GP2X.letter 03: The Flood Is Coming!
Dear GP2X.letter subscribers!
Another week, another issue. We all knew that Linux and the use of standard hardware would make the GP2X easy to develop for. Still, it is very impressive how much stuff gets released every day. It seems like almost everyone is developing for the system. And people without coding skills are at least making skins (or writing newsletters
.
With a community as powerful as this that early in the handheld's lifecycle, the future looks bright for the GP2X. We are certainly looking forward to what this little thing can do.
The GP2X.letter team.
Content of this issue:
*Commercial Games: News & Releases
*Homebrew: News & Releases
*Press: Reviews & Articles
*Other stuff (Firmware update and sourcecode released, dual core benchmarks and more problems and solutions)
*Multimedia Content
*Interview: ?
Commercial Games
Ha Toda Pastiya announced
Playgoodstudios and Daxygames have announced that they are developing Ha Toda Pastiya for the GP32 and GP2X. The futuristic racing game looks quite impressive and is expected to be coming soon although no concrete date has been given.
Official website (Spanish):
http://www.dayxgames.com/Proyectos/HTP/HTP.htmGame trailer:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,23,937Homebrew
New emulators for PSX and SMS
Certainly the most impressive emulator release so far has been GP2PSX by ZodTTD. The ported Playstation emulator still has a low compatibility but a select few games are already running at playable speeds.
The other new emulator this week is SMS Plus 2X by efegea which runs Sega Master System and Game Gear games.
GP2PSX download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,949SMS Plus 2X download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,903Emulator updates
NK has updated his emulators for SNES, NES and Neo Geo CD with better compatibility, speed and an improved button mapping. The C64 emulator Frodo by snaff has also been updated with lots of little things.
Frodo official page with change list and download:
http://gp2x.org/gp2x/frodo/NES download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,909SNES download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,880Neo Geo CD download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,864Text adventures on your GP2X!
AdamC has ported Frotz, an interpreter for all Infocom and other Z-machine games. That means that you can now play a lot of classic text adventures on your handheld! Get it here:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,20,977Flashback, Amazing World, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D and Transport Tycoon Deluxe on your GP2X!
Rlyeh has ported REminiscence, an open source engine used to run the well known classic platform game Flashback. You can get it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,20,916The predecessor to Flashback, Amazing World, can now also be played on the GP2X. WinterN ported the Raw engine used to run it:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,20,975Adding to the growing library of First Person Shooters on the GP2X, Woogal has released his port of Duke Nukem 3D. Now you can kick ass and chew bubblegum on the go. The only remaining problem are certain difficulties with the supply of bubblegum...
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,20,956Hooka has made a quick port of the genre founding classic, Wolfenstein 3D. Get it here:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115564ZodTTD has gotten his nickname from porting OpenTTD to the Zodiac, now he has done the same for the GP2X. Be carefull, this game is addicting!
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,29,925For all three games you need data files of the originals to run them!
Python and Pygame for GP2X
theoddbot has released his port of Python and Pygame which makes coding for the GP2X very easy. Get it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,14,917Barnesy has already used it to port pyTetris and Balluz and make the original games pySlide.
pyTetris download:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,25,946pySlide download:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,25,968Balluz download:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,25,971Lots of arcade and shooter releases
There have been a lot of homebrew games released in the past week, most of them being arcade games and shooters, replacing the initial batch of puzzle games. Here is a complete roundup:
theoddbot has released a whole three games in the last days. Kobo Deluxe and Rockdodger are ports of shooter games while Sopwith is a classic arcade game ported to SDL.
Kobo Deluxe download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,931Rockdodger download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,926Sopwith download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,923Andrew Williams has released the arcade style Plasma Defence Commander as well as the first GP2X Pong game. nickspoon has edited Pong to be playable by two player on one device.
Plasma Defence Commander download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,950Pong download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,9292 player Pong download:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,938Hermes/PS2Reality has released Pintor, a maze game he wrote for the GP32, on the GP2X. Get it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,27,960Someone (does anyone know who is to be credited for this?) has ported the SDL game Abe's Amazing Adventure which is a platform game that has you exploring ancient pyramids.
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,35,954miq01 has released Tilematch, a clone of Zoo Keeper which itself is a clone of Bejeweled which... Let't leave it at that and simply admit that this gameplay is addicting enough to justify cloning it.
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,25,947And, last but not least, no_skill has released his port of the abstract shooter Spout. You have to erode your surroundings with your ship’s exhaust to progress making for some fresh and addicting gameplay.
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,30,930Narcissu Patch availiable
abigsmurf has made a patch for Narcissu so that the font is better readable on the GP2X' screen. A neat package including the Onscripter port by NK is available here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,20,920You also need to download the game itself which can be found at:
http://misu-net.com/downloads.htmSkins, skins, skins
Lots of skins are availiable for the GP2X' menu as well as NK's emulators. There should be something for everyone but if you do not find a skin that suits your taste, why not make your own?
