Is it still worth it to buy a GP32?

[Didarabocchi]

My friend says that "the scene is really dry now" and he's had his for a long long time. He's said that it's been a long time since new roms and/or emus have come out. Is it still worth it to buy one? I'll probrably get one, but I was wondering if stuff will still be codded for this....

 

[Azure]

Yes! These pauses occur a lot and they don't mean that the scene is dead or anything like that. People are still working on emulators and stuff. Stuff will still be coded and is currently being coded for it. You should get it. Keep in mind that yoyo is still working on his *secret project* and rlyeh has a buttload of emus he's working on.

 

[Tobriand]

Yeah, they're fairly common. Usually followed by periods of frenzied activity on all fronts - which is hopefully what the scene is building up to. With a bit of luck. That said, even if everything were to stop, I've never owned a console that was more useful all round than the GP32. The thing is worth buying with what its already got. The only question is whether there is something marginally more worth buying - and the only thing in THAT niche is the Zodiac - something at least 100 pounds pricier!

 

[rcx21000]

I think the 'dry time' is because of the PD ROMS competetion, everyone is entering their things into that instead of just normally releasing them...

 

[angrypants]

Hell yeah you should buy one, I had one for a few months last winter then through the summer then left it in class earlier this school year. I hope that some one in class picked it up and is coding somthing for it now because it was a c++ class I lost it in. However I am pissed that no one if they did find it has admitted to it because I have brought it up in class. I must say that the gp32 is by far the best console I have ever owned (aside from the nes) and if I had the cash (wich I don't and can't feed myself let alone by games) I would bye another gp32 with out thinking twice. There are a numer of emulators that run perfectly making thousands of old games really portable which is great if you are a retro gamer like myself its the perfect console. The scene has had a bit of a dry spell recently but is by no means dead look at the video of thunderZ's 3D engine that is amazing. That alone given the attention by map makers could breath new life into the console all by itself so watch out the gp32 is about to be taken to a whole new level.

 

[mr.spiv]

Go for it.. GP32 is the ultimate hax0r handheld <_< Due the openess & easiness of the development on this handheld it is guite probable new stuff will come for it. IF you want stability & fast pace go for GBA

Now _finally_ developers are taking the step forward and really checking what they can really get out of GP32 hardware. I hope in the future games & demos would take advantage of known hacks there are.. for example..

Oh my.. I just ran out of coffee.. gotta go :blink:

 

[khephren]

Even if nothing ever came out again, i'd still have a massive catalogue of great games to play, across many well emulated platforms.

I can thouroughly recomend:

Super famicom wars (advance wars for the snes)
Fire emblem5 (fantasy advance wars)
Bahamut lagoon (a wicked RPG on snes)
front mission (turn based giant mecha on snes)


.....there's so little time, and so much to play!

 

[Thyphoid]

I agree with Khephren, but I dont know how much you are into classic-videogaming. If you, like me, spend most of your youth at the arcade hall and you worshiped ataris 2600 console as soon as it come out, then get your GP32 as quick as you can.

 

[declaration]

The next week or so should be really good. We've got all the news releases from the Spanish meetup including fMAME and fGEN. We may also see a new version of Quake ported. All that aswell as the continued progress of ThunderZ's 3d engine and the very exciting experiments concerning a possible upgrade to 32mb of Ram.

 

[Hwrd]

To me, whether the GP32 is still worth it would be in comparison to its competition:

1. GBA-SP:

pro's: large "off the shelf" library
price

con's: extra hardware required to get more of the GP32 functionailty
(i.e., flash cart)
lower rez, clockspeed significantly slower

2. N-Gage:

pro's: it's a cell phone
faster, higher rez
non-Korean "off the shelf" library, with the...
promise of 3rd party software

con's: price
not commercially proven
no "homebrew scene" possible (is there ??)

3. Zodiac:

pro's: it's a Palm Pilot
faster, higher rez
non-Korean "off the shelf" library, with the...
promise of 3rd party software

con's: price
not commercially proven
very limited release
the homebrew scene doesn't actually exist yet


The GBA is a good machine and needs no explanation why it's so successful. I seriously doubt many are choosing between a GBA and a GP32: no where near the same markets unless extras are bought for the GBA and then it becomes inferior in that respect compared to the GP32.

The N-Gage probably won't have the emulator/homebrew support.

I really like the Zodiac, it is definitely a technically better GP32.
The problem here is there is no real proof that it will be supported any better than the GP32. And if the main reason for choosing the Zodiac is technical superiority, be wary of what 2004 has to bring (there is a good chance that the Zodiac will be in the same position technically and marketwise as the GP32 is now).

So, I think the GP32 is still a good buy as long as one is satisfied with what it does RIGHT NOW.

 

[skeezix]

To the last post..

The NGage.. well, we won't talk about the NGage; its almost all cons, with few pros.

The Zodiac has a home brew community, since it inherets all the Palm OS crowd; I won't go into what sgoing on for it, since until we see stuff it doesn't count from the big companies..

But for instance, my apps for Palm OS all shoudl run mroe or less out of the ox on the Z, and I've got Z enhanced versions ocming out soon to make use of the wide screen and better controls and such. (Castaway just came to life on Palm OS yesterday in fact, and Castaway/Palm will be zodiac enhanced in a week or two

Theres definately a homebrew.. Palm OS has always had one; the tools are free (gcc based, same as GP32, etc, for windows, unix, you name it), and the docs are all open, and Tapwave continues Palm's mentality of free available SDKs, etc. So yumms.

It'll take awhile to catch up to GP32 which is all homebrew, but it will exceed GP32's homebrew scene due to the wide audience and available tools.

The only question for the Z is will the big companies come through, and will it succeed? But GamePark proved that evne a little Korean company can do something, so Tapweave certainly can. But even if they don't ... so what? We also learned withthe GP32 that as new devices come out, existing ones do not get any less valuable .. just the new devices are better. so I'm getting a Z, and I'll keep hacking on ym Z and GP32 anyway, since I own them and enjoy them

I expect others to be the same..

So..l GP32 is good; its a great scene (unlike the competitive windows and console worlds), though its a small scene.. its feisty! The Zodiac should do well. Thje NGage.. toast. NGage 2 may have a chance. PSP.. we'll see -- so far it'll be commercial only.. no homebrew :/

jeff

 

[Cooljerk]

Just to clear something up - the N-Gage doesn't have a higher resolution nor is it faster.