Panasonic Jungle

[levi]

they say that one is a dpad and the other is a touchpad ED.


http://kotaku.com/5655507/exploring-the-jungle-do-we-need-a-handheld-mmo-player

I'm guessing that mysterous blank rectangle in between the gaming circles is the touchpad - but that doesn't help answer the question as to what's on the right hand side.

 

[darfgarf]

our friend darfgarf

! i have a friend XD


this could take off, if it has decent controls, has decent support, and finally decent games. though targeting it specifically for mmorpgs won't get very far if it's running linux, though if it does get far that's good news i guess, unless they start mixing closed source software and linux...just doesn't work that well really. pandora will always have it's niche, and looks so much better than this thing, did it just come out of a toasty maker?

 

[EvilDragon]

<try to read it unbiased, as I try to post unbiased >


Well, it sure is a device worth watching... but I'm also very sceptical.


Looking at the Facebook page, etc., their only goal seems to be online gaming.


I'm pretty sure it will be closed-source, I can't think big MMO developers would release something on that system otherwise.


So Linux with closed-source and DRM... not a very good mix in my opinion.


If you hack it and run your own Linux on it, you probably need to code your own drivers and can't play any DRMed games anymore. Driver situation would probably be worse than it was on the Pandora, since there already was the BeagleBoard and the N900 - and that surely helped.


Releasing Dingux for the Dingoo was a great achievement and a lot of work - but compared to the Jungle, the Dingoo probably is way more simple.


If you use their custom Linux, you probably can't do much except for playing their online games. And hacking a device which is meant for being online could lead into a fight between closing and hacking again.


Yes, it could become a competitor... and I know Panasonic is not Sony or Nintendo, they might not lock it down as hard as the others do. But that's something yet unknown - time will tell


<unbiased view off>


On the other side, I sure hope it won't make people cancel and get this instead.


To me, the Pandora it very special. I basically spend all my time to improve it. I've never seen a similar approach for a project. I sure hope only a few of our customers are speed nerds who simply want the fastest device around. I hope most customers are customers that stick with us because they sympahize with us or the project.


It never has been an easy way, we had tons of problems - but we never gave up, and we came so far. Don't think we're happy with all the delays, they actually cost us a lot of headaches. But we decided to go that way a long time ago, and we won't give up.


BTW: Posting this from my Pandora. Sitting in an exhibition using 3G with Bluetooth using a mobile phone

 

[levi]

I'm sticking with the Pandora because I do trust you guys. It's still a very ambitious project, and I'm very happy that you got this far.


From a purely selfish point of view, it's still the only known-open console I can buy with a known decent d-pad, and the only console with such a great community behind it.

 

[THB]

First off I agree the pandora is very special and a unique project undertaken by a group of guys who need our support but I have to say the following in response to your biased view as it just doesn't sit right with me.


There was always the risk that if you took too long to deliver something similar would come along. I wont cancel because I already went to the extra expense of buying a used less than perfect quality control pandora to tide me over and subdue my anger and I hope others don't cancel either. You guys really cant blame anyone for cancelling, two years is taking the piss after all and at the end of that two years the pandora is still less than perfect. You mention the delays are because you didnt want to compromise quality, but that's not really true according to previous information you have given us. From here it looks like a lot of compromises have been made and the majority of the delays were simply out of your control. Calling people speed nerds is really just a punch below the waist as the pandora was touted as the worlds most powerful handheld console. Its not the "speed nerds" fault you couldn't deliver in greater numbers before the title was lost.

 

[Asiyura]

I don't know the price of the Jungle, but I fear that it'll much more pricey than the Pandora, unless they go the PS3 way by selling the hardware at a loss and hoping to make up with softwares.


I think most of the first batchers will stick to the Pandora because we lived each and every events with the team by reading the news on the forums or on twitter.


I feel that in some way, we're a part of the team too… we are more involved into the Pandora than in any piece of hardware that we could buy in an electronic store.


Moreover I'm not a speed freak, after all, I'm still playing Syndicate and other games on my Amiga 500, so I'll stick to the Pandora. (I'm not really into MMO anyway)

The way to make great games is not using overpriced hardware, but optimize code so that the game is nice and fast on current hardware.

 

[EvilDragon]

Hm, seems it's always hard to NOT be misunderstood if posting in a foreign language.


Trying to make my wording more appropriate, but might not be that easy.


