GCW-Zero Handheld Gaming Console on Kickstarter
I first heard of the GCW Zero Kickstarter project a few days ago while reading an article from a well known PS Vita hacking forum, Wololo.net. The GCW Zero is a handheld gaming console designed with loads of oomph and grunt to finally play your collection of arcade classics smoothly, not to mention it's entirely opensource.
I own a PS Vita and have all the emulators I could desire on it but due to the nature of how they're run on a PS Vita the framerate for some emulators can get quite choppy especially with sound enabled. Each PS Vita exploit used to get me excited but none seem to have found a way to get more emulator performance out of the device.
The PS Vita is great at what Sony intended it to do, play Sony titles. I've finally come to the conclusion that I just need an unrestricted device designed for the purpose of playing emulator classics and opensource indie developed games, heck I might even write one!
The initial review on Wololo.net GCW Zero was underwhelming as the reviewer closely compared it's hardware to the PS Vita without actually testing the device hands-on. Now that's not to say he didn't like the idea he just couldn't justify getting one and didn't have a reference model for a proper review.
The marketing representative for GCW Zero has since been in touch with Wololo.net and have clearly demonstrated the raw grunt you can expect out of the GCW Zero. When compared to the PS Vita emulators the GCW Zero absolutely dominated it and this was my main reason for backing the project.
Since both posts from Wololo.net the founders of the GCW Zero project have increased the gaming devices DDR2 RAM from 256MB to 512MB. It's been said that this much ram isn't necessary at the moment but a little more can't hurt right?
The project is well on it's way to achieving it's kickstarter funding goal of $130K by 28th January according to kicktraq.com. It's already reached half of it's funding target and still has 11 days to go so you'd better hurry and back them to score one of these amazing gaming devices.
I'm not one to pay it forward or as they say kickitforward but I thought I'd share a link to this great gadget. I've come to the conclusion that for the minimum backing price of $135.00 to own this great console this handheld has a lot to offer for portable gamers that others do not. I seriously love arcade games and emulators so this device suits me perfectly.
Head to the link below to back this project. Oh and it comes in black. (Hook line from the campaign video lol)
very well said!
ReplyDeleteThis little machine with a strong community around it should be able to keep us engaged for quite some time, so many memories of console and early computer games to be able to play unmarred by bad emulation, the Android overhead lag, the necessity to hack a device just to be able to explore a machine's ability to emulate...
I am a backer, am also part of the original SE order's and am also the exclusive Australia/NZ reseller after Kickstarter for any not bought directly... so yes I have great faith in the project too, am also a Pandora owner (well still waiting on my original order but paid extra to get another sooner) still have a GP32 BLU in a drawer, this though makes far more sense... get on board!!