GP2X

[Darmakwolf]

I recently got a GP2X-Wiz. I absolutely love it - the thing is an emulation monster. NES, Snes, Genesis, PCE, MSX, Atari 800XL, and Arcade are absolutely stunning on this handheld. What makes me a little upset (and I bet a few others feel the same way,) is that it seems like developers are "holding back" because they want to develop for the Pandora. I don't see the Wiz and the Pandora as even the same type of device. One is a freakin' netbook with SD card slots for a hard drive, and one is an open-source gaming hand-held. Sure, Pandora is a neat idea, but they've gone too far into the laptop-realm. Also, given the starting price, it'd be a pretty big investment. Does anyone else feel the same way, or am I the only one who doesn't see the Pandora as a shiny holy-grail-esque figure?

[Kuron]

it seems like developers are "holding back"

Here is another outlook on the Wiz.  I considered buying one, but didn't do it.  The Wiz looks horrid IMHO.  The original GP2X was nice with the joystick, the F200 looked gorgeous with the white case.  Even the original GP32 looked nice.  The Wiz is ugly compared to all of the previous models. 

IMHO, developers are not supporting the Wiz because they are getting tired of a new device every couple of years.  The GP2X market has been over saturated by the people behind the devices.  They are almost as bad as Nintendo with the DS.  The community seems to be tiring of the devices, too. 

Most (not all) Wiz software is just recompiles of previous F200/GP2X versions, and some are quirky on the new hardware.  There are a couple of SD-based games in the works, but how much of a market is there really a market for these?  I doubt you could ever recoup your development costs and break even. 

For people wanting a portable emulation device, the A320 and the A330 are awesome (although I do find the 330 ugly).  I love the A320 because if something breaks, it is easy to get replacement parts.  I actually have a stockpile of parts to fix mine for any future breakdowns.

For homebrewers, there are better devices like the:  Hydra, Meggy Jr. RGB, Chameleon AVR, Chameleon PIC, XGS AVR, XGS PIC and Fuzebox.  I have all of these and love developing for them.  The ultimate homebrew system is the Beagle Board which I want to get, but haven't managed to buy yet.

[Darmakwolf]

Maybe you haven't seen / tried a Wiz in real life. This is one of the best portable gaming devices I've seen. It may not be 100% flawless in design, but it really does work very nicely for games. There hasn't been a single emulator I've tried that didn't run games acceptably - even 98% of GBA games run beautifully. Plus, I'd rather develop for an actual system than some kind of homebrew testing board that no one uses, or a knockoff-psp (Dingoo) that requires a "hacked" linux OS just to run most of the things that make it a decent system. Sure it's probably easy to replace parts for, but if you take care of your system you shouldn't have to worry about that. (I still have my original GameBoy without a scratch or ding on it.) The Wiz is an excellent system, and you really can't make any sort of stand against it based on images online or the fact that "A friend of mine has one..." (people use that one often.) If you ever need to go anywhere that requires a lot of sitting and doing nothing, which can happen a lot in life, the GP2X-Wiz is never ending entertainment (provided you set it up with the right stuff!) My main point was about the wiz vs pandora and how people see the pandora as as an upgrade, when it's clearly a different thing altogether. I didn't want to start a "Well my A320 can do such and such" thread.

[Kuron]

Maybe you haven't seen / tried a Wiz in real life.

Yes, I have a loner that I was sent for testing my accelerometer/gyroscope prototype on.  I prefer my GP2X-F200 over the Wiz.    I did consider the Wiz for classroom use, but there are better systems for that.

Plus, I'd rather develop for an actual system than some kind of homebrew testing board that no one uses

Then why the interest in the Wiz?    Homebrew systems have always had limited exposure which is why for homebrew you are your own target audience   Homebrew systems are ways for us old folks to relive the good old days of the 70s and early 80s.

, or a knockoff-psp (Dingoo) that requires a "hacked" linux OS just to run most of the things that make it a decent system.

Why would you ruin it by doing that?  It works great as is for what it was designed for.  I happily use it for NES & GBA games. 

Sure it's probably easy to replace parts for, but if you take care of your system you shouldn't have to worry about that.

If you actually use any device, it will wear out over time.  When I find something I like, I either buy multiple devices, or I stock up on replacement parts.  I am considering using one of my spare boards and cases to make a model with a joystick instead of the pad.

The Wiz is an excellent system, and you really can't make any sort of stand against it based on images online or the fact that "A friend of mine has one..."

I don't have any friends, so I could never use that line 

My main point was about the wiz vs pandora and how people see the pandora as as an upgrade, when it's clearly a different thing altogether. I didn't want to start a "Well my A320 can do such and such" thread.

No one did start such a thread, and I apologize if you thought that was my intent.  I was merely explaining to you why the Wiz support by developers isn't what you hoped it would be.  Too many GP2/X models out there.  Just when people buckle down and start supporting one, a new one comes out and users flock to the new one and developers have wasted months of work for a device that nobody is going to use anymore.  I have sat and watched his time and time again over the past nine years that the GP devices have been around.  I also pointed out in the past nine years, a lot of competition has sprung up and is taking away from the market for each new GP model.  As to the Pandora, it is a perfect example of what happens when people try to undertake a task that is beyond their capabilities.

[Ian Price]

I've developed numerous apps for GP2X (F100 and F200) and Wiz and they are all lovely devices with their own pros and cons.

There are 101 reasons why developers don't appear to be supporting these platforms, but I suspect the biggest reason is the iPhone. Why develop a game that only a handful of people will play and get no thanks for it when you can develop an app that could potentially be seen by millions, who are all willing to pay (even if only a small amount) for it?

Who says that any of these developers are holding back for Pandora? It will be interesting to see if there are going to be a wealth of apps for that. I plan to support it, but I doubt there will be a glut of software (outside of emulators) that really makes the Pandora worthwhile. I suspect that what is true of the Wiz, will also be true for the Pandora. And I'm not biased against it either, as I have had one on pre-order from the start. I hope I'm wrong, but I really do believe that iPhone and Android are where most developers are heading nowadays. These machines (Wiz and Pandora) offer too little and come/came too late.

Looking at the GLBasic forums, you can't help but see that pretty much every other question is about iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad development. And that's understandable. And as I write this, there's an ad on tv all about iPhone apps - you just can't get away from it, that's where the action is. Even if the control interface is mup.