Gp2x Vs. Gp32?

[daclassicgamingmaster]

im with trooper,

me and that man always tend to agree on stuff,

Man ?, Oh yeah!, *cough*

Trooper

a reference to something??..

 

[sensible GP32]

im with trooper,

me and that man always tend to agree on stuff,

Man ?, Oh yeah!, *cough*

Trooper

sorry forgot you were a big fat lady girl

 

[Epicenter]

Bollocks. I've already told you why this is not true, yet here you are again saying the same lies.

We have sold thousands of each. I can tell you the GP2X is like night to day in terms of build and reliability. The number of GP32 returns we used to get was a nightmare and they never fixed the main problems in 4 years, instead they just sent us boxes of spare parts WITH the consoles. We had to test every single GP32 we sold because the quality was so poor.

We don't have to do that with the GP2X.

If you want a Dpad on the GP2X daveC will put one on for you, we will be offering this service soon on a larger scale at minimal cost once we have everything arranged with dave.

For someone who criticized me for calling you out, you sure are being inflammatory yourself and calling ME out. Well, it's within your rights, but you've never once responded when I told the reasons WHY I was calling you out, and you never responded when I told you WHY the GP32 had superior build quality to the GP2X.

It's an complicated issue since the MK1 and MK2 generations of the GP2X are quite different, they weren't built by the same factory, as you know. The MK1 units had loads of capacitors that fell off, headphone jacks that had almost no solder on them and fell off or became disconnected from most of their solder pads, the boards were misaligned causing the stick to be unable to swing fully left and instead hit the side of the case, also making the EXT port not connect to peripherals like the TV out cable correctly, et cetera, et cetera. The MK2 fixes most of the issue of parts falling off, but the system still feels very cheap, and what matters to me the most, the stick, is not fixed. It's rotated and decorated which conceals the issue and takes it away from the forefront, but the problem remains.

The fact that you are now intending to offer a D-Pad installation before the machine ships to the user is a step in the right direction, assuming the price is not exorbitant. This is not an 'optional improvement' to the GP2X, it's fixing what amounts to a defect that you claim you'd have fixed if price allowed. I already applauded EvilDragon when he stated he'd offer this service-- back when YOU were still telling me the stick was fine, and if you can play Battle Squadron, the stick is perfect and no one else's thoughts on the matter had any gravity at all. You also 'hung up on me' twice in IRC conversation about this issue-- this is unprofessional and unacceptable. You saw the issue, and you lied about it. Yet, you call ME the liar? You lied me on more occasions than I care to relate again! You've still yet to respond to these allegations. Apparently, you also lied to EvilDragon, telling him that you never contacted me about developing a game based on Quake-- which you did, and I saved the PM to prove it. You know, the one you wanted me to develop based on outlandish claims about the engine's performance when it was really just a quick port done for fun. This is quite a trend with you. This is not to mention the fact that you seem to be just as clueless as GPH most of the time, like your ridiculous claims that the GP2X's successor should have a '600 MHz ARM9' (no such thing exists) because Software 3D rendering is the future (which is the most fucking ridiculous thing I've ever heard) and that if the new machine featured a 2D or 3D accelerator that no one would use it (ahahahahaha :lol: )

Back to the matter at hand .. the bigger issues I find are design failures in the GP2X, not faults in production.
- The LCD screen shipped with the unit was incompatible with the MMSP2's LCD controller. GPH knew it, GPH didn't fix it, GPH sold it that way.
- SD DMA is completely broken, so accessing the SD card at all causes the CPU to grind to a halt. Consoles 22 years old supported DMA. This is an appalling flaw. Still screwed up in MK2 since it's the same MMSP2/MP2520F.
- The power subsystem is still terribly faulty, even in MK2. Its inefficiency aside, this is evident in that if you try to switch from batteries to a brick the machine will lose power immediately and restart, and/or crash, and it won't function at all correctly from Alkaline AAs. The GP32 did not suffer from these flaws, though a great deal of this can be attributed to that its SoC was not nearly as power-hungry as the lower-grade MagicEyes part is. The system's inability to die without spraying the screen with garbage is a simple software feature that should've been applied ages ago, but the firmware shouldn't have been released half-broken to begin with. Due to the issues lots of reviewers encounter with Alkalines, this is a major obstacle to the GP2X's acceptance as anything but a hacker's device, when a buyer realizes much to his dismay after powering the unit on, it needs special batteries and a special charger he was not supplied with, and that the seller nor the box mentioned he needed.
- Many others, I'll cut the list short here, this message is already running long ..

