Meet the £100 GameGadget handheld that has own retro download store

By Robert Purchese Published 26 January, 2012

Eurogamer quizzes the maker.

Would you buy a GameGadget, a £100 handheld that resembles the bottom-half of a DS/3DS and downloads retro games from an online, platform-specific shop?

It's been developed in the UK (but built overseas), and will be available to buy on GameGadget.net from 30th March. (Deals with physical shops and other online outlets are on-going.)

The only problem is, we don't know which old tarts (affectionate slang for vintage games) will be available for the GameGadget, nor which publishers will support it.

Mark Garrett, general manager of GameGadget distributor Blaze Europe, told Eurogamer his lips were sewn together by NDA contracts. "We're in communication with all the major publishers," was all Garrett could say.

However, an announcement about publishers and games should be cleared "in the next week or so".

Game pricing will be at the publisher's discretion. But the emphasis is on cheap, thanks to an "open source" emulation platform that requires "no further development" for a game to run on GameGadget.

The hope is that publishers will see GameGadget as a hassle-free way of making some money from their back catalogues, rather than watch those games be shamelessly emulated online.

"It's a very low-cost, low investment vehicle for getting games onto a digital platform," Garrett assured us.

"Because there's no investment in bringing the games to the platform, we want the games to be as competitively priced as possible. As an estimate, we would want the games to start at £0 - there is an opportunity to offer free gaming - up to around the £1.49/£1.99 price-point for a single game," Garrett revealed.

"And then a bundle of games - maybe 10 or 15 games - for around the £10 price point. Those are the sort of recommendations we're making to publishers."

Excluding a touch-screen in favour of "hard-buttons" means playing on GameGadget should feel like the real-retro-deal, Garrett explained to us.

But for £100? I could buy a 3DS for little more, and my iPhone/Android device cost me nothing up front.

"Ultimately what we're looking to do is enable people to save money over the long-term by offering a more cost effective solution for obtaining more and more content."

Mark Garrett, general manager, Blaze Europe

Isn't the GameGadget a bit expensive?

"That's a matter of opinion, isn't it?" Garrett retorted. "It's all relative.

"I mean, iPhones are certainly not free! The bill that I get from Vodaphone every month is about £60 a month for my free iPhone.

"And although 3DSs cost £115, on average you're paying around £30 per game to get the most out of it."

Garrett romped on: "Whereas the traditional model is that the hardware is loss-leading for these manufacturers, ultimately you end up paying for it through the software that you buy. What we want to do is provide a device that offers value for money, that's a good quality gaming device, and that has a digital download platform that offers value for money for games.

"Ultimately what we're looking to do is enable people to save money over the long-term by offering a more cost effective solution for obtaining more and more content."

The GameGadget specs are: 433mhz dual core CPU, 64MB RAM / 2GB Flash RAM and a 3.5" LCD screen (320x240) that does the appropriate 16BIT colour. It has a Li-Ion rechargeable battery. Sounds like lion - maybe it should be roarchargeable.

There's a d-pad, two shoulder buttons, four face buttons and start/select/reset buttons.

There are stereo speaker, headphone and TV-out outputs. There's also a Micro-USB port, and the option of SD/SDHC additional storage.

The GameGadget's dimensions are 140Wx75Hx16D (mm).

"Explore me," says the GameGadget in this video.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (69) Latest comment 4 weeks ago

  • Lexx87 #1 4 weeks ago

    He gets a bill of £60 a month for his phone?

    That's insane. He sounds like a bellend.

  • Darren #2 4 weeks ago

    In answer to the first sentence of the article: no, definitely not. It's very much an unknown so to pay £100 for something that may be dead within months is too much of a risk.

  • SteelPriest #3 4 weeks ago

    Steam integration and i'm in.

  • wizlon #4 4 weeks ago

    You can buy an Xperia Play for £150 which can play modern 3D games as well as emulate tons of platforms almost perfectly. Oh and you can also call people and surf the internet on it if you want.

