Edge Magazine (uk) Jan 2006 - Full Page About Gp2x

[Planet_M]

Had this magazine a couple of days, but don't think this has already been posted here. They have most of p.23 dedicated to the GP2x.

They include pics of the GP2x itself, Xump, TTD and Duke. A list of stats (the official ones - it includes wmv, mpeg and wma support), and a few mediocre (but probably fair judging by this forum) comments. They berate the 'spongy' joystick and 'so closely grouped' face buttons, the 'average' TFT screen and add "Such matters pale, however, when the question arises as to what possessed Gamepark to manufacture a high-drain handheld reliant on two AA batteries for power".

On a more positive note it does give the impression that things will no doubt impove over time and includes comments on the open source and homebrew nature of the device. A typically edge-like level headed and fair news item in my opinion.

 

[saboteur]

Thats it for the GP2X in the Edge then.

Once they don't like something or someone then it/they will never get a favourable review or comment from that point on.

Still - their loss.

 

[Mr Doctor]

See, you have to remember that Edge are utter idiots, you just have to look at some of their reviews to know what a bunch or rs work for them

 

[(naw)mcx]

scan?? i dont belive any one has asked yet *suprised*

 

[chaos engineer]

yeah, scan it. Lots of people on this forum are not from the UK. For them the only chance to have a look at this interesting article is that somebody scans it.

 

[Nintendo]

I don't care what anyone says about EDGE magazine UK, I love them!

 

[chaos engineer]

I don't care what anyone says about EDGE magazine UK, I love them!

​

the Edge mag is quite fancy, nice design and everything, but at the end of the day, GamesTM is much better, not only because of the nice retro section.

 

[ihate56k]

"They berate the 'spongy' joystick"

It misdetects 'left' and 'right' presses occasionally, but feels just fine to me'

'and 'so closely grouped' face buttons'

How big are their thumbs then, they're fine for my hands

'the 'average' TFT screen'

What are they defining as an above average one? the 2.5 inch nds screen... or the dead pixel riddled PSP one? if the GP2x is only average I've not seen an above average one.

and add "Such matters pale, however, when the question arises as to what possessed Gamepark to manufacture a high-drain handheld reliant on two AA batteries for power".

Just remind me, doesn't the psp only last 3 hours on it's lithium (I don't own one)... okay the gp2x doesn't last ages, but even with the 1800mah batteries I use I can get a good whack of play out of it, or watch a whole movie, and carrying multiple sets of batteries is no problem. my old Pocket PC couldn't last more than two hours of movie playing on it's LiIon battery, and it was none replacable... by comparison the Gp2x is a godsend.

 

[LIZARDKING]

I don't care what anyone says about EDGE magazine UK, I love them!

​

This person should be banned!!

Look at this persons Name,sig, avatar...dumb comment... man o man...

 

[abigsmurf]

the comment on the TFT is pretty weird but the joystick comment is fair. I've only got my joystick working well now by cutting off the shaft and glueing it to it sits 1mm higher (they thumbstick itself starts hitting the casing as the hole distorts)

 

[Willei]

I don't care what anyone says about EDGE magazine UK, I love them!

​

the Edge mag is quite fancy, nice design and everything, but at the end of the day, GamesTM is much better, not only because of the nice retro section.

​

The problem with Edge is that they think they know everything, which makes them prone to spouting pure bullshit like it's fact. As the other geezer said, you just have to look at some of their reviews and previews containing blatant factual errors and picking fault with the daftest of things. The fact that they write like pseudo-intellectual 6th form students doesn't help matters.

And it's proven in their article on the GP2X. They reprint the factually incorrect specs of the system without verifying them, remark on the battery life when they're almost certainly using any old alkaline AAs they had lying around, and they probably don't let the reader know that all of their complaints are invalid since it's the pre-release version. Fair play on the stick though, no amount of cutting shafts can fix the massive deadzone and wreched feel of the damn thing.