Well, delay is a mix of both. Yes, they happened out of our control (i.e. companies promising us perfect quality is way less time they needed... and then delivering crap quality after a loong delay).


But we can't continue delivering nubs where 10% fail after a few weeks.. way too expensive to fix them and not a good reputation future batches. So THAT delay is caused because of quality issues.


I'm nobody calling speed nerd. To be honest, I doubt most speed nerds (if there were any) cancelled months ago.


But I know a few of those guys... only buying the latest and greatest to possess it. Not to use it, but to show off. And in my opinion, the Pandora is not the right device for them. It's a device for people who love the OpenSource idea, who try to help a few guys release a handheld, help a few guys to produce a nice product within a market reigned by global players.


We cannot offer you the quality Sony or Nintendo has, we're a few Million USD too short of that. We cannot clearly say when it will be released, as we're depending on the companies that produce the project.


But we can offer you to be personally there, support you, tell you what's happening and talk to you. We're not hiding, we're not exaggerating anything, we just say things as they currently are.


I'm personally dedicated to support this little handheld and support the community with all the power I have. I will try everything I can to make this small produce exist. I don't want millions of USD, personally, I'm happy if it doesn't fail and I get at least the money back I invested.


If it fails for some reason (don't hope so, but you never knwo) then I will not vanish and tell you to get lost. I'll take my responsibility - even if it means that I'm personally blank for the next 10 years and lose everything I worked for in the last 15 years.


That's what I can offer. It might not be much, as I'm only one guy out of billions of people on this planet and if anything fails nobody will probably care about me anymore, but I'm afraid I don't have anymore to offer to you.


I hope you now understand what I meant. I'm not trying to harm anyone - and I'm aware all those delays are bad and I really don't like them.


But this is nothing like a big players thing where there's a lot of money backing up in case any problems occur or where some money loss is bad but not killing someone personally... this is a dedicated project that only lives from you, the community, and from us, trying everything we can to keep it alive and make it better.

 

[SNESFAN]

if this is rootable, and is able to run emulators... (linux + root= likely) and available before the pandora is regularly available... OPT might be in trouble from a certian niche they are targeting....


I'm not going to give up my pre-order... ever... but others might. The pandora might not be without competition for much longer.


I will be getting one because I'm a rabid gadgeteer

 

[Gerix]

The company releasing it is called Panasonic Cloud Entertainment. Almost anything relating to technology that has cloud in its name seems to involve cloud computing. My guess is they are going to take the gamble on cloud gaming. That would probably mean they are going to sell these things as loss leaders for more profitable subscription fees. After all, they mention it will mostly be for MMOs. My question: how much can they charge if there is a subscription for hardware as well as software? Anyway, it seems like it is serving a different segment than the Pandora. I don't see it having a very strong homebrew scene. I think that is one of the major draws of the Pandora. The people who would buy this wouldn't buy the pandora anyway. They're looking for something with mainstream support.


Remember, this is all speculation on one word. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[sebt3]

I'm not going to give up my pre-order... ever... but others might. The pandora might not be without competition for much longer.

I don't think so. retro-gaming and MMO-gaming are 2 differents gaming niche. I'm into retro. as all the pandorian gamer are. All the others pandora user are free software enthousiast that want a hack friendly machine. Once again this is not very competitive.


On topic, this is a futur large fail : this device target hard-core MMO players. thoses that already paid every month for more than 1 game and have enough cash to pay a 3G connection just to be able to be part of *that* quest they couldn't do because they're not at home. Anyway they are at home most of the time. My bet is that their market is as small as the pandora's one. If they had Wow remping for their device, then bioware would have been mentioned already as a partner or something.


So no market, no partner, expensive price every month = fail...

 

[dapoangel]

! i have a friend XD

of course you have!

 

[anexanhume]

Doomed to fail.


Panasonic is operating under the false assumption that MMOers leave the house.

 

[dapoangel]

Doomed to fail.


Panasonic is operating under the false assumption that MMOers leave the house.

CORRECT! MMOers rarely leave their houses!


its doomed to be a big gaming FAIL, of course unless things change overnight and MMOers suddenly decide they want to play games on the go!

 

[Caine]

I sure hope only a few of our customers are speed nerds who simply want the fastest device around.

One would expect that the speed nerds, as you call them, would have already canceled their order as strictly speaking the Pandora's processor is outdated already. I.e. higher clocked versions exist and the OMAP4 is around the corner (though I expect about a year more before it is truly available). Keep in mind that faster processors grant new possibilities. It's not just about the numbers.

I hope most customers are customers that stick with us because they sympathize with us or the project.

I can't speak for the rest, but I certainly do. I still want this project to succeed. On the other hand, I'm also a customer. I expect to see a unit sooner or later. Well, later by now.


The years of waiting is starting to affect my sanity, my enthusiasm and my confidence that this project will succeed. Thus my patience wanes. What kept me here all these years is the fact that the Pandora has no competition. It is 90% the device I want and I strongly doubt any offerings will come closer. I can't say the Jungle looks good so far but who knows.


Guys, you are losing a race against Duke Nukem Forever (they did have a head start, though).

 

[Gerix]

Haha, Duke Nukem Forever! I just got the joke. But now I feel really slow...

 

[McLovin]

really strange how much fuzz there is about a device we know only the formfactor and one game of.


From what is rumoured, I might get interested, but I won't hold my breath.

 

[dapoangel]

let us sell "old nubber" units to those who want them! that way production will not stop and the old nubs will not go to waste!


(yeah i know, "dapoanel the old-nubber nagger" struck again... >.<)


anyways, have a great day guys! ^_^

 

[Jumpman]

Well, I think every new electronic device has some sort of built in user base, but I have no idea how big this one will be over the long haul. I guess it may appeal to those who travel a lot, and can't always be planted in front of their PC.


I don't personally have any interest in this, but I like to see the industry moving in the right direction. I'm sure over the next few years, we will see more devices like this, and the Pandora. Devices that offer gaming controls, and a full keyboard. This unit does seem very specific, as it really looks like MMO's are what it is built for.


I know so many people who buy the latest cell phones so they can run high end emulators and what not, but then they have to use a keyboard to play zelda, mario bros., ect. I really do not understand this mind set. I have always said, it doesn't matter what your device can run, if it can't be controlled properly.


Keep the news coming Ed, it is greatly appreciated by the masses, and most of us understand the reasons for these delays. Although many of us are also never to happy about them, but life goes on.


Chris

 

[cosurgi]

Hm, seems it's always hard to NOT be misunderstood if posting in a foreign language.


Trying to make my wording more appropriate, but might not be that easy.


Well, delay is a mix of both. Yes, they happened out of our control (i.e. companies promising us perfect quality is way less time they needed... and then delivering crap quality after a loong delay).


But we can't continue delivering nubs where 10% fail after a few weeks.. way too expensive to fix them and not a good reputation future batches. So THAT delay is caused because of quality issues.


I'm nobody calling speed nerd. To be honest, I doubt most speed nerds (if there were any) cancelled months ago.


But I know a few of those guys... only buying the latest and greatest to possess it. Not to use it, but to show off. And in my opinion, the Pandora is not the right device for them. It's a device for people who love the OpenSource idea, who try to help a few guys release a handheld, help a few guys to produce a nice product within a market reigned by global players.


We cannot offer you the quality Sony or Nintendo has, we're a few Million USD too short of that. We cannot clearly say when it will be released, as we're depending on the companies that produce the project.


But we can offer you to be personally there, support you, tell you what's happening and talk to you. We're not hiding, we're not exaggerating anything, we just say things as they currently are.


I'm personally dedicated to support this little handheld and support the community with all the power I have. I will try everything I can to make this small produce exist. I don't want millions of USD, personally, I'm happy if it doesn't fail and I get at least the money back I invested.


If it fails for some reason (don't hope so, but you never knwo) then I will not vanish and tell you to get lost. I'll take my responsibility - even if it means that I'm personally blank for the next 10 years and lose everything I worked for in the last 15 years.


That's what I can offer. It might not be much, as I'm only one guy out of billions of people on this planet and if anything fails nobody will probably care about me anymore, but I'm afraid I don't have anymore to offer to you.


I hope you now understand what I meant. I'm not trying to harm anyone - and I'm aware all those delays are bad and I really don't like them.


But this is nothing like a big players thing where there's a lot of money backing up in case any problems occur or where some money loss is bad but not killing someone personally... this is a dedicated project that only lives from you, the community, and from us, trying everything we can to keep it alive and make it better.

This is lovely. Thank you.

 

[macsimus]

yep thank you guys for the dedication. i will not cancel even if a new device is released that can do all that the pandora promises.


i HAVE to play kof'98 on the pandora first! damn !


big kisses.


Mac