Pandora Now available.

[Duddyroar]

PS1 emulation will be worth the price along if you ask me. Plus SNES emulation still isn't full speed on the GP2X (and isn't likely to be, ever) so that's an added bonus. Basically, you'll see lots of more recent machines being emulated by this, it will be the most powerful handheld available when it's released.

[Dogg Thang]

PS1 emulation is pretty much flawless on the PSP though. Would it offer much more than a PSP would?

I have to say, this does sound really interesting to me. You know what I'd love? A handheld that could run old fps games like Unreal or the first Half-Life. I'd pay a serious amount of cash for something that could do that.

[davek22]

If it would run Half Life I would have ordered by now. I read on those GP2X forums it wont be possible. It runs Quake2 perfectly though, and I believe it will run Quake3. Not sure what the problem is with HL apart from its not open source of course ;-)

[Number45]

DirectX instead of OpenGL I'd imagine.

[kernow]

I think half life can run in opengl graphics modes but it still uses directX for input and sound, networking. That sucks, directX just locks things in to being unportable really. At least Id have the right idea with making their games highly portable. Quake 3 would rock on this thing hehe.

[davek22]

I am going to take the plunge and order one I reckon. I have been reading on those Pandora forums and to me it looks like the swiss army knife of portable consoles (just missing the tool for removing stones from horses hooves) and thats what I love. Lots of tinkering and messing about with file structures on the SD cards etc. I doubt that touch screen will be used for much but hell its got everything else so what the hell. Having a keyboard is just bonkers but having used the PSP text entry system it makes so much sense. As mentioned by Duddy its been built by gamers for gamers. And I guess hes probably right about the QA on the initial batch being better than on a mass production run.

[Duddyroar]

Quake 3 would rock on this thing hehe.

I'm sure I read somewhere that they're looking to port Quake 3. Probably not a 100% accurate port, but one scaled down for the platform. Just imagine playing that via Wifi with mates. Sweet.

Dave - the touch screen will be useful for games like Monkey Island, which I played to death on my F200. If you don't have a mouse then a touch screen is the next best thing.

[capcom_suicide]

I Dunno, it just looks so damn ugly!

I'm fairly happy with my F200, but the Dpad is useless and the SFC stuff is iffy. Picodrive has been superb, and the screen is perfect for that.

I've also used the PSP emus lots, and we really are close to perfection on many platforms now.

For me, the Pandora isn't right ergonomically & I've no interest in PC games on the move.

I'm more inclined to go for the new gamepark device, as it will do SFC/MAME full speed with a small size.

Anyway, I do love handhelds, so never say never!

[davek22]

Of course, the Lucasarts games work great with touchscreen. I suppose it will be pretty usefull for web browsing too. I noticed the GP2X forums are dead due to the server overload so I cant check but I am sure someone mentioned it will do N64 emulation? If so then thats the killer app

[Duddyroar]

I Dunno, it just looks so damn ugly!

I'm fairly happy with my F200, but the Dpad is useless and the SFC stuff is iffy. Picodrive has been superb, and the screen is perfect for that.

I've also used the PSP emus lots, and we really are close to perfection on many platforms now.

For me, the Pandora isn't right ergonomically & I've no interest in PC games on the move.

I'm more inclined to go for the new gamepark device, as it will do SFC/MAME full speed with a small size.

Anyway, I do love handhelds, so never say never!

How do you know it isn't right ergonomically if you've never held it? As I said, this machine has been painstakingly designed for months and months by the same guys who share your opinion on the ****ty F200 d-pad.

The Wiz is looking decent too but considering it's going to cost you ?129.99 and is only slightly more powerful than the GP2X (I wouldn't be too sure about 100% accurate SNES emulation until I see it) then for an additioinal ?70 you're getting a lot more for your money with the Pandora.

[Duddyroar]

Of course, the Lucasarts games work great with touchscreen. I suppose it will be pretty usefull for web browsing too. I noticed the GP2X forums are dead due to the server overload so I cant check but I am sure someone mentioned it will do N64 emulation? If so then thats the killer app

It has been mentioned, yeah. I guess it's possible!

[capcom_suicide]

The other most important "Nagging Factor" is related to teething issues. Obviously the software will have problems in "Version 1.0", despite all the dev work and testing, you just know that final hardware and 4000 new users are gonna find issues. That doesn't stress me, as these will be fixed via firmware.

What worries me, is the hardware. These guys surely aren't large enough for a complexe iso9000 type manufacturing process, and I have a gut feeling that something might not be a 100% in the final shipped units. Hopefully nothing major, but it would be a real downer if the machine had control/screen glitches.

[Duddyroar]

The other most important "Nagging Factor" is related to teething issues. Obviously the software will have problems in "Version 1.0", despite all the dev work and testing, you just know that final hardware and 4000 new users are gonna find issues. That doesn't stress me, as these will be fixed via firmware.

What worries me, is the hardware. These guys surely aren't large enough for a complexe iso9000 type manufacturing process, and I have a gut feeling that something might not be a 100% in the final shipped units. Hopefully nothing major, but it would be a real downer if the machine had control/screen glitches.

These chaps seem to know what they're doing but if there are any fatal issues, the machines will have a 12 month warranty anyway.

[Asholay]

That looks awesome...!!

Will have to read more about it, but think I may end up getting one!

[Morph]

I'm sure it will work and run fine its just that at ?200 is this a better option to say an Acer Aspire One or EEE 901 that is the question..