These things aren't about "support" in the classic sense of the word. This will be a community driven product, like its predecessors.

If the community like it, it will have plenty going for it. If the community pans it, this thing doesn't stand a chance.

Given that Pandora is around the corner, and the devs behind it drove GP2X development, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in the Wiz. Personally, I'm holding out for Pandora.

Pandora has been around the corner for close to a year now. You can't order one, and it'll likely be obsolete by the time it actually ships the orders they do have. It'll be great if and when it gets here, but for now it's still vapor.

@Tired: Actually, they now have a finalised case, the mass production keymats and finished boards for the machine. It's pretty much just about getting the mass production case order and it should be out. Sure, it's about nine months later than originally anticipated, but I think it'll be worth the wait for those who did shell out for it. After all, it'll have a faster CPU than the Wiz, a larger and higher-def screen, a QWERTY keyboard, 256 MBs of RAM and European developers behind it.

All cards on the table, I haven't ordered the Pandora myself because I can't afford tech-toys right now, but I really think it's going to do extremely well within its segment and I believe it'll be ready for new orders in june.

They have a massive community, but the Pandora's almost here and that's really gonna be big.

Tired: They're shipping the first batch in late May.

@Tired_

I've been following Pandora's development very closely. I believe that the guys didn't quite know what they were getting themselves into, but it is coming and it's coming soon.

Hey Ya:

A lot of GP2X coders have Wiz units already, and development for this platform is going strong.

"Pandora has been around the corner for close to a year now. You can't order one"

Actually you can order one. And they should be shipping this month or the next.

I just wanted to point out that it's now the end of October, many months after this thread first appeared in May, and the Pandora did not show up "this month or the next" as some people were wishing. It's still in production, awaiting moulds and other little things, and has yet to appear in the hands of those who want one.

Undoubtedly, the Pandora is an awesome concept, and it will dominate the emu/homebrew scene when it finally surfaces, but the initial allotment of 4000 seems to be spoken for at this point and they still haven't produced an actual device for mass market sale.

In contrast, the Wiz community is only getting better.

I've now doubt Pandora WILL see the light of day, but some of you guys really need to accept that it's probably not going to be something you can just order and have shipped to your door next week. The way they're going about this, it's going to be a while before anyone gets their hands on one, even once they're in a decent production cycle. You can't just buy one; You'll have to pre-order, and wait for the next batch to be made all at once.

And then it remains to be seen whether it's actually a sturdy device that will hold up to day-to-day use. They're not going through the same QA testing a large corporation would. They're not set up for customer service. If you get one with a dud screen, you're probably stuck with it.

The emu-curious should probably just grab a Dingoo, or the Wiz. Or hell, just go get a OneStation or NDS and mod it.

Sorry, that's "I've NO doubt the Pandora WILL see the light of day..."

I'm sure they'll get it out there, but I wonder how fast production will be if it takes off and there's a high demand?

Because this is homebrew, not a corporate licensed-games-only thing.

I bought a Pandora, instead of this. The Pandora is more my type of system.

That's not a D-pad on the right. It's 4 buttons together in D-pad shape. They're distinct, separate buttons, though, not one big D-button.

It doesn't. The right hand buttons are just in a d-pad-like configuration.

This is intended for the technologically knowledgeable (ie know how to load homebrew games in directory structures, download emulators, etc).

And this same parent won't know how to downoad DS roms on an Acekard 2i?

You're missing the point, the GP2X Wiz, at least in the western market, is primarily an open platform for hobbyist developers, and homebrew and emulation enthusiasts. It's filling a niche market, it's not trying to compete with the DS or PSP.

I haven't heard of any decent PSOne emulators for the DSi... I'm not really in the homebrew scene, but from what I understand, DSi's emulator choices are limited.

The Wiz also a good deal smaller than a DSi.

Because this is SPARTAAAAAAA !
sorry..

My 200Hz phone can emulate Gameoy advance, SNES, and Sega Genesis. I'm guessing this GP2X can as well, but it's still pointless to get one when you can get a brand new DSi or a used like-new PSP for the same price...

"Why would someone buy this or the pandora over a PSP or NDS?"

Since I don't know all too much about the Wiz, I'll speak for the Pandora:

Because it runs Linux. Because it has a gigantic high-res touchscreen. Because it has two good analog pads, a d-pad, and a keyboard. Because it has Bluetooth. Because it takes SD cards. Because it has massive amounts of battery life. Because it's much more powerful. Because they will never patch it to take away the homebrew. Because you can play homebrew and emulators without buying extra stuff. Because it'll eventually be able to emulate the Nintendo 64, when someone writes an emulator. Because it can run Quake III. Because the PSP and NDS can't run Firefox.

How's that?

I guess since I already own a psp and an iphone, most of those benefits don't seem that exciting to me.

@Atomicthumbs

While I agree, the Pandora has plenty of potential, but this potential won't be realized in gaming, until it can emulate the PSP, which it won't. And so, I think that -for gaming- the PSP or DS lite are unbeatable... simply because of software (titles and game companies) not hardware.

Why would you want to emulate the PSP? It's games aren't even worth stealing!

Zing!

@TareX:

1. Why would you want to emulate PSP games? The PSP has a small segment of good games. If you just want to play PSP games, get a PSP. The Pandora is meant to play Pandora-specific games, Linux-specific games, open-source games, and emulated games.

2. http://jayfoxrox.bplaced.net/pandora-psp/ (and http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=47270 when GP32X comes back up)

PSP won't fit in your pocket very well. I'll take a Wiz. *chuckle*

That's just a Dingoo A320. They don't even bother to rebrand it, it still says "Dingoo Digital A320" on the back.

Actually, you'll find the A320 has a scene that is taking _off_!

We're now porting Linux, and even have a kernel booting already. This handheld is great, a 400mhz MIPS proc with some decent emulators out of the box, and more being ported right now.

The scene is what makes these systems, and the Wiz shot itself in the foot with that crappy control design, and the fact it's months late and more expensive than the A320.

All my mates and myself now have A320's, and I love it. Working on installing the SDK for my own dev work now actually, and once Linux is dual booting the sky is the limit.

Dingoo looks like yet another Chinese based, here today gone tomorrow PMP with gaming controls ala the JXD-301 and countless others. I remember when the JXD was all the rage in the comunity because it was cheaper and more powerful than a GP2X and had the awesome OLED screen on it. The homebrew scene was about to explode on that as well. Now it's tomorrow and they don't make them anymore.

At least the Dingoo put enough buttons on their machine to properly use the emulators that are on it. I'll still pass.