Lik Sang Post a GP2x Article

GP2X Update: First Edition out now in Korea & UK - Second Edition hopefully coming to Lik-Sang in 2006

The full article from Lik Sang

Gamepark Holding's GP2X is something that many of you have been looking forward to: It can play games. It can play your movies. It can play your music. It can view photos. It can read Ebooks. It runs on just 2 AA batteries - and it can do all this in the palm of your hand or on your TV screen. Yes that's right, this handheld can connect to the TV, console style. Watch your DivX movies on the TV. Play emulated classics on the TV. Try big screen Quake. Or just play them all on the GP2X's large 320*240 backlit screen. You get the best of both worlds.

The official hype aside, it seems that this was too good to be true and this is just not yet supposed to happen. Indeed the system was already released in Korea and the UK in quantities of about thousand units during the past couple of days, but unfortunately the release didn't really go as smoothly as hoped for. Distributors and Gamepark Holding are currently working hard (and overnight) in order to get their units shipped and literally fixed. The good news is that many of the problems that users reported can be fixed with a simply Firmware update. But the bad news is that many unlucky gamers and developers who already received their units have reported hardware and design issues with the GP2X.

Flawless Second Edition at Lik Sang (hopefully) comes in 2006

Considering all this, Lik Sang has decided to wait until Gamepark Holdings has the hopefully stable Second Edition of the GP2X ready, and will not ship broken or malfunctioning units to customers. As you may agree, we find it unacceptable to get something that may or may not work for hard earned US$ 179.90 + shipping cost and custom fees. Distributors agree that the current unit is (quote) "something for developers and people having fun poking around with a system that actually has some firmware bugs."

Furthermore, no news are available on the TV-Out cable or the GP2X power supply that have yet to be released. We hope that you understand the situation and agree with us in case you have placed a pre-order. If you still want to get your hands on a GP2X right now, there is a solution. Read on for more.

If you have placed a pre-order please check your Inbox, we've sent you an email (and in case you have already paid we've refunded your money). We have sent you an email to check if you would like to keep your pre-order until next year, or if you would rather want to cancel and order a first edition from one of the GP2X Distributors.

We have not yet received Gamepark Holdings feedback about the postponed release at Lik-Sang, but we do hope that they can be convinced to revise the unit for a release to a broader user base, not just system hackers and professional technicians.

Hardware and Software Faults

From reports of worried customers on our pre-order list, and from hundreds of posts in GP2X forums around the world, we have gathered a quick list with the most common issues so far. Please be aware that this may still grow, as hundreds and hundreds of units have not yet arrived at the user's doorstep. Please note that the distributors have also informed customers up-front by email about possible problems, and it is recommended to check GP32X.com frequently if you have received your unit already.

• Practically many videos are not playable without capping them.
• There are reports of Xvid playing too fast, and DivX sound not in sync with video.
• There is a battery problem, 2 hours battery-life with standard batteries only.
• There is no power supply or charger included with the GP2X.
• Stereo jack sinks on some units, because of poor soldering.
• The speakers are mono instead of stereo.
• Headphone channels are switched, left is not left.
• The action buttons are too small. Your thumb can cover all four.
• There is a large joystick deadzone (that can be fixed with a "mod" according to a distributor).
• Uneven color distribution on the screen and other LCD problems.
• Long boot time (28 seconds).
• Compatibility problems with some brands, types or sizes of Flash Cards.
• USB Connection and incompatibility problems with Windows XP (apparently fixed with latest Firmware).

Several of these problems were indeed noticed by the Lik Sang team with the prototype that we received early October, but there were hopes here (and promises from Korea) that it would all be fixed for official release... and that obviously didn't happen.

Doesn't this happen with other system releases?

Unfortunately the list of GP2X faults is quite expansive. Too overwhelmingly expansive for something you'd want to have under your Christmas tree (unless you are beta tester for Gill Bates or you love "that type" of things). If this would be about Nintendo or Sony, the press would be using the keyword "scandal", you'd seriously be asking if the company behind wants to commit commercial suicide and by now you'd have at least a President or CEO who resigned "for personal reasons".

Some of you may say that every console release comes with problems like these, and that this is absolutely normal. Believe us that the decision to not sell the GP2X right now was not an easy one, and please rest assured that this is incomparable with any other system release (say NDS, GBA, PSP, GC, NGPC, WSC, DC, GP32 - you name it) that we here at Lik Sang have ever witnessed before. You also have to realize that Nintendo or the other system manufacturers have been around for at least two quadrillion years with global customers care centers, they will stick with us for a while and replace any faulty systems if they have to.

Distributors Test before Shipping

In light of all these defects, you can be sure that Distributors who received stock of the initial production batch (First Edition) will do their best to test each single unit that is being shipped to customers. In fact this has been the reason for the delayed release according to a distributor who posted at the GP32X forums. Each single test takes about 10 minutes, and the distributor is currently working night shifts to test as many units as humanly possible.

If you are one of these guys who has no problems spending Christmas 2005 with a buggy but yet impressive new console (count at least two Lik Sang tech guys in), here is what to do:

Contact one of the following shops which are effectively shipping GP2X units while you are reading these lines. They will ensure that you are getting a working unit by extensively testing before shipping, but you will need to be a bit patient.

GP2X UK (Official Distributor UK, shipping worldwide)
http://www.gbax.com/main.pl

GP2X Shop DE (Official Distributor Germany, shipping to whole Europe)
http://shop.gp2x.de

GP2X USA (GP32z.com)
http://www.gp32z.com

The Good News: SNES, C64, NeoGeoCD, Quake and more

The GP2X release is not only surrounded by bad news. Great homebrew software has been released for the GP2X already during the past two weeks, and more is up to come. Development tools and so-called middleware is already shared among GP2X developers, and Craig from GBAX has promised to release information of programming the hardware (bypassing) Linux very soon.

Check out GP32X, Emuholic or GP2X Emulation for the latest developments. If you have a new GP2X sites to add, please submit them at the GP2X page.

What happened to XGP, and who are all these Gamepark (Holding) people anyway?

If you have been following the GP32 developments around Gamepark a couple of years ago and you stopped trying to put the pieces in the puzzle together because it was just too confusing, you are not alone.

Today there are two Gameparks. There is Gamepark Holding, the guys behind the GP2X, and there is Gamepark, the folks behind the XGP device. There are currently rumours, that the XGP is now being completely redesigned and it will be released early next year. If these two Gameparks are connected, which one's the good one, and if they still stick together is not known (but highly doubted). Oh, by the way, none of these two current Gameparks is the Gamepark that originally released the GP32 in 2002, the latter being bankrupted since 2004 already.

Do you still find all this confusing? Get used to it, this is Gamepark ;-)

Do you agree with Lik Sang, well we know theres some stuff to iron out but what do you think ?