How Gamepark Screwed Up On The Gp2x

[Troy the Great]

Excuse me well I rant:

Don't get me wrong I love the Gp2x, but I have found that there were a few things which Gamepark Holdings screwed up on. One being the joystick. I don't think it is that bad, but no d-pad with an emulation based system you have to be kidding me. Two be the batteries. The battery life is really bad for me, like two hours and I am using rechargeables. I find myself upset that the batteries i the back take up half the system's size. I would rather have a rechargeable battery pack in the system so the system could actually fit in my pocket. Then all I would have to do is plug it in over night and not have to to take the batteries out every time to charge. I wish Gamepark Holdings would have asked us for our opinion on the system when they were designing it.

Do you agree? What else do you wish they could have done better?

 

[Vimacs]

The gp2x isn't from gamepark but from gamepark holdings.
My battery's last 5hours and more.

 

[pferguso]

Excuse me well I rant:

Don't get me wrong I love the Gp2x, but I have found that there were a few things which Gamepark screwed up on. One being the joystick. I don't think it is that bad, but no d-pad with an emulation based system you have to be kidding me. Two be the batteries. The battery life is really bad for me, like two hours and I am using rechargeables. I find myself upset that the batteries i the back take up half the system's size. I would rather have a rechargeable battery pack in the system so the system could actually fit in my pocket. Then all I would have to do is plug it in over night and not have to to take the batteries out every time to charge. I wish Gamepark would have asked us for our opinion on the system when they were designing it.

Do you agree? What else do you wish they could have done better?

Yeah, the joystick is the main thing. And this was the most discussed issue with the GP32 also, and they went ahead and did it again. Oh, well, maybe they will do it right on the GP64. Hey, that has a nice ring to it.

The little rubber thingy that goes into the power jack on the GP2x could use a second look as well. Maybe they should have put a little sliding door on it instead. I am going to be sad when my little rubber thingy breaks off, and I know that day is coming soon.

 

[linoleum13]

There are about 50 other threads with almost the exact same wording. Im loving the GP2X and think it is an awesome machine with a few drawbacks. Just accept it, move on, and have fun.

 

[Troy the Great]

The gp2x isn't from gamepark but from gamepark holdings.
My battery's last 5hours and more.

Thanks, I wonder why I am getting such a low battery life. I am using good batteries: Duracell. Hmm

 

[DaveC]

Excuse me well I rant:

Don't get me wrong I love the Gp2x, but I have found that there were a few things which Gamepark screwed up on. One being the joystick. I don't think it is that bad, but no d-pad with an emulation based system you have to be kidding me. Two be the batteries. The battery life is really bad for me, like two hours and I am using rechargeables. I find myself upset that the batteries i the back take up half the system's size. I would rather have a rechargeable battery pack in the system so the system could actually fit in my pocket. Then all I would have to do is plug it in over night and not have to to take the batteries out every time to charge. I wish Gamepark would have asked us for our opinion on the system when they were designing it.

Do you agree? What else do you wish they could have done better?

Then when the special built in battery goes out you have to wait until you get home to charge it. You can't just swap in some STANDARD batteries and keep playing. Yea that would be a great thing I just LOVE having to rely on the availability of a custom battery by a small company too. That way when they discontinue the unit and you cant get the battery anymore you have a useless brick like the Zodiac or Giz. :rolleyes:

The biggest gaff to me is the sucky stick.

I could make a similar thread about how Sony screwed up on the PSP etc. So what.

 

[pferguso]

There are about 50 other threads with almost the exact same wording. Im loving the GP2X and think it is an awesome machine with a few drawbacks. Just accept it, move on, and have fun.

Yeah, you're right. I can live with the GP2x and all of its flaws. I can't think of any better way to spend my time while I am sitting on the crapper, than with my good old GP2x! I'm outta here!

 

[Ripster]

The gp2x isn't from gamepark but from gamepark holdings.
My battery's last 5hours and more.

Not sure if my batteries last quite that long... but I would say at least over 4 hours. And I love the fact that they used the standard AA's... I have 16 rechargable AA's at my disposal and there are at least 4 of them always fully charged. I can take my Gp2x with me on a weekend camping trip knowing that I don't need a power source... the last time I still came home with 8 batteries fully charged after 4 days. There are other things to do other than playing with my Gp2x... I guess they could have made room for 2 more batteries... giving us up to 10 hours of battery life.

A D-pad would have been nice... but I am ok with the joy-stick... an internal battery would have been nice to hold the games status while you hot swapped in new batteries... as well it could have ran an internal clock.

Hardware wise... I would bow to the developers to say what would have been easier for them...

But all in all... I am rather pleased with my purchase... for me it was strictly a gaming machine as I have a Pocket PC that does everything else I want including my ebook reading, music and video.

 

[X-Code]

No complaints excluding the stick ( it is terrible for certain games )

 

[Ripster]

The gp2x isn't from gamepark but from gamepark holdings.
My battery's last 5hours and more.

