Shadowcat on 29/5/2009 at 01:53

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Aha. D'oh :)

Not if (like me) they've never heard of pandora.com. Besides, I'm certain that most people will be thinking of one of the most famous items in all of Greek mythology, before they think of a web site.

I do agree that it's an odd choice. Yes, it's a (sort of) box, but it's a strange association to make in other respects :)

edit: Although in retrospect, maybe the "box" is completely irrelevant, and it is indeed a direct reference to Pandora herself, which actually makes a little more sense to me (albeit not a lot).

edit 2: OTOH (slaps forehead), the logo is a box, so let's just ignore my previous edit :)

Here's another link, with a nice overview of some specs and features:
(http://www.eeextra.com/news/pandora-the-ultimate-opensource-handheld-game-console.html)

And an unofficial news site (edit: oops, already linked into that one, above. oh well.)
(http://openpandora.wordpress.com/)

edit: And for the technically-inclined, here's the work-in-progress diary for a port of Homeworld to the Pandora:
(http://homesource.nekomimicon.net/sourceforum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=284)

Aerothorn on 28/10/2009 at 11:07

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Mixed feelings about this. It looks awesome, but the downside of something like this (as compared with a DS or even a PSP) is that there aren't really "new" games for it - it's more intended for playing classics, and I imagine the community will be too small to do any real development.

Also, it runs Linux- which means it could be hard getting some PC games to run, right? Or am I just stuck in Linux Past?

I am attracted to it for some emulation, but (if I was more daring and wasn't afraid of bricking it) I could also use the PSP for that.

Shadowcat on 28/10/2009 at 19:27

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Just because the gap isn't huge, doesn't mean it's not there. There is a definite audience for what it offers. It's never going to be as popular as the DS, but I seriously doubt it was ever expected to be.

Exactly. A portable device with proper gaming controls (including dual analogue sticks) that runs a huge variety of emulators (without the need to mess with the official firmware), is powerful enough to run more modern 3D games when source code is available, and can act as a regular computer if you want to check something online/play media/etc... Damned if I care whether anyone writes "new" games for it, frankly.

It won't run too many PC games. That's the most disappointing thing for me -- it runs DOS Box, but because it doesn't have an x86 CPU (and because DOS Box is a complicated beastie), performance is too slow for anything much. TIE Fighter is a slide-show, for instance.

There is some hope, mind. One brilliant guy wrote a recompiler that has been shown capable of making ARM-native versions of PC games. It requires manual assistance, however, so is obviously still a job for people who really know what they're doing, but I would anticipate that a few games may get ported using this method.

I don't have a portable gaming console, so there's really no contest to my mind. The Pandora simply looks much nicer than anything else out there.

Shadowcat on 29/10/2009 at 20:46

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They sell hardware, the necessary software drivers, and a distribution of linux with a few appropriate customisations. What are Nintendo (or anyone else) going to sue them for?

And hell, if that was even a possibility, I think it would already have befallen the GP32/GP2X/Wiz.

dj_ivocha on 30/10/2009 at 16:14

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And the PSP simply facilitates all those GBC/GBA/N64 and other emulators. What is... hmm, Nintendo :idea: gonna sue Sony for?