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GCW Zero - new retrogaming open source handheld!
- Thread starter Vitacat
- Start date
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
If this isnt a joke post, just use google. Its really easy... Youtube etc...
I don't know all the details of what is going on with them because I only pop in to their forums to try to understand what has happened every few months. But basically...they took a bunch of preorders at a price that was wildly optimistic. They had tons of manufacturing problems and cost overruns, resulting in them moving manufacturing from the US to Germany, but they lost so much money that they could no longer fulfill the original orders.
They then started selling new Pandoras at a price that would hopefully allow them to eventually fulfill the original orders once enough new orders were filled. The problem is that there were two storefronts for the Pandora, one German, one UK. I ordered through the UK store, but the guy running that one is basically out of cash. So I doubt I would even be able to get my money back from him.
I can probably use my order number to place the upgrade order through the German store (the one I linked) and get one now but I feel kinda raw about paying more (~$160 more!) in the end than someone who decided to just buy one on a whim today (plus they have been holding my money for years - not only that I signed up to get a Pandora for ~$400, not $600+)...
I haven't looked into it, but after like 2-3 years, I kinda doubt it. The original payment was through Google so maybe I have some recourse there if I can't get a proper refund.
shinobi602
Member
Geez, that's the most boring handheld I've ever seen.
Noisepurge
Member
but it's perfect for old gaming. no useless widescreens here!
and as it has been said, it's a spiritual and community made successor to the popular Dingoo:
http://www.dingoonity.org/
thekonamicode
Member
I don't know ... R-Zone was pretty boring.
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
The GCW? Based on what? Looks? Or what it can do? Do a little research, this boring handheld might surprise you.
Or the Pandora? I dunno I kinda like the look. Outside of the keys being under the controls...
Blue Submarine No. 6
Member
I dodged that bullet by sheerest luck... I was one of the people that paid at the very beginning only to have my VISA charged back to me by their bank when they had some credit card confusion in the first couple weeks... I was then going to do an epayment of some kind but it was a PITA, so I just decided to hold off until they could accept overseas credit card payments again... by the time that was sorted out, I'd decided to hold off for a little while and see where it all went... I was kind of back and forth on the whole thing for months, but in the end, I was (obviously) really glad I held off... That project ended up being so many good intentions frustrated by bad circumstances and inexperience...
I like my Dingoo, but it's got a few miles on it, and the GCW Zero looks so much better...but it's perfect for old gaming. no useless widescreens here!
and as it has been said, it's a spiritual and community made successor to the popular Dingoo:
http://www.dingoonity.org/
But... but... but... the R-Zone HeadGear is AWESOMESAUCE!!!
yes, my son and I still play with ours
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
That thing... its like a virtual boy for your head.
thekonamicode
Member
I got an R-Zone as a smaller Christmas gift in 1995, but I think I only ever had the Batman game. As someone who grew up on Tiger Electronics in the 80s, the r-zone was a fun diversion!
So I guess this thread can sleep for a few months now until the Kickstarter Zeros start shipping. Hopefully see you all again in March when the fun really begins.
Of course, if some interesting news about the GCW Zero comes up before then, we can discuss it, and I'll update the OP if it's important enough.
Of course, if some interesting news about the GCW Zero comes up before then, we can discuss it, and I'll update the OP if it's important enough.
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
Can no one answer my question? Can the Zero run CPS3 games? ;_;
I'm pretty sure it depends on emulators.
Ruud_Luiten
Member
Does an atari jaguar enulator exists and if so, could it work on this device?
There are Jaguar emus, of course, but none yet ported for the Zero AFAIK. Maybe in the future.
i.e. http://icculus.org/virtualjaguar/
KojiKnight
Member
but it's perfect for old gaming. no useless widescreens here!
and as it has been said, it's a spiritual and community made successor to the popular Dingoo:
http://www.dingoonity.org/
320x240 makes a terrible screen for retro games that use around 256x224 (SNES/NES for example)
Mega Drive and Neo Geo uses 320x240 / 320x243
Actually it works fine. Unscaled it's pixel perfect. Scaled, it still looks ok, depending on scaling technique.
Do you have a dev build of the handheld? can you run a SNES game with full screen and take a still photo of it, if you dont mind?
No, I don't have a Zero. But I do have a GP32 which has a 320x240 LCD, and have played many 256x224 games on it. Similarly, you can look at such games running on the Dingoo a320, which also has 320x240 LCD. I imagine the Zero will only be even better than my old GP32 or Dingoo. You can see many videos and photos of emulated games running on the Zero via Youtube, Google etc. And you can join the GCW forum or IRC channel to ask people who have a dev unit if you wish. I have links in the OP to everything.
