Ive gotten a Gizmondo. Anyone else here got one? I need help

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Ive gotten a Gizmondo. Anyone else here got one? I need help

Post by Anonymous » Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:11 pm

Well basically i have trouble finding where to change time and date for it. Ive tried the paper quick-manual and the in depth PDF manual but i cant find how..

Browsing the menues doesnt help me either. Im aware this is a long shot considering most you guys are from USA, where the Gizmondo sold even worse than in europe, but maybe someone can help..

Regards,
grimm

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Post by Austin » Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:39 am

I'm afraid I can't offer much help, but I wish I could get one. Despite the flack it gets, I've seen various videos of some of the games on it, and they actually look pretty good. I really want to play that one.. Ah, what's it called.. I don't remember off the top of my head, but it seems like a modern take on an old DOS PC game I used to play a lot, called Sky Roads (and that I believe was based on an older concept).

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:26 am

Yeah ive always found it intriguing myself too. I finally got one off amazon.fr, brand new. Sadly the box was a bit caved in, but otherwise everything is indeed brand new. it even came with the premium battery and lid, despite it not being a premium bundle.

Ive also been contacted by a guy here in sweden who is gonna sell me 14 of the 15 officially released games in europe for it, at a decent cost. 9 of them are sealed.

I really like the build quality of it, it has a rubberized finish, the buttons are very rugged and feels very responsive, if perhaps a tad stiff. The screen is big enough and it put together very well. You can hardly notice the "seam" between the two halves of the shell. The gps is of course offline these days, and so are the smart-adds (this is a smart-adds model), but im gonna try out the sms feature once my new sim card arrives for it.

Im gonna update it with service pack b, which means you can run emulators and homebrew on it. Lots of goodies to check out over at Gizmondo Central. If anyone wants to check out a really unique little thing years ahead of its time (3DO feeling anyone??), check out the Gizmondo!

I still need help fixing time and date, i dont wanna live in 2004!

Btw Austin, several Gizmondo's are available on ebay.com and .co.uk right now at dfferent price points, just make sure you get a healthy battery with it. Those bastards are hard to find it seems.

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Post by Austin » Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:41 am

Man, if I didn't just buy a pinball machine ($$$, haha), I'd slap this Gizmondo on the credit card: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gizmondo-System ... 43b90d6eb3

It's pricey, but you seem to rarely see them boxed nice like that, not to mention with the loads of games.

Ah, also, I believe Trailblazer is the game I was thinking of (it's in that auction).

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:49 am

Yes that auction is a fair deal. Not cheap, but not expensive either considering.. Provided the battery is healthy. I had my eyes on that auction myself, but decided against it and to focus on getting a NEW system. The guy selling me the games was just luck, as he saw me write about it on Gizmondo Catch-up on facebook, and contacted me. Not many people look there i think.

But either if that auction is sold when you can afford it, they do pop up now and then, so its not impossible to pick one up by any means, but the longer you wait the fewer are prolly letting theirs go. You can pick up unboxed gizmondos in good shape with charger and battery for around £60 on ebay i believe.

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:17 am

Don't have one, but doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy picking one up eventually ... the system has such a soap operaish story surrounding it, that it's an infamous part of video game history!
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

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Post by Austin » Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:32 am

Trev wrote:the system has such a soap operaish story surrounding it, that it's an infamous part of video game history!
That's the sad part about it, really. It has some really solid looking titles, yet it gets slapped on every "worst of" list simply because of the infamous history behind it. Stupid mainstream gaming news media, ugh.. Pretty much the same way the N-Gage gets put on "worst of" lists, because of the "side talking" of the first model (completely overlooking the fact it had many good games later on in its life and a really nice second model). I digress, I guess.

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 09, 2013 3:37 am

N-Gage is another one I wouldn't mind having (not the "taco" model) :P
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

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Post by Austin » Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:07 am

The Taco model is fine these days. I mean, you won't be talking on it. Taking the battery out to replace the game is annoying, but it's not like it takes long. Obviously inexcusable for a new device nearly a decade ago (sheesh has it really been that long?), but if you're playing it at home it's not much of a problem.

The QD is definitely the way to go, but the buttons on it can be stiff. Still, it's pretty nice considering what it was for the time. Still looks pretty slick, too. Always liked the design of the QD. It also has some menus that are designed differently on the later model, to make the overall feel be more like a game system. The taco N-Gage is standard Symbian OS through and through without the slight facelift the QD had at parts. The QD also has a slightly larger screen and is brighter.

I don't know why I just rambled like that, because the QD is definitely the better model of the two. But I guess the point I was trying to make is, if you found a taco one cheap, no reason not to snap it up really. That is, if you're just going to be playing games. Funny enough, the sound is louder on the first model, and I think it has a standard headphone jack (not the super mini one on the QD). That's something I never understood about the QD.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:41 am

I dont see the problem with "taco talking". are people so concerned over how they LOOK when they talk on a phone? has it really stooped to that level?