  • Shikasama #5 4 weeks ago

    Of course I wouldn't, I'm not mentally handicapped.

    This guy sounds like a prick as well, especially when he's talking about the prices of other games when he ahs confirmed he has no control of the pricing on the platform.

    All in all, not a good first impression in this article.

  • Eraysor #6 4 weeks ago

    You can just put custom firmware on an old PSP and play anything from the PSX era and back easily.

  • Baleoce #7 4 weeks ago

    It's a risky investment, and that will deter people initially. I do however like the idea behind it. And if consumers see there is value in the long run, that will help them out a lot.

  • toythatkills #8 4 weeks ago

    "As an estimate, we would want the games to start at £0."

    That's handy, since there won't be any games.

  • byakuya83 #9 4 weeks ago

    I like it but will reserve judgement until more is known.

    Would like to see arcade classics available with local and worldwide leaderboards. Could become a niche product amongst those who enjoy the old score attach style of gaming.

    Plus, I do like my buttons!

  • toy_brain #10 4 weeks ago

    Whenever a device like this (or yesterdays NeoGeo console) crops up, I'm always initially interested, but then I remember I already have an Open Pandora, which does all that retrogaming malarkey, and a lot more.

    Mind you, an Open Pandora costs almost £400, this is a LOT less.

  • CaptainFantasm #11 4 weeks ago

    Don't Blaze make all those god awful portable Mega-Drive consoles?

    I think we can just look forward to the millionth re-release of Sonic 1,2,etc.

  • Po1ymorph #12 4 weeks ago

    In theory it's not a bad idea, but for £100? I would be surprised if he got anywhere at that price.

  • Eldritch #13 4 weeks ago

    So much to comment on up there. Surely, if you're shelling out 60 quid per month for your "free" iPhone, 100 quid must seem like "a very low-cost, low investment", but it isn't when you take a look at the competition. And how can the controls "feel like the real-retro-deal" when you're talking about MAME-style arcade games? If I remember correctly, those games were played with a stick and some big buttons, not some flimsy control pad. And you won't be able to play old SMUPs, because the screen orientation is wrong. And I don't think that screen resolution will work for all games.

    So, I'm not sure about him being a prick, but, in my book, he's definitely a bellend.

  • CORIANA_SIX #14 4 weeks ago

    Crazy price...NO SALE!!
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 14:08

  • pinchofsalt #15 4 weeks ago

    Why is the article written to belittle the guy? Makes him sound like a tit.
    A piss poor bit of writing that.

  • schnide #16 4 weeks ago

    "[W]e don't know which old tarts (affectionate slang for vintage games)"

    Or indeed, campy informal journalists who post pictures of themselves as men in dresses.

  • AliRay #17 4 weeks ago

    WAKE UP PEOPLE, THIS IS JUST A PHOTOSHOPPED iPHONE 4.

    Or was that yesterday's article?

    Seriously though, this won't do well. Just buy a DS/3DS for a very similar price, with lots of good games available.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #18 4 weeks ago

    Once the rasberry Pi is released i expect there will be alot of home brew consoles like this being released, i know im certainly gonna try and make one :D

  • mccappind #19 4 weeks ago

    @gotyourmoney Exactly! There isn't a gap in the market, especially at that price.

  • el_pollo_diablo #20 4 weeks ago

    I doubt they'll get much publisher support, as most of these publishers are now long gone. Who do you contact to sort out the rights?

    My belief therefore is that this whole thing has been designed to act as a rom / emu player, with (I guess) pretty minimal security.

    They're therefore charging £100 because they know all the games ever played on the thing are going to be copies. But they don't care about that - partly because long gone publishers can't sue people, and partly because despite only ever having 20 games in the store,the machine will be modded by the homebrew community who will soon have 100s of MAME / SnesX games up and running.

