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[chespace]

(I posted this earlier in a thread that's now locked, so I thought maybe we should dedicate a whole thread to the mother of all underdogs).

I've been fucking around with my loaner Gizmondo.

Surprisingly, there are some things I like about it, but none of it has anything to do with games at the moment.

1). Really nice GPS/Navi system. This is basically the handheld's killer app and needs to be exploited and whored. I popped in the Co-Pilot SD card yesterday and drove home from work with it. Like a real GPS system, it speaks and tells you when to turn. If you've missed a turn, it will remap a route and get you right back on track. Nifty.

2). Takes SD cards (which are cheap and plentiful).

3). Unlike the Pornstation Portable, Gizmondo plays .wmv (that's all I've tried so far) videos and MP3s. And if you've been using your PSP as a music player, the Gizmondo is actually easier to carry around, etc.

4). Nice, bright screen, although not as big as PSP obviously. Bigger than DS however.

5). Really loud speakers.

6). Built-in camera is only VGA quality, but it's good enough for blogging.

7). Takes the contact list from your Outlook on your PC.

As a gaming system, this thing has huge problems from lack of anything good to play, to basically slow/terrible UI. The biggest problem is that the Gizmondo lacks cell phone functionality (even though it takes your SIM cards for SMS and shit). It's not something you'd want for gaming, so you'd think it's a lifestyle device -- except it isn't all-in-one since you still need to lug your cell phone around.

I read on another forum that folks have already cracked Gizmondo, and that it's only a matter of time before the emu's hit. Now that might be interesting...

Anyone thinking about picking one of these up?

 

[DCX]

In before the hate. Sounds pretty cool actually. I might get one of those new Palm T/Xs. They look super sexy and have alot of great features, plus the price is right.


DCX

 

[Izzy]

If you can, try and get Trailblazer. I loved that game on C64 when I was a bit younger.

 

[GDJustin]

I always thought the general Gizmondo concensus was that as a piece of technology it wasn't bad at all, but that it had NO chance in hell of succeeding and was destined to be a massive bomb,

 

[chespace]

I always thought the general Gizmondo concensus was that as a piece of technology it wasn't bad at all, but that it had NO chance in hell of succeeding and was destined to be a massive bomb,

Right, well it's not a bad piece of kit. However, its destiny to fail as a massive bomb isn't entirely isolated to just bad press/perception/word of mouth/DS and PSP. The hardware itself, on a technical level I think, is partially to blame. Most in that it doesn't feel like, first and foremost, a gaming machine... unlike its competition.

 

[Sapiens]

Right, well it's not a bad piece of kit. However, its destiny to fail as a massive bomb isn't entirely isolated to just bad press/perception/word of mouth/DS and PSP. The hardware itself, on a technical level I think, is partially to blame. Most in that it doesn't feel like, first and foremost, a gaming machine... unlike its competition.

How are the ads?

 

[chespace]

How are the ads?

You're talking about the GPS-based ads?

I don't think they exist yet.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I'd like to play with one for a bit. Here's to hoping that it bombs hard after a massive initial release so maybe they can be found for cheap.

 

[Sapiens]

You're talking about the GPS-based ads?

I don't think they exist yet.

I was under the impression that you were forced to deal with ads, regardless. ie: ads before powering down, etc...

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

The GPS functionality sounds very cool to me. It seems that the Gizmondo is too ambitious for it's own good though. It's trying to be a lot of things at the same time, and not really focusing on one thing. For instance, the PSP is a game machine, that also plays media. That's how Sony marketed it. It does have decent support however, so who k nows. The Ngage is still around, this might find a niche too. Kinda pricey however, and I already own a GPS, PSP, MP3 player, and personal video player.

 

[chespace]

I was under the impression that you were forced to deal with ads, regardless. ie: ads before powering down, etc...

No ads to be found anywhere. Thankfully.

Musashi: It's basically like a Tapwave Zodiac, but like way better and minus the touch screen.

You could buy this thing alone for the GPS and it wouldn't be completely useless as long as you drive a car and actually leave your neighborhood.

A coworker told me yesterday that they want a Gizmondo for its GPS "geofence" system that you can set up where it'll text message your phone when it leaves a certain zone. Leave it in the trunk of your car, for instance, and you can use it as a tracking device for when your vehicle gets stolen.

 

[Bigfonzie]

If/when they go bankrupt will the gps features still work?

 

[Jerkface]

The GPS based gameplay sounds extremely cool but will ultimately be pointless because you'll be struggling for people to fight for territory with!

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Musashi: It's basically like a Tapwave Zodiac, but like way better and minus the touch screen.

well that sounds good. I bought into that fascination a bit late in the game. It was fun to play with too.

 

[Argyle]

If/when they go bankrupt will the gps features still work?

Why wouldn't it - you don't have to pay any kind of subscription fee for GPS. Your tax dollars at work!

 

[FightyF]

I'm interested now. I didn't know it had a GPS, or a camera on it.

In my job I drive around Northern Canada to different well sites and rigs, and a GPS system would be handy but many of the roads aren't provincially recognized...so I'm not sure how much it would help me, though I can find out the lat and long of the oil rig and it could help me in that regard perhaps. Also, I wanted a cheap camera because some of the scenery up here is insane, as it's completely untouched and uninhabited land.

I could get a good solid GPS and a good camera (capable of resolutions 5 times better of course)...so it's up in the air as to whether or not I'll get it...

Does it have wireless built in, in any form? How about IR communication?

 

[chespace]

I'm interested now. I didn't know it had a GPS, or a camera on it.

