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History of video games/Platforms/GCW Zero

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History

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Kansas City in 2014, the provenance of the GCW Zero.

Development

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GCW, short for "Game Consoles Worldwide", was a company based in Kansas City, and was started after it's creator got into the Dingoo A320 scene in November of 2009.[1][2] After a false start in 2010, development began in earnest in 2011 when a new attempt was made, along with a company and a prototype.[2] After having independently solicited preorders, Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was launched in January 2013, which sought to raise $130,000 to create a console which would fill the role the Dingoo had in the previous generation.[1][3][2] Backers who had pledged $125 or more received a unit.[2] Though the console only raised $35,000 from backers 15 days before the end of the campaign,[3] a surge of investment lead to the project raising $215,000 near the end of the campaign.[2] Ultimately the campaign raised $238,498,[4] allowing GCW to achieve an economy of scale and lower production costs below $100 per unit.[2]

Launch

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GCW Zero logotype.

The post campaign development suffered from delays, with initial units having been expected in March.[2] The 2012 preorder consoles became the special edition consoles, and those were shipped around June 2013.[5] the system was eventually released by September of 2013.[1] Though the launch had supply issues, quality was kept high.[1] The post-launch retail price of the system was $150, and was distributed by ThinkGeek.[6]

GCW was at PAX Prime 2013 in late 2013 and had booth #6206.[7]

Over the course of 2014 a small number of indie titles were released for the console.[8] The machine was also commonly used for emulation of older game titles.[6]

From December 22nd, 2015 to December 4th, 2019 GCW promoted official 3D printed multicolored button replacement parts through Shapeways.[9][10]

Technology

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The system was based on an MIPS ISA Ingenic JZ4770 CPU clocked at 1 gigahertz.[3][1] The GPU used in the GCW Zero was a Vivante GC860.[8] The system shipped with 512 megabytes of DDR2 RAM,[8][1] an increase from it's initial announcement of just 256 megabytes.[3][11] The standard internal storage capacity was 16 gigabytes,[8], though the special edition consoles shipped with 32 gigabytes of internal storage instead.[12] Initially only 8 gigabytes of internal storage were planned.[3]

The GCW Zero ran the operating system OpenDingux, based on Linux 3.7, uClibc, and BusyBox.[1][3]

The system had a LCD with a size of 3.5" and a resolution of 320 by 240 pixel screen, which was seen as low end at the time.[6][8] The system also had a speaker and vibration motor.[13]

The system had an accelerometer and microphone.[13]

The system had a 2.4 gigahertz radio for Wi-Fi supporting b, g, and n.[3][13]

A 2,200 mAh capacity rechargeable battery powered the system.[13]

Games

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  • Griffin Legend - Action RPG[14]
  • Sqrxz series - Ports[15]
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  •  
    A GCW Zero from the front.
  •  
    A GCW Zero from the bottom.
  •  
    A GCW Zero from the top, showing the AV ports.

References

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Wikipedia has related information at GCW Zero

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: GCW Zero

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g "Open-source handhelds group test: GCW Zero review | Micromart". web.archive.org. 21 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150621050905/http://www.micromart.co.uk/gaming/group-test/1225/open-source-handhelds-group-test-gcw-zero-review. 
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g "KC entrepreneur's game console tops $130k Kickstarter goal, nears $230k". Silicon Prairie News. 28 January 2013. https://siliconprairienews.com/2013/01/kc-entrepreneur-s-game-console-tops-130k-kickstarter-goal-nears-230k/. 
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g "GCW Zero: Another Linux Game Console Attempt - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI3MzU. 
  4. ↑ "https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/296054967729524736" (in en). Twitter. https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/296054967729524736. 
  5. ↑ "FS GCW Zero Special Edition". AtariAge Forums. https://atariage.com/forums/topic/214171-fs-gcw-zero-special-edition/. 
  6. ↑ a b c "Old-school gaming on the sly with the GCW Zero" (in en-CA). torontosun. https://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/14/old-school-gaming-on-the-sly-with-the-gcw-zero. 
  7. ↑ "GCW Zero - An Open Source Gaming Console Built by Gamers for Gamers..." www.gcw-zero.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  8. ↑ a b c d e "GCW Zero Starts Seeing New Game Releases - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTg0NzQ. 
  9. ↑ "https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/679521948125282304" (in en). Twitter. https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/679521948125282304. 
  10. ↑ "https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/1201570639448039424" (in en). Twitter. https://twitter.com/gcwzero/status/1201570639448039424. 
  11. ↑ "Meet GCW-Zero, a Linux-based, open-source gaming handheld" (in english). Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/stories/meet-gcw-zero-a-linux-based-open-source-gaming-handheld-243609.phtml. 
  12. ↑ "GCW Zero Special Edition - 32 gig internal 64 sd card included as well | Dingoonity.org - The Dingoo Community". boards.dingoonity.org. https://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-general/gcw-zero-special-edition-32-gig-internal-64-sd-card-included-as-well/. 
  13. ↑ a b c d "GCW Zero - An Open Source Gaming Console Built by Gamers for Gamers..." www.gcw-zero.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "GCW Zero - An Open Source Gaming Console Built by Gamers for Gamers...". www.gcw-zero.com. http://www.gcw-zero.com/news.php?id=2. 
  15. ↑ "GCW Zero - An Open Source Gaming Console Built by Gamers for Gamers...". www.gcw-zero.com. http://www.gcw-zero.com/news.php?id=4. 


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