How Gamepark Screwed Up On The Gp2x

[sixela]

And really... how many of us play our devices more than 4 or 5 hours at a time..? I know the most I have mine on at one time is 2 hours on a RPG before I need a break... and a save game. So do I need a device that lasts 12-13 hours... nooooooooooo... would it be nice? sure... do I need it... no.

Same here, yet I just counted 2417 games on my GP2X.

Its easy in retrospect to criticize GPH, but I have to say it's the GP2x's shortcomings which actually make it cool as hell.

Yes, the stick has issues, but after you own one for a long time you adjust, and yeah it sucks when your batteries die in the middle of a game, but again you soon form this psychic bond with your GP2x and you just know when its time to pause, save your game and whip out the rechargables.

I feel they got the most important things right tho....in terms of making it easy for the homebrew community, the use of SD cards (and SDHCish) and it having pretty robust multimedia capabilities.

Its not perfect, but its not meant to be...and I like it that way.

 

[Squidge]

I'd like to know where they are going to get the money from for research and development of the gp3x - it's not like they sold millions of the 2x to make enough profit to afford it (or maybe there's something we don't know, like an investor or engineer who's also a bank robber part-time?)

 

[rx_shorty]

I'd like to know where they are going to get the money from for research and development of the gp3x - it's not like they sold millions of the 2x to make enough profit to afford it (or maybe there's something we don't know, like an investor or engineer who's also a bank robber part-time?)

Yeah like Gizmondo... they went bankrupt very fast.
Maybe they get money from the gouverment?

To take over America?

But it is a good question Squidge :unsure:

 

[GP40]

Defiantly the joystick, it's worse than the gp32's :angry: Bloody porridge stirrer that it is

Last time I loaded Rick Dangerous on UAE4All, though later versions improved, Rick still pops up from crawling when changing direction at times

And though Ruck-Man/Pacman is supposed to be joystick only on changing direction, I have to keep it held in a direction to minimise the joystick not registering.

I felt a lot less inhibited recommending the gp32_console to friends than I do with the :gp2x

Apart from the joystick (and the little gripe about the squarish corners being uncomfortable on the hands after a long session) the :gp2x is a great little machine.

 

[DaveC]

Don't see why having the screen maybe 2 inches to the left would detract from that - but then, I don't play those games rotated anyway. I'm perfectly happy to play them in the usual orientation

It's ok though, Dave - you can consider it a shitty design, it doesn't matter if you do

D.

It would detract because it would be like ergonomically crap. In other words very awkward with a screen hanging out to the side and in the way of your hand. Plus the screen would be at an angle to you making it hard to see. If you play in he "usual" orientation the image would be like playing on a 1.5" screen Try playing a vertical shooter (or DonkeyKong, Pacman etc.) in MAME that way, the image is headache inducingly *tiny*.

 

[JaqMs]

I can't believe the GREATEST flaw of the GP2X hasn't been mentioned yet. Oldbies, feel free to state what I am referring to.

 

[Orkie]

I can't believe the GREATEST flaw of the GP2X hasn't been mentioned yet. Oldbies, feel free to state what I am referring to.

Since you don't even have one, I don't see how you can make a judgement about whether the headphone position is its greatest flaw. I can think of much worse things about the GP2X .

 

[X-Code]

Funny, that's one of the few things that doesn't bother me at all :lol:

 

[Iorgy77]

I dont even see how the headphone jack location could possibly be considered a flaw,

 

[woogal]

I can't believe the GREATEST flaw of the GP2X hasn't been mentioned yet. Oldbies, feel free to state what I am referring to.

The greatest flaw of the gp2x is that it causes you to post tedious crap every couple of days.

 

[Dunny]

Don't see why having the screen maybe 2 inches to the left would detract from that - but then, I don't play those games rotated anyway. I'm perfectly happy to play them in the usual orientation

It's ok though, Dave - you can consider it a shitty design, it doesn't matter if you do

D.

It would detract because it would be like ergonomically crap. In other words very awkward with a screen hanging out to the side and in the way of your hand. Plus the screen would be at an angle to you making it hard to see. If you play in he "usual" orientation the image would be like playing on a 1.5" screen Try playing a vertical shooter (or DonkeyKong, Pacman etc.) in MAME that way, the image is headache inducingly *tiny*.


I still don't see the problem, I'm afraid - I find that the rotated '2x with the volume keys as fire buttons to be very cramped and not much fun at all. Hence I play my 1942 and pacman etc on the normal orientation. It really doesn't bother me having those games scaled.

Mind you, we're all well aware how much you hate scaling

D.

 

[GP40]

QUOTE

I find that the rotated '2x with the volume keys as...



Thats reminded me of another flaw - having volume keys instead of a volume 'wheel'. It means games/programs use them as they wish or even not at all! That means you're at the mercy of the programmers and you aren't guaranteed that you can turn the sound off. Plus AFAIK you can't mute the boot sound on the fly.

 

[Orkie]

There is no real reason for volume buttons, they could've had the buttons as generic buttons and just added a wheel for a few pence extra.

 

[fusion_power]

QUOTE

I find that the rotated '2x with the volume keys as...