Well, that 256x224 is stretched to be 4:3, meaning ~299x224 if you leave the vertical res the same. If you want to play those games in the proper aspect ratio on a handheld, there's really no way around scaling.
At any rate, a tiny bit of blur from bilinear filtering generally won't hurt the look of those games, since most of them were meant to be played on CRTs.
thechristoph
Sir!
In the OP there's a link to Dingoonity forums. Go there, and browse the GCWZero section. That's like the official forum.
This thread won't stop; just slow down until units actually ship. And I intend to update the OP when significant news occurs.
But yeah, the official forum is linked in the OP.
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
outunderthestars
Banned
The start and select buttons are in a terrible location, but outside of that it looks like an awesome piece of hardware.
I tend to agree, however people who have early units claim the Start/Select location isn't a problem. i.e. see this thread.
outunderthestars
Banned
I'm still willing to give it a try. I really want something to play my old NES/SNES games on the go, and since Nintendo apparently has no desire to actually let me do that on their portables this may be exactly what I need.
Some great news (source)...
This quote is from a developer nicknamed Senor Quack. In this post he announces that he is joining the GCW dev team, and also that famous homebrew dev Zodttd is interested in developing for the GCW Zero:
As you may recall we saw an old PSX emulator that ran half decently already on the GCW Zero last year. IIRC that emu wasn't even made for the Zero, but was some crappy Chinese Dingoo build I believe, so it's amazing it ran as well as it did. So now just imagine what an experienced, talented developer can do with a PSX emu made for the Zero - a device with 3x the CPU speed of the PSP's highest clock setting and 16x the RAM.
It's maybe worth noting that Zodttd also developed an N64 emulator in the past for the iPhone.
This quote is from a developer nicknamed Senor Quack. In this post he announces that he is joining the GCW dev team, and also that famous homebrew dev Zodttd is interested in developing for the GCW Zero:
Hi folks, I am proud to announce a skilled developer from the GP2X, Zodiac, and iPhone scenes: ZodTTD will be developing for the GCW Zero. ZodTTD has helped bring both emulators and open source program ports to many different platforms, including the first playable PSX emulator available on the GP2X handheld. He also is an expert at Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe porting and is excited to soon be releasing great software for the GCW-Zero. Plans are in the works for PSX emu work
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZodTTD
http://www.youtube.com/user/zodttd?feature=watch
http://www.zodttd.com/
Additionally, it should be noted that I (Senor Quack) have also come on-board the GCW development team and will be contributing numerous ports and firmware contributions. I have been behind many GP2X and Wiz ports along with firmware efforts and am 100% behind the GCW-Zero. I think it's a great design at a great price and with it's running OpenDingux and with the talented dev-team already assembled, folks should be in for a real treat!
As you may recall we saw an old PSX emulator that ran half decently already on the GCW Zero last year. IIRC that emu wasn't even made for the Zero, but was some crappy Chinese Dingoo build I believe, so it's amazing it ran as well as it did. So now just imagine what an experienced, talented developer can do with a PSX emu made for the Zero - a device with 3x the CPU speed of the PSP's highest clock setting and 16x the RAM.
It's maybe worth noting that Zodttd also developed an N64 emulator in the past for the iPhone.
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
Man, a good PSX Emu will so damn awesome. I want to put my PSone away.
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
Was hoping we would have had an update on selecting the color of our unit(s) and when they might ship... but in the podcast he mentioned by or after march 15th.
Marty Chinn
Member
You would think they wouldn't be able to start manufacturing without knowing how many of each color to make.
SnakeSlashRO
Banned
Might be in the OT... but he was featured on a podcast I think called gamers or geeks with wives?
I think there will be delays. I could be wrong, but I hope people understand when they pledge on Kickstarter they're usually supporting tiny startups with very limited staff and resources, and there are numerous variables (i.e. Chinese holidays at the factory, parts supplies etc.) that can slow things down.
Personally, I'm not expecting to receive my unit for several months. If they somehow actually deliver in March, great. But considering the preorder SE people still are waiting, and February is coming to an end, I have low expectations. :-/
Personally, I'm not expecting to receive my unit for several months. If they somehow actually deliver in March, great. But considering the preorder SE people still are waiting, and February is coming to an end, I have low expectations. :-/
News posted 2/22 from Justin/GCW on Dingoonity GCW board:
Source: http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-general/gcw-zero/msg62943/#msg62943
Source: http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-general/gcw-zero/msg62943/#msg62943