Pandora rolls into production this month, emulates Dreamcast now
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 2nd 2009 1:57PM
posted Oct 2nd 2009 1:57PM
The OpenPandora kids have dropped us a line to say that yes, finally, "after a lot of serious tweaking," it looks like Pandora is ready to roll. And as an added bonus, they've given us a little demonstration of the open source game platform rocking a Dreamcast emulator. Not that you'll be able to play The House of The Dead 2 flawlessly on the thing -- apparently the CPU suffers from some sort of floating point unit problem and a great many texture / blending modes are not supported. So don't abandon that Dreamcast Tablet just yet. As far as getting your hands on the handheld yourself, here's the skinny: of the four thousand devices in the initial lot, there are about a hundred units unspoken for and still available for pre-order. Priced at $330 each, if you're interested you'd better jump now -- there won't be another batch until 2010. In the meantime, you can see that Dreamcast emulator we told you about in action after the break.
[Thanks, Devon]
[Thanks, Devon]
See more video at our hub!
pandora for ever
Forever, it will remain without a decent game. Emulators are fun for a while but it finally comes down to Tekken 6, God of War, Motorstorm etc. Sorry, no purchase.
In addition to the thousands of great games it will emulate, check out some of these:
http://pandorapress.net/2009/10/02/brewed-at-home-brewed-for-pandora/
These are just a few of the games being developed BEFORE the console is out. Think of how it'll be when people actually have Pandoras to test software on! And, once it actually ships, and people see that it's real, it'll sell a lot more units...Which will in turn bring in potential new developers.
@Kurian:
which portable was Tekken 6 being released on?
That's like saying you'd rather have an x-box360 than a DSi...
Heh, you know what is funny? Someone in the community is also working on a PSP emulator.
It's been awhile. But as they say, good things come to those who wait.
Over a year though???? :-\
Danny F: Some things take certain finite amounts of time. The design and manufacturing process of a complicated electronic device is one of them. Deal with it.
@phawx
Point taken, I'm just merely stating that the pandora was announced far long ago and has met numerous delays. Even at times it seemed close to being vaporware. Now go back to acting sophisticated you poop head ^_^
^---- was directed to Atomicthumbs
My bad -___-
its probably worth noting that the emulator is a work in progress, with a lot more still to do and it does not even take advantage of the NEON capabilities yet. the floating point stuff is, i think, being worked on
It not be a CPU problem, it's just that the Dreamcast emulator requires a high amount of floating point operations which are currently being run with a helper on the main CPU instead of the Neon coprocessor which is a wiz at floating point. It's an early WIP emulator, the dev says that a 2x or higher speed boost is expected when FP is relegated to NEON.
on this display at the back there is a frame rate?
Yeah, since that is a dev unit he can display and send console commands from his pc.
I should get this so it could TAKE ME FOR A RIDE. I think that would be a COOL DECISION.
Gah, now it's stuck in my head.
I love how it took an open source gaming platform to nail down DUAL analog sticks.
Yeah, I was so excited about the PSP when it was announced...
until I found out it only had one thumb stick.
WOOOOT CANT WAIT TO PLAY POWERSTONEEE!!!
...and mayyybe house of dead :j
LOVE me some Dreamcast!
Ah, it must be fall again. The breeze gets a little bit cooler, the leaves start to turn, and the pandora guys claim they'll ship in just a few months.
Seriously, I think it's a great project, and I'd consider getting one....ONCE THEY SHIP. I'd personally be furious if I laid down my money a year ago on the promise of it shipping dec 08/jan 09. The sad thing is that the specs have gone from cutting edge to just good in the year they delayed.
It's still cutting edge considering no other gaming handheld is near as powerful (iPhone doesn't apply).
@cloud858rk
Nor is it even considered a handheld gaming console.
ITS A PHONE.Get over yourselves fanboi's. yes it can do alot but when it comes down to it, it was built as a phone and will always be a phone. Despite the apps, games, whatever software it can or can not run.
If the iPhone/iPod Touch had actual gaming controls it would be a contender for hardcore gaming fans.
The Pandora has the controls but not the major studio support for most hardcore gamers, but since it is aimed at a homebrew community and has PDA functionality, I think the creators will do quite well once the product actually comes to market.
Pretty kool
well it officially can play more good games than PSP
Pandora to the people! For the people, by the people.
Well Charlie, it wasn't as much they delayed as the process took much longer than anticipated, combine that with Banks acting stupid, A factory going out of business and other unforeseen events which added unexpected delays. That along with being quite naive about how long it takes to do something this difficult with your "team" being spread across the globe (Person A needs Person B to check certain Item, must ship to next country etc.) and yes, it has taken a long time. while the spec went from cutting edge to just really good, it still has no equal at present. Thankfully I have not had to wait as long as the others, and I already find it pretty annoying, yet when it's in my hands. All will be forgotten. WooHoo!
Also, being a former Dreamcast owner this video supposedly only shows 2 of 150 necessary shaders the rest haven't been implemented yet (Why there's no head in Shenmu but if you look near the beginning as they guy starts to run by you CAN see his head shape against background).
It's amazing the amount of speed it already has, appears nearly as fast as I remembered N64 emulation on PSP. These new coders can do some amazing things when people tell them it's just not possible.
(While no video's are yet available, there is a team working on N64 as well and the prognosis is very good, sounds like there's no reason not be to full speed on most games)
I'll be even more amazed if the PSP emulator actually happens. That would be insane!
Former Dreamcast owner? Shame on you! xD
Finally! A use for my ridiculously extensive collection of Dreamcast games!
