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History of video games/Platforms/GPANG

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History

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An urban area of Seoul, South Korea in 2004. The 2000's saw South Korea recovering from an economic slump.[1]

Launch

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GPANG was launched by telecom company KTF in 2004 as a gaming service used on certain Korean mobile phones.[2][3]

In late 2007 GPANG platform saw its final game releases.[4] From April to May of 2009 GPANG held a baseball themed event.[5] With many dedicated fans, Baseball has been among South Korea's most popular sports since the 1980s,[6][7] making this a sensible tie in.

Legacy

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As early as June 1st, 2009 the service was discontinued.[4] By March of 2013, the GPANG website was offline.[8]

While GPANG devices are obscure in English speaking countries, these devices show an interesting chapter in mobile gaming history before the rise of touch oriented smartphones.

GPANG also stands in stark contrast to the first Nokia NGAGE concept, by focusing on adding gaming functionality to a phone form factor, rather than phone functionality to a game console form factor. The relative longevity of the first GPANG platform in comparison with the NGAGE says quite a bit about which concept ultimately prevailed. While GPANG did not change much as a concept, the NGAGE concept ended up seeing major revisions and eventually became a similar platform itself. This approach is often seen still with most gaming oriented smartphones focusing on being phones good for gaming, rather than being primarily gaming devices that can also serve as a smartphone.

Technology

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Unlike the N-Gage GPANG devices were focused on offering good phone functionality, with gaming being an add on feature.[9]

Earlier generation GPANG phones could run 3D Games through software rendering, with later models using 3D hardware rendering.[10][11]

GPANG Phones

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Phones with known GPANG support.

Notable games

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The developer Fathammer made several games for the GPANG platform.[12] Other notable developers for the platform included EA, Nexon, Taito, Namco, and Capcom.[4] Interestingly, Gamepark Holdings, the developers of the GP2X handheld, released a port of the 2002 GP32 game Little Wizard (리틀위저드) for GPANG on March 4th, 2005.[4][13]

References

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Wikipedia has related information at GPANG  and Samsung SPH-G1000

  1. ↑ "South Korea - Place Explorer - Data Commons". datacommons.org. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Akihabara News - The Korean NGAGE". web.archive.org. 27 October 2005. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  3. ↑ "GPANG". Wikipedia. 5 April 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g "지팡". 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전 (in Korean). 14 February 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  5. ↑ "KTF, 'GPANG 2009 야구게임 대잔치' 진행". 이투데이 (in Korean). 20 April 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "History and Popularity of Baseball in South Korea". Hannaone.com. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "South Korea: most popular sports". Statista. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "404". Retrieved 13 November 2020. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  9. ↑ "Samsung launches gaming phone". PalmAddicts. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "The Khronos Group". The Khronos Group. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Samsung @ CTIA - The SPH-G1000 3D gaming phone". Engadget. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  12. ↑ "Fathammer Provides 3D Mobile Games for KTF in Korea". www.businesswire.com. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "Hardcore Gaming 101: A History of Korean Gaming". www.hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
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