So yes, GamesTM is better on the whole - even though I find myself disagreeing with many of the reviews, it's clearly written with a passion that makes it totally validated.

 

[nickspoon]

"average" screen? The GP2X has the best screen I've seen on a handheld console yet! Aside the scanlines, which is a software fault and can be corrected with clockspeed and LCD timing, it's brilliant.

The joystick is only annoying when entering names into games like Neutopia. Other than that, I don't notice anything.

 

[Tetedeiench]

"average" screen? The GP2X has the best screen I've seen on a handheld console yet! Aside the scanlines, which is a software fault and can be corrected with clockspeed and LCD timing, it's brilliant.

The joystick is only annoying when entering names into games like Neutopia. Other than that, I don't notice anything.

​

Are you kidding ?

The LCD screen is just crap ! Scanlines ( First time i've ever seen ANY scanlines ! ), Flickering ( and it is NOT really solved by LCD timing... i've yet to find a timing that makes the LCD crystal clear as on the PSP) and diagonal lines !

This LCD is definitly the WORST i've ever seen. Just compare a PSP and this gp2x : on one side you have a crystal clear image, no scanlines, perfectly stable LCD, on the other, you have scanlines, flickering, and diagonal lines, and you have to mess up with settings to make it somewhat OK, but not brillant...

You must be blind... yeah, that must be it.

Or you've never seen a PSP next to a gp2x. Obviously.

 

[gaterooze]

Or you've never seen a PSP next to a gp2x. Obviously.

​

As soon as anything starts moving on a PSP screen, it looks horrible. I get seasick.

btw, I like Edge but I have a friend who worked with them briefly and he was given the review scores for games before he'd even played them. So much for their much-vaunted integrity <_<

 

[Willei]

Or you've never seen a PSP next to a gp2x. Obviously.

​

As soon as anything starts moving on a PSP screen, it looks horrible. I get seasick.

btw, I like Edge but I have a friend who worked with them briefly and he was given the review scores for games before he'd even played them. So much for their much-vaunted integrity <_<

​

I was under the impression that they only do that for high profile games or when there's some contraversy surrounding the game, they do a roundtable discussion of the score. Just one of the problems with acting as an entity rather than letting reviewers put their name to their work.

On the other hand, you do often find that the score at the end of the review doesn't make sense compared to the review that you just read. Who knows?

 

[sam fisher]

You idiot person on about the PSP. Once they change the setting in firmware you wont need to do it! They wer enot originally there you idiot!

 

[Goity]

You idiot person on about the PSP. Once they change the setting in firmware you wont need to do it! They wer enot originally there you idiot!

​

His console is faulty.

 

[Tetedeiench]

You idiot person on about the PSP. Once they change the setting in firmware you wont need to do it! They wer enot originally there you idiot!

​

OH RLY !

Then why not from the start, why the scanlines, why the flickering, why the diagonal lines, why do i have to mess up with settings to try to approach manually a value than can be obtained through CALCULUS ?

Mmmh ?

As for the idiot part... i guess it pretty much demonstrate how clever you are.

My unit isn't faulty, as in games, the screen is somewhat ok. Still with the scanlines, still with some lines, but less noticeable due to displaying an animated image with lots of different colors.

But in the menu... *puke*

 

[p00pty]

Its a fair review, proberbly the only REAL magazine review I have seen.
All the others have look like copy and pasted information from the internet and not done by testing a unit themselfs.

 

[abigsmurf]

I was under the impression that they only do that for high profile games or when there's some contraversy surrounding the game, they do a roundtable discussion of the score. Just one of the problems with acting as an entity rather than letting reviewers put their name to their work.

On the other hand, you do often find that the score at the end of the review doesn't make sense compared to the review that you just read. Who knows?

​

I write reviews and it's a pain in the arse coming up with scores.

That said, the Edge scores for NiGHTS and Gunstar heroes are pretty unforgivable