OpenPandora to soon bring gaming to your palm
(Credit:
OpenPandora)
Ars Technica is reporting that Pandora, a long-anticipated open-source gaming handheld designed to compete with Nintendo's DS, Sony's PlayStation Portable, and other mobile-gaming devices (and not to be confused with the popular Internet music service), will be released in 2009. No firm date has been released.
The project, however, still needs some work:
Judging by the video, there's still quite a bit of work to be done on the case itself. But the team has had working hardware for the innards for some time now, so some final fabrication, polish, and (quality assurance) work seem to be the only things that stand in the way of the release, which once seemed to be a mere fantasy.
And how. To me, the device looks a bit Soviet. While it certainly has an appeal to the hard-core open-source geek, as demonstrated by selling out its first 3,000-device run in September 2008, I wonder if it will manage to find much of a market beyond that crowd. It is mostly intended to run "home brew" games and older console games, which is fun but unlikely to draw in new gaming consumers.
Even so, it's an interesting experiment worth watching.
Follow me on Twitter at mjasay.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
There's been several stabs at open source gaming platforms but I remain skeptical anyone but the most hardcore of geeks would ever want such a device. Hardcore gamers go where the games are, and Linux is where the games aren't. Specs aren't bad but its just another device to cart around that isn't as functional as a Netbook for being UMPC or DS/PSP for gaming, or as mobile as an iPhone.
thanks for the video links maso
it could warrant a pruchase when it comes out. definitely beats a laptop in bed. just so annoying.
Its not meant to compete with the psp or ds
it has a full linux OS (angstrom) and supports many apps (firefox, abiword, etc)
estimates put it at 4x as powerful as the psp
10+ hours battery life
already emulates (fullspeed!!) ps1, snes, many others
expected to emulate N64 and run doom 3
could possibly emulate NDS
Its currently in prototyping, the most recent video has an FDM case. The final case will look ALOT better. Look for the video with the CNC (final) case in a few weeks.
You might be able to order one in a few weeks. Go to the site (openpandora.org) and sign up for the newsletter to be told when. the first batch likely will ship in late march / april.
It's not.
"Judging by the video, there's still quite a bit of work to be done on the case itself"
This is a 3D-printed FDM case, for making sure all the components fit. They're getting a CNC'd case in a few days, for showing off what the Pandora will look like when it's finished and shipped.
"To me, the device looks a bit Soviet"
See above.
"It is mostly intended to run "home brew" games and older console games, which is fun but unlikely to draw in new gaming consumers."
It's not meant to be a commercial console on the scale of the DS and the PSP.
- by wardred22 March 6, 2009 3:51 PM PST
- As others have mentioned, this isn't really meant to compete with the PSP or DS. While I'd LOVE to see this hit 1million units shipped over it's lifetime, I'd be surprised if it hit this number. I'm thinking getting out of the 10's of thousands would surprise and please the developers, but I could be wrong. I have no idea how many GP32x's and their brethren have sold, and this is, while somewhat more expensive, a much more capable machine in every way...just adding 3D acceleration is the tip of the iceberg.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(11 Comments)It IS a niche product, but I think niche products like this serve two purposes. First, they're FUN. The ability to develop a 2D or 3D game for a hand held with full support of the developers, rather than working around the developers ala jail breaking the PSP has a lot of appeal to me. (Or any other gaming / movie watching / music listening / micro netbook uses you'd care to put this to.)
Second, if there are enough devices like this, then Linux may stop being the pariah of the gaming world. Even if it's only gaming for smart phones and hand helds, that's a huge step forward in my opinion. Eventually I could see a Linux based console / media center based on similar but more powerful technology - but that's my own little pipe dream.
Finally, this device may not be quite as niche as some are assuming. The OMAP3 chip set is going to be used in a number of consumer electronics, so porting something from a OMAP3 smart phone to the Pandora - or vice versa for that matter, shouldn't be difficult at all. I could see a game developed and released open source on the Pandora, and sold as a commercial game on company X's smart phone. (Or commercial or open source on both platforms.)