The Gp2x Is Dead!

[quadomatic]

Hmmm...now rethinking it, simply because of the price difference, I might pick up a Wiz and wait for Pandora's price to drop (it would wouldn't it?). I feel bad though because I would much rather support the Pandora platform than another GPH handheld. The amount of things that could be done on Pandora are far greater than that of the Wiz also.

Since this device is apparently still in development, and since they saw our reaction to the terrible dual-dpad layout, they'll probably replace it with real buttons.

Time will tell...hell we can't even be sure of the actual specs.

Given GPH's track record, they will at least TRY to fix these problems commented on by us, but they won't do a very good job of it.

Anyone have a guess on when we might see this on the market?

Anyone hear what GP32Spain has been saying about the Wiz?

 

[palmertech]

I'm not that sad. The GP2X wasn't good. No, it was a piece of shit, but it did what it did better than anything. I am totally welcoming of a new successor and Pandora seems like just as good as any. My GP2X died the other week, so I'm screwed, fortunately 3 handhelds are around the corner and things are looking fine. The GP2X software library was great and all, but there wasn't much that couldn't have been done better on emulation.

Agreed. It was the best, for a while. Then modded PSPs came around, so...

Chad, I think that there WAS a method to the naming. Look at when the GP2X came out, and the current systems at the time. G-amecube, P-s-2, X-box. Copycats. :lol: The 2x likely meant that it was 2x as powerful... Still pretty random for a game console name, unless you already knew about the GP32.

 

[quadomatic]

I just read that the Pollux SoC that is rumored to be powering the Wiz runs Windows CE 5 and 6 (on top of linux). Would this help with dev?

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4648734230.html

(If this is old news I apologize)

Does anyone know if there is a good chance that they won't go with the Pollux chip? Any others they could possibly use? They could just not use an SoC right? Just wondering.

 

[fishybawb]

No, plus WinCE sucks. GPH would never go with that anyway - why pay licence fees when Linux is free? And by "on top of Linux", you mean "as well as Linux", right?

Does anyone know if there is a good chance that they won't go with the Pollux chip? Any others they could possibly use? They could just not use an SoC right? Just wondering.

There are a few others, but Pollux sounds likely. Using a SoC (System-On-a-Chip) is the easiest solution from a design/manufacturing angle. What else would they use? I can't see them coming up with custom hardware like Nintendo and Sony.

 

[chad78]

wait for Pandora's price to drop (it would wouldn't it?)
No, it probably won't - not for a long time, anyway. Look at the GP2X - it still costs just as much as it did when it came out years ago. Check the thread on "Price Drop" about the GP2X to learn more. I asked the same question about the GP2X and got laughed at.

 

[quadomatic]

No, plus WinCE sucks. GPH would never go with that anyway - why pay licence fees when Linux is free? And by "on top of Linux", you mean "as well as Linux", right?

Does anyone know if there is a good chance that they won't go with the Pollux chip? Any others they could possibly use? They could just not use an SoC right? Just wondering.

There are a few others, but Pollux sounds likely. Using a SoC (System-On-a-Chip) is the easiest solution from a design/manufacturing angle. What else would they use? I can't see them coming up with custom hardware like Nintendo and Sony.


Yeah, yea, I did mean "as well as". I was going to say that, but I thought it gave the impression that Linux was on the backburner...I probably should have said "in addition to".

If they improved battery life, a built in battery (I think the cord plugged into the EXT port makes me wonder if there's a built in battery pack), added wifi, has a good dpad, has a screen size at least that of the GP2x, has a touch screen, SDHC support, decent multimedia apps, and enough power to get all GP2X emulators up to PSX up to fullspeed with decent battery life without oc'ing, and is <$100, I could go for it. I suppose that might be asking for a lot though. At least half of those should be guaranteed though.

chad78: but wouldn't the price of the hardware in the Pandora drop in time?

Hmmm...doesn't it kind of bother people that GPH would pull the GP2X without having a replacement immediately available? It seems odd...did the same thing happen to the GP32?

And does anyone know if anything came up about people who worked at GamePark going to GPH after its collapse?

 

[arcadeaction]

A WinCE-device wouldn't be bad at all (it's easy to develop for .NET Compact after all), but WinCE was not really meant for games and it will probably raise the price of the device a lot. I can hardly imagine GPH will take that route.. but we'll wait and see

I take back my bad words about the photo that was posted and just wait patiently on any official news... Two D-pads will be strange, but maybe (probably especially non-emulator programmers) would be able to find creative use for it... if the final device will have them both

 

[sam fisher]

I for one will certainly support GPH's new console and will develop for that. Hopefully anything I release will end up on the "Wiz" and the Pandora.

Good to hear. I like to see a Boomshine conversion...

