Why not stick with the GPxx naming convention.
Because the GP** naming convention sucks and makes no sense. As someone who has been on these forums enough, I know that GP32 stands for Game Park, and I assume (not sure, though) that the 32 stands for 32-bit. I also know the story about GPX / GPX2 / GP2X... But, it's stupid, and even on these forums there have been multiple jokes at it's meaninglessness of a random assortment of letters and numbers.
- "Game Park" is not a very well known company outside of these forums.
- GPH ≠ Game Park, so why continue to name your system after a company you decide to leave 5 years ago (or however long it was)
- And, I know that this is not other handhelds - but other handhelds haven't done the "sequel" naming style. (There is no Game Boy II, or WonderSwan 4) Handhelds normally either add something to the name (Game Boy Advance / WonderSwan Color) or change the name entirely (Nintendo DS / SwanCrystal / Nomad)
- The "Wiz" is actually not a bad nameI know it's a synomn for urine - but so is the Wii, and - yes, people made fun of that name, too - but it's the best selling console on the market, and people got over the name.
- Wiz is short for Wizard, which is a good symbol for game system - lots of Wizards in video games.
- Wizards are powerful - power is good for a tech toy.
- If someone is a "Wiz" at something - they are highly skilled at it, and can usually get things done quickly.
- Wiz also implies speed (that car just whizzed by here!) - Speed is good for a tech toy.
I know both current commercial handhelds are a series of letters - but they aren't 4 characters long - and most people know what they stand for. (Just in case - DS = Dual-Screen / PSP = PlayStation Portable.) In the case of the DS - it stand for the unique feature that sets it apart from everything else. In the case of the PSP, there have been over 14 years of highly-successful brand recognition of the PS/PlayStation name that back up the PSP name - not just a handful of enthusists, like the GP** name - but with the entire video game community and beyond.
Another reason is, perhaps they don't want to associate the Wiz with the GP32 or the GP2X. Maybe there's something new about this (like the dual-dpads, or the above rumored motion sensor) that makes it a different animal than the GP2X.
Craig & Co. purposefully chose the name Pandora rather than GPH3Y2 or some other equally indecipherable code (from what I've read at least partly...) because it's not just another open source game system. It's not just the GP2X-2, or the next in a line of related handhelds made by different companies. It's a different animal. It's a (to avoid flames for whatever marketing abbreviation I choose) pocketable computer. Perhaps the people at GPH were thinking something like that.
A GP** system has a built-in fanbase. Followers of this forum, at least, and I'm sure there are GP2X users who don't read here, but would buy the next-generation of the GP2X, just because it's the next generation of the GP2X. But a lot of those same people will buy the next system from GPH - no matter what the name.
There are some people that got burned on the GP2X, or the GP32, in one way or another, and won't buy a GP** system ever again. By not associating the name, perhaps GPH hopes to reach those people.
Also - just looking at a bunch of letters and numbers doesn't grab most people's attention (notice the marketing success of Apple - whose systems all have pronouncable names like iMac, MacBook, Mac Pro - not XLS-7201 / EPW-5995 / LD-8600 ), but words do.
I'm not saying it's always wrong to use non-word letters and/or numbers to label your gadget. So please don't flame me with examples of successful code-named products. It was asked "Why didn't they follow GP2X" - and I gave some possible reasons.
Oh, and one more. People have suggested that the change of the SoC will kill (at least some) backwards compatibility. Naming it after a previous system implies backwards compatibility, if there is none - it's best not to name it that way. (I'm looking at you Xbox 360, PS3, and Game Boy Micro! <_< )