Thats reminded me of another flaw - having volume keys instead of a volume 'wheel'. It means games/programs use them as they wish or even not at all! That means you're at the mercy of the programmers and you aren't guaranteed that you can turn the sound off. Plus AFAIK you can't mute the boot sound on the fly.

I like the solution of the volume function as buttons. So we have 2 useful extra buttons on GP2X (3 if you count pressing vol up and volume down together) Many programs and emulators take advantage of this functions and we have the other buttons free for important controll functions of the programms.

 

[GP40]

QUOTE

I find that the rotated '2x with the volume keys as...

Thats reminded me of another flaw - having volume keys instead of a volume 'wheel'. It means games/programs use them as they wish or even not at all! That means you're at the mercy of the programmers and you aren't guaranteed that you can turn the sound off. Plus AFAIK you can't mute the boot sound on the fly.

I like the solution of the volume function as buttons. So we have 2 useful extra buttons on GP2X (3 if you count pressing vol up and volume down together) Many programs and emulators take advantage of this functions and we have the other buttons free for important controll functions of the programms.


So what wrong with having a volume wheel and two extra buttons like Orkie said?
If they are being used for extra functions then they can't be simultaneously used for volume control.

Software controlled volume controls are not good, hardwire is the best design IMO.

 

[sephiroth111]

things that'd be nice for the gp3x would be
a 3d accelerator,
main cpu with an FPU and MMU that *does not* require a hack (fixed in hardware) to work properly,
d-pad designed for gaming or something at least lower profile, so i can carry it in my pocket,
better firmware support or a full opening of everything in the firmware (i.e. open2x would have a head start),
something that didn't require a custom made dongle (or comes with said dongle in box)
longer lasting battery*
Wifi (802.11g preferably) and bluetooth would be nice also.
640x480 screen res would be nice, but that's a bit odd imo (seems too huge to me)

Obviously we don't have these things in the 2x by default. but hey the 2x so far has done what it's designed for exceptionally well, some features needed more polish than others (*koff* usb *koff*) but for a (more or less) beta console it's not bad.


*the DS/GBASP battery is 3.7v @ 600mAh and lasts for around 10 hours on the gba, and I've had around 15 hours on the DS. Where the GP2X has 3v @ 2850mAh and it lasts for around 5 hours. If I could get the same performance out of the AAs that i could out of the Li-ions (and if you google up batteries for the DS/SP they are ~$10 not that bad for a "special" battery.) then i wouldn't care about what we used, provided it fit into my pocket, and i was able to play games on it.

 

[EvilDragon]

*the DS/GBASP battery is 3.7v @ 600mAh and lasts for around 10 hours on the gba, and I've had around 15 hours on the DS. Where the GP2X has 3v @ 2850mAh and it lasts for around 5 hours. If I could get the same performance out of the AAs that i could out of the Li-ions (and if you google up batteries for the DS/SP they are ~$10 not that bad for a "special" battery.) then i wouldn't care about what we used, provided it fit into my pocket, and i was able to play games on it.

Well, that's not a problem with the battery, but with the system.
The NDS has two ARM processors, an ARM946E-S main CPU and ARM7TDMI co-processor at clock speeds of 67 MHz and 33 MHz.

If you run gp2x homebrew set to 67MHz, you can easily get MUCH higher battery usage. It's the 200MHz that drains the batteries...

 

[sephiroth111]

*the DS/GBASP battery is 3.7v @ 600mAh and lasts for around 10 hours on the gba, and I've had around 15 hours on the DS. Where the GP2X has 3v @ 2850mAh and it lasts for around 5 hours. If I could get the same performance out of the AAs that i could out of the Li-ions (and if you google up batteries for the DS/SP they are ~$10 not that bad for a "special" battery.) then i wouldn't care about what we used, provided it fit into my pocket, and i was able to play games on it.

Well, that's not a problem with the battery, but with the system.
The NDS has two ARM processors, an ARM946E-S main CPU and ARM7TDMI co-processor at clock speeds of 67 MHz and 33 MHz.

If you run gp2x homebrew set to 67MHz, you can easily get MUCH higher battery usage. It's the 200MHz that drains the batteries...


Thats true, but i was taking into effect that there is also 2 backlights, a much better sound system, lower screen touchpad, and the upper screen. this also doesn't take into effect the Z80 GBA sound core subsystem (in DS mode), the wifi system (only rarely active), the DS sound core (which, AFAIK is seperated from the gba). This added up would probably be a bigger drain than you think. yet maybe due to smart power saving methods built into the hardware itself, it reaches an impressive time. even my first-gen psp on its 1600mAh battery gets 8 hours on a full charge still (and i'm not talking about the hi-cap battery or the dualcap battery). Though admittedly AAs are easier to come by, who honestly goes without power (aside from camping or situations where the system cant be used anyway) for more than the 8 hour charge presented by either system?

 

[craigix]

Yes, this is why it is better to have the battery situation carefully set up with li-ion, it is just all round a more efficient way of doing it and solves a lot of user problems.

I think we learnt the lesson with the GP2X.

 

[gp2x.info]

If it's not too expensive and too hard to implement, i would like to add an internal cell battery,
like the Neo Geo Pocket Color has ( but smaller...).

It would give the gp2x the possibility of clock , timer and calendar functions.