Hands On: GamePark's GP2X Wiz

The folks at Gamepark have just sent us over the company’s newest handheld linux gaming system the GP2X Wiz. The glossy black and red unit arrived in a plain brown cardboard box with a single USB cable…that’s it. We’re assuming the retail version will come in fancier packaging.

Thankfully the unit was shipped with a bit of juice so we were able to turn it on. The OLED touchscreen was nice and bright, and quite responsive to touch. A stylus can also be used if you don’t want to smudge the glossy screen with your fingers.

The unit came loaded with 7 games. We couldn’t resist but load up Snake On Dope. Within seconds we were greeted with Afroman’s “Because I Got High”.  This is basically a new twist on the classic Snake arcade game where you eat apples and dodge your tail. The only difference is the screen starts to wobble as if you’re about to pass out. The more apples you eat, the more the screen wobbles, and the more difficult it gets.

Should be interesting to see what games come out for this unit since it was designed for homebrew developers as well as commercial developers. Most gamers are probably more interested in the fact that you can run emulators on this little guy from consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, NES, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16, MAME and others. The unit can also supposedly be used to play MP3′s, and read Ebooks.

We’ll be putting it through the ringer to see if the GP2X is worth the hype. Check back soon to see our full review.

UPDATE: Read our full review here