What do you do when you’re fed up with big corporations making game-systems that have the power but fall short in the software department? You open Pandora’s Box and design your own handheld. This is just what seven developers did when they decided to design, manufacture and sell Pandora–a completely open-source gaming system that also ends up being a pretty powerful little handheld device.
Remember yesterday’s post on Gizmondo? Well, in a lot of ways, this is Gizmondo 2.0.
Pandora has a 600MHz processor, a dedicated graphics card, supports WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and runs Linux. It’s 4.3 inch display is an LCD touchscreen and supports 800×480 resolution (the resolution of an Asus eee pc’s screen). It has Dual analog and digital gaming controls, a 43-button QWERTY keyboard and sports two SDHC card slots. It’s also got an S-Video TV output. So, it mirrors the Gizmondo’s specs in more than a few ways. However, while Pandora can’t connect via mobile phone networks it does have the WiFi that the Gizmondo was missing.
Pandora also comes in at a bit cheaper than the defunct device, after September 30, 2008, it’ll be available in the US for $330. That may not seem that much cheaper than the big G, but considering that this project is specifically designed to support open source, home brew communities, you must understand they’re not likely to make as much off of things like licensing deals and truly high-volume sales.
But there’s even more to consider about Pandora.
For starters, the size of the device. On the official website, OpenPandora.org, Pandora is described as being around the size of a Nintendo DS. That’s pretty tiny. Then, think about those specs.
Five years ago, you’d find full-priced computers with similar specifications. Since it runs Linux you know a lot more is possible than simply sticking a cartridge in this thing and playing a single game. The idea behind Pandora is to avoid the difficulties you run into when you realize the hardware in your hand is capable of so much more than just gaming. There are home brew communities for every handheld gaming platform out there because everyone wants to do more than giant corporations will let them do.
This is why the PSP gets hacked and then rehacked every time Sony releases a new firmware update. It’s why the iPhone gets jailbroken and unlocked. People just want to do what they want with their devices. However, companies like Apple, Sony and Nintendo would rather you not do certain things, so they do their best to stop users from having that kind of freedom. The way around this is by avoiding the big corporate machines all together and go with an independent machine like Pandora.
This is really a neat idea. I of course would not have the first clue on how to design my own game but I could see people really liking this idea.