So NV Video gaming news!

well, we are indeed in a time of handheld gaming paradise, with not one, not two, but five handheld systems out or slated to be out before the end of next year.

We all know about gameboy, its been around forever. and we all have heard about and seen the ads for the Nokia N-Gage crapfest (I don't think it'll do well). and I am sure most of us here have heard of the Playstation Portable coming out next year. but how about two other systems which most people have not heard of?

first is the GamePark 32. Its like the gameboy if it were made by programmers instead of Nintendo. It has a bigger screen, uses smart media cards (the type you use in a camera) and can connected to a computer to download new games, movies and songs onto the SMC. Its pretty cool. Most of the games are made by people who own the system as homebrew games. They have a nigh perfect Sega Mastersystem, genesis, atari 2600, Gameboy (not advance), Lynx, and NES emulator for it as well as games like DOOM, Rise of the Triad, and Descent ported to it (all for free mind you). I own one. I think its great. www.gp32news.com or www.gp32emu.com are good sites to find out more.

Next is one that excites me a lot. The Tapwave Zodiac. Its a palm pilot with a graphics card and a bunch of other enhancements to make it a gaming system. It runs all of the palm software out so far (business and game) and uses bluetooth to do wireless gaming. It has some pretty big names gamewiase coming to it. It has Tony Hawk 4, Duke Nukem, Doom 2, Neverwinter Nights (Woot). Its coming out nxt month, so when I get it next month , i'll let you all know how it is! www.zodiacgamer.com is a good site for info.

 

Yeah the Ngage will fall flat on its face. The only chance a handheld has against the all mighty gameboy is if the company behind it throws ungodly amounts of money behind it.

Which I believe leaves Sony's new handheld and the upcoming handheld from Microsoft. Handhelds need to be simple yet versatile and the Ngage has too much other crap. Besides, its ugly. Now Im gonna check out those other two systems becuase I havent heard of them.

 

The Zodiac would be super cool if it wasnt so pricey. Im not paying 400$ for a handheld.

 

Yeah, I have the Gamepark. it was $200 for the backlit version because I had to have it imported from Hong Kong (they don't have them anywhere else), but they are going to be released in Europe by the end of the year, so that should drop the price. The coolest thing about the Gamepark (other than the scads of emulators) is that they have a webstie where you can download comerrcial games for it for $5-8. the lack of cartridges really makes it a versatile system.

I think that the playstation portable will fall flat as well, just because of the Zodiac/GamePark idea. It will do less (the zodiac has palm pilot stuff in it for databases, mailbooks, so on so on), for the same price $299, and it will come out a year later (never a good thing). Also the proprietary media for the PSP will insure that people have to pay more for their software/movies/music. The Zodiac uses SD cards, so it can store anything you find on the internet as well as first and third party software. i think that these types of handhelds are the wave of the future. They break away fromt he concept of "you must buy OUR licensed software" and goes to the idea of "you paid for the hardware already, have fun!"

I remember trying to write a program for Gameboy (it was a pretty decent program, given the time spent on it), and I had to get a flash rom cartridge in order to test it out on my gameboy. I had to import it from hong kong (because they are psuedo-legal here), and it cost me a lot. With my GamePark I cna go buy a $30 SMC and hack way at my program. its just a better system.

rant dun.

 

I dont think Sony's will fall flat, at least not immediately like the N-gage will. Sony's name alone and everyone's fond memories of the playstation will keep it alive for a while. I mean look at the PS2, something must account for its success besides the fact that X-box is a better system in every concievable way.

 

Well, the N-Gage released yesterday. From what I have heard they didn't sell quite as many as Nokia would have liked. They only had 5-6 (depending on the city) launch titles ready (12 were promised as of late August) and their quality ranged from java app to first generation PS1. and for $30-$35, it seems a bit expensive for java games.
I think every system has something really lame about it. The gameboy advance had the problem with the light-vaccuum screens and no plug-in spot in the first iteration and then the lack of a head phone jack in the next were lame. The GamePark has one of the oddest directional controllers ever (its really wierd and clicky) and it has very few officially released commercial games. I got to see the N-Gage at a video game store down here, and I can honeslty say the screen size is a huge turn-off for me to ever want to buy it. Its about half the size (if not smaller) than the gameboy's. The Gamepark's screen is 1.5 times the size and resolution of gameboy advance's and the Zodiac is twice the size and resolution, why would Nokia make the screen smaller? The lay-out is not too great either. I didn't get to play with it, but from what i've heard the control schemes are anything but intuitive.
Just an update on the state of the video game world! If you have something to add or contest, let me know!