Regarding the GP32 build quality, I've never seen quite what you describe; I have to wonder if you got a particularly crummy batch. The GP32 users I know have been nothing but thrilled. You tell me the shoulder buttons perpetually broke-- one was just telling me the GP32 he got USED that is not even one of the newer models, has shoulder buttons that are perfectly snappy and responsive, and so springy that when he places an SMC card on top of one and presses it down, its release launches the card a couple feet into the air. A look inside of it reveals impeccable build quality, good soldering, amazing attachment of SMD components. The GP2X's components, until MK2, were hanging on by a thread of brittle lead-free solder, had nearly no solder at all (in the case of the headphone jack, literally no solder held them, the case wedged them in place), or had gigantic blobs of solder so huge they threatened to short against other components' pins. Analysis of PCBs of the earliest GP32 PCBs does not show any sort of problems like these-- and it's not exactly fair to compare the GP2X's third production run after a change in manufacturer to unrevised hardware on the GP32 side of things. Comparing all the evidence I've seen the GP32 was usually solidly built, compared to your stories that the GP32 was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, compounded with what seem to be your efforts to prove to me you are a pathological liar, who am I to believe?

Bottom line, I'll still defend the parts of the GP2X design that GPH didn't build, the core componentry in the MMSP2 for the most part is sound and gets the job done much better than the GP32's hardware did for the same tasks. Pack it in a better case with better controls, a better power subsystem, the MK2 display, proper battery compartment and better jack placement and you'd have a very solid product, but I don't think GPH cares enough to do that, since they apparently barely understand that the GP2X is used for games at all. GPH can turn that around if they want to spend their money right, not piss it away on a BoB without a case, then another BoB in a case that requires a total PCB redesign to fit it, spending thousands of dollars on a contest no one wants to enter for games that won't make the GP2X a viable commercial-gaming platform anyway .. and you denying problems exist until the first page of these forums has only 1 or 2 threads that doesn't involve replacing the goddamned stick.

Make the needed changes, and the GP2X will dominate the GP32. Or don't, and it'll continue to be the way it is today, a mixed bag, 50/50 between the two.

 

[Epicenter]

4. BLU 1. Decent machine, but low, low overclock rate
5. BLU 2. Originally 184Mhz but eventually burned out, it wouldn't stay on for longer than 30secs and 132Mhz max!

I don't think the machine's failure to meet your expectations for operation beyond its rated specifications is any justification to call the units defective or worthy of return. If I bought a GP2X today and it wouldn't run at 240 Mhz, just 200 Mhz like the MMSP2 inside it is rated for, I would not have the right to return it. The ARM920T wasn't meant to run that fast, and the ARM920T in the GP32 wasn't meant to run at >133 MHz. The performance difference between 132 and 133 Mhz is irrelevant. The only exception is if you bought the unit and it failed to run at the '240 MHz' specification Craig claims for his systems-- if it didn't reach advertised clockrates you'd have a reason, but GP32 never said they would overclock to >150 MHz out of the box or anything.

if you have a GP32 right now there arent a whole lot reason to step up to the Gp2X if emulation is your only concern But, if your looking for a portable entertainment device then yeah you might want to step up.

The GP2X is still a vastly superior emulation platform for the reasons of CPU speed, memory capacity and 2D subsystem performance alone-- not to mention card capacity (SMC vs. SD). There's just the issues I mentioned with the stick and battery life to be addressed there, really.. it is a comprimise.

 

[Lupin]

I'm sorry and really and truthfully its not my place to play mod, but buddy you need to stop. I mean your on this personal crusade against Craig and afaik Craig seems to instigate it every step of the way. All I know is it ends up with Epic writing out some long ass rant that really boils down to how GPH has wronged him and his "customers" (I guess he is coding a game... idk) by making a "sub-par" hand held. Brother, you gotta come down off your high horse and forget about it ok?

 

[Epicenter]

CRAIG! I hereby challenge you to a no-holds-barred IRC Grudge Match. (AIM/MSN is even better..) No punches below the belt, and no logging off and running away like a screaming little kid with a scraped knee. Rational arguments. LOGIC. All of those very fun things. Let's keep our bickering off the GP32X forums, which I agree to do if you can possibly refrain from calling me out repeatedly-- I'll do the same.

