Retro gaming all under one, portable roof: GP2X Wiz

The ever increasingly powerful gaming consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have given gamers the ability of near photorealistic games that truly place you in the action. Some games are so graphically intense and beautiful, you may have to at times pinch yourself to make sure you really aren’t in the game. Games have come quite a ways from their humble days not so long ago when the bleeding edge of gaming was measured in bits. While modern games and all of the graphical eye candy are sure a treat to feast on, sometimes you just want to blow an evening controlling a character made out of a couple dozen blocks. Retro games, firing up the ‘ol *insert classic gaming system here*, and reliving your youth can bring back a part of your childhood that to many is a welcome vacation from the everyday realities we face. What if you could take all of that retro goodness in your pocket? Not just one system. But all of them?

One of the bonus of advancements in gaming hasn’t been the visual side only. Shrinking components means smaller systems, more energy efficiency, and unique designs. What if you could take just about any classic game from any classic system and play it, on the go, on a unit roughly the size of an old game boy? Yes…you can. The GP2X Wiz is your all-in-one retro gaming geek toy from heaven above. Games from the likes of Atari ST, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NeoGeo, Flash Games and so much more. No matter how much you pinch yourself, you aren’t going to “wake up” because this is reality.

Besides getting all dorky with games, you can fire up several video formats including but not limited to MPEG4, Xvid and DIVX. Continuing on this journey, the GP2X Wiz will also handle eBooks, calendars, voice recordings, and so on. A gadget of all trades really. (Hopefully not jack of all, master of none). The unit comes with 1GB of built in storage with a SD/SDHC for giving your 1′s and 0′s some more breathing room. Powering the unit, a not to shabby ARM9 processor clocked at 533 MHz (easily overclockable to 800 MHz) means games should run smoothly and stutter free. Because many geeks like retro games, an active developer community ensures tweaks, tips, and help how-to’s are never more than a simple Google search away.

One tiny thing worth noting, if you were planning on heading out and getting this for your dear ‘ol dad or younger brother, you may want to hold off if they’re not an actual Geek as the unit doesn’t ship with anything on it save for a few flash games. To get the goods you’ll need to download the desired emulators and ROM’s onto the device. Likewise, running each emulator and ROM is different meaning nothing is uniform further hindering the “pickup and play” ability for more casual gamers. Further complicating the case for casual gamers, documentation and help can be hard to find. Again, Google will end up being your best friend in the event something goes awry. Finally, because you’re emulating gaming environments, expect some games to simply refuse to run correctly or even at all.

If you’ve made it this far and are a true die hard geek and retro gamer, the convenience of a device like the Wiz is certainly hard to ignore.

Features:

• Portable retro gaming system can emulate a plethora of old systems and arcade games

• Emulation Software Available for: MAME (retro arcade games), Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore VIC20/64/128, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, NeoGeo and many more

• High-resolution OLED touchscreen with removable stylus

• Buit-in 2000mAh Lithium Polymer Battery runs the system for up to 7 hours

• Charges via USB

• Gaming controls feature a d-pad on the left with buttons/d-pad on the right and two shoulder buttons on the top

Hardware/Software Specs:

• CPU: ARM9 533MHz (overclockable to 800MHz), H/W 3D Accelerator

• RAM: 64GB

• Built-in Storage: 1GB

• Dsiplay: 71.12mm(2.8inch) QVGA OLED Touch Screen

• Expansion Port – SD/SDHC

• O/S – Linux

• Battery – 2000mAh Lithium-ion Polymer

• Charging System – AC Power / USBPort

• Audio – Built-in Stereo Speakers and 3.5mm headphone jack

• Bit Rate – Image: Max 2500kbps, Sound: Max 384kbps

• Video Resolution – Max480*272 30fps

• Video Formats Supported – MPEG4, Xvid, DivxAVI

• Audio Formats Supported – OGG, WAV

• Built in Flash Light 8.0 Support

• Subtitles – smi File

• Stop by Open Handhelds for a vast selection of emulators and ROM’s to get you going

Think Geek

Author: Mike Norris

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Gadget lover, smartphone collector, and beer connoisseur. I've been writing about gadgets for three years now and loving every minute of it. Outside of the digital landscape, I enjoy being active outdoors. I'm always up for a good conversation, so feel free to drop me a line!