The problem with the first n-gage model was the game/battery issue.

And yes, the gizmondo has no merits for ending up on "the worst console" lists, only "the worst selling console" lists.. It isnt a BAD console. I like watching such lists because even if i dont like certain consoles on them, i find the reason people give are just bogus and stupid. Rarely have any relevance at all. The only console i feel consistently fits on such lists is the Virtual Boy.. Because of the health issues involved. Stiff neck, nausea etc.

The gizmondo is actually really nice, and i intend to do some reviews on the games once ive gotten them. some do look poor, both most look solid for a handheld, and some look like great fun as well.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:29 pm

There lives a gremlin in my Gizmondo! It has updated the time and date for me while the console was stood on standby during a trip to town. When i got home and brought it out of standby it had todays date, but was 1h ahead of time. I jumped into the Timezone setting, and went to UK timezone, and it updated to that, went back to Sweden's timezone, and it updated to that. So now my Gizmondo displays correct time and date. i have NO idea how it did this, especially since the sim card inside shows up as "No Network" in the OS..

I doubt i will ever find out how, but i would LOVE to know how it did this, considering it thought it was late 2004 half a day ago!

I like the Gizmondo even more now, for being that smart! *pets the gremlin inside*

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:41 pm

That's cool that it's working now! I'd enjoy hearing your impressions of some of the games one you spend some time with it.


My dislike of the "taco" n-gage model isn't from how it is as a phone, but just the overall look of it. I remember when it was revealed back in the day, I thought the layout was ugly even prior to learning how it worked as a phone.
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:22 pm

Just got off the phone with the guy selling me the games, he had it all ready and packed, and i got his bank info. So come monday morning, im $370 dollars poorer, but also 14 games richer a few days after that. Gonna be interesting checking these games out.

Been playing the Trailblazer demo that came with the console, the races are short, but seem increasingly difficult, and ive yet to get any gold medals with my time on the 3 races it comes with. Really perfect for handheld gaming. Short but fun.

Sadly, the console's low battery life was not an understatement though, its really short.

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Post by Trev » Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:34 am

grimm wrote:
Sadly, the console's low battery life was not an understatement though, its really short.
How short?
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:26 pm

Well i havent fiddled with it continously through full to empty battery warning so i cant tell, but ill have a better idea once the games get here. Cant really get films to play well on it to try it that way either, its a little choppy even though the resolution is low and near the 320x240 resolution the gizmondo uses. I dont know why...

Ive fiddled around with the menus and leave it on standby for most of the time to try the standby time. Info suggests up to 80 hours standby on the premium battery. This isnt the case, but then again im not sure how well the battery has stood the test of time, it is new, but has been shelved for the past 7-8 years. I can run it for a couple of days on standby with the occasional fiddle through that time. There are homebrew solutions for the battery issue however, and im gonna create an external aa battery craddle for it eventually

I will play games continuously once the games get here and ill report back on the battery.

Gizmondo Central has a few links to PDF files on other battery solutions if you are interested in checking those out.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/justincast ... tmisc.html

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Post by Martin III » Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:20 am

Austin wrote:
Trev wrote:the system has such a soap operaish story surrounding it, that it's an infamous part of video game history!
That's the sad part about it, really. It has some really solid looking titles, yet it gets slapped on every "worst of" list simply because of the infamous history behind it. Stupid mainstream gaming news media, ugh..
I don't think it's just because of its history. Usually such lists also make prominent mention of the fact that the regular model was ridiculously expensive and the cheaper model required you to watch three commercials a day. I've heard the very limited games library and low battery life cited as well. Though I would agree that it's stupid that the car-bifurcation is mentioned at all. The first time I heard about it, all I could think was, "And this is connected to the quality of the Gizmondo how, exactly?"

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:49 am

The company didnt go under because of quality issues with the device. The company went under because of .com-style lavish squandering of funds, poor marketing strategies, and the fact that high business is hypocritical about who is on the board of directors etc.. Its ok do be a criminal/ex-criminal if no one knows about it or if you keep it quiet, as long as you have cash, power and management skills etc.. The gizmondo stock was way up there, and the minute Stefan Eriksson and his past was known to the investors and the stock market, the stock was worth nothing.

I dont know Stefan Eriksson, but its been established that he did run a criminal enterprise for 1-2 decades, and he is convicted and has done time for serious crimes. He did more time after the bankruptcy too, in Sweden. The founder of Gizmondo claims not to have known about his past, which may or may not be true, and employees dont even know what Eriksson brought to the company, but regardless i think had he not been on the board of directors and so flamboyant and high profile, the faith of the gizmondo MIGHT have been different. It may still have been overhyped, like our 3DO, and then taken a dive anyway, but the car crash and discoveries made by the big investors that followed certainly stopped the company from recovering any expenses.