Thanks, I wonder why I am getting such a low battery life. I am using good batteries: Duracell. Hmm



What kind of batteries are they... what are they rated at...??? I mean if they are only rated at 700mah that could be the problem... newer batteries are up to 2800mah now I think. My guess would be that yours are rated at about 1200mah.

Also the charger makes a big difference... if you are using a fast charger it probably is only charging your battery to about 85%, a slower pulsing charger that continues to trickle charge will top it off to around 98% of battery capacity.



Maybe I have one small complaint... and that is the cap. I bought a replacement cap with my machine... its the one that actually has Gp2x molded on it. I like the feel of it and the size... but... it is rather loose compared to the original that seemed press fitted on. This new one... is on snug but not tight and comes off rather easy... is this normal...??? or did I just get one that maybe got by quality control...???

 

[Dzz]

I think they did pretty well considering that the low-volume sales mean high production costs. I suppose a directional pad using membrane switches wouldn't have been more expensive than the current joystick so maybe that would have been better, and some of the jacks have unfortunate placement... but there's only so much we can expect for a $200 retail price on a unit that sells in the thousands instead of millions.

 

[Zeladin]

The gp2x isn't from gamepark but from gamepark holdings.
My battery's last 5hours and more.

Thanks, I wonder why I am getting such a low battery life. I am using good batteries: Duracell. Hmm

If they're high capacity your charger might not be fully charging them. Also there are other issues with NI-MH chargers, a whole thread about it somewhere. This is more to do with AA's than the Gp2x itself though. The internet will offer much info in this respect, a lot of people discovering the same things about battery technology. Suffice to say 3-4 hours depending on overclock, is what you should expect.

Also I have some high capacity Uniross batteries. They go for ages straight after charging, but, if I leave them a day or two (unused) they can be completely flat. All Ni-mh batteries do discharge naturally, so you can expect that. The way to avoid ending up with a load of half charged batteries is to get yourself a trickle/ slow charger, I guess...

Anyway, my main issue is that I can't get the stupid cap off my gp2x to replace it with the "GP2x" cap. Standard one is too small... (My second Gp2x. I had that cap on my old one, much better). Some irony here I feel....

Otherwise I love the hardware, styling, performance, clever extra video stuff etc. and I for one am glad we aren't stuck with a li-ion battery with a three year life expectancy... Just wish I could say the same for my laptop

 

[Ripster]

Quick additional note... there is some new battery technology out there that helps in the discharging rate of rechargeable batteries...

The Rayovac Hybrid is one of them... it is suppose to hold the shelf life of the battery much longer, the Sanyo Eneloop is another... I believe even Uniross makes something... as Zeladin suggested... just do a search on the internet for info...

If you are looking for a cheap recharger... I am pretty happy with my RipVan Lightening 4000N has some nice features for a cheap price. If you have the money... you could always look at the Maha's or the La Crosse.

Oh and by the way... if you are brave enough... there are laptop batteries that you can rebuild.

 

[rx_shorty]

I am the only one thinking the stick isn't that bad?

About the batteries I think it very smart.
Like said before if you got a special battery, and Gamepark Holdings dies...
The battery production dies with it too.

Just look at the Gizmondo.
I have two of them, love them. But getting a Battery for it sucks!
Really expensive!

Ciao :unsure:

 

[X-Code]

I am the only one thinking the stick isn't that bad?

About the batteries I think it very smart.
Like said before if you got a special battery, and Gamepark Holdings dies...
The battery production dies with it too.

Just look at the Gizmondo.
I have two of them, love them. But getting a Battery for it sucks!
Really expensive!

Ciao :unsure:

Had Gizmondos and suffered their death many times over

I don't think that the stick is terrible for all games, just for some, what I meant was that it could have been much better and accurate... And also been less expensive

 

[geo12]

The rechargeable batteries that came with my gp2x work really nicely. I'm using the charger from some crappy Duracell rechargeables I bought way back. I was glad to get rid of them too; they were supposedly "eco-friendly" and didn't hold charge at all!

QUOTE
I am going to be sad when my little rubber thingy breaks off, and I know that day is coming soon.

Ditto that feeling!!

 

[skeezix]

The real sin, the real real deal is simply .. the stick being designed into the board wrong. I mean, thew stick itself not so bad. But accidentally designing it in on an angle so that it wants to do diagonals more than ordinals .. like seriously, WTF? When making a game machine you forgot to examine the most important part nearly?

(And then the yfix it for Mk2, and blow the screen?)

As I've said before.. GPH are like GP; they have heart, but they wouldn't hte same if they had a clue

jeff

 

[darkman]

I am the only one thinking the stick isn't that bad?

Ciao :unsure:

The only time I thought about the stick is the first hour that I owned my GP2X. I got used to it at that point and haven't given it a second thought since.

 

[rx_shorty]

The only time I thought about the stick is the first hour that I owned my GP2X. I got used to it at that point and haven't given it a second thought since.

Yeah that is the same how I think about it

Really I love my :gp2x

 

[Cervante]

just be glad you have a 3rd choice, DS to me is gay and psp is gay. Giz,Zod,XGPseries, NGPC & wonderswan are gone.