Blaargh, ive said it before, and i'll say it again. Until I see one in someones hand that isnt attached to the project somehow im still declaring this Phantom style vapourware.
How about software developers who are making games/emulators and have posted videos? Do they count?
http://pandorapress.net/2009/07/05/video-game-boy-ahoy/
No, they do not. Im talking about real actual customers with the device in their hands doing everything that all these poor schmo's who have dumped countless dollars into the device doing what they said it would.
If it's already past multiple working prototypes and into final production, it's far beyond vaporware.
...unless the whole thing is a well orchestrated scam by the original GP2X creators, who made the device with shit control, for the purpose of staging a development project by the forum members. And if that's the case: nice scam!!!
I don't quite understand why Christian Walters is getting voted down. The product has not gotten into the hands of any paying customers, people who paid 300+ over a year ago.
I am very interested in the device, but until I see actual paying customers using the device, I'm holding off. It has the stench of vaporware.
@atomicthumbs Not when those same 'developers' have claimed to run Mac OS on a Genesis.
Fake.
Man, Dreamcast is old. When are they going to emulate the Okama Gamesphere?
Speaking as a Pandora "customer" who's been waiting for a long long time in two month increments, I'd say hold off until these actually exist.
Wouldn't have been such a big deal if they hadn't constantly been promising that it was just two months away.
Powerstone, Soulcaliber , Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, Marvel Vs Capcom 1 and 2, my oh my
Still waiting for battery, heat and ergonomics/comfort information, especially since I won't drop $330 for the privilege of getting a 1st-gen device before anyone's reviewed it.
Battery: 4400 mAh lithium-polymer; 14 straight hours of playing games (tested by the devs with an emulator)
Heat: negligible; ARM processors are very efficient
Ergonomics: it's the size of an original DS; it fits nicely in the hands, according to the devs (and proven by various videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkbFdJG5xuY&feature=player_profilepage )
To the people who keep saying "A year ago it would have been cutting edge, now it's just par.." etc- I don't see how you can say that when it still kicks DS and PSP butt in terms of raw processing power (and controls IMO). How many times in the past has an open gaming system beat the big console system companies?
I get that we now have cell phones that match it's processing power- but the form factor is way different. If you don't like the form factor, that's fine. Personally I think it's a dream device.
Kicking the DS? Sure... The PSP ... Now your going a bit overboard. Yes, the CPU is way better then what the PSP has. But its GPU is not on par with the PSP's. But yea... The PSP is also how many years old now? How many year in the customers hands?
Also, the claim that cell phone's match its processing power ... Sure, maybe for the iPhone 3GS, or the Palm Pre. But have you looked beyond them, to devices like:
Toshiba TG01
Asus F1 ( S200 )
HTC HD2 ( Leo ). Shipping this month.
They all use a Snapdragon at 1Ghz. Thats 40% faster then the TI's OMAP3630 used in the Pandora. What about graphics? The GPU on the Snapdragon is also faster by about +-50%. How about the DSP core... 600Mhz vs 430Mhz.
The thing that the Pandora has going for itself is: Controls, big battery.
But there is stops. Especially now that devices are coming on the market with large screens like the HTC HD2, with capative multi touch... Whoeps. Allowing gaming... Take a look at the some video's posted by i900frenchaddict with the fpsce psx emulator on the tg01 ( http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=i900frenchaddict&view=videos ). All games run at there 50/60 ( pal/ntsc ) speed ( they are actually deliberately limited to there original framespeed, or else they run to fast. ;)
So ... in maybe a month the first people from the 4000 will see there Pandora's ( thats what people hope... Just like most off us hoped when we preordered to see it in 2008! ). By the time that the last people from the 4000 will get there pre-orders, its going to be 2010.
Its no accident that they are not going to do a new batch this year, because they also know to do all the 4000 orders, they are probably doing to deliver the last one's in start 2010...
And with a bit off luck, we see the new 45nm Snapdragon, TI Omap, etc devices. And the gap will just increase even more...
Lets hope on now other problems *lol* ;)
Doesn't the Pandora already have a full-speed PS1 emulator?
I mean, I understand what you are saying Benjiro, but that example wasn't great.
@ Benjiro
The GPU is much faster than the PSP's GPU, the PSP technology is way outdated. The only reason it's a better portable gaming console than iphone/ipod is the actual dedicated game controls. This makes all the difference in gaming.
I'm also pretty sure that no console is using the snap dragon chipset making this the best in the market. There is also the fact that you can overclock the specs too from what I read in the developers blog. Though I also like the fact you can even underclock to get even more battery life, which is insane. This might even compete with the DS on battery life.
Seriously, the gaming controls are perfect the only problem is the lack of a click button on the joysticks. Also a real qwerty keyboard and huge screen is nice.
I'm also sure that companies are taking their time with releasing a new console, especially since the PSP Go and DSi are all pretty recent releases.
I'm also not too sure if the homebrew gaming market in those phones will grow. Seeing as how they're marketed as phones first and foremost.
I wonder how many of the remaining preorders are left now that it has been featured on this blog again...
Oh, and the devs are planning to release another good video a little bit after Oct 15th when the finalized unit is actually in their hands.
Still close to 4,000. They've only got a few hundred slots still open. After a year of waiting, not many dropped their preorders.
I wouldn't say the GPU is faster than the PSP GPU. It has a lot more features and gives a lot more bang per watt, but if you pulled a PSP battery out and put it into a PSP you would shrink the battery life from 14 hours to much less than half.
I don't get what you're trying to say here