Spreading The Word

[JoystickHero]

Dudes and dudettes,

At first I want to state: No, I'm in no way connected to GPH or a retailer or similar. I'm just a fan of their handhelds and retro gaming.

Why I'm writing this: One of my best friends over here in Germany got three (!) of those Neo Geo arcade MVSs in his living room (yepp, I'm talking about the arcade-stuff, not the home video game system) while he owns a big variety of all the nice games the Neo Geo brought to us. Additionally, there's things like Amiga, NES, SNES, SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis, SEGA Master System, all kinds of the Game Boy and so on. But then he went on in his career and started to be on the road all day, travelling by train - without his beloved consoles. So he bought himself a notebook and played around with some emulators, but without the feeling of a game-controller it obviously wouldn't be the same. So I told him simply to get a Wiz or Caanoo to take all his favs with him. "A what??" - "A Wiz. Or Caanoo." - "Like I said, a what? I don't need a freakin canoe!" - "You know, Gamepark and stuff?" - "WTF?"

---- to cut a long story short ----

I think there are many many many people out there, who could and would like to contribute to those nice handhelds out there, if it's a Pandora or a Caanoo or whatever, but we seem to have to tell'em about it.
So keep on beta-testing, programming, developing, whishing for improvements and, I think it's important: spreading the word! The more reviews on those handhelds the www got, the more people will know about it, the more people will improve the scene.

I hope you get what I mean and noone feels attacked in any way like "this is our scene, keep'em bad guys out!".
I just think that if there were nearly as many people that know about those emulator-handhelds, like there are people that know that there is a PSP, the homebrew community would benifit from it. Imagine all those really nice homebrew games and how they would go around the world if the people even would know about it.

Well, originally I just wanted to write one or two lines on this topic, but hey... it comes from the heart

JH

__PS:__ English is not my mother language, please excuse if I made too much mistakes in such a long text...

 

[ozzuneoj]

Yeah, more exposure would definitely help out.

As it is currently, you pretty much have to already know about open handhelds to ever come across anything related to the Caanoo. The only reason I found it is because I'd been following the Pandora for a couple years and was interested in a cheaper alternative that was actually available. And the only reason I knew about the Pandora was from dabbling in Nintendo DS homebrew.

I think the fact that the main draw of the system involves emulation and the vast majority of ROM owners are not legally permitted to have them probably hurts GPH's ability to advertise the system and get sales. The current selection of freeware and official games is nowhere near strong enough to get most people to buy a Caanoo without any intention of running emulators.

So, it basically needs to be advertised as an emulation device to get attention, and that's a legal gray-area in most countries... so I would assume that that is the main reason that we don't see these open platforms spreading like wildfire. Also, most people would rather just play games on their smartphone so they don't have to carry another device. Even if the controls are 100x better on the Caanoo.

People should definitely be spreading the word though. I show my Caanoo to everyone that seems interested in it, and I make sure to show them any old games that they mention if I have them on my SD card.

 

[SolarLune]

I too think that the freeware and official game archive needs to be upped dramatically for the Caanoo to be popular. Clearly, it's the best open-source handheld game system out there for $150, but without strong games, there's no real reason to buy a Caanoo. Also, it kind of kills Caanoo sales if games are present on both consoles - I know that it would be nice to have a port of whatever games available for all consoles, but if several really good games came out for the Caanoo and not the Wiz, for example, that would be one extra reason to buy a Caanoo. There are loads of people who buy 'inferior' systems strictly because of the games available - some people would buy even outdated systems like the Dreamcast just to get at Power Stone and Shenmue.

 

[AJack]

Nice post JoystickHero

I think probably the best way to raise Caanoo awareness would be to simply tell the people around you. Become a fan on Facebook, review it on Youtube, impress your friends in person. Plus, the name 'caanoo' is pretty distinctive, so it's easy to raise the topic just by slipping it into a conversation, i.e. 'Hold on a sec, can't go to the airport without my Caanoo!'

