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GP2X Personal Entertainment Player

Author	Andrew 'Spode' Miller
Published	30th Jul 2006
Manufacturer	Gamepark Holdings
Supplier	Gamepark Holdings
Price	£108.70 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£125.00 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price	Click here

Overall

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At the very heart of the device is a Linux Operating System. The FirmWare is completely upgradeable (in fact there are several alternative versions available and under development by third parties) and you can install more applications than you can shake a stick at, but included as standard is support for DivX/xVid movie playback, MP3/OGG/WMA audio playback, photo viewing and e-books.

Although it does all of these things admirably, it doesn't really shout out as a finished product - it’s more of a platform. There is already a lot of open source software ported to this device and there is an entire community of people doing both software and hardware modifications to their GP2Xs. This is what makes the product unique.

For the less-geeky, the real killer application is emulation. Pretty much every emulator imaginable is available, from arcade machines to GameBoy, SNES and Playstation. Getting games is usually pretty easy, although very few of them are technically “free”. You still have to own the original games in order to legally play them. Some companies have made them free, or just abandoned them long ago (a Google for Abandonware might put you in the right direction).

Interpreters are around for many other games too - including Quake, Hexen, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Transport Tycoon and my personal favourite - ScummVM. Scumm is the engine used by Lucasarts for most of its adventure games - this includes the Monkey Island Series, Sam N Max and Day of the Tentacle to name a few.

Although the device has improved since its first incarnation, it is not exactly user friendly. All the little niceties that you expect to see on a polished product aren’t there and it certainly isn’t a plug and play gaming device. However, if you are of mild intelligence it’s not hard to get going. The more you put in to the device, the more you get out of it.

Verdict

With between five and ten hours of play time on a set of batteries, this isn’t bad and AA cells are easy to come by. If you’re like me and you’ve got a soft spot for games that are past their prime and like a good fiddle, you will love the GP2X.

At £124.99, it’s not cheap but it’s hardly expensive and if you know what you’re doing you’ll get more enjoyment out of it that you ever thought possible.

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