Author Topic: The GP32 (Read 8122 times)

Lecter · « **on:** July 02, 2003, 12:47:21 PM »

Anyone taken a peak at this handheld? It looks awesome, and hardware wise blows away the GBA. Its an open source console, and has computer capabilites. You can download emulators onto it and play ROMS, full games like Doom, you can even download a GBA emulator and play the games on there. Pretty cool eh? Heres a link.

http://www.gbax.com/gp32review.html

Hardware Specs - http://www.play-asia.com/paos-13-3032c007.html

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2003, 03:41:00 PM »

Yeah, I am currently developing a GBA game. One of the guys on the project suggested that we could port the game to GP32. I flat out refused, on the grounds that I am a Nintendo fanboy.

Lecter · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2003, 03:49:15 PM »

Your developing a GBA game? Man thats awesome, I wish I knew programming

.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2003, 03:58:24 PM »

Heh. Programming is the modern day equivalent of alchemy. Our goals are pretty much the same as those of the alchemists, and our methods aren't much different. We try to turn 1s and 0s into gold, and we are also trying to create an artificial lifeform, but in our own way.

I would strongly recommend picking up a C++ book someday and trying to learn the language. It will be difficult at first, and it's a long road until you get to the point that you can code something useful, but when you do get there... it's the most rewarding thing ever. I am still a newbie myself, although I have had 2 years of formal instruction so far, but I am actually able to code useful things now. Having that ability is actually quite nice. It takes me forever to code anything because of my inexperience, but I CAN code things.

It's seriously not as hard as many people make out. Once you learn the basics really well, the sky's the limit to where your abilities can take you. It really wouldn't hurt to learn it for a few hours a day for a couple of months.

Big_Pimp · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2003, 04:24:38 PM »

You want to be a game developer Grey Ninja?

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2003, 04:31:08 PM »

Very much so.

The GBA game goes on my resume as a sign of my interest in the industry. Near as I can tell, it's almost impossible to get a job in the industry, and I could really use the extra help that a full GBA game would get me.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2003, 05:23:02 PM »

i was seriously thinking of grabbing a flash cart and trying my hand at programming some apps (not games) for the GBA. If you need a beta tester, lemme know.

i'd definitely say stick with the GBA because you've got a much bigger market. GP32 is a nice piece of hardware though, and i'm sure i'll eventually get one.

On a related note, you guys should check out the 15 days GP32 programming project. Some amazing stuff for only 15 days of developement > http://15days.gp32emu.com/

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2003, 05:30:29 PM »

Heh. As it would so happen, we could use a beta tester.

I have been meaning to get a flash cart for some time, but I just can't afford it. Nobody on the project has one either. The game is still in a fairly early stage of development, but it should be starting to look a lot more like a game in a couple of weeks. I just need to find the time and energy to code some more.

Lecter · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2003, 09:14:51 PM »

The GP32 is an awsome pice of hardware, but it will never get the publicity it deserves, anyway Grey Ninja what C++ books do you reccomend? I'll probably just head on over to Barnes & Nobles and pick one out, but I dont want to spend 30-50 bucks on a book that will be complicated and just collect dust.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2003, 10:22:41 AM »

well, GameDev.net has a selection of books that they reccomend, and they have mini-reviews of each book. I personally haven't read many books on programming, I have 2 programming books, and that's about it. One of them is a kind of poorly written beginner's C++ book, and the other is a more advanced book on advanced algorithms. I also have a couple of e-books, but I have scarcely used them, save the OpenGL Red Book.

And regarding the GP32, I don't think it needs any recognition.

Check these links out.

http://www.maththinking.com/boat/books/ThinkingInCPPv1/Frames.html

http://www.maththinking.com/boat/books/ThinkingInCPPv2/Index.htm

http://freebooks.by.ru/view/CProgrammingLanguage/kandr.html

http://www.icce.rug.nl/documents/cplusplus/

These links are VERY good places to start.

