Gph: The Wiz - Official Announcement

[craigix]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

 

[Chip]

I'm sure Orkie isn't "hiding" the SNES FPS numbers

Huh? I don't remember directing anything at them, sorry if it seemed like I was.
Of course not. Nobody would accuse him of intentionally hiding info, but some people seem to have no problem accusing Craig of the same. I'm just trying to point out that the situation is very similar in this regard, yet the responses to it is quite different.

When it's finished, you'll see it.

Fair enough. A little comment like 'You will see screenshots and videos (of the firmware and built-in apps and some linux applications running) before pre-ordering begins' would be nice, you know.


I should think they wouldn't announce a release date if they were not sure that the GUI and apps would be ready in time. I'm not part of the dev team, so I am not exactly sure how far along these projects are. I do know that they're not finished yet. I also know that when they are finished, we'll all find out about it in short order.

 

[sbock]

People should stop defending the dual Dpad, if that design was good it would be on all console controllers - it isn't because it won't work. You could not even enter the level select in sonic with it (ABC+Start) without some weird setup using the shoulder buttons.

The only way GPH will change this before launch is if we tell them it's ridiculous, and they are half listening to this, they just need the final push now.

Free speech? Different tastes? I like the concept GPH shows a lot more than the Pandora. I also like the dual Dpad design. So what now? Ban me?
If you don't want to distribute the Wiz and don't like it- that's OK for me. But don't tell the others here what to do.


Craigix is running business, and approaching the situation from the mindset of a businessperson. Put yourself in his shoes, just for a moment: If you couldn't get any good solid facts to about a product you're about to market out to your investors and/or potential customers, right before ordering begins, it would be a fair assumption that you'd be nervous and pulling at your hair, too, especially when you yourself and not fully confident in the product.

I do agree that Craig is being a bit, shall we say harsh, but I understand where that harshness is coming from. He's just got himself a little worked up.


Yeah, but nobody forced him to distribute the Wiz.

 

[quasist]

There are plenty of games which require pressing 3 at once, many special moves, loads of Megadrive games, loads of games where you will have to move between 4 buttons and this design will lead to trouble there. The sonic level select!

Looks likes these games need to be redesigned, not the WIZ. Hedgehog meat is not that yummy to be eaten.

 

[ruckage]

Orkie, please can you check if you can press all the buttons or there's a pivot that block doing that on the second Dpad?

Because if you can press all the buttons just like in the f200 dpad there's no problem at all, and it's even better than four diamond placed separated buttons. Thanks in advance

There is no pivot on those buttons so all can be pressed together.

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

To tell you the truth, I don't think they like you very much anymore. :lol:

 

[iioo]

I see a few major issues with the design of making buttons into a d-pad. Exact timing of sequence button pressing will be a problem, because the pad will apply pressure on the other buttons when one button is pressed. After time the pad will get soft and it will be nearly impossible to just press one button without causing the others to go down. Next issue is multi-button pressing. Pressing three to four buttons at a time is common in Capcom and SNK games and this design just would cause nightmares. For people that think something like this would be a good thing, the best example is to make one yourself. Take a controller (SNES would have the same layout) and place a hard piece of plastic on the buttons. Other companies have tried making this design work but every time it just frustrates the end user experience.

 

[quasist]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

To tell you the truth, I don't think they like you very much anymore. :lol:

One day they will send a ninja to assasinate him

 

[sam fisher]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

To tell you the truth, I don't think they like you very much anymore. :lol:

What, you mean after Craig slagged them off non stop on here for several weeks? I don't see why that might make them like Craig a little less :rolleyes:

 

[ant512]

There are plenty of games which require pressing 3 at once, many special moves, loads of Megadrive games, loads of games where you will have to move between 4 buttons and this design will lead to trouble there. The sonic level select!

Looks likes these games need to be redesigned, not the WIZ. Hedgehog meat is not that yummy to be eaten.


Excellently volunteered! Whilst you're disassembling these 15 year old Sega games in order to change the control layouts, would you consider releasing your commented m68k assembly source files?

 

[craigix]

Actually I'm contracted to be their distributor, and I'm happy to do it, but I won't stay quiet on things I think are wrong either, there is no way I'm going in to this like a Zombie, but at the same time I will support the system 100% once we are shipping them, GPH know this and have done since the GP32.

 

[Rivroner]

Ho, interesting. Can you tell me more? I didn't check the dev board for some times now.
it might be useful for gngeo.

The problem was that GP2X Linux has read-ahead enabled by default, so it does less SD reads but it reads large chunks of data, which takes time and stops the host program while working. To disable it you can do
CODE

echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/min-readahead
echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/max-readahead


and streaming becomes smooth, at least for Sega CD, which does 1x CD speed (~150kB/s).


Very interesting, i hope Pepone launch a new GnGeo 2X version soon


Errm, you could just put the two lines above in a script and run it before that gngeo2x


¿If i add the 2 lines in gngeorc in conf folder of the emulator it will work too? thnaks

 

[Pickle]

Actually I'm contracted to be their distributor, and I'm happy to do it, but I won't stay quiet on things I think are wrong either, there is no way I'm going in to this like a Zombie, but at the same time I will support the system 100% once we are shipping them, GPH know this and have done since the GP32.