 

[trooper]

im with trooper,

me and that man always tend to agree on stuff,

Man ?, Oh yeah!, *cough*

Trooper

a reference to something??..

Shall i ..... ?.


Nah, It may upset Rico. :rolleyes:

Damn!, I couldn`t resist.

Trooper

 

[another_visitor]

thanks for all good replies to this topic, this is very appreciated!

Looking at the GP2X, from what I can read in this topic and after doing a search in the forum it seems like he MKII version is quite some better than the two first versions.
Screen and manufacturing (soldering etc) seems to be the main points, joystick looks similar
in all versions however.

Are the differences in your opinion that big that I should choose the MKII version,
anything to consider as to emulation when comparing the different versions?

It seems like I would have to find a used console I'm afraid, because of customs rules over here. If I order one from a shop in the UK or Germany I have to pay around 60£ extra in customs fees
and that is a bit much.
The duty-free limit is much higher for items sent from a private person
so a used console will be much cheaper to me because of this.

And it seems like all the different versions of the GP2X are sold used
on the net so good to know which I should choose if choosing GP2X over GP32

 

[shinneri]

@Epicenter:

Actually, I had a GP32 with shoulder problems from day one. Luckily, I was able to just pry up the little prong a bit so that it made better contact with the trigger.. but not after having said metal prong fall out copious amounts of times (mine wasn't even glued on--it was just shoved between two bits of plastic). My case didn't require it, but some people even stuffed paper into the triggers to keep the prong from bending back again.

A lot of GP32 owner's microswitches wore out over time, and they had to resort to (again) shoving paper in their console to make it respond again.

Dust collected between the screen protector and LCD.

Speaker channels were reversed on some GP32s.

BLU screens showed a slight blue tint for one reason or another, and Gamepark tried to compensate this with a yellow tinted screen protector. The end result was just a yellow-looking screen, and many people replaced the protector with a clear piece of glass.

The GP32 had a really bad battery cover that was actually painful to remove and were prone to breaking.

I saw you talk about how the GP2X kind of crashes and burns when the batteries die.. GP32 did the exact same thing, but it lacked the battery indicator light (was very frustrating ).

FLU was a ghetto-modded GP32 with a front light shoved in there creating uneven lighting, and I saw a LOT of reports of the lights just dying.

BLU+ was a disaster. Plain and simple. And you talk about the GP2X having an incompatible LCD... :rolleyes:

Despite all this, I loved the GP32.

A lot of what I see you doing, Epicenter, is nitpicking. Personally, I prefer almost everything about the GP2X's construction to the GP32's--soft action buttons, less harsh shoulder buttons, and the stick on the GP2X allows better movement than the GP32's (I'd often have trouble moving quickly from one cardinal direction to the next).

I don't know why your GP2X feels cheap. Mine doesn't, and neither does my GP32.


I experienced these things, and I read threads from other members who had these problems. You can't tell me they're not true.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

If you have a GP32 right now there arent a whole lot reason to step up to the Gp2X if emulation is your only concern.

Actually I thought exactly that, that was until I bought a GP2X. You may think DrMD is perfect on the GP32 but it isn't, it's better on the 2X. Proof: Play Psycho Pinball, I never found it to be that smooth on the GP32. But on the 2X it's amazing! Also, there's one little word, Amiga.......

 

[chaos engineer]

Bollocks. I've already told you why this is not true, yet here you are again saying the same lies.

We have sold thousands of each. I can tell you the GP2X is like night to day in terms of build and reliability. The number of GP32 returns we used to get was a nightmare and they never fixed the main problems in 4 years, instead they just sent us boxes of spare parts WITH the consoles. We had to test every single GP32 we sold because the quality was so poor.

We don't have to do that with the GP2X.

If you want a Dpad on the GP2X daveC will put one on for you, we will be offering this service soon on a larger scale at minimal cost once we have everything arranged with dave.

For someone who criticized me for calling you out, you sure are being inflammatory yourself and calling ME out. Well, it's within your rights, but you've never once responded when I told the reasons WHY I was calling you out, and you never responded when I told you WHY the GP32 had superior build quality to the GP2X.