For software, all you need to start programming is this

oohhboy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2003, 12:27:35 PM »

I wouldn't wet my pants yet, you know if some one can come up with some thing like this with this much power now, you know that Nintendo with it's game centric handheld would still own it gaming wise.

Also considering what nintendo could do with just 14MHz, with the next machine it would be crazy.

It is true one shouldn't compare the GBA and the GP32. But this is new tech and it is more powerful by brute force. So one would say it is light years ahead. But one another note, if you can play old games and hackers have already broken the copy protection and being relatively easy, how are devs going to make money off it? It would be stuck as an open dev deal without/little money to be made. Being so flexiable may well be it's undoing in the long run.

A delightul handheld, but economically unworkable. I salute Thee.

Lecter · « **Reply #11 on:** July 03, 2003, 05:03:54 PM »

Well basically the company makes $$ off the consoles it sells...and the system has unlimited replay value since its like owning 13 consoles. I'm gonna pick one of these up definetly, I mean cmon it emulates the GBA!. Why pick up the GBA when you can get a SNES, Genesis, NES, Commoder, GBA, Atar, Lynx and many more all in one. Plus its light weight and looks cool, and has its own OS or you can install Windows or whatever you want on it.

oohhboy · « **Reply #12 on:** July 04, 2003, 02:17:00 AM »

0.4KG is not light weight by handheld standards. But never the less you would have to download the GBA game from some where and that would invole piracy.

Sure the handheld maker gets some money, but what about everyone else? With this unlimited replay value in old games you wouldn't buy any of the new stuff unless there was a really good reason. Even then you wouldn't buy it since you can just DL it off the net. This has to be the most Dev unfriendly handheld ever made economically.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2003, 11:36:44 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Lecter
Well basically the company makes $$ off the consoles it sells...and the system has unlimited replay value since its like owning 13 consoles. I'm gonna pick one of these up definetly, I mean cmon it emulates the GBA!. Why pick up the GBA when you can get a SNES, Genesis, NES, Commoder, GBA, Atar, Lynx and many more all in one. Plus its light weight and looks cool, and has its own OS or you can install Windows or whatever you want on it.

I'll give you a reason why you shouldn't buy it. Because it seems that you cannot keep yourself from pirating a bunch of Nintendo games. Instead of paying the developers for their time involved in creating a bunch of GBA games, you choose to pay a little bit of money to the makers of the GP32 and steal from the GBA developers.

Doesn't this strike you as being a little bit wrong?

Lecter · « **Reply #14 on:** July 04, 2003, 09:39:38 PM »

I understand what you are saying, and think its wrong 100% BUT I download music files, and video files. I know most people and probably you do too. Yeah its wrong but its a guilty pleasure, most of the games I would be downloading would be hard to find, and Nintendo could careless about profits from the SNES and NES. As for GBA games, yeah its a rip, but its free stuff and I can't help but love it.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #15 on:** July 05, 2003, 10:55:11 AM »

I download music that I wouldn't buy even if kazaa or napster never existed. I didn't buy CDs or cassettes in the old days, and I still don't. CDs that I do buy have special significance to me, such as the Star Wars soundtracks. Nevertheless, I made MP3 rips of those CDs for convenience. I DO NOT download movies. I buy the DVDs if I want them.

As for GBA emulation, you can gussy it up all you want, but you know that you are just a common thief when you buy a GP32 just to rip off Nintendo. It's not free. It's stolen. Get that through your head.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #16 on:** July 05, 2003, 11:25:14 AM »

I think it's wrong to download music, too, but I'm not about to pay $18 for a CD that has 8 or 9 songs on it- no way, no how. I'll buy CD's that are actually worth the price, but if the music industry wants to stop people from downloading music, make the advantage of it much smaller and people will start buying more CD's. I'm not amde of money, and what I do have goes into videogames since that's an expensive hobby as it is.

Lecter · « **Reply #17 on:** July 05, 2003, 06:31:43 PM »

Yes I'll agree with you Mouse Clicker. Video games are expensive, and I'm not going to spend all my cash and time searching for all the games I want when I can go get them for free. Even if I buy them, I beat them and they sit there while I play something new. Free games sound good to me, its better then shelling out $200 for a GBA and games I want when I can just get them for free. Call me a thief but I dont care.