 

[ruffnutts]

lol @ AJack thas the sort of thing I would say when where off to visit my girlfriends mum and dad in Sweden,
Anyway with more Caanoo awareness things can only get better for the scene - great topic

ruffnutts

 

[JoystickHero]

So, it basically needs to be advertised as an emulation device to get attention, and that's a legal gray-area in most countries... so I would assume that that is the main reason that we don't see these open platforms spreading like wildfire.

I think now it's up to us. GPH ain't in the position to start a big promotion-wheel running, because of the reasons you mentioned. But we are!

The only reason I found it is because I'd been following the Pandora for a couple years and was interested in a cheaper alternative that was actually available

I can't remeber how GPH got my attention, but it somehow happened through the net and it's groups, boards, chats, etc. That's where the people who dream of better emulators, games and apps for the GPH devices have to be talking about their favourite handheld!

Clearly, it's the best open-source handheld game system out there for $150, but without strong games, there's no real reason to buy a Caanoo. Also, it kind of kills Caanoo sales if games are present on both consoles - I know that it would be nice to have a port of whatever games available for all consoles, but if several really good games came out for the Caanoo and not the Wiz, for example, that would be one extra reason to buy a Caanoo.

That's why we have to get all those talented devs on the Caanoo - it's the best open-source handheld out there (in terms of availability and price, etc, I know the Pandora is superior when it comes to hardware and stuff, I'd order one myself if shipping wouldn't be... you know how it is.) It won't ever get into my mind why GPH didn't make the Caanoo downwards-compatible. Otherwise, I don't get, why they didn't deliver Caanoo-exlusive stuff instead.

I think probably the best way to raise Caanoo awareness would be to simply tell the people around you. Become a fan on Facebook, review it on Youtube, impress your friends in person

Done, work in progress, done I mean: Yepp, I think you're right. Spread the word, tell everyone who seems to be interested... I don't even want to imagine how many people are out there, who could contribute great solutions for the Caanoo, if they even knew about it. Imagine!! We'd kill Apple with open source h34r: :lol:

Anyway with more Caanoo awareness things can only get better for the scene

Well Mr. Nutts, then keep on finding PSX games that work to make the Caanoo more famous for emulating them

 

[blues2]

i think it would be a good idea you list some of the things you guys show or mention about opensource devices like the caanoo. i myself love my caanoo but am having a hard time at convincing others to buy one.

 

[AJack]

i think it would be a good idea you list some of the things you guys show or mention about opensource devices like the caanoo. i myself love my caanoo but am having a hard time at convincing others to buy one.

Best way I've found is to play on nostalgia. It's one thing to say 'Hey, this is a great open-source handheld platform!' but it's quite another to actually load up their favourite genesis/super nintendo/arcade game and put the Caanoo in their hands. Additionally, it sounds impressive when you casually mention you can have pretty much every game ever released for a particular console loaded on the device at any one time

 

[JoystickHero]

i think it would be a good idea you list some of the things you guys show or mention about opensource devices like the caanoo. i myself love my caanoo but am having a hard time at convincing others to buy one.

Best way I've found is to play on nostalgia. It's one thing to say 'Hey, this is a great open-source handheld platform!' but it's quite another to actually load up their favourite genesis/super nintendo/arcade game and put the Caanoo in their hands. Additionally, it sounds impressive when you casually mention you can have pretty much every game ever released for a particular console loaded on the device at any one time

Yes, the nostalgia-factor is almost unbeatable. And I think it's interesting to mention that the Caanoo is not only capable to load any of those classic games, but it is also capable to carry -all- of them with you with a proper (nowadays pretty cheap) SD-card! It runs for about 5 hours (which reads like: most casual planes, trains, metros, busses, taxis as well as college, high school, daily job pauses, etc. ), you can take your favourite sitcom-episodes with you, and so on and son on...