GamePark, the company behind the sleeper handheld hit that was the GP32, has split into two companies and has unveiled plans to release not one but two new handhelds that will try and pit open source ideas against the might of Sony.
eXtreme Game Player (XGP) and the GPX2-F100 are the two units and it looks as if GamePark is trying to merge the PSP look with the clam-style of Nintendo's DS.
The features for the GPX2, which by the way will soon get a new name, are advertised as follows:
-Dual core CPU ARM920T, ARM940T embedded in GPX2. Enjoy music, movies, and games
-DDR64MB+ NAND Flash 64MB
-Video Playback - Plays MPEG, XviD, WMV DivX format digital contents up to 720*480 pixels and supports caption.
-High resolution 3.5" 170,000 colors TFT LCD.
-CPU With a 2D accelerator - Enables you enjoy games anytime anywhere. Exclusive GPX2 games will be joined by emulators such as MAME, SNES, Genesis, PC Engine etc
-Supports various audio codecs - Replays music in MP3, WMA, OGG format on the multi-codec MP3 player. Listen to 100mw of true high quality sound.
-Download and view photos taken on a digital camera through your PC. Enlargement is available from 320*240 up to 1024*768 and you can rotate Images up to 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°, Supports JPG, BMP, PCX, GIF files.
-Read a text file with GPX2
You can read electronic novels and any other text files through the text viewer. Besides you can use enlargement and abridgment function when you read a text file.
-Easy Firmware Upgrades
Enhance your product quality continuously by downloading on the GPX2 website.
-USB 2.0 high speed
-2AA Batteries
watch 320*240(30frame) of video file for approximately 8 hours and listen to mp3 files for approximately 14 hours (LCD off )continuously with 2AA batteries.
-PC Development
Basic development: Linux
Windows: Enabled via Cygwin installation
-Open SDK Library
Supports software development library : SDL(Simple Direct Library)
-Basic Library
Graphic library (Sound library)
-Hardware I/O library
-TV Out
The XGP seems like it has been designed to be the flagship for GamePark as it will have a 4 inch screens, compared to 3.5 inches of the GPX2, and will support a resolution of 480x272 16:10. The XGP will also offer a wireless connectivity (802.11b/g) option. The main difference between the two units however, will be that XGP will not be an open source project but will be the commercial attempt by the Korean company. It is pretty certain however, that the bright minds that managed to turn the PSP into an open source project will come up with some ideas for the XGP.