In my job I drive around Northern Canada to different well sites and rigs, and a GPS system would be handy but many of the roads aren't provincially recognized...so I'm not sure how much it would help me, though I can find out the lat and long of the oil rig and it could help me in that regard perhaps. Also, I wanted a cheap camera because some of the scenery up here is insane, as it's completely untouched and uninhabited land.

I could get a good solid GPS and a good camera (capable of resolutions 5 times better of course)...so it's up in the air as to whether or not I'll get it...

Does it have wireless built in, in any form? How about IR communication?

The GPS is really nifty, at least for me, as it's my first GPS system. But I don't know if the software (Copilot) will recognize rural Canada. But yeah, you can put in coordinates so maybe... who knows.

The camera itself isn't anything to write home about, as it's sub-megapixel, but it's decent enough for emergency use.

The Gizmondo does SMS and MMS messages, meaning you can msg friends and send them pictures that you take on your Gizmondo. No IR except for Bluetooth.

I just found out that it also takes MMC cards along with SD. I'm psyched because I've got a 1 gig MMC in my Nokia 6230 right now I can pull out and use right away.

 

[jj984jj]

Sounds nice. Looks like the N-Gage has some competition.

:lol j/k

It sounds like a great device, just not so much for gaming as for it's other features.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

So does the GPS system allow you to load maps on to it? Does it come with a built in base map? Most of the newer GPS systems come pre-loaded with a base map of an area, say North America, that has many major features, but lacks the fine details. You can then load a much more detailed map into memory on the GPS. So, for instance, while the base map may not have much info on rural Canada, the additional maps that you load on the system may fill in most of the details. Non-paved roads don't tend to show up on mine, although rivers, streams, lakes, etc. do.

 

[BastardSamurai]

I was under the impression that you were forced to deal with ads, regardless. ie: ads before powering down, etc...

That's for the $229 version, Che probably got the adless $399 model.

 

[chespace]

So does the GPS system allow you to load maps on to it? Does it come with a built in base map? Most of the newer GPS systems come pre-loaded with a base map of an area, say North America, that has many major features, but lacks the fine details. You can then load a much more detailed map into memory on the GPS. So, for instance, while the base map may not have much info on rural Canada, the additional maps that you load on the system may fill in most of the details. Non-paved roads don't tend to show up on mine, although rivers, streams, lakes, etc. do.

The Copilot software comes on an SD card so I'm going to assume you won't be able to actually write to this card... hence, I doubt you can do incremental upgrades. What's more likely is that you'll buy a version of Copilot that covers the specific territory?

I actually don't know what territory this version of Copilot supports, but San Francisco works really well. I'm going to go driving out of the city this weekend and see how it works.

As for the ads... gah, I forgot there were two versions (one with, and one without ads). What an incredibly lame move.

 

[Eggo]

Leave it in the trunk of your car, for instance, and you can use it as a tracking device for when your vehicle gets stolen.

Better than Lojack! Too bad the d-pad feels horrible x10.

 

[CamHostage]

I played it recently, and I agree: it's surprisingly not crap. Has no chance and the games blow (god, does Colors suck), but it's more competent than Ngage. I like the controller, Shrek-ears and all (D-pad is sort of gunk, maybe they'll fix it for the widescreen...), and it's so light that it's really portable. The framerate has come along as well, and Chicane looks fairly stunning even with PSP around. My biggest problem with it, though, is the start-up load. It takes forever to load, even from sleep mode (much, much longer than the PSP's boot, and that's from a sleep mode), and I just can't see that being handy to have around if it takes so long to do anything with.

 

[Joe]

how much is the system?

 

[SantaC]

(I posted this earlier in a thread that's now locked, so I thought maybe we should dedicate a whole thread to the mother of all underdogs).

I've been fucking around with my loaner Gizmondo.

Surprisingly, there are some things I like about it, but none of it has anything to do with games at the moment.

1). Really nice GPS/Navi system. This is basically the handheld's killer app and needs to be exploited and whored. I popped in the Co-Pilot SD card yesterday and drove home from work with it. Like a real GPS system, it speaks and tells you when to turn. If you've missed a turn, it will remap a route and get you right back on track. Nifty.

2). Takes SD cards (which are cheap and plentiful).

3). Unlike the Pornstation Portable, Gizmondo plays .wmv (that's all I've tried so far) videos and MP3s. And if you've been using your PSP as a music player, the Gizmondo is actually easier to carry around, etc.

4). Nice, bright screen, although not as big as PSP obviously. Bigger than DS however.

5). Really loud speakers.

6). Built-in camera is only VGA quality, but it's good enough for blogging.

7). Takes the contact list from your Outlook on your PC.

As a gaming system, this thing has huge problems from lack of anything good to play, to basically slow/terrible UI. The biggest problem is that the Gizmondo lacks cell phone functionality (even though it takes your SIM cards for SMS and shit). It's not something you'd want for gaming, so you'd think it's a lifestyle device -- except it isn't all-in-one since you still need to lug your cell phone around.

I read on another forum that folks have already cracked Gizmondo, and that it's only a matter of time before the emu's hit. Now that might be interesting...

Anyone thinking about picking one of these up?

what about the games...

 

[ShowDog]

I thought one of those GPX2 devices looked pretty nifty. Its pretty much comfirmed to have many emulators plus some original freeware games will be developed for it (which, lets face it, will mostly be crap). The movie playing and emulation capabilities are the most interesting things, plus it runs on 2 AA batteries which is nice (lots of battery life if you have extra rechargeables). This seems to be a indirect competitor / of the same breed as the Gizmondo so I just figured I would introduce that into the thread. Also the GPX2 is going to cost about $180.