Menu skins:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,52NES skins:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,53SNES skins:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,51Neo Geo CD skins:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,54STerm released
Finally you can be 1337 and contol your GP2X with a text console. If you are not 1337, be careful and don't delete any important files! STerm was developed by jochang and includes a virtual keyboard for text input.
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,8,973GP2X minimal library released
Rlyeh has released a minimal library that should be faster than SDL but still fully functional. Get the code here:
http://www.emulnation.info/retrodev/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142Hell techdemo
joanvr has released a techdemo showing off fire effects. Get it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,38,974Previews of things to come
Evil Dragon has posted some teaser pictures of upcoming emulators. First, there is a picture of DrMD, a megadrive emulator being developed by Reesy. Also included is a picture of Woogal's game Lacuna. View them here:
http://www.gp32x.com/?artc=1983Later he posted a picture of the arcade game Black Tiger being run on a MAME port:
http://www.gp32x.com/?artc=1994Also in development is the laserdisc game emulator Daphne since the developers got enough donations to buy a GP2X:
http://www.daphne-emu.com/Press
GP2X in next issue of Retro Gamer
As announced in the new issue of Retro Gamer, they will have a full review of the system in their next issue. Don't miss it! In the present issue there is also a full page advertisement by GP2X.co.uk.
Forum thread:
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=22862Other stuff
Firmware 1.01 released
The official firmware has been updated to version 1.01 fixing a few more minor things. Get the update with a list of changes here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,42,914GPH releases sourcecode
Game Park Holdings have finally fullfilled their part of the GPL agreement and released the sourcecode to their version of Linux. You can get it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,46,934Also availiable is the sourcecode of the bootloader:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,46,932Dual core benchmarks
Squidge has run some benchmarks to find out just how much the second processor can speed up calculation on the GP2X. The results look promising but it has to be remembered that the benchmark did not use realistic conditions and that every program has to be specially designed to use both CPUs with some being more suited for it than others. Read all about it in this forum thread:
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=22871http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=22871Problems and solutions
Problem: My screen is flickering.
Solution: If you see diagonal lines or scrambled images, this is caused by the software and will be fixed in a firmware update. If you have got the impression that something is pushing against the screen from behind, especially noticable if you use the joystick, here is a description of what is causing the problem and how to fix it:
http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=22908&st=0Problem: My screen is uneven.
Solution: There are cases where one half of the screen is brighter than the other half and similar constellations, especially noticable with a black image. Sometimes this seems to be fixed with a firmware update so make sure that you have the newest version installed. If that does not help, you might have to replace your GP2X.
Problem: My headphone jack has fallen off and is now ratteling inside the GP2X.
Solution: Of course you can solder it back on if you are skilled enough but sending it back to the distributor for repair would probably be a better idea, especially since that would not void your warranty.
Problem: My GP2X won't start anymore.
Solution: If the firmware of your GP2X is messed up because of a firmware update that went wrong or something else, there is now a guide written by DJ Willis that describes how to "unbrick" your GP2X. You can read it here:
http://www.distant-earth.com/gp2x/2005/11/howto-unbrick-most-bricked-gp2xs.htmlRemember that the most common cause of a GP2X not starting are bad batteries.
Multimedia
This time we have not got a special movie for you but a whole website with lots of little films. Pocket Movies has commercials, trailers and - more interesting - a number of short films and animations that are formated for viewing on mobile devices. Where availiable, you should choose the DivX version because that is the only one the GP2X plays at the moment.
http://www.pocketmovies.net/If you've got something good to share with us, use the "submit news" link at the bottom of
http://gp2x.info/news!
Interview
Each issue we ask a developer of the GP2X scene to answer our little list of six questions. This time we asked Jouni "Mr.Spiv" Korhonen:
Who are you?
My real name is Jouni Korhonen but I also use the handle Mr.Spiv when
geeking around. I live in Finland (so during the winter I have long dark
nights time to spend with various gadgets). I guess I belong to those
already older boys who never really grow up.
How long have you been doing this?
I started with ZX Spectrum around -86 I think. Then later
Amiga for 13 years and since -01 I've been messing with
various handheld consoles, most notably with GP32. I use
OSX & Mac now as a cross development environment.
What is your favourite game of all time?
Must be Knight Lore on Spectrum or Speedball 1 on
Amiga. I can't really decide.
What are you working on for the GP2X?
I'm mostly interested in banding the GP2X hardware directly. I have
few projects going on (e.g. contributing to the sdk2x and helping the
fellow OSX users with the cross development environment) and some other
projects on a planning stage (like porting my modplayer, compression tools
and maybe something related to NGPC). Unfortunately my progress has been
annoyingly slow due the massive amount of real-life work & work related
traveling during this year... and unfortunately there seems to be no end
on that front.
What do you want to see most on the GP2X?
Wicked scene demos that squeeze the last possible bit out
of the hardware capabilities.
No Linux or no coffee?
Someone mentioned coffee? That reminds me that I need to put the
coffee pot on.. now.
Missed an issue of the newsletter? We have set up an archive where you can view all past issues in all languages they were published. It can be found here:
http://www.derekscholte.nl/GP2XForum/newsarchive/index.php
Trashcan
