Anyone in here even Own a GIZMONDO? Comments?

[fishsandwich]

I've been reseaching this lately as I've gained a whole new appreciation of handhelds due to my N-gage. <ducks thrown fruit>

Anyway, I was thinking of possibly getting a Gizmondo (RIP) regardless of the bankruptcy and the crashing of the Ferrari and all that. But from what I've read the software for this thing is seriously lacking.

I did not know that the Gizmondo was such a powerful little bastard... a 400mhz processor plus a 64-bit GPU similar to those found in nice PC's? That's awesome. I've heard favorable comparisons to the PSP.But it doesn't look like many games took advantage of that power, and I doubt many more games are coming. The battery life is supposed to be dreadful as well.

This thing was released in the UK earlier than the USA and it seems the bulk of the owners are there. Anyone own this thing? Care to share your comments? Does the GPS thing even work? Is there an emulation scene at all?

:popcorn:

http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/mallorcadisco/infoconsolas/fotos/TIGER/gizmondo/Gizmondo5.jpg


http://www.pgnx.net/media/gizmondo_richardburnsrally-5.jpg

[Julio III]

I've been recently having a look at possibly getting a Gizmondo now that HMVs in England have reduced them to £40. Unfortunately I have found hardly any information about them. Seems to be very few websites. Do you know of any good ones?

[cyberfluxor]

I have absolutely never seen let alone heard of this thing. It looks pretty awesome by the way and would hope there's an AC adaptor for it (I'd hate to recharge so many batteries).

[Bojay1997]

You are correct that commercially released software is pretty limited. There were a total of 14 games released in the UK with only 8 of those games receiving a US release. The system is region free, so you can always import the other six games if you happen to live in the US. There is a homebrew and prototype scene that is starting to take off and several of the most hyped titles like Colors, Hit & Myth and Chicane have either been leaked or will be available shortly for download.

The system was designed by one of the top industrial designers in the UK and it is really comfortable in the hands. The GPS will not work in the US and I believe the UK servers are closed as well, so this is no longer a reason to buy the Gizmondo. I'm personally glad I bought one, even though I paid full retail for the system and games.

[Slipdeath]

I have one, a US version.

[Joker T]

Most "Nice" PC's have 256 Bit cards.

[Rockman Neo]

I don't understand why so many people didn't like the Gizmondo. Maybe if it had a lower price and developers actually used the full power of it.

[ianoid]

I'd buy a Giz new for 40 quid. I'm having trouble locating one for under a Ben. I'm interested in getting one of these, as well as a Tapwave and an N-gage. Each I'd like to get kinda cheap. Anyone have a good lead, set me up. eBay's prices on these items haven't crashed, but the Tapwave prices certainly have gone down in the last few months.

[Haoie]

I'm nearly 100% there wasn't a NZ/Aust release for this thing.

[Tharathos]

I have one of these, and I like it overall.

[Candycab]

I played around with a friends and I thought it was a clunky piece of crap overall. It just doesnt seem to do anything very well and the overall ergonomics of the thing are pretty bad in my opinion.

Maybe if you could get one extremely cheap it could be worth hacking on.

I would opt for a GamePark 32 over the Gizmondo myself.

[jonjandran]

I've got one.

The games suck and I have NEVER even got the GPS to connect. :angry:

POS !!!!!

[fishsandwich]

I've got one.

The games suck and I have NEVER even got the GPS to connect. :angry:

POS !!!!!


I have one, a US version.


I have one of these, and I like it overall.

So what games do you have? How are the graphics compared to the PSP? Are there ANY good games? Anyone have the whole set of games?

And are there any other games coming out for it other than homebrews and emulators?

[Candycab]

I've got one.

The games suck and I have NEVER even got the GPS to connect. :angry:

POS !!!!!


I have one, a US version.


I have one of these, and I like it overall.

So what games do you have? How are the graphics compared to the PSP? Are there ANY good games? Anyone have the whole set of games?

And are there any other games coming out for it other than homebrews and emulators?

Given the specs the hardware could have this thing has to have at least a few hombrew fans out there.

Look here ..... Gizmondo Forums (http://www.gizmondoforum.com/index.php)

From what I have seen the games look to be maybe around the same graphical level as the DS at best and nowhere near the PSP.