BTW, welcome back Sam!

Regards,
Stephan

Boomshine should work on it (in one form or another) as soon as someone manages to compile the fenix run time.

Does anyone know if there is a good chance that they won't go with the Pollux chip? Any others they could possibly use? They could just not use an SoC right? Just wondering.

It would be a bit late in the game to switch SoC now, I would think. Can you see Pandora changing SoC this late in the game?

 

[chad78]

chad78: but wouldn't the price of the hardware in the Pandora drop in time?
Did you read the thread I linked to?

No - the price of the Pandora is not likely to drop. It's not a PSP or a DS or a N800. It is possibly - even likely - that the prices of the parts will drop over the next couple of years. But that doesn't mean the price of the Pandora will.

Based solely on a rudimentary knowledge of the way businesses work (and I mean rudimentary, I'm no MBA) - the Pandora company is in the hole right now. I assume this since they've bought stuff and have sold nothing except a few dev units - and those were sold "at cost" - so they didn't make any money back for the R&D they've done - or their own time. So, when they start selling these, they've got to make enough of a profit off of each unit to pay for all the debt they've already gotten into - and then they've got to pay themselves for all the work they've done. And *then* they start to make a profit. Assuming the people working on the Pandora aren't just wanting to give the thing away, I would guess the current price point was designed to let them do that.

A second batch won't be as easy as just letting the assembly lines keep running. As we've seen already in the build-up to the launch, parts suppliers break promises, compromises are made, things have to be changed - and that's with only one batch. There's nothing binding the suppliers to make the same deals, or better ones, on the next batch - assuming there is one. So there will likely be some redesigns, maybe some "forced upgrades" (like the addition of Bluetooth on this batch) - but not a considerable price drop to the makers, so probably not a price drop to consumers.

The history of the GP2X's price is a big reason I'm not waiting for a price drop on the Pandora before I get one. Because there's just no reason to think there will ever be one.

I for one will certainly support GPH's new console and will develop for that. Hopefully anything I release will end up on the "Wiz" and the Pandora.

Hey - glad you got back in. Not that I really know you or anything. I just want people to stop saying I'm you.

 

[quadomatic]

chad78: but wouldn't the price of the hardware in the Pandora drop in time?
Did you read the thread I linked to?

No - the price of the Pandora is not likely to drop. It's not a PSP or a DS or a N800. It is possibly - even likely - that the prices of the parts will drop over the next couple of years. But that doesn't mean the price of the Pandora will.

Based solely on a rudimentary knowledge of the way businesses work (and I mean rudimentary, I'm no MBA) - the Pandora company is in the hole right now. I assume this since they've bought stuff and have sold nothing except a few dev units - and those were sold "at cost" - so they didn't make any money back for the R&D they've done - or their own time. So, when they start selling these, they've got to make enough of a profit off of each unit to pay for all the debt they've already gotten into - and then they've got to pay themselves for all the work they've done. And *then* they start to make a profit. Assuming the people working on the Pandora aren't just wanting to give the thing away, I would guess the current price point was designed to let them do that.

A second batch won't be as easy as just letting the assembly lines keep running. As we've seen already in the build-up to the launch, parts suppliers break promises, compromises are made, things have to be changed - and that's with only one batch. There's nothing binding the suppliers to make the same deals, or better ones, on the next batch - assuming there is one. So there will likely be some redesigns, maybe some "forced upgrades" (like the addition of Bluetooth on this batch) - but not a considerable price drop to the makers, so probably not a price drop to consumers.

The history of the GP2X's price is a big reason I'm not waiting for a price drop on the Pandora before I get one. Because there's just no reason to think there will ever be one.

I for one will certainly support GPH's new console and will develop for that. Hopefully anything I release will end up on the "Wiz" and the Pandora.

Hey - glad you got back in. Not that I really know you or anything. I just want people to stop saying I'm you.


I see...well then I obviously can't justify having both the Wiz and the Pandora. And the Pandora is quite a steal if you consider the cost of other UMPC devices that are capable of gaming like the Pandora. And, I'm not so sure I'm willing to drop $100 for a minor upgrade (well at least in what will be possible emulation wise...sure its adding PSX, which is a big deal, but Pandora will have PSX, likely N64, possibly DS, and has a tiny, tiny shot at dreamcast) when I only got my GP2X in October of last year.

sam fisher: I wasn't basing that question on the idea that they're for certain using the Pollux chip, but that it was an assumption that they were using the Pollux chip, and that we could be wrong about that assumption.

 

[TaG]

@Chad I agree with you on this one. We might be lucky and see a price drop, but it really isn't something to count on, unlike with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo.

I think I read recently that the initial dev boards cost more to make than they were sold for (I just can't find it at the moment), if so that adds to the cost, or 'debt', that they start with.