It's an complicated issue since the MK1 and MK2 generations of the GP2X are quite different, they weren't built by the same factory, as you know. The MK1 units had loads of capacitors that fell off, headphone jacks that had almost no solder on them and fell off or became disconnected from most of their solder pads, the boards were misaligned causing the stick to be unable to swing fully left and instead hit the side of the case, also making the EXT port not connect to peripherals like the TV out cable correctly, et cetera, et cetera. The MK2 fixes most of the issue of parts falling off, but the system still feels very cheap, and what matters to me the most, the stick, is not fixed. It's rotated and decorated which conceals the issue and takes it away from the forefront, but the problem remains.

The fact that you are now intending to offer a D-Pad installation before the machine ships to the user is a step in the right direction, assuming the price is not exorbitant. This is not an 'optional improvement' to the GP2X, it's fixing what amounts to a defect that you claim you'd have fixed if price allowed. I already applauded EvilDragon when he stated he'd offer this service-- back when YOU were still telling me the stick was fine, and if you can play Battle Squadron, the stick is perfect and no one else's thoughts on the matter had any gravity at all. You also 'hung up on me' twice in IRC conversation about this issue-- this is unprofessional and unacceptable. You saw the issue, and you lied about it. Yet, you call ME the liar? You lied me on more occasions than I care to relate again! You've still yet to respond to these allegations. Apparently, you also lied to EvilDragon, telling him that you never contacted me about developing a game based on Quake-- which you did, and I saved the PM to prove it. You know, the one you wanted me to develop based on outlandish claims about the engine's performance when it was really just a quick port done for fun. This is quite a trend with you. This is not to mention the fact that you seem to be just as clueless as GPH most of the time, like your ridiculous claims that the GP2X's successor should have a '600 MHz ARM9' (no such thing exists) because Software 3D rendering is the future (which is the most fucking ridiculous thing I've ever heard) and that if the new machine featured a 2D or 3D accelerator that no one would use it (ahahahahaha :lol: )

Back to the matter at hand .. the bigger issues I find are design failures in the GP2X, not faults in production.
- The LCD screen shipped with the unit was incompatible with the MMSP2's LCD controller. GPH knew it, GPH didn't fix it, GPH sold it that way.
- SD DMA is completely broken, so accessing the SD card at all causes the CPU to grind to a halt. Consoles 22 years old supported DMA. This is an appalling flaw. Still screwed up in MK2 since it's the same MMSP2/MP2520F.
- The power subsystem is still terribly faulty, even in MK2. Its inefficiency aside, this is evident in that if you try to switch from batteries to a brick the machine will lose power immediately and restart, and/or crash, and it won't function at all correctly from Alkaline AAs. The GP32 did not suffer from these flaws, though a great deal of this can be attributed to that its SoC was not nearly as power-hungry as the lower-grade MagicEyes part is. The system's inability to die without spraying the screen with garbage is a simple software feature that should've been applied ages ago, but the firmware shouldn't have been released half-broken to begin with. Due to the issues lots of reviewers encounter with Alkalines, this is a major obstacle to the GP2X's acceptance as anything but a hacker's device, when a buyer realizes much to his dismay after powering the unit on, it needs special batteries and a special charger he was not supplied with, and that the seller nor the box mentioned he needed.
- Many others, I'll cut the list short here, this message is already running long ..

Regarding the GP32 build quality, I've never seen quite what you describe; I have to wonder if you got a particularly crummy batch. The GP32 users I know have been nothing but thrilled. You tell me the shoulder buttons perpetually broke-- one was just telling me the GP32 he got USED that is not even one of the newer models, has shoulder buttons that are perfectly snappy and responsive, and so springy that when he places an SMC card on top of one and presses it down, its release launches the card a couple feet into the air. A look inside of it reveals impeccable build quality, good soldering, amazing attachment of SMD components. The GP2X's components, until MK2, were hanging on by a thread of brittle lead-free solder, had nearly no solder at all (in the case of the headphone jack, literally no solder held them, the case wedged them in place), or had gigantic blobs of solder so huge they threatened to short against other components' pins. Analysis of PCBs of the earliest GP32 PCBs does not show any sort of problems like these-- and it's not exactly fair to compare the GP2X's third production run after a change in manufacturer to unrevised hardware on the GP32 side of things. Comparing all the evidence I've seen the GP32 was usually solidly built, compared to your stories that the GP32 was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, compounded with what seem to be your efforts to prove to me you are a pathological liar, who am I to believe?

