I'm a sucker.Trust me it is very easy to find cracked games for the GP32. Shame the games were all rubbish imo.
What about those of us who don't get retrogamer? Will it be posted online as well?Retrogamer is going to have the scoop on the first commercial GP2X game. You will all bloody love it.
And its a real game too, not PDA port, but a real, well known 3D game, which looks amazing on the GP2X, or as i've been testing it, on my 29" SVGA monitor via tv out
Hmm, a tough bunch. Download only, since physical production and shipping and stocking is very expensive, so its simply not worth it. (ie: A price of $15 to a price of $30, just so you get a box.)
The piracy question is a big one; ie: If its not locked to serial number, then the first sale (or 2nd) would get copied around to everyone.
The emulation angle is another toughy.. as I've always said (as an emu developer, I'm eating crow
Especially if it had link up support by then.
Hmm, a tough bunch. Download only, since physical production and shipping and stocking is very expensive, so its simply not worth it. (ie: A price of $15 to a price of $30, just so you get a box.)
The piracy question is a big one; ie: If its not locked to serial number, then the first sale (or 2nd) would get copied around to everyone.
The emulation angle is another toughy.. as I've always said (as an emu developer, I'm eating crow
Well it really isn't "just so you get a box" it is just so the user can use it on any unit when they want to without having to ask permission from anyone.
The problem with DRM is that you have to depend on the company or developer to be in business, alive, active etc. Look at the Zodiac perfect example. If you bought tons of games and your unit breaks you are screwed out of the games that you paid for as they went out of business. To me that is not acceptable it is too restrictive and there are too many ways for you to be screwed. Another idea I had was timed DRM. It would be locked for a year but then after a year the user could log on to a website, enter their info and be able to download an unlocked version. By then sales would be pretty dead anyway and the user probably wouldn't be pirating it anyway. Also can it be locked to a serial number on an SD card? If so a user could give the SD serial and have the game locked to it.
Emulation: Can one guy produce a better, longer new original RPG or one equal to a team of Japanese coders, artists, and musicians that worked at Enix, Sega, Working designs, etc? I doubt it just to be honest, there wouldn't be enough hours in a day to accomplish that. In that case wouldn't most opt for the superior free ones? Making an RPG to compete with hundreds of emulated games is a tough racket. My opinion is pass on the RPG. You need a niche game that has not been done on an older system, that can be done on the GP2X and be interesting to many.
If it was done on an older system it would have to be FAR better on this unit to be popular. For example if you did a super version of Boulder Dash for example with tons of beautifully rendered graphics great sound effects that look far better than emulated versions etc that might do well. And you wouldn't need the time like you would for an RPG with some involved story etc. You would just need to write an engine and draw tiles and the rest is just level design. Just an example.
Honestly you may do well with a payed emulator. Say for example if you made a SNES emu that ran full speed with full sound and transparencies and sold it for $15. You would be rich..
Rich, no way; sued, sure
Theres a lot more to it than what you want; ie: would most people prefer to pay $15, or $30-$40 for the same thing, with a package and SD card? Perhaps more important is the $10,000 the dev would have to put down to get the SDs printed up before a single sale has been made, versus the $0 cost to get the DRM download right up.
You also assume DRM is evil; while I'm 100% anti-DRM most of the time, there are ways to make it work.. ie: I always said that if I made a DRM'd product, I'd try and make it so if the company gave up the goat on the platform, that the key-gen would become open source, or the unsigned binary woudl be released, or some other thing; it makes no sense to screw the buyer (which is usually people like me as you know
Anyway, remember, its my time and cash layout, not some faceless rich entity; I wouldn't make a SD boxed version.. I can't afford it, so thats 100% out at least for the first thousand sales.
The responses are more or less what I expected, so no worries; more positrive than negative, but naturally .. once a product is available, many fewer will jump in with cash in hand .. unless it really is good, and liked, and few other diversions to compete with..
I'll only do it if theres minimal cost, since its really mostly risk I think.
jeff
You probably shouldn't se the magic word DRM -- its like using the word 'nazi' as it implies things that aren't true.
ie: What about the serial number used in installing Windows? Thats the same sort of thing, but it lets you use it in numerous places.
What if you were able to sign up multiple units?
What if you could have any one unit at a time?
Traditionally, _some_ form of protection is needed; I know the Great Truth that the big guys ignore -- protection annoys regular joes, and doesn't prevent piracy at all; but you generally need _something_ since even honest joes will copy if its easy.
I'm famous for saying that protection almos tnearly just neds to be a magic word, which could always be the same word for everyone.. as long as its not guessable first 3 tries, averae joe might be convinced enough to buy; but if it works from being emailed around, people will often go that way.
Anyway, its not my rules
More to point is.. its my _risk_.
Another question.. do you think this platform is more or less hostile to commercial apps than others?
Complex questions..
jeff