    I'm not convinced the 'online store' matters one jot towards the success or failure of this machine.
    Edited by 2 at 26/01/12 @ 14:28

  • PlugMonkey #21 4 weeks ago

    @Eldritch

    There's more to retro than MAME.

    I think what they mean is that the pad a button layout would make stuff like Speedball 2 a hell of a lot more playable than the iPhone version.

    It would depend on the software support it gets, naturally, but when by birthday rolls round and no-one knows what to get me, I have in the past received gadgets that were both more expensive and more redundant.

  • makariel #22 4 weeks ago

    "Whereas the traditional model is that the hardware is loss-leading for these manufacturers, [...]"

    Nintendo doesn't do that, they make money with their consoles. Considering the 3DS (with touchscreen an additional 3D screen and analogue stick) costs only little more, the asking price for this gamegadget is a bit steep. And as wizlon wrote, for 150 quid you get the xperia play, which also has buttons and is a phone and internet browser as well.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #23 4 weeks ago

    This is from the people who make that portable megadrive device, so it's entirely possible it'll have a large portion of Sega's back catalogue available as a starting point.

    Also along the same lines as their portable megadrive, this will probably be sold to the iwantoneofthose and firebox novelty gift market. Although I have to agree that £100 is a little steep.

  • dwalker109 #24 4 weeks ago

    I sniggered at "roarchargeable".

  • Eldritch #25 4 weeks ago

    @PlugMonkey Speedball 2 was played with a stick, too (Competition Pro). And if he's not talking about MAME games, what kind of hardware and software are we talking about then? An Amiga emulator?

  • arcam #26 4 weeks ago

    Well, if you want to play old school games but don't know how to install and work an emulator on a phone or have an objection to downloading free ROMs, this seems like the best choice, so it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

    Although I guess for that lots of retro fans, emulating isn't really a problem.

  • Daeltaja #27 4 weeks ago

    What the hell is with all the new handhelds? Neo-Geo, then this? Vita next month. 3DS, iOS, Android all readily available. Market saturation? A bunch of those handhelds can do everything this can do, and much more, for around the same price.

    Why would anyone risk a large amount of money on bringing this to market.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 14:41

  • retr0gamer #28 4 weeks ago

    Did you ask whether they plan to land us with the awful 50Hz versions of the games like the virtual console does or will we have access to 60Hz NTSC versions?

  • PlugMonkey #29 4 weeks ago

    @Eldritch

    Not in my house it wasn't.

    Well, at least not until the thumb blisters became unbearable. :D

    Anyway, I didn't comment on what it was played on, I commented on it being much easier to play with a pad than a touch screen, which remains true.

    The hardware is in the article, and as for software, Amiga makes more sense to me than MAME, and the company already has a track record of doing MegaDrive stuff.

    So, I would guess 16-bit would seem like a better fit for this device than arcade / MAME. It mentions 16-bit in the specs, in fact, but I don't know if that comes from them or EG.

    I'm mildly interested. I can get 16-bit games on my iphone, but the touchscreen controls are always terrible, and it eats through the battery and leaves me with no phone.

  • Eldritch #30 4 weeks ago

    @PlugMonkey

    Well, if they already have some sort of Mega Drive handheld, what would be the point to releasing another one, especially for that steep a price? They won't get SNES games, obviously, and it looks like they won't get Neo-Geo games either. So, Amiga and Atari then? Good luck with that.

  • garrettmark #31 4 weeks ago

    Thanks to everyone for your comments and feedback, I'll try to be less of a bellend and/or prick in future and yes I am trying to get my mobile bill down! What I would like to put forward is that this project is intended to be something positive for the Games Industry at a time when it needs all the positivity it can get. Sure there is huge competition and if you are a committed Nintendo or Sony fan I'm not going to try to persuade you otherwise. I have a 3DS, you know I have an iPhone and I can still see a place for a GameGadget in my life. Right now people are downloading and playing games for free, games that people invested time and money into developing, don't you think they deserve to get paid for their creativity? It's been a really enjoyable experience talking to publishers about their games, especially the smaller guys who created games like Speedball or Head Over Heels which were such a major part of my early game playing life and hold such strong memories! I want my kids to play these games and I want the people that created them to be rewarded, does that make me a prick?