Bottom line, I'll still defend the parts of the GP2X design that GPH didn't build, the core componentry in the MMSP2 for the most part is sound and gets the job done much better than the GP32's hardware did for the same tasks. Pack it in a better case with better controls, a better power subsystem, the MK2 display, proper battery compartment and better jack placement and you'd have a very solid product, but I don't think GPH cares enough to do that, since they apparently barely understand that the GP2X is used for games at all. GPH can turn that around if they want to spend their money right, not piss it away on a BoB without a case, then another BoB in a case that requires a total PCB redesign to fit it, spending thousands of dollars on a contest no one wants to enter for games that won't make the GP2X a viable commercial-gaming platform anyway .. and you denying problems exist until the first page of these forums has only 1 or 2 threads that doesn't involve replacing the goddamned stick.

Make the needed changes, and the GP2X will dominate the GP32. Or don't, and it'll continue to be the way it is today, a mixed bag, 50/50 between the two.

I guess this is a serious discussion going on. Epicenter, it seems to me that at the end of the day you like your GP2X, otherwise you wouldn't take the time to write so long posts.

Btw, I got a first edition GP2X and I am happy with the build quality and the stick, the only issue is the battery life

 

[Iorgy77]

I had to paper mod my Gp32 joystick. I much prefer the Gp2x stick, maybe I just got lucky but I can hit every direction perfectly.

Also the amount of dust that got into my flu was disgusting. So I bought a BLU+ What a piece of crap that turned out to be. Certain homebrew doesn't even work!

I also have no problems with my gp2x in any way and mine is a first edition pre-order version. The build quality is fine on my unit, much better than the soggy shoulder buttons, Dusty screen, Crappy diagonals Gp32.

I honestly have used my Gp32 maybe 3 times since I got the Gp2x, No turning back now. No reason to. I won't sell either of my Gp32s though.

 

[Epicenter]

I guess this is a serious discussion going on. Epicenter, it seems to me that at the end of the day you like your GP2X, otherwise you wouldn't take the time to write so long posts.

Depends. I really WANT to like it, is the big thing. I like what it can do, I like its potential, but its faults (some bigger than others) make it really hard to enjoy. That's more frustrating than if I could just write it off and say "Fuck it", but it's a good machine with some things GPH could easily have fixed plaguing it. GPH did a shitty job and isn't interested in fixing their mistakes at all-- that's unbelievably frustrating. It's more so when you have a publisher who wants to sell a game you're developing, and when he gets a GP2X (MK2!) he thinks it looks, feels and operates like a terrible cheap toy and he could've had something better built for less money than GPH spent. That makes me look like an idiot.

On the issue of GP32 vs. GP2X again .. I hear a lot of complaints about the GP32, but there are some odd discrepancies.
#1, the faults I mentioned about the GP2X applied to nearly every unit, or EVERY unit. They were usually design flaws. The issues mentioned with GP32 units were periodic and occasional, they did not affect all machines by and large. Other cases, the faults took a long period of time to affect the unit. Many aspects of GP2X units are broken by design or out of the box. Things like stick push are expected to cause failure later, but there's no way to know yet.
#2, a common trend to note is that satisfied users generally won't post about being satisfied. They'll post if they have a big problem. I don't know anyone who's owned a GP32 who had this much negative criticism about it, though. They were mostly very minor complaints if any, and the overall impression I've seen is that most people were very happy with the GP32.
#3, GP32 owners were/are amazingly dedicated-- crying out against the movement by developers to the GP2X like they were being abandoned, and how the GP32 was such a better machine, more solid, more dependable. This was the trendy thing to say for about the first 6 months of the GP2X's lifespan-- then suddenly that just stops and now, all I hear is, 'The GP2X is superior to the GP32, the GP32 was so full of faults, like This and This and This. The GP32 was a piece of shit and the GP2X is a godsend'! That doesn't add up. It's not unrealistic to think that should a superior handheld be released, similar complaints would surface regarding the GP2X and the GP32. Same for a machine after that...

BLU+ was a disaster. Plain and simple. And you talk about the GP2X having an incompatible LCD... rolleyes.gif

Most of the GP32s sold weren't BLU+ units. By incompatible, I mean the GP2X Pre-MK2 units' LCD was incompatible with the MMSP2/MP2520F's LCD controller, causing scanlining. MagicEyes knew it, GPH knew it, they just didn't care to fix it. Just like SD-DMA. Like a lot of things they could've corrected if instead of rushing broken things to the market, they waited a few months and got some investors, and built a prototype with the needed corrections. Which Craig tells me, if he's not lying again, they didn't do-- they went straight from a known-buggy prototype to final production run, made with preorder money. That's beyond incompetency. It approaches fraud.

