GP2X: Handheld gaming gets even geekier

By Rory Reid on 16 March 2006, 1:12pm

There's far too much choice when it comes to snazzy handheld multimedia and gaming devices. There's the PlayStation Portable, the Nintendo DS, the Nokia N-Gage, all sorts of Game Boys, and a clutch of portable media players.

The latest to join the fray is the little-known GP2X. It looks like a cross between a PSP and the newly designed Nintendo DS Lite, and allows you to play games, listen to audio, and view photos and ebooks.

It uses a version of the Linux operating system, dual 200MHz processors, and has a TFT screen running at a resolution of 320x240 pixels. It supports DivX, WMV and AC3 movies, but the manufacturers claims its internal 64MB of NAND memory helps it play any movie at any resolution without the need to re-encode them -- just stick them on a memory card and the GP2X does the rest.

More interestingly for gamers, it's compatible with the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) standard, so you can use it to play all your favourite arcade titles. You can also output the video signal to your TV or monitor for big-screen gaming, and if you're feeling geekish, you can make your own games and apps with the System Development Kit (SDK) included in the package.

The whole thing runs off two AA batteries, is said to have a five-hour battery life, and is compatible with SD memory cards. At £125, it's sounding extremely tempting. Fingers crossed, ours should be arriving shortly, so we'll give you the full lowdown in the near future. -RR