Freer, the gizmondo founder and ip rights holder, got the ip rights back, and planned a re-release of an updated device in 2008, but this never happened.

I still like the thing, it had some unique features for the time, it was innovative and had/has a very unique design (reminds me of a future television from the 50's). As for its price, sure £129 for the smart-add version, and nearly double for the regular wasnt cheap, but keep in mind that the PSP wasnt either.

I blame hypocrisy and wasting money for the downfall of the gizmondo. The device itself isnt deserving of being called the worst console ever, ive seen far worse stuff, many of them from Nintendo.

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:16 pm

grimm wrote: I blame hypocrisy and wasting money for the downfall of the gizmondo. The device itself isnt deserving of being called the worst console ever, ive seen far worse stuff, many of them from Nintendo.
You think the Gizmondo is better than some systems made by Nintendo?
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 23, 2013 5:06 pm

Yes.

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 23, 2013 5:59 pm

grimm wrote:Yes.
Wow. I admit I am stunned. Could you explain? I'm not gonna argue or criticize you, I'm just genuinely surprised.
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

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Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 23, 2013 6:30 pm

Im just not too impressed by Nintendo after the snes. the machines themselves are capable, but its just constant recycling.. What is good, bad, worse, better is subjective. I certainly dont measure how good a system is as in how much profit it makes the company who release it. Nor how popular it is with common people, or performance or games. I look at it differently. I look at all these things, and some system i might include performance, other times i will exclude it, etc. It depends on what you compare it with as well.

You seem open enough to my reasoning, so ill grant you an explanation.

The gizmondo is a capable machine, it has its quirks and bugs, and it suffers from short battery life. But it tried to be something other than just another competitor to the gameboy, it didnt even start life as a gaming machine. Thats one thing right there that i think makes it better. At one point in my life i did own an original gameboy with a handful of games. tetris was one of the few games i had for it. I was not impressed by the gameboy. it wasnt much different from the game and watch games i had tried previously.

The Gamecube has never interested me either, nor did the n64. I like the snes still, and have 15-20 games for it. I used to have a nes as a kid with a handful of games but moved on. I think the virtual boy is dangerous. If a system makes you nauseous, its not a good system. The Wii is just stupid to me. I dont like the gameplay aspect of that system at all, waving a stick around to do everything a standard controller does is not apealing to me. Every game nintendo makes is basically just a continuing saga of remakes or sequels to their franchises, they may improve and add new features, but its basically just the same thing over and over again. Thats a big part of what makes a good system to me. Innovation, trying something new, daring something different. not being too afraid to fail. Nintendo doesnt do this anymore. In my book they stopped doing this many many years ago.

The gizmondo dared, it went from a tracking device to a hand held multi use device. It dared an odd design, it dared to do more, it dared to potentially fail, which technically it did. Nintendo would never do this, not after the virtual boy. People could argue that the Wii U is innovative and new and exciting. In a way it is, in another its just playing on "lets be different because everyone else does what we used to do better than us and we cant keep up". Thats how i see the Wii U. And it seems that the casual consumer eats it up coz nintendo is doing well still.

I dont think the gizmondo is the best system out there, but i would personally put a few nintendo products higher on a worst console type list than the gizmondo. virtual boy for sure, game and watch, many of the different gameboy variations.. Im just impressed by other things than most people. at the same time im not too obsessed with "worst" or "best" lists, as they are all subjective, and often times unfounded.

I am very radical when it comes to these things, and people read way too much into what i type down, so i hope you can read this for what it is, and understand what i tried to explain, Trev. And i hope it answered your question. I really tried to.

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Post by Trev » Sat Mar 23, 2013 6:52 pm

Interesting ...

Actually, one of the things I've always loved about Nintendo is how innovative they are. While I do admit to having some recent concern in this regard (the New Super Mario series for one) I've found their consoles and handhelds to be a step or two ahead in many respects. Of course an argument can be made in the other direction also (online structure being one example)

The GC is interesting. One the one hand it may have been Nintendo's least innovative console ... but it's games were screaming innovation imo! It's easy to say they recycle, but I look at the risks and changes they made to their popular ip's ... Metroid Prime, Mario Sunshine, Zelda WindWaker, DK games, etc ... the risk with this of course is that fans of tradition will sometimes pitch a fit ... Metroid is 1st person? Mario isn't in the mushroom kingdom, and he has a water backpack? Zelda is a cel shaded toon and it has GBA connectivity? DK is played w/bongos? I'd actually like to see a return to these different ideas, even though they might potentially hurt profit.

