Epicenter
Well-Known Member
Not everyone relies on charging their developers huge licensing fees and SDK fees like Sony and Microsoft do-- companies like Nintendo just make their hardware at a decent price point, with good build quality, don't try to push the envelope too much, and make up for it with unique and innovative games, or just great gameplay. Now, GPH does not have the kind of money Nintendo has-- so they need INVESTORS. Craig described to me GPH spending about $35,000 on the entire project of replacing the GP2X down the road. That's not appropriate. You don't take preorders, then spend the money on a prototype, then find problems in it, then make lots of duplicates of your faulty prototype, and sell them... only to revise the system many months later and still not fix all the problems. And have faulty firmware that is mostly broken for 6 months, and still has crash-prone mediocre media players after that.
Here's how you ARE supposed to do it. Get a prototype made. Test it thoroughly. If it doesn't work as needed, make another prototype. If you need money, get an investor. Or more. Make more prototypes until it works EXACTLY as needed. Get your firmware written while you're designing the handheld-- once the SoC is chosen, as well as some basic specifications, the final hardware isn't needed for that step. Once the final unit and software are done, mass-produce and sell the units. Sending prototypes to developers like GPH did with the raw GP2X PCBs is fine, but they should be full prototype units so customers can look at the design with an objective eye and find problems the manufacturer might not.
Is doing things correctly that much to ask? Customers shouldn't have sympathy for a company that builds a faulty product and makes their sellers and customers invent solutions that cost them more money. Korean companies produce lots of high-quality products, because they have a solid business plan and do things in a professional manner. You can't stick up for a company like they're your buddies-- they're not. They aim to produce a product, sell it to you, you buy it, and they make a profit. That's a business relationship. And it's all that should be expected of any company producing a handheld-- GP/GPH aren't special somehow.
Here's how you ARE supposed to do it. Get a prototype made. Test it thoroughly. If it doesn't work as needed, make another prototype. If you need money, get an investor. Or more. Make more prototypes until it works EXACTLY as needed. Get your firmware written while you're designing the handheld-- once the SoC is chosen, as well as some basic specifications, the final hardware isn't needed for that step. Once the final unit and software are done, mass-produce and sell the units. Sending prototypes to developers like GPH did with the raw GP2X PCBs is fine, but they should be full prototype units so customers can look at the design with an objective eye and find problems the manufacturer might not.
Is doing things correctly that much to ask? Customers shouldn't have sympathy for a company that builds a faulty product and makes their sellers and customers invent solutions that cost them more money. Korean companies produce lots of high-quality products, because they have a solid business plan and do things in a professional manner. You can't stick up for a company like they're your buddies-- they're not. They aim to produce a product, sell it to you, you buy it, and they make a profit. That's a business relationship. And it's all that should be expected of any company producing a handheld-- GP/GPH aren't special somehow.