[tholly]

hahaha....I'm obviously a regular here and an avid collector and i didnt even know this got a US release.....hmmm.....news to me.....

[fishsandwich]

From what I have seen the games look to be maybe around the same graphical level as the DS at best and nowhere near the PSP.

Do you have one? The hard specs and some of the screenshots for a couple of games suggest more PSP than DS. Very clean texturing. This thing had almost NO support and from what I've read NONE of the games are pushing the hardware. If you actually have a Gizmondo and one of the more advanced games (Rich Burns Racing maybe?) I'd love to hear your honest hands-on opinions.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_1.jpg

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_2.jpg

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_3.jpg

[c0ldb33r]

I'm more interested in homebrew - I'm always looking for a cheap emulator :D

How's the homebrew?

[Bojay1997]

I would say that most of the games remind me of the less graphic intensive PSP titles like Lumines. The EA games appear to be direct ports of the N-gage versions right down to the limited frame rate and mediocre detail. That's not a slam on the N-gage, I have one and love it, but given the Gizmondo's specs, it really should be able to do much more than the commercially released titles have done to date.

[Joker T]

I'm more interested in homebrew - I'm always looking for a cheap emulator :D

How's the homebrew?

Your probabally better off with a Zodiac.

[Rev. Link]

I'd buy a Giz new for 40 quid. I'm having trouble locating one for under a Ben. I'm interested in getting one of these, as well as a Tapwave and an N-gage. Each I'd like to get kinda cheap. Anyone have a good lead, set me up. eBay's prices on these items haven't crashed, but the Tapwave prices certainly have gone down in the last few months.

I too would love to find a Gizmondo and N-Gage for cheap. I have to say, though, good luck finding a cheap Zodiac. I just ordered one of these from a seller on Amazon. I payed about $240 for a brand new model 2 (the one with the beefier ram, 128 megs I believe). Now, I know they were originally $400, but that's still a lot of money.

[Candycab]

From what I have seen the games look to be maybe around the same graphical level as the DS at best and nowhere near the PSP.

Do you have one? The hard specs and some of the screenshots for a couple of games suggest more PSP than DS. Very clean texturing. This thing had almost NO support and from what I've read NONE of the games are pushing the hardware. If you actually have a Gizmondo and one of the more advanced games (Rich Burns Racing maybe?) I'd love to hear your honest hands-on opinions.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_1.jpg

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_2.jpg

http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/5462/2h/images.gamezone.com/screens/25/0/72/s25072_giz_3.jpg

I had a chance to play something called Trailblazer which wasnt really too bad ,rather easy overall though I didnt spend a whloe lot of time playing it.

He also had a Motorcross game that pretty much sucked , it had a nice prerendered background on all the screens but the bikes themselves looked more sprite based and the frame rate wasnt very good at all. It wasnt fun to play and felt very clumsy.

I will say that the game that did actually get me interested in the Gizmondo itself was the Richard Burns game , I havent played it or seen it in action but Im a sucker for a good Rally game :) I dont meen to just bash the Gizmondo just for the heck of it and believe me Im no Fanboy of any sort ...I just really dont see where this thing is worth the money they sell for...But thats just me :0

It does intrest me some since you could probably do alot with the hardware if someone got rid of the crappy OS that comes with it { nothing seems to work correctly and when it does its pretty clunky } Im sure there are people outthere wrighting something new as we read this thread so there is always hope.

As was stated already in this thread ,the Tapwave is probably a better machine to fool around with ,It seems to have a very large userbase. The same friend that has the Gizmondo has a Zodiac II and its a pretty nice machine out of the box. Personally I like the GamePark 32 since its been around a bit longer and there are tons of programmes outthere on the usegroups with some almost perfect Emus for almost any console made.

You know I never looked but I wonder if www.gametrailers.com has any video reviews for the Gizmondo ? Their video reviews are pretty sweet :)

As for the resolution ....It is substancially less than a PSP and definitly a smaller screen and just from my own experience with it, the games may look nice in pics but dont run very smoothly and sort of crunch along with some clipping issues in both titles I played. Maybe someone could make this thing look and run aswell as a PSP but I doubt you will see it in any of the games that were actually released. I dont think any of the developers really had enough time playing with it to produce anything stellar ... But I could be wrong :) Wouldnt be the first time :D