Games - GamePark

	Games - GamePark

Game Park is a Korean company responsible for creating the GP32 and XGP.

History

Foundation

Founded in 1996 in Korea, Game Park entered the industry with the idea of creating a portable video game console. The GP32 (Game Park 32-bit), their first system, was then in design. Several iterations of it were developed, including a metallic look, and a style issued from the original Game Boy design, a flat panel with a screen on the upper part and buttons on the lower part. After 4 years of development, Game Park ended up opting for a more plastic look, a lot like the Game Boy Advance.

Launch

The GP32 originally launched in Korea exclusively. Game Park had opted for a narrow-area market approach so they could better handle the production costs. The result was a small success in Korea. Initially, the GP32 launched with a 3.5 inch screen, 2 buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 function buttons (such as Start or Select) and 2 integrated speakers for stereo sound. It is almost physically the same as the GBA except for the bigger screen, better speakers and more comfortable handling.

Surprising Market

Though the GP32 was planned to be a gaming console, its game selection was not any better in relative quality or in sufficient quantity to compete against the Game Boy Advance. The system's success hinged on being an open source handheld attractive to independent developers and capable of supporting video and audio playback.

DivX

One of the biggest reason to import the GP32 was its capacity to play DivX movies, of course in low resolution and framerate compared to a modern PC, but better than the currently existing GBA video. People would often buy a GP32 only for this feature.

An Intelligent Operating System

Where the intelligence of the GP32 comes is its way of storing media and playing it. When you buy a game, you can either buy the box, or download it. Actually, the game you have in the box comes on a CD. The base principle of this is that the GP32 stores its media on SmartMedia cards varying in size up to 128Mb. This allows the user to store custom media, applications and games on his GP32, including alternative firmware.

When you receive the game CD, you simply put it in your PC, connect your GP32 to your PC by USB and transfer the game from the CD to your SM card. This effectively reduced the price of the games because you weren't paying for cartridges (though you still had to pay for high priced SMCs to store the games later on). Downloading a game online could range from $10 to $30 only.

HomeBrew Friendly==== Game Park wanted their system to be powerful and useful, but exceptionally, made for homebrew. When buying a GP32, you could register it on the official website and get a free suite of development tools to create your own games and applications for the GP32, completely free of charge. Moreover, you could even publish them by Internet on their website if they accepted.

Through this strategy, the powerful GP32 at the time (130 MHz and overclocked at 166 MHz and 188 MHz by some people, proving the GP32's quality due to overclock support) was the host of multiple home brew applications and games, even game makers resembling the popular game RPG maker. The various applications made for it ranged from alternative firmware (GUI), games, DivX players, image slideshow, game makers, and the last but not the least, emulators.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for GamePark ]

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