Pandora Open Source Game Console

[chrmjenkins]

I know a fair bit of users on here like to jailbreak so they can play emulators on their iphones, so I thought I would mention a new open source device coming out that has really got me interested:

www.openpandora.org
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showforum=62 (user forums)

The SoC inside is quite a bit more powerful than the iphone, and its a umpc format built with gaming in mind. It looks like pre-orders should start in August.

It's being created by enthusiast users of the gp2x (www.gp2x.com) which is no longer manufactured. These are the same guys behind www.icontrolpad.com, which allows you to have buttons for your emulators on your iphone.

Honestly, I sold my original iphone in anticipation of the new one (dumb move, I know), and now I'm not sure which one I want, because the pandora doesn't mean a 30 dollar a month data plan.

 

[0098386]

Nah, it's GP2X. Meaning you're left with low quality homebrew games, emulators and ultra rare original games. I've got the PSP for that plus it doesn't look too comfortable to hold which is kinda big when it comes to handhelds IMO.

Not really had a good experience with GP32 and friends in the past so I'll probably skip over this.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Nah, it's GP2X. Meaning you're left with low quality homebrew games, emulators and ultra rare original games. I've got the PSP for that plus it doesn't look too comfortable to hold which is kinda big when it comes to handhelds IMO.

Not really had a good experience with GP32 and friends in the past so I'll probably skip over this.

This is not designed by the people who made the gp32 or gp2x, and has been designed with their shortcomings specifically in mind.

PSP has aspect problems for emulators, and also ghosting issues. The pandora is in between the DS and DS lite in size, and as such, is supposed to be comfortable to hold. Also, pandora will support a lot more emulators than PSP. Eventually, it should have quite a few games for an n64 emu, whereas daedalus for psp really only runs mario 64.

It is also powerful enough to run open source game engines, like the quake engines, for example. Those are also being ported. It will be a lot more capable than the psp, have better battery life (10+ hours), have a better screen, have more storage capacity, etc. etc. There's lots of reasons to get this over PSP, which doesn't have that strong of a games library to begin with.

 

[0098386]

But it's another £200 device one that isn't supported by major publishers. And for only £50 extra I could get an EEE or similiar.

If it was a widescreen I might have got one just for portable video.

 

[chrmjenkins]

But it's another £200 device one that isn't supported by major publishers. And for only £50 extra I could get an EEE or similiar.

If it was a widescreen I might have got one just for portable video.

It is an open source device, and isn't intended to be supported by major publishers. If you want that, you get a psp, ds, etc., but they will have limited UI and emu experiences compared to this device. There's a video on youtube of almost the exact same SoC of this device running desktop ubuntu 7. The amount of what you can do is only limited by what is ported/created for the device. On top of that is unparalleled storage capabilities (dual SDHC slots).

Yeah, but you can't put an EEE in your pocket

It is a widescreen (5:3 ratio). That's a difference of 1/9 of a 16:9 screen, which isn't a big difference (besides computer screens have a 16:10 ratio, which isn't TV widescreen either).

Seriously, I wouldn't be mentioning it if it didn't offer a lot of things current devices out there just can't offer.

 

[macdot]

I'll stick to the iPod touch.