I never got sick w/the VB, although I have read that others did. It was a risky venture for Nintendo, ahead of its time in many respects.

The Wii has been my current favorite system for several years now. While their are plenty of waggle games for sure, their is certainly a good number that control great w/motion control (Skyward Sword is a great example) And plenty where it isn't even required.

Talking Nintendo is often interesting ... I'd type more, but I gotta see why all the sudden my computer is slowing to a crawl ... this last sentence took longer to type than all my previous paragraphs!
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:07 pm

Like i said, its subjective, and i wasnt expecting you to agree with me. Most people think the way you do.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:03 am

Gotten the games now, and so far quite a few of them are better than people give them credit for. There are a few uninteresting ones too though.

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Post by Martin III » Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:06 am

grimm wrote:The company didnt go under because of quality issues with the device.
Oh, I am quite aware of that. I was referring to the "worst consoles of all time" lists, which one would assume to be based on the quality of the consoles in question, not their manufacturer's infrastructure, marketing, and such.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:31 am

Sadly, people who make "worst console ever"-lists dont really focus on the system itself and its games as much as the things you've already mentioned though. Exceptions exist naturally, but in general its not very objective.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:58 pm

Trev wrote:
grimm wrote:
Sadly, the console's low battery life was not an understatement though, its really short.
How short?
Maybe i overreacted a little. its not really short actually. I have timed it now, and i could play just over 4 hours between fully charged and low battery warning. I played just over 2 hours yesterday before turning it off. I started it up again today and played just over another 2 hours before i got the low battery warning. I dont think the battery would lose any charge just over night, so id say the estimate for the premium battery which is the one i have, 1800mAh, is accurate. There is a smaller battery, which it came with in the beginning thats only 1100mAh though, so that would have significantly less uptime, guessing just over 2,5h on that one.

Still, its not really that bad considering the hardware, i certainly get my fill before the battery needs recharging. The Gizmondo is quite small, and im an L-XL hand guy, and i get slight cramp in my pinkie the way i hold it, ive tried holding it differently but this is the best way for me.. 1-2h is the most id play before resting my hands.

I might go through the games and do reviews of them if there is any interest in me doing so, here on the forums.. Let me know.

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Post by Trev » Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:39 am

Sounds similar to the battery life of the early 90 handhelds like the original model Lynx & the Game Gear.

What games are you liking so far?
Most wanted - Eye of Typhoon, 3DO Magazines issues #14 & #15, Pro Stadium, Defcon 5

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Tue Apr 02, 2013 11:21 am

Yeah, with the large battery it really isnt that bad. I believe the talk of "bad batterylife" of handhelds from this era, is down to people expecting Game Boy-esque performance out of much more powerful and power draining systems. Its unrealistic.

As for the games, I havent gone into many of them, but Conflict Vietnam is really nice and possibly my favourite so far, with some dry humour from the soldiers. It plays very similar to Cannon Fodder, but each soldier has a different weapon.

Hit and Myth is a really strange shooter, each action button shoots in its own direction, and it has a really stupid BUT funny sense of humour in it. It plays on different myths and traditions, ive just finished the first part, where you fight against christmas-related enemies, that cries out all kinds of stupid christmas-things as they pop on to the screen, or fall out from packages you destroy. It has a dungeon crawler feel to it, and even has some magic to power up your character.

Sticky Balls is a pretty fun puzzle game, but i was never good at dedicated puzzle games. I "suppose" this is a fairly easy puzzle game, but i havent done more than a couple of levels yet so that may change. It is also high score based and the more imagination you have in solving the puzzles, the more point you get. Im no good at that!

The Fathammer classics has a pretty cool puzzle game in it too, plays like a combination of tetris and columns.

Really, many of the games play nicer than people think, even if there are a few really bad games. Ive tried to get somewhere in Pocket Ping Pong just to unlock more girls, but the gameplay is just... bad. You have no real clue of where your own character is, so missing the ball is something you do a lot. Funny title, but really shallow game, unlike Sticky Balls that is actually a GOOD game, if not the best puzzler out there.

I got a cd filled with cracked games with my purchase, many of them were games i actually bought, but also some interesting augmented reality games demos, regular game beta's and demos, along with unreleased but practically finished games like Carmageddon, Colors etc.. I will be checking out Colors later to see what the rave was all about. The guy had even created a couple of Sega games from the planned but never released Sega collection card, like Golden Axe and Sonic 1. They both play well, but i havent figured out if you can actually leave the game without soft-resetting the console.. So i havent played those more than once.

Anonymous

Post by Anonymous » Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:16 pm

Finally found a mobile phone carrier who's network my gizmondo actually can connect to. I can now send sms to myself haha. Sadly not one of the best in terms of coverage, but its ok in medium to large towns normally.

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