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Game Park
Game Park (Korean: 게임파크) was a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. GamePark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.
Founded in 1996 in South Korea, Game Park entered the industry using government money. At the time, games in Korea were only made for PCs and Arcade. There was a law established after World War II that forbid importation of Japanese electronics. Some clones of Japanese consoles such as the Sega Saturn (cloned by Samsung) and Nintendo 64 (cloned by Hyundai) were holders of minor market shares. In a place where most games ran on the PC, a small place resided for video game consoles. To make changes, the South Korean government decided to fund a company that would create a console to compete against the monopolized Japanese market. A contest was held and Game Park was the winning company. Game Park was set to create the first portable video game system from Korea.
The GP32 (Game Park 32-bit), their first system, was then being designed. Several iterations of it were developed, including a metallic look, and a style issued from the original Game Boy design, and a flat panel with a screen on the upper part and buttons on the lower part. Those systems were shown at the 2000 Tokyo Game Show but failed to catch attention with their inferior hardware and games. After five years of development, Game Park opted for a more plastic look, a lot like the Game Boy Advance. Game Park's new handheld also had a major internal hardware upgrade making it more powerful than the GBA.
The GP32 originally launched in November 2001, in Korea exclusively. Game Park had opted for a narrow-area market approach so they could better handle the production costs. The result was small success in Korea.
Game Park did make an error: paying a large amount of money to port PlayStation games to their consoles. The porting was handled by Korean developers which had never seen a PlayStation before because of its interdiction in Korea. It was very difficult for them to import games and it ended up that only one ported game was made, Princess Maker 2, a simulation so complicated it was never translated. One had to speak Japanese to play it well.
Initially, the GP32 launched with a 3.5 inch screen, 2 buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 function buttons and 2 integrated speakers for stereo sound. It is almost physically the same as the GBA except for a bigger screen, higher-quality speakers and more ergonomic handling.
Though the GP32 was planned to be a gaming console, its game selection was not sufficient in quality or quantity to truly compete against the Game Boy Advance. One of its advantage was that in Korea no Japanese electronics were allowed[citation needed], the Game Boy Advance included. On January 1, 2002, however, Korea finally allowed imports of Japanese electronics. The system's success hinged on being an open source handheld attractive to independent developers and capable of supporting video and audio playback.
The GP32 FLU, (Front Lit Unit) is a GP32 which has been modified to include a front light, much like the Game Boy Advance SP. The big difference, however, is that the GP32 FLU has exactly the same mold, buttons, etc. as the GP32, unlike the completely redesigned Game Boy Advance SP. This reduced the cost of the modification. This system was released in Korea exclusively again, in 2002.
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Game Park
Game Park (Korean: 게임파크) was a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the GP32 and the never-released XGP. GamePark Holdings was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.
Founded in 1996 in South Korea, Game Park entered the industry using government money. At the time, games in Korea were only made for PCs and Arcade. There was a law established after World War II that forbid importation of Japanese electronics. Some clones of Japanese consoles such as the Sega Saturn (cloned by Samsung) and Nintendo 64 (cloned by Hyundai) were holders of minor market shares. In a place where most games ran on the PC, a small place resided for video game consoles. To make changes, the South Korean government decided to fund a company that would create a console to compete against the monopolized Japanese market. A contest was held and Game Park was the winning company. Game Park was set to create the first portable video game system from Korea.
The GP32 (Game Park 32-bit), their first system, was then being designed. Several iterations of it were developed, including a metallic look, and a style issued from the original Game Boy design, and a flat panel with a screen on the upper part and buttons on the lower part. Those systems were shown at the 2000 Tokyo Game Show but failed to catch attention with their inferior hardware and games. After five years of development, Game Park opted for a more plastic look, a lot like the Game Boy Advance. Game Park's new handheld also had a major internal hardware upgrade making it more powerful than the GBA.
The GP32 originally launched in November 2001, in Korea exclusively. Game Park had opted for a narrow-area market approach so they could better handle the production costs. The result was small success in Korea.
Game Park did make an error: paying a large amount of money to port PlayStation games to their consoles. The porting was handled by Korean developers which had never seen a PlayStation before because of its interdiction in Korea. It was very difficult for them to import games and it ended up that only one ported game was made, Princess Maker 2, a simulation so complicated it was never translated. One had to speak Japanese to play it well.
Initially, the GP32 launched with a 3.5 inch screen, 2 buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, 2 function buttons and 2 integrated speakers for stereo sound. It is almost physically the same as the GBA except for a bigger screen, higher-quality speakers and more ergonomic handling.
Though the GP32 was planned to be a gaming console, its game selection was not sufficient in quality or quantity to truly compete against the Game Boy Advance. One of its advantage was that in Korea no Japanese electronics were allowed[citation needed], the Game Boy Advance included. On January 1, 2002, however, Korea finally allowed imports of Japanese electronics. The system's success hinged on being an open source handheld attractive to independent developers and capable of supporting video and audio playback.
The GP32 FLU, (Front Lit Unit) is a GP32 which has been modified to include a front light, much like the Game Boy Advance SP. The big difference, however, is that the GP32 FLU has exactly the same mold, buttons, etc. as the GP32, unlike the completely redesigned Game Boy Advance SP. This reduced the cost of the modification. This system was released in Korea exclusively again, in 2002.