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Doh! I thought you meant Frontal Assault!

The link that SHOULD be included in every future GP2X news item is Here. An avid member of the GP2X community has written an amazing review of pretty much everything the GP2X can do at present with the included software, many homebrew applications, and various linux applications. It covers native games[1], homebrew linux games, emulators running many consoles up to the SNES/PSX era, and media applications. It includes pictures and screenshots of the unit doing its various things. Also included is a *VIDEO* of the unit in action, showing just how well it emulates various systems at present[2] and runs various ported games (ultima 7 and duke nukem 3d are shown. not shown is a nice working Quake 1 port).

Read the review. Watch the video. Then buy a GP2X since you will be convinced. I ordered mine yesterday and plan to use it primarily as a media player[3] but also as a gaming console via emulators and native games.

[1] - Commercial developers are porting GBA and other similar-requirement games directly to the GP2X, they boot directly into the game software with no OS. Check out screenshots and videos of Payback for the GBA and then imagine the same game at 2x the resolution with 4xAA and network support.

[2] - Most available emulators are ports of existing emulators written for x86 Linux. This means they need new emulation cores written in ARM asm to run well, and they need massive changes to utilize the GP2X's dual core ARM architecture.

[3] - The GP2X can decode divx, among other codecs. It can output to a TV at 720p HD, an amazing feature for a handheld media player, or just display at QVGA on the internal lcd. I have a 4GB SD card to fill with movies to watch on the go, and plan to put a 400GB external USB hard drive under the seat in my car to house my movie/mp3 collection to play through this device.

An OSS Project for GTA1 would be amazing.

Although not open, there's Payback, a gta1 clone coming out for linux.

Okay, so with a dev time that long, why does the game still look like ass? The GBA can do a lot better - I was in the GBA development scene for a while, and found a game by Apex Designs (which is pretty much a one-man outfit, a crazily talented programmer by the name of James Daniels) called Payback. It's in 3d with weather effects, night levels, explosions, the works. The gameplay is much the same as GTA, it's just a beautiful game - and of course, since it's on GBA and doesn't have a big-name license, it doesn't have a publisher. Looking at the GTA screenshots I'm not impressed and IMO they should've hired James or maybe just bought his engine outright. There's no excuse for graphics that crappy this late in the life cycle of the GBA.

By the way, if anyone knows what's happening with Payback, if he's found a publisher or just given up... feel free to reply here. I'd buy that game in a heartbeat if it was available.

Go take a look at Bobbee Tec's engine, the Yeti3D engine, or Apex Designs' Payback. The Doom port wasn't very good, but it's not near the best the hardware has to offer.

1. Doesn't the Gameboy have some very primitive true 3D shooters, like Ecks vs. Sever and some other FPS? And Iridion 3D?

This thing has PS1 level graphics.

So does the GBA. Point?

I'm waiting for Payback by Apex Design.

An awesome looking GTA2 killer, should be availible any week now.

Noone uses the Amiga :)