@quadomatic re GP32Spain. Have a look at this post, which is run through google translate. It's not perfect but you can get an idea.

In a nutshell, they generally think the picture is false, planted by Zodttd and the evil Pandora crew to further destabilise GPH. Some are less harsh. There seems less discussion about the wiz than that it is false. There are also a small number of very anti-Pandora posters.

Maybe CoMike or another Spanish speaker could give us a better understanding.

 

[quadomatic]

I see, I half expected them to be incredibly pleased that GPH was coming out with another handheld. They do realize that the picture is, in fact, real since GPH claimed it as theirs, don't they?

Honestly I can't understand why gp32spain has so much hatred towards the Pandora. Yeah, I heard that its because they blame craigix for the end of the GP2X's production, but that's ridiculous. I know I commented on this earlier in the thread, but it still bothers me just the same.

 

[quasist]

that the picture is, in fact, real since GPH claimed it as theirs, don't they?

Did you see any official GPH comment on that? That could be possible Hando is already being bribed by evil andora1:'s team

 

[quadomatic]

that the picture is, in fact, real since GPH claimed it as theirs, don't they?

Did you see any official GPH comment on that? That could be possible Hando is already being bribed by evil andora1:'s team


okay...and the moon landing could be a hoax, jfk's assassination could've been a conspiracy with oswald being a fall guy, aids could've been manufactured by the government...what do all of these things, and your bribery theory have in common?

They are all, ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!

Why would Hando be made to remove a picture of a handheld, by the pandora team, when YOU think the picture was released by the Pandora team to smear said handheld, to increase Pandora's sales? It's counter productive!

And don't tell me they did it so that it would look like it actually was GPH's. That picture does not look fake. Get over it.

 

[tmcnair]

I see, I half expected them to be incredibly pleased that GPH was coming out with another handheld. They do realize that the picture is, in fact, real since GPH claimed it as theirs, don't they?

Honestly I can't understand why gp32spain has so much hatred towards the Pandora. Yeah, I heard that its because they blame craigix for the end of the GP2X's production, but that's ridiculous. I know I commented on this earlier in the thread, but it still bothers me just the same.

They seem to be of the opinion that a very vocal minority have cannibalized the gp2x community in order to create one for pandora - a product that doesn't even exist yet. You'd see a lot more of those kinds of opinions expressed here if the mods didn't smack down every thread which is the least bit critical of pandora.

 

[quadomatic]

They seem to be of the opinion that a very vocal minority have cannibalized the gp2x community in order to create one for pandora - a product that doesn't even exist yet. You'd see a lot more of those kinds of opinions expressed here if the mods didn't smack down every thread which is the least bit critical of pandora.

Hmmm, I can't quite see their point on that either. So many people were involved in the design of the Pandora, what with the gigantic thread of requests, comments and suggestions leading up to the design of the handheld. And, so many of the developers that made the beloved emulators that we enjoy so much on the GP2X came out swinging with support for the Pandora. I wouldn't call any of Pandora's development the takeover of a minority. Its more like the majority took back the scene, in creating a handheld it desired.

But I digress...I'm really not interested in getting into a flame war with developers that produce so much good stuff for the GP2X community (quasist). Can't we all just get along?

 

[quasist]

@quadomatic
I joked when suspected pandora's authors after the photo(but who knows the truth really)... and you could use more Deus Ex to get in that conspiracy paranoya

My current project FleshChasmer Online (PC/GP2X) is resolution-independ so I will make Wiz version with ease.

 

[DaveC]

Given GPH's track record, they will at least TRY to fix these problems commented on by us, but they won't do a very good job of it.

If their "track record" is anything to go by GPH will take our comments, then do nothing or the exact opposite. We begged and begged for a d-pad to replace that dodgy stick. What did they do? They gave us 4 buttons. ED complained to them about the throw distance being too big on the F200 Psuedo d-pad, what did GPH do? Nothing. They took a system that was almost exclusively used for indie development and ripped out the net chip and put in a card reader in the F200 :rolleyes:

They seem to have a "tin ear" to what the community wants. Now they give us a China PMP MP4 player clone with two d-pads and a small screen. I hate to say it but I would bet that is exactly how it will be released. I hope I am wrong but their track record...

 

[jmetal88]

For once, Dave, I am in agreement. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was released exactly as pictured and turned out to be a terrible product.

We can only hope...

 

[DaveC]

While the GP2X was flawed in some ways it was still pretty good at many things.

The button layout was very good. It had a good sized 3.5" screen (HUGE by comparison to the wiz/giz/latest Chinese stuff) , easy to get batteries, stereo speakers etc.

It would have been nice if they just duplicated the good points and fixed the flaws.