  • Eldritch #32 4 weeks ago

    @garrettmark

    Your personal reply goes a long way towards making you much less of a prick, that much is certain!

    Still, discussing this piece of hardware and the concept behind it is rather pointless without knowing what kind of platform you're going to emulate.

    And how about teaming up with GOG.com for this one?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #33 4 weeks ago

    @garrettmark since you're listening, I'd prefer if Blaze spent their efforts making a more compact version of this:

    http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/icademobile

  • RustyBullet #34 4 weeks ago

    @garrettmark Well said if you are the right man. It sounds cool, yes a little expensive, but cool. There are way too many free-loaders arround that would rather just take without a thanx. i have the galaxy s2 and the only games i play on it are pretty much angry birds. Emulators on phones are wank with shit controlls (yes appart from the expiria, But the phone is gash) Well done

  • Eldritch #35 4 weeks ago

    @MENTAL1ST I don't see anything wrong with turning my iPod touch into a 1st generation Lynx as long as I don't have to put in six new batteries every four hours.

  • Bilstar #36 4 weeks ago

    I wont be getting that, but it does look quite nice.

  • midnight_walker #37 4 weeks ago

    I think it looks pretty sexy to be honest. But I won't be getting it, as I just got an XPeria Play for £50 more than this, and it does everything this does and more. I think there is a place in the market for it, but not at £100 - it needs to be half that at the absolute most. As others have said, you can buy far better handhelds for not much more, and you can even buy better handhelds for a bit less. How much do DSs and PSPs go for these days?

    And, looking at the paltry specs, there is absolutely nothing about this that justifies a £100 price point. That's not an insult at it, if you're only intending on running 16-bit emulators, it's more than enough - but it's nowhere near £100 worth.

    Soz.

  • FenderMaster #38 4 weeks ago

    A PSP is about the same price, and theres some quality NES, MSM Commodore 64, Spectrum, SNES, Megadrive, PC Engine, GB, GBA and MAME emulators for that. Plus you can (illegally) download games for free rather than paying £1.50. It's kind of a no brainer really, unless you really want to support publishers by buying their old games...

  • mashk #39 4 weeks ago

    It's actually not that bad a price. It costs around about the same as a GP2X, but has a better spec. It all depends upon what OS it runs and whether users will be able to run emulators. If you could run the SNES, Megadrive Neo Geo and all that other stuff the GP2X runs, then it'd definitely be worth the investment.

    Even if it is dodgy legally.

  • Eoin #40 4 weeks ago

    Anyone who's interested in this might want to take a look at this - it's a very similar machine with out-of-the-box support for games from the SNES (emulation of which isn't great, to be honest), Mega Drive, GameBoy, GBA, and Neo Geo. It's about half the price, has been available for a while (so no waiting until March, by which time you'll have forgotten about GameGadget anyway), and is properly open source.

    In fact comparing the specs and the prices, the GameGadget looks extremely over-priced, irrespective of tenuous comparisons to monthly phone bills.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 16:15

  • PlugMonkey #41 4 weeks ago

    @Eldritch

    Well, if they already have some sort of Mega Drive handheld, what would be the point to releasing another one, especially for that steep a price?

    The obvious answer there would seem to be that it came out 5 years ago, didn't have an online store and bizarrely (according to that font of all knowledge, Wikipedia) had no save game functionality.

    So, it would appear that this new model does a lot more.

    And why no SNES games? I can get Final Fantasy 1, 2 and 3 on my iPhone. Not everything on SNES was Nintendo.

    (incidentally, garrettmark, if you can get the SNES version of Shadowrun on there, then you've got yourself a sale. ;))

    So, yeah. Mildly interested, depending on precisely what the reality turns out to be regarding library and battery life. I play quite a lot of old stuff from GoG, so a console version of that which is also portable could be quite cool.

  • midnight_walker #42 4 weeks ago

    @Eoin That's more like it. It even has a Xross Xedia Xar!

  • Eldritch #43 4 weeks ago

    @Eoin Yes, but the Dingoo is obviously illegal and made for warez, which, I think, is the exact opposite of what they're trying to do with the Game Gadget.

  • Eldritch #44 4 weeks ago

    @PlugMonkey "And why no SNES games?" Because it would be illegal / Nintendo would never grant a license?

  • Eoin #45 4 weeks ago

    @Eldritch Yes - a lot of the appeal for many people is that it plays illegal games. That said, I think that just in terms of price it's worth comparing with the GameGadget - especially since it's a machine with zero potential for after-sale revenues, unlike the GameGadget.

  • PlugMonkey #46 4 weeks ago

    @Eldritch

    Aaaaand I say again: Not everything on SNES is Nintendo. You're not going to get Mario, but why not the 3rd party stuff?

    If Final Fantasy 6 can appear on Playstation Network, when why not on the Gamegadget.

  • alexbulluk #47 4 weeks ago

    Half the price and they may have a viable product.

  • Ranger101 #48 4 weeks ago

    ...this project is intended to be something positive for the Games Industry at a time when it needs all the positivity it can get...

    reddit-raised-eyebrows-face.jpg

  • th3duckst3r #49 4 weeks ago

    bahh rubbish.

    get a dingoo or get the new jxd s601 which is essentaily and android handheld,way cheaper and much better.and will play onlive games.

  • silversun #50 4 weeks ago

    I like the idea but i fear the support for games will not be there, i could be wrong but very much doubt nintendo will jump on board with there back catalog plus it up agaisnt things like the virtual console and devices like the atari flashback that has been done before.

    If it has massive amount of old games then it might do well.
    For example something like wizardry.
    What are chances this would be on this device , i want to be wrong about this but feel chance may be 0 but i happy to see something like this come out and depending on how it turns out may look at it in future.
    Also thanks for responding on the forumns.

    There is from me a strong intrest in retro games so good luck with it.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 17:56

  • Gojiratron #51 4 weeks ago

    ₤100 is far too much - you can get a second-hand PSP for half that. The guy clearly isn't too clued up on the value of things if he's shelling out sixty quid a month for his iPhone. I don't mean that as flame-bait, just saying that there are folk at my work paying half that for theirs.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 18:13

  • Pocketgrandpa #52 4 weeks ago

    It looks very much like a Dingoo. A Dingoo costs about 60 quid.

  • atomicjuicer #53 4 weeks ago

    Shame on those extolling illegal emulation as the better choice.

    I reckon it's a brilliant idea - make it 60 quid, make it black.

  • byakuya83 #54 4 weeks ago

    When it comes to using emulators and getting a control to work I'm a 'tard. So to me it's an interesting concept at present. Also, it's a British console launch! You don't have those very often. Just so long as it isn't manufactured at Foxconn we can feel all warm and cosy knowing nobody jumped off a building as a result of the Gamegadget being made.

    What does MAME stand for?

  • DodgyPast #55 4 weeks ago

    100 quid with poor quality buttons and d pad would be bad.

    If the buttons and d pad are up to the standard of a snes pad that'll attract some purists.

  • Pocketgrandpa #56 4 weeks ago

    Not extolling the virtues of illegal emulation. Just saying that a Dingoo does what this machine does, and they manage to sell them for £60 and, presumably, make a profit. As others have said, that's probably about the right price point for this, especially given the price of the 3DS.

  • Gaol #57 4 weeks ago

    Surprised at the negativity on here. It's a neat looking device. I think it's brave launching it in this climate, just look at the reactions to the £100 price - I don't think it's particularly high for this kind of niche product.

    An emulation product with a store is interesting - if there's a good range of paid for titles with good quality assurance it might appeal to folk that want to sample emulation withouthout all the 'getting it to work' overheads.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/12 @ 20:16

  • ajaxpliskin #58 4 weeks ago

    Wow, you have to admire the balls to release this into the current handheld market. Hope it's good!

  • Nismo400R84 #59 4 weeks ago

    want one but need more info on games who is supporting get ninty on board with some super mario classics and am sold

  • Nismo400R84 #60 4 weeks ago

    @garrettmark As i have said mark i want it but really need some sort of info on what you are going to be offering,have even signed up on your site so hopefully march launch :)

    And am sure I read somewhere "God loves a trier"

  • BonzoBanana #61 4 weeks ago

    I don't quite understand the specification. It has a low res 16bit screen, no analogue joysticks but a 433mhz dual core processor?!?!

    Might be quite good at playing video files if nothing else.

  • gjgjg #62 4 weeks ago

    didnt get a 3ds yet, wasn't sure about vita... but i've now found my portable gamin device:p

  • AndyPearson #63 4 weeks ago

    Hi everyone, my name is Andy and i'm the Marketing Manager for GameGadget.

    @el_pollo_diablo"as most of these publishers are now long gone. Who do you contact to sort out the rights?" We've had a lot of success making contact with the big players (who bought up a lot of the smaller guys) but the really small guys are where it has been more difficult (but we have still had a lot of success here too) - we're calling on every possible resource and channel to make contact. We're doing everything we can to try and bring back games that people may have forgotten about (or never even heard of).

    @eldritch
    @Eoin Yes, but the Dingoo is obviously illegal and made for warez, which, I think, is the exact opposite of what they're trying to do with the Game Gadget.
    Precisely. The Dingoo also requires a significant amount of technical ability to ensure everything is in the right place with the firmware etc. As well as the time and effort required to new find content without a dedicated software application.

    @gaol
    if there's a good range of paid for titles with good quality assurance it might appeal to folk that want to sample emulation withouthout all the 'getting it to work' overheads.
    Great point and quality is paramount for us (everything will also be signed off by the original publishers/developers where required). We have a team working full time on the software application alone - the app will be tightly integrated with the firmware of the device so that everything can be done within the application using a simple drag and drop process.

    @Nismo400R84
    i want it but really need some sort of info on what you are going to be offering
    We will hopefully have some major announcements very soon.

  • PlugMonkey #64 4 weeks ago

    @byakuya83

    Really?

    It's an coin-op emulator of some renown.

  • JamieR #65 4 weeks ago

    I like the look of it but still 100 i dunno if i want one that much i wonder what game it will have.

  • talideon #66 4 weeks ago

    Now, why would I get this when I could get a CAANOO? Or an OpenPandora (assuming you're willing to shell out more)?

  • Longrange #67 4 weeks ago

    @RustyBullet xperia play gash? never owned one then. No other phone does it better if you are a true gamer, plays all my ps1 games perfectly, every 8 + 16 bit system perfectly emulated, android is android. Does the Phone bit pretty well too, better than my old Galaxy S it replaced, Brother has S2 and it does nothing better. Wouldn't be without mine now, Recommend one to anyone who truly likes to game, ff7 in your pocket ftw.

  • 16bitfan #68 4 weeks ago

    Like the new Neo-geo machine, why would you bother when you could buy an open source handheld like my Caanoo. Hundreds of roms for free, rather than buying them.

  • Casserole #69 4 weeks ago

    For the same price there's this:

    www.isharegifts.com/jxd-s7 100-andriod-retro-game-console-tablet-mp4-p-1613.html

    Runs Android, capacitive 7" touchscreen and rather pimped out. This... what is the point?