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #18 on:** July 05, 2003, 06:47:09 PM »

Everyone's stated their opinion; any further debate can be made via private messages or email. Now could we please get back on topic? i'd like to see GP32 discussion here and i'd hate this to get locked because it turned into a piracy debate.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #19 on:** July 05, 2003, 06:51:33 PM »

Oh I still buy videogames, lecter- being such a devoted hobbiest I prefer to have original, actual copies of my games. I don't dabble in ROMs or copied games or anything like that.

ANYWAY, if you can indeed play copied games on this GP32, I'm surprised it's producer hasn't been sued or something. I'm sure Nintendo and other companies alike don't like the idea of a machine you can buy to play their games for free. Maybe they've found some sort of loophole.

Shift Key · « **Reply #20 on:** July 05, 2003, 07:51:51 PM »

Ah, the old 'piracy' debate. I thought I might add my two cents.

1. I cannot see why this thing is still around. It's a portable PC. The fact that they market it as a 'game system' but don't mention how to play games on it in the description means its probably going under the radar.

2. This thing is not that great. It is an emulator at heart. Therefore it requires more processing power to mimic the system and run the game. And even then it still has slowdown at times. Just because of the specs, doesn't make it great. The GBA is a great system when its compared to the past generation of games.

3. I am against piracy of games. Sure, they cost much more than music, but there's a reason behind that. The developers put in much more effort into making games today then twenty years ago, so the costs have to be recovered elsewhere. If the games cost too much, get a job. If that still doesn't help, manage your habit better.
As for past consoles, I'm undecided to whether its wrong or right.

But overall, I give this thing a bupbow.

Grey Ninja · « **Reply #21 on:** July 05, 2003, 11:49:43 PM »

I posted my winamp playlist in another thread around here. There's about 2000 songs on it, and you can check for yourself how much of that is copyrighted. I am willing to bet that there's less than 300 songs on there that the original artists would want to protect, and there's even less on there that's actually popular. Most of it is composed of game soundtracks, OC Remixes, or movie soundtracks, or simply my own CD rips. Regardless of amount, I do recognize that it's stealing. I don't think that it's any worse than lifting a chocolate bar from a corner store though.

For emulation of old systems, such as the NES, SNES, Genesis, etc, I have to agree with Shifty. I am undecided whether it's right or wrong. Regardless, I do it myself, and when I do, I am reminded of a quote from Shigeru Miyamoto. When asked what he thought of emulation, he responded by saying that he was happy that people still enjoyed playing his games.

For emulation of new systems, such as the PSX, N64, or GBA, you have to accept that it's outright theft. It's not theft of a devalued object such as an '80s NES game, or something as trivial as a single song that's played repeatedly for free on the radio. You are stealing $60 worth of popular software, that the developers worked hard to make.

mouse_clicker · « **Reply #22 on:** July 06, 2003, 01:56:34 PM »

Hahahahaha- This man is NOT a convicted rapist...... or so these women think! Tonight, on Joe Not A Rapist!

Lecter · « **Reply #23 on:** July 06, 2003, 07:31:44 PM »

Well I'll just put it this way. If I want the game Final Fantasy 2, cant find it in stored and I dont have the money to go buy it, I can just download it for free. Doesn't bother me I'm having fun, same goes for music. Now OFF the piracy topic, the GP32 is an amazing piece of hardware. Shifty you have no idea what you are talking about, the hardware on this thing blows away the GBA, and probably will blow away the N-Gage. The system is ment to be a portable PC. Its open source so you can customize it any which way. You can put any OS on it, play mp3s on it and watch videos on it. It isn't meant to emulate games, but it can perfectly. The company does make its own games though.

Doerr · « **Reply #24 on:** July 31, 2003, 01:26:04 AM »

you guys act if its new its been out for at least a year.

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Author Topic: The GP32 (Read 8122 times)