Android Gaming :)

Xperia Play...

 

 It was a great device for a while, but I kept having problems with it... Usually with the screen. I would either accidentally get cleaning alcohol under the glass and ruin the screen, or accidentally break the connector to the ribbon cable for the digitizer when I opened it up, or once I dropped it from a very short distance and the screen cracked. Over all I went through about 3 or 4 used devices in a 2 year span, each one being a frankenstein hackup of spare parts. 

I just couldn't maintain one that worked, it seemed. Also the D-Pad was a bit weird, you could technically press all 4 directions at the same time which was weird for shmups. So I pretty much only used it for platformers. 

It's also aging now and the CPU is a bit slow. 

So I was on the hunt for a new Android device. A chinese company called JXD made tons of cheap portables, many of them looking like PSP knockoffs...  Stuff like this:

Looks fine actually, except they are incredibly difficult to get hold of! It's almost like the company makes small production runs of them and then once they sell them all, you can't get them anymore. So even though sites like Willgoo would show them in the list, they would always be "out of stock".

Then I came across something really interesting... The GPD XD...

 

Clearly inspired by the Nintendo 3DS design. 

Specs:

CPU Quad Core Rockchip RK3288 which I think can hit about 1.8ghz

2GB RAM

5" IPS capacitive touch screen, 1280x720

6000mah battery which gives about 8 hours game time (Nice!) 

Looking good, and also the clamshell design is great because the screen is less likely to get scratched in storage. 

My primary concern is how the D-Pad feels. But, I read a forum thread where people modified theirs with a rubber membrane from a Wii remote. Sounds exactly like the kind of crazy thing I'd do   :)    (One of the first things I did with my PSP when I got it 10 years ago was modify the D-Pad) 

So I ordered one the other day. It should be here in a few weeks. 

Then I'll be able to get back to some of my favorite android games...

Rico

 

MOS Speedrun

 

Gnarbike Trials

 

And of course, I'm going to try some crazy Twin Stick shooters like this (Ballistic SE):

 

And other Geometry Wars style games. Very exciting  :) 

And finally, in slightly different news, GPD also has another console in the works... The GPD WIN...

 

Crazy right? It actually runs an x86 CPU and Windows 10 home. Kinda similar to Pandora, but hopefully this one won't be vaporware. They've already met their fundraising goal and so now it's just a matter of waiting until October until it comes to the market. 

It's $300 if you pre-order one, and the retail price is supposed to be $500. Hoping it will come down after a while though. I really can't justify $300 on a device that I won't be receiving for 7 months. 

Think of the gaming you could do on a Windows device though.... Tons of homebrew shmups   :) 

And not only that, but:

 

 

Writing music on it. Oh yeah   :)   It might not be great for Renoise due to CPU and screen size, but I think it would be great for Klystrack and even Sunvox     :) 

Well, in conclusion, this is an exciting time for technology   :)