Not too long ago there was a lot of speculation about a new Neo Geo handheld. Some labeled it as a successor to the Neo Geo Pocket. It was believed to be fake at first, but at this point it has been confirmed that Neo Geo X is very real, even though it's not exactly a new console.
- > Neo Geo X Press Release
As it turns out, Blaze is the company behind it. For those unfamiliar with the brand, Blaze made a couple of Plug & Play mini-consoles and handhelds, much like those by Radica and others. Essentially, MegaDrive / Genesis on a chip, with some games thrown in.
So what are we looking at with the Neo Geo X? It's a handheld with a 3.5" screen which comes with 20 games and offers such exclusive features as an SD card slot, AV output, headphone socket and stereo speakers. All that for only $800. Wait ... what?!
That's right. Supposedly, the thing is going to cost $800, which is absolutely INSANE [granted it's true]. It's a Blaze device, which most certainly uses software emulation to run the games, and doesn't seem to offer anything remotely exclusive as far as I can tell. What do they mean by AV output, anyway? I hope it's not the usual Blaze component output. For $800 you should be getting component, RGB and / or HDMI.
So what's the deal? Is it so overpriced because Neo Geo collectors are willing to spend more than others? If I wanted to play Neo Geo games on a handheld, I could just as well emulate them on a PSP or even DS, and if I wanted to spend money on a separate handheld to do that, I could always get the Caanoo for ~$150. It seems to handle Neo Geo games just fine, and from what I've seen on YouTube, it has enough processing power to emulate PlayStation [although I'm sure the emulation isn't perfect, the games look very much playable].
If the price is set that high to make Neo Geo fans pay through the nose, I'm wondering if this handheld will be anything more than what those Sega licensed Plug & Play devices are to a hardcore Sega fan. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I never believed Neo Geo X to be real, but more and more portals are reporting it to be legit, so either someone has managed to pull off a good prank or people at Blaze had lost their mind. $800? Really?
- > Neo Geo X Press Release
As it turns out, Blaze is the company behind it. For those unfamiliar with the brand, Blaze made a couple of Plug & Play mini-consoles and handhelds, much like those by Radica and others. Essentially, MegaDrive / Genesis on a chip, with some games thrown in.
So what are we looking at with the Neo Geo X? It's a handheld with a 3.5" screen which comes with 20 games and offers such exclusive features as an SD card slot, AV output, headphone socket and stereo speakers. All that for only $800. Wait ... what?!
That's right. Supposedly, the thing is going to cost $800, which is absolutely INSANE [granted it's true]. It's a Blaze device, which most certainly uses software emulation to run the games, and doesn't seem to offer anything remotely exclusive as far