Actually I thought exactly that, that was until I bought a GP2X. You may think DrMD is perfect on the GP32 but it isn't, it's better on the 2X. Proof: Play Psycho Pinball, I never found it to be that smooth on the GP32. But on the 2X it's amazing! Also, there's one little word, Amiga.......

I'll give credit where credit is due. MD emulation is far superior on the GP2X-- at 200 MHz, many MD games don't run at full speed, they run at ~45 FPS out of the proper 60. On the GP32 with a 133 MHz processor and no 2D blitter, you'll be looking at 0 FPS in the same situations. NeoGeo emulation isn't feasible on most GP32 units, same for a lot of MAME games, SNES Emulation is also sorely lacking on the GP32 (much worse than the GP2X) ... much more to the GP32->GP2X jump than media playback capability, that is for sure.

 

[ste_167]

I don't think the machine's failure to meet your expectations for operation beyond its rated specifications

I did state that 'BLU 1' was a decent machine though, I wasn't suggesting that it was faulty.
BLU 2 however would reset after 30 secs of playing on it at below 132Mhz. This one was faulty.

 

[shinneri]

I'm just pointing out faults in the GP32 because you for whatever reason won't believe they exist even though I watched all this happen.

And what are you talking about not many BLU+ consoles sold? I bought my GP32 in September 2004. Very shortly after (1 to 2 months), the complaints started coming in about "defective GP32s." These turned out to be the BLU+. From this debacle, Lik-Sang stopped selling them. The BLU+ production ran from October or November 2004 until July 2005 when the last GP32s were constructed.

Seems to me the faulty BLU+ units were produced longer than FE and MK1 were...

 

[Epicenter]

One month the GP32 is amazing, and you should never buy a GP2X. The next month, the GP2X is a gift from God himself and GP32 is a horrible piece of shit. I find THAT very hard to believe, this community's response to everything is always in an extreme.

 

[shinneri]

One month the GP32 is amazing, and you should never buy a GP2X. The next month, the GP2X is a gift from God himself and GP32 is a horrible piece of shit. I find THAT very hard to believe, this community's response to everything is always in an extreme.

That's not what anyone is saying.

What I'm trying to get across is that things weren't as rosey in the GP32 days as you want to believe they were. That's not to say it was terrible; most of these problems could be lived with or fixed, but the same thing goes for the issues with the GP2X.

 

[Iorgy77]

@Epicenter: You're the one being extreme, basically saying the gp2x joystick is useless, sell it and move on if that is the case. The gp32 was not a perfect machine and neither is the gp2x but the fact remains that these machines both kick arse. They were built by companies that cut corners in order to get the machines on the market at a respectable price with a realistic timeframe and they succeeded. I am happy with my purchases and so are many, some arent, well bad luck, sell it and move on.

Hell, its a miracle GP and GPH are still in business. They are not corporate juggernaughts but rather small companies trying to deliver a product to a small market and stay in business. In both cases they have the homebrew scene to thank for any success.

Honestly we who were around in the Gp32 days knew it wasnt perfect but the closest thing to compare it to was the GBA or a Zodiac and it dominated them both as the "all-rounder" emulation and homebrew handheld machine to have at the time.

The Gp2x faces stiffer competition at the hands of the NDS and PSP so more people are quick to compare the quality to those. They are not even in the same ballpark, if they tried to be they would fall flat on their faces and thats not something we want to see happen. The GP consoles are the underdog consoles, the ugly girl nobody wants to go out with but goes off like a rocket in the sack... I like that last analogy

 

[JaqMs]

The thing is, there's a difference between a first and second try. The GP32 was a first try. They weren't used to to problems that could arise with a handheld. The GP2X and the XGP's are second tries. To me, the GP2X doesn't really seem like a second try. Sure the specs are better than the GP32, but what are the improvements in quality and management that you see, if any?

 

[telegramguy]

I may be in the minority here but for US$179, I am perfectly happy with something that can play great MAME and MegaDrive games without having to jump through hoops like on the PSP.

The build quality is definitely shoddy. It was the first thing I noticed taking it out of the box. Without commercial games licensing revenue, do posters in this group really expect better build quality for this price?