

[Nova]

Yes, each button is like a hot-key in the sense that it would take you directly to your Music/Video/Games/Wifi respectively when pressed.

 

[tim0391]

nice love stuff like that

 

[A_SN]

Funny, I don't like that quick access button idea. At all. It doesn't make sense. It would on a PDA, but it doesn't belong on a game console, IMO. Plus, when we got buttons, we tend to use them for whatever we want in programs, just look at what people did with the volume buttons, barely half of programs use them only for sound.

Put differently, I think it's a bad idea to have buttons with very specific purposes, as we'll necessarily drift away from these specific purposes. Plus, how sensefull would that be if you happened to press one of these buttons while playing a game, as anyways you could have quick access to the same stuff with the menu.

 

[Nova]

Yeah, I'm all for getting what you want when you want it. That means not having to fiddle through menus to get what you want, unfortunately something the GP2x was less than lacking in.

 

[LordFu]

Hotkeys are great, yes.

 

[sam fisher]

I was thinking like Dzz, of having a analog nub on the right hand side and modified the other design to get this: