Small Pandora News Item In This Month's Linux Format

[carlberry]

Appears in the April issue (subscriber copy dropped through my door this morning), fairly general piece :

"Pandora Launches handheld console - Another attempt to build an open source, open standard gaming device - After three years of development, the Pandora gaming handheld is apparently ready for release, just in time to capitalise on the popularity of it's name through the film Avatar. The device which resembles a fat Nintendo DS with a keyboard at the base, was announced in 2007 and was instantly proclaimed as the "world's most powerful handheld gaming device". However, in the time it's taken to come to market, the machine's specs - 600MHz chip, 256MB RAM- have been eclipsed by the likes of the iPhone and Google's Nexus One. The developer says the device is more than adequate for playing games such as Quake III and will also run a full version of the Firefox web browser to provide a full 'desktop-like' experience in a form factor smaller than a netbook.

While the company is selling the device on its gaming prowess, it actually running (sic) a tailored version of Angstrom-Linux, which is also available for the Archos range of media players(see boxout below(Underneath there is a small article about the Archos media players)), and will install and run a wide range of desktop software. The Pandora has the usual array of connectors and includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a TV-out for gaming or video playback on the big screen. The company is currently taking online orders through its website and the first batch of pre-ordered devices are expected to be shipped soon, although no precise date has been given. The Pandora is the latest in a long line of gaming machines which have been based on Linux; however most have not succeeded, because they are open systems and the hardware developers can't rely on licensed game sales to subsidise the hardware." source Linux Format (c) Future Publishing, all typos except the one noted are purely my own work

There's also a picture of the Pandora with the caption "The Pandora claims to be a games machine, but appears to be capable of much more - look at that keyboard!"

 

[gruso]

Nice little writeup Realistic about the situation but not snarky or cynical. Should be added to the media reports thread (linked in Mali's sig).

 

[juniorm33]

Thanks Carl, I'll read and sort it later. Bed time

 

[craigix]

I seem to remember them once reporting the GP2X had failed. What would they consider success in this field I wonder?

 

[gruso]

A lot of people consider something failed if you can't buy it at K-mart. (Quote from another forum: "Gruso WTF is it with you and failed handhelds?")

 

[bce23w]

What would they consider success in this field I wonder?

If it's popular enough that they can criticize it for being faddish, they will stop criticizing it for being a failure.

 

[kingoddball]

Nice little article. Not too bad at all. Just send the Pandora's!

 

[Alpha2]

Niche markets don't sell magazines... Ironic that it's a Linux magazine.

 

[El Jefe]

A lot of people consider something failed if you can't buy it at K-mart. (Quote from another forum: "Gruso WTF is it with you and failed handhelds?")

THATS IT!
gruso is a startup console bad luck god.
ITS ALL HIS FAULT

 

[gruso]

I trolled you guys good.

 

[Prometheus]

Well, at least it's better than their last one, which appeared in a box-out in an article about the Envizions Evo, in which I seem to recall they claimed that the Pandora, GP2X, and something else which I can't remember (may have been the Wiz, but I'm not 100% sure on that), were Linux-based devices that had "failed to set the world on fire", seemingly as opposed to the Evo...

EDIT: Oops, looks like I have an outdated link there. Here's the current one (I notice the Evo is no longer Linux only, incidentally).

 

[Paradox]

funny, never heard of this "Evo"

 

[traylorpark]

I seem to remember them once reporting the GP2X had failed. What would they consider success in this field I wonder?

I wondered the same thing when I read the little article. I imagine that when somebody hears the term "gaming console" the automatic assumption is that the platform must somehow attract some major publishers/developers in order to achieve some level of success. And even then, some people call the PSP a failure.

Really, you have to look at what the project`s goals are and if those are accomplished - then decide success and failure. Even at that point, it might not be so black and white, the results just might be ... different ... from what was expected. But that is a difficult thing to quantify - and therefor does not sell magazines or get blog hits. Logic is rarely sensational.

I would consider the Open Pandora to not be a failure if it maintains a strong community, continues to sell and is able to later iterate upon itself.

And if I get one someday.

I would say hardware prowess is really a superficial method of rating a platform such at this.

 

[typs lik dis]

Only "the usual array of connectors?" USB-2.0 host and 1.1/2.0 OTG! Two SD card slots! Line-IO and mic-in! How could they miss all of its crazy atypical (for a handheld) connectors in a sentence about its connectors?