I with Craigix on this one, if GPH had the ability to send out prototpyes to game dev's they could of sent some out to thier main distributors.

 

[klikklak]

There are plenty of games which require pressing 3 at once, many special moves, loads of Megadrive games, loads of games where you will have to move between 4 buttons and this design will lead to trouble there. The sonic level select!

Stop trying to defend this bad design, GPH are thinking about changing this right now and they will if enough people tell them to they will. Or else yet again we are left with an open handheld with a major design flaw to be laughed at. This little device could be such a perfect mini GP2X if they fix this.



OK, makes sense, I actually haven't played sonic that much that I would have noticed that. And beat em ups aren't my thing, which I presume is the canonical 'bash all the buttons at the same time' type of game. But anyway, what should we do? I presume there's an email address, but the website is in korean. I'll read a bit and I'll probably find it. Any other ways to campaign for a diamond pattern abxy?

 

[pariah]

Two d-pads? For Christ's sake... FAIL.

p B)

 

[rokdcasbah]

what's obvious is that GPH is pretending that it's nose is bleeding when it comes to emulation, probably not a stupid idea, since emulation tends to be a grey area legally in some places, better safe then sorry, Sony did go after Bleem for their PSX emulator eg.

With everyone moaning and complaining about the homebrew slant to the Wiz, it's nice to see that at least ONE person in this thread understands why they're doing this.

I have another theory: emulation is done everywhere, on everything. I'm sure they know about the JXD 301. And the iPhone, etc.

But Wiz homebrew is a little different...assuming they keep it Wiz-only, they can start to build a library of exclusive software. I'm not saying they're gunning after Nintendo, but I think in their heads maybe they want to move towards something unique, an experience you can only get from them, as opposed to competing with the sea of Chinese PMPs that can run emulators and are sold for probably thinner margins than the GP2X was.

Edit: I have to add that I agree fully with the statement that if GPH had prototypes to send out, they should have sent some to the actual sellers. I work for a distribution company and it's rare that we get something in that we haven't gotten lots of samples of first. It all comes down to your salesmen, if they don't have the info you can forget about it.

I'm really hoping that they'll change this plus-pad nonsense...it's like they have an aversion to putting regular controls on their devices. This thing looks great to me, except for that (well, it could be a hair cheaper too I guess). The best we could say about this is that it "might be OK" or that GPH is planning some unique games for it.

How many games has GPH written again? Look, they have the same portfolio they did a week ago. It's launching with existing GP2X software and possibly GP32 software, for the most part anyway. I don't think they think this stuff through beyond getting them out the door. It doesn't matter if they think they're Nintendo and they're differentiating themselves with the controls. Nintendo can come up with a controller you play with your feet...it doesn't matter because they can throw Mario and Zelda on there and call it a day. GPH's plan appears to be to release an updated GP2X...same software library, different controls. I have my fingers crossed that they'll change their minds but, whatever, it's not going to kill me to own one less gadget.

 

[klikklak]

Orkie, please can you check if you can press all the buttons or there's a pivot that block doing that on the second Dpad?

Because if you can press all the buttons just like in the f200 dpad there's no problem at all, and it's even better than four diamond placed separated buttons. Thanks in advance

There is no pivot on those buttons so all can be pressed together.


This is great news! And while I'm unaware of ruckages achievements he's achieved guru status, so I suppose he knows something/has the board (yeah, too lazy to read the thread again, I'm pretty sure he said that he has one). This only leaves the problem of pressing many buttons at the same time by accident, but meh, that doesn't sound that bad.

 

[Amon_Re]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

Off Topic:
Craig, from where do you operate & do you ship to Belgium/Europe? Could you pm me a link to your (web?) shop?

Orkie, please can you check if you can press all the buttons or there's a pivot that block doing that on the second Dpad?

Because if you can press all the buttons just like in the f200 dpad there's no problem at all, and it's even better than four diamond placed separated buttons. Thanks in advance

There is no pivot on those buttons so all can be pressed together.


Cool thx

 

[sbock]

GPH expect the order for the Wiz placed on the 5th of September, minimum 100-200pcs, they have not even sent us a prototype. This is painful, that's a lot of money and I'm just trying to get some facts from people who have the prototypes.

To tell you the truth, I don't think they like you very much anymore. :lol:

There is no pivot on those buttons so all can be pressed together.

Thanks.

 

[streak]

Agreed with Craigx

GPH still trying to feed us with "gph's greatest ideas", and they really dont listening to customers. Would they even care? I think they trying to follow the JXD 301 path [ changing slightly customer target ], instead of follow community needs. It is really dead end for them, this time, 'coz pandora will be a really strong rival in open source handheld ground. I really hate to say, but GPH started this time a "handheld war in quiet gp2x ground"-*. And like on all wars , theres a winners and losers.

*- even many devs stated that they will buy only one handheld, and that will be enaugh to favor one and only HandHled.