GP2X Wiz

Lore & Background

An image of the Wiz system was first leaked on the web in late July 2008. Rumors had been circulating that GamePark Holdings was in the process of making a new handheld, since they had abruptly discontinued production of its first handheld, the GP2X, in late June/early July. Prior to the official announcement, this handheld was sometimes referred to as the GP3X. On August 26, 2008, GamePark Holdings announced that it was planning to release a new handheld, named the Wiz. Along with the announcement, a brochure detailing a great amount of launch information was released, complete with the system's specs. The brochure stated that new games would be released every month for the system; this is a deviation from the GP2X, which did not have many commercial games. However, the Wiz still appears to be primarily advertised as an open-source system, meant for homebrew development of games and emulators.

On September 2, 2008, it was reported that the GP2X Wiz's button layout was to be revised, and the second D-Pad on the right-hand side of the system was to be removed. In order to make these design changes, the release of the system was to be pushed back to November 2008. Around the last week of April 2009, GamePark shipped test units of the GP2X Wiz. These are thought to be the final hardware revision before the actual product launch. Retailers for the GP2X Wiz stated that they planned to begin shipping the GP2X Wiz as soon as October 8, 2008. Retailers listed the price of the Wiz at US$179.99. The GP2X Wiz started shipping as of May 13, 2009. An online application store was set to launch in August of 2009.

In February 2009, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak had stated that 'Korea needs to develop a video game console like a Nintendo DS'. This statement was parodied with the 'Myungtendo MB', an obvious rip-off of the Nintendo DS. While completely unrelated to the Myungtendo incident, the GP2X Wiz is often nicknamed as the 'Myungtendo', due to its release shortly after the statement.

Reader's Guide

The GP2X Wiz holds significance as a handheld that bridged commercial and homebrew gaming, targeting the open-source community with a Linux-based operating system. Its release marked the first time either Game Park or Game Park Holdings offered a console outside South Korea. The Wiz featured a 2.8-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which provided better contrast ratios than LCD screens, particularly because OLEDs can display true black. It supported various multimedia formats and came with pre-installed games and applications, with an online application store launched in August 2009. Official accessories and the introduction of Flash Player 8 enhanced its appeal. The Wiz had only four commercial retail games: Deicide 3: Distorted Existence, Propis, Redemption: Liar, and Rhythmos. However, it could run many emulators, freeware games, flash games, and applications. The system was pre-installed with a number of games on the NAND, including IQ Jump, Animatch, Square Tower Defence, Wiztern, Myriad, Tail Tale, Boomshine2x, and Space Varments. Originally a game called Snake on Dope was shipped with the unit, and may have been removed due to copyright issues relating to the music. The successor of GP2X Wiz is GP2X Caanoo.

Did You Know?

• The GP2X Wiz was the first console from both Game Park and Game Park Holdings to be released outside South Korea.
• Its CPU could be overclocked from 533 MHz to 900 MHz, though the system could become unstable over 750 MHz.
• The Wiz was often nicknamed 'Myungtendo' after South Korean president Lee Myung-bak's statement about developing a console like the Nintendo DS.
• Only four commercial retail games were released for the Wiz.