 

Acthar,

you own the gamepark, or the zodiac?

What are the website links to this stuff?

 

I own the gamepark. I am going to get the Zodiac when it comes out some time this month (some people are saying next friday, but who knows).

websites:

Gamepark news:

GP32 News
GP32 Emu
GP32 X

Gamepark Retailers:

Lik-Sang
PlayAsia

Zodiac sites:

Zodiac Gamer (news/forums)
Zodiac Offical Site(only place to order it)

I am also looking to sell my old PDA if anyone is looking for one. Its a Handspring Visor (kinda old) I have a full-sized foldable keyboard, a usb cradle, and software for it. Anyone interested? Make me an offer.

 

I will give you 74 cents for it, but you could probably talk me down to 30 cents or less.

 

Some new news (as opposed to that OLD news):

Zodiac Gamer has just posted today links to reviews of the Zodiac from IGN, EGM, and something else (I can't remember three acronyms at once). All gave it pretty rave reviews except for the lackluster launch titles exclusive to the Zodiac (they did take into account all of the palm software that will work on the zodiac). I wish I could get one for launch (some time soon I hope), but I need more funds (hint hint *give me money*). Just thought you all might be intersted in seeing what is new there.

In other news, Wiz Kids (the guys who did the Mage knight clicking base miniature games) has released the core rules for both Shadowrun 3ed. and Classic BattleTech. I picked up Shadowrun for Arphaxad for Present Day (new holiday for October!) and he got me BT. They are the exact same as the FASA books and we couldn't be happier. We are going to do a Shadowrun game this weekend (woot), and after I get some minis and paint them, we are going to have some fun with giant robots crushing little people .

One final note: still looking to sell the visor handspring. gimme money.

 

Shadowrun is one of the best RPGs ever. And you didn't comment on my offer, I'm very serious about trying to help you unload it.

 

I never got to play SR before, so here is my chance. as for the offer: REJECTED! I am looking for around $30-50 for the pda and the keyboard (together).

 

Oh, I forgot about the keyboard, my offer was just for the PDA, and it was a generous offer at that. But adding a keyboard is just a little too rich for my blood. I mean, I'm not an accountant or anything!

 

I will give you 90 cents, don't let Gerson low ball you.

 

91 cents!

 

Speaking of videogames I just got SSX3 for my Xbox. mmmmmmmm Snowboarding nirvana. I'll talk more about it if anyone else is into this series.

 

I loved SSX Tricky on the PS2

 

93 cents

 

97.5!

 

I liked the snowboarding game in final fantasy vii. That was fun for the whole family. Speaking of final fantasy, XI comes out next tuesday. I am going to give it a try for a month to see if it is worth pay $13 a month for. Looks pretty good, but who knows?

the new Castlevania game is out now too. Its 3D, but apparently its really good. They got the same composer they had from SoTN, and they (they being IGN) said that the audio is awesome. Only bad side noted was it was a bit short (8-12 hours first time through), which is sad. Why can't they make long games any more? SoTN still takes me days to beat the game completely.

Last bit of news, I am pretty sure KOTOR is going to be out for PC by the end of the year. w00t for all of us without an XBox.

 

99!

 

99.1!

 

I want a piece of this bidding action.

Hmmmm, $2.11, beat that!!

 

C'mon Moka, there's a progression that's assumed when you're in a bidding war. You just went more than 2x what the last bid was and that's just not cool. I'm gonna veto your bid and tone it down to $1.11 which is still quite a jump, but I'm trying to be fair here. With that done then, my bid is now $1.13

 

I am going to overturn the veto and send this matter back to congress.