Pandora On Wired.com

[Xenu]

On the subject of "Failure in My Pocket: Gaming’s Tortured History of Handheld Convergence" wired.com says this about the pandora:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/10/handheld-convergence/?pid=429

"Pandora (2010)
After GamePark stopped making the GP32 line, the handheld's dedicated community had no hardware to call their own. So in the true spirit of open source, they got together to build a new box.

Released this summer, Pandora is a handheld system that runs open-source software and emulates classic games, plus has a full keyboard with PDA and Linux functionality.

Like the GP32, it would be difficult to ever call the Pandora a "failure," but like its inspiration it will be confined forever to its niche fan base."

 

[forces]

They have to be kidding... They think, that GP32, Zodiac, Pandora, and call iPhone a gaming failure too... I think, that gaming failure means, when the company bancrupts, and there's no one, who develops something for the console at least every year...

 

[WizardStan]

Reread it, forces/before. "Like the GP32, it would be difficult to ever call it a failure": the article is saying that strictly speaking it isn't a failure, but it'll never reach the wider audience that the big leagues have, and it's probably right about that; if Nintendo doesn't sell a couple million consoles, it has failed, where OPT only has to sell a few tens of thousands. This is probably the first article that actually understood that not selling millions does not equal failure.

 

[forces]

Reread it, forces/before. "Like the GP32, it would be difficult to ever call it a failure": the article is saying that strictly speaking it isn't a failure, but it'll never reach the wider audience that the big leagues have, and it's probably right about that; if Nintendo doesn't sell a couple million consoles, it has failed, where OPT only has to sell a few tens of thousands. This is probably the first article that actually understood that not selling millions does not equal failure.

well, you're probably right, but i don't like saying, that console that's not for wider audience is a failure... I wouldn't even put pandora in the same league as nintendo, because intendo is for everyone, Pandora is for old-school gamers and programmers. I just don't like that wired said about pandora a article about "biggest failures in gaming history"...

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, I know wired.com was pestering me with eMails how urgently they need a Pandora to test...
Seemed a bit weird for me, but whatever

I think a failure is when a system planned like an NDS, etc. doesn't sell well... like the VirtuaBoy or stuff like that.

But how something that was aimed to be sold as niche product in small numbers be called a failure is weird

Does that mean airplanes are failures, too? They only sell in small batches

 

[Chaser]

Relax ED. Wizardstan is correct.

They are saying the Pandora is, like the GP32 or Gp2x 'NOT a failure' and unlikely to be ever classed that way!

It is a blend of devices for a niche and will sell well within that niche. It will never sell millions like a mainstream product from the big guys but it will sell enough for OPT and will hopefully play out over its years in style, with an ever growing and more optimised software catalogue that meets the demands of its intended niche and beyond some of its expectations. Just needs MP units to start really rolling out to batch 1 and onwards and that time is close approaching

 

[forces]

They are saying the Pandora is, like the GP32 or Gp2x 'NOT a failure' and unlikely to be ever classed that way!

Don't want to be considered as troll, but isn't it the thing what they've done? They put Pandora and gp32 to a article about biggest fails in gaming history...
I understand what they say, only I can't understand, where they say it...

 

[wardred]

Mainly they're saying it'll probably not have a huge DS like success outside of its niche market, which is probably fair unless something spectacular happens with it. (They claimed the iPhone, and probably Android as well, were actually successful convergence devices.)

I remember CraigX saying if it sold a small multiple of 10k units, maybe 25k-30k he'd be happy - which, based on the first batch and second batch I'd say their's a good chance of doing if they can iron out the manufacturing issues. Heck, maybe even make an overall profit on the venture. I think they deserve it given all the effort to get this thing out the door. If something like the DS sold 100k units, which would be a pretty big success for the Pandora, said DS would be a huge flop.

It's a bit of a tortured article. There are gaming systems that failed, as far as their creators are concerned, even if said failure resulted in sales that the Pandora team would be happy to get. I think the main thing it neglects is target audience and goals of the people producing the gaming systems. Americans, in particular, aren't used to thinking of a small target audience for a piece of electronics.

Far as I'm concerned I'd like to see the largest audience possible for the Pandora, but I'm realistic enough not to expect millions of units sold and thousands of people waiting in the lobby for a spot in multi-player GameX to open up so they can play.

I'm happy Craig has the cases needed for most, if not all of pre-order group 1, and I'm hoping the nubs are produced and shipped in the next week or two. Enough nubs for both batch1 and 2.

Edit: Putting that statement in an article about the largest gaming failures; however, was not fair.

 

[EvilDragon]

Yep, that "failure" is what annoys me.

A failure is something that didn't work... and while we had a lot of troubles on our way (and still are ironing out the last issues), it's no failure for me.
We managed to create the product and we'll manage to deliver them...

A failure for me is if something doesn't work as it should, i.e. if a device was planned to be sold in millions but never reaches that goal... we never HAD that goal, how could we fail there?

 

[sebt3]

Hey, there is more pandoras out than Microsoft kin users

 

[Sphinxter]

Gizmondo sold 25,000 units, pandora should be anywhere near as big a failure.

 

[emcee]

Don't want to be considered as troll, but isn't it the thing what they've done? They put Pandora and gp32 to a article about biggest fails in gaming history...

I think you need reread the article. That's not what it was about. It was an article about failed convergence handhelds that referenced several devices, not a countdown list of huge failures. Three of the devices (including the Pandora) they specifically said weren't failures, with the iPhone only brought up as a counterexample.

 

[wardred]

I think if they can get the component manufacturing in hand, and it looks like they're approaching that point, 25k should be easy. That's a big if, of course. I don't have a feel for the community, so I don't know how many more sales than that they could generate, but 25k should be easy if they ever get to the point of doing orders from inventory - even if that's a relatively small inventory, rather than pre-orders.

 

[neko]

Well, I know wired.com was pestering me with eMails how urgently they need a Pandora to test...
Seemed a bit weird for me, but whatever

I take it they didn't get one?

 

[Esn]

Yep, that "failure" is what annoys me.

A failure is something that didn't work... and while we had a lot of troubles on our way (and still are ironing out the last issues), it's no failure for me.
We managed to create the product and we'll manage to deliver them...

A failure for me is if something doesn't work as it should, i.e. if a device was planned to be sold in millions but never reaches that goal... we never HAD that goal, how could we fail there?

Are you sure Craig didn't have some hopes about that? He strikes me as being generally more optimistic than you.

 

[wardred]

I'm sure CraigX had the occasional thought of a Pandora for every person and world domination. In Soviet Russia the Pandora plays YOU! :-b A hundred million Zombie Pandoralings controlled by overlord CraigX could be heard moaning "Your order number, give it to me..." while hauling revelers away from yet another Chinese holiday celebration...

 

[CPUnltd]

HAHA... PRICELESS!!!

 

[JSnake]

Hi guys! I didn't write this article but I do write for the Wired.com game blog. I wanted to clear some things up.

As I understand it, this article is not a straight list of failed handhelds. It's a history article. In fact, the headline explicitly states so.

Well, I know wired.com was pestering me with eMails how urgently they need a Pandora to test...
Seemed a bit weird for me, but whatever

I think a failure is when a system planned like an NDS, etc. doesn't sell well... like the VirtuaBoy or stuff like that.

But how something that was aimed to be sold as niche product in small numbers be called a failure is weird

Does that mean airplanes are failures, too? They only sell in small batches

The one emailing you would have been me. But please understand it was never my intention to pester or annoy you. If you felt that way, I apologize!

Actually, the article explicitly states that "it would be difficult to ever call the Pandora a failure." However, it does say that "it will be confined forever to its niche fan base," which is 100% true. This is not a bad thing! And the article never said it was! So please do not feel offended!

Well, I know wired.com was pestering me with eMails how urgently they need a Pandora to test...
Seemed a bit weird for me, but whatever

I take it they didn't get one?

As far as I'm aware, we're on track to receive a review unit once they go out. That's what I was told by Jacquelyn at least!

 

[lobski]

The one emailing you would have been me. But please understand it was never my intention to pester or annoy you. If you felt that way, I apologize!

JSnake, EvilDragon doesn't get annoyed, he gets... Even.

 

[CPUnltd]

haha....


I thought he just got evil...