GameGadget handheld

[erico]

I thought this was posted before, but could not find it if it did so...

http://www.gamegadget.net/developers/info_14.html

That is their dev´s page, I believe there will be an appstore for that and it being linux x86 ,320x240, no opengl I believe there isn´t much needed to compile for that? Maybe the current caanoo or wiz or linux output could work out of the box?
Should they succeed, could it be another store/platform to support and make a buck?

Handheld floods!

[Wampus]

No 3D acceleration? 

[Ian Price]

Up until two days ago it didn't even have 2D acceleration as people couldn't register it to actually use it!

I'd give this a very wide berth if you have any other handheld and certainly avoid it for a while until it has anything worth actually playing that's not Megadrive based (seeing as that's pretty mcu all it plays at the moment). Even then it's probably best avoided. It's pretty nasty by all accounts.

[Hark0]

Little expensive... 99£

[erico]

It seems capable on putting out some simple 3d.

Yep they started up really bad, in a really ugly way by the way people are commenting.
It also is expensive at that price as Hark0 pointed out.
You could get a caanoo or a china handheld of better specs for the same or less.

My point is, in case they succeed to a certain level, there is an app-store for it and maybe this could generate a little extra buck for our multi platform games?

I was wondering that, producing simple games and apps nowadays, we are sure to benefit from the many app stores around GLB permit us to participate. Selling a few on each may amount to a good value at the end of the month as IMHO forking out to dev for i-phone only(as an example) may not cop up to the investment needed, not even considering the floods on the more traditional markets nowadays.

Now about this handheld, I wonder how much work should go to support it since it is a linux box, maybe it can already be supported by the current level of GLB outputs? If it happens to sell a good deed and even if only megadrive games are available, maybe that can help homebrew get a better sales chance.

I saw on another thread, that sales of an app was quite good on webos and it is a very worthwhile platform to support, even with all that HP BS. I know this is a bad comparison, but IMHO they do share somethings in common.

[Ian Price]

Of course more possibilities to generate revenue for us are good, but it's only worth supporting at the moment if GLB (and our output) don't need any drastic changes, because I suspect that the number of GameGadgets sold will be low for some considerable time, due to the price, lack of games and poor sales service so far. Things can only get better though (for everyone's sake).

WebOS accounts for a tiny portion of the mobile phone and tablet sector, but it's still sizable amount and huge compared to the GameGadget's market share at the moment. Obviously that will change, but I don't think it'll ever reach the number of units of webOS devices. However, people buying a GameGadget ARE more likely to purchase games (and more of them). WebOS users want more serious apps and novelties rather than paying for games.

I suspect that the GameGadget market could be more profitable than the Android games market (for us) within a year, as Android users tend to want their stuff for free.

Time will tell.

[Gary]

I have one on order, they are doing it for £66 if you register as  a dev. But I am concerned it will just become an emulation machine once they get the store bugs sorted out. It is not a promising start though and possibly not a must buy as an android phone can do pretty much everything the gamegadget can do and more

[erico]

I registered as dev too.

I just wish the final price would be lower at lest by half. Then it would be closer to what the Nd proposal is.
Then I think it could succeed really fast. But there are good sides, at least their handheld exists and is on sale.

Gary, I received and email today about the dev registration,
here is what they said: "Don't forget - as a registered developer you are entitled to an exclusive price of £55 (EX VAT) including free delivery."
So there is a £10 cut, no VAT?
Did you include VAT on you price offer?
or do they have different dev´s prices according to countries? and I´m in Brazil.

I agree with yours and Ian´s opinions and still, £55 can end up amounting to R$165 which is US$100 and if taxed it could get to US$200.
Funky uh?

Other then the troubled start, they seem to be going ok now.

I think should they have more then 1k sales, there will be a need of software on their app-store and jumping early (not too early) can be good for us, specially as I suspect GLB can run on it (can people share a light on this?).

It is the kind of stuff that would come nice for the caanoo, unfortunantly GPH´s app store is crap and they don´t seem to be bothering it at all.

When you get to your device, let us know how it goes.
I currently can´t afford, but wouldn´t be great if we could just port our stuff and it gets to work out of the box?

[spacefractal]

look like its have no hardware acceleration, and its was not designed to do that since its marketing as a retro device.

However for me its seen its should been pretty easy to add this as a another platform since its linux as well SDL based all-ready, but 3d commands would been gone of course (no surprise), but not required if you ask me.

[MrTAToad]

Their website is a bit dodgy - repeating specifications and spelling errors...

[erico]

look like its have no hardware acceleration, and its was not designed to do that since its marketing as a retro device.

However for me its seen its should been pretty easy to add this as a another platform since its linux as well SDL based all-ready, but 3d commands would been gone of course (no surprise), but not required if you ask me.

But isn´t it similar to the caanoo? GLB does not use hardware acceleration there either and I recall Gernot saying it all goes software render and by my tests it goes on quite fast.

Yep their site is quite rushed, I´m still trying to see good into this all as if we consider NDs in comparison, nice site, no device, I guess here is the opposite
I also have never seen a no-big-industry attempt at a handheld that actually goes out without problems somewhere.

[Wampus]

2D shouldn't be too taxing without hardware acceleration. I guess I'll wait for a review. I do want a 'retro' games device so maybe.

[erico]

Since I own a caanoo,  I don´t need another retro device, my interest relies on the store and its possible niche.
Lets wait for Gary´s review

[Hark0]

Their website is a bit dodgy - repeating specifications and spelling errors...

IMHO +1

[quangdx]

an independent(?) look at the GameGadget
if it really is being distributed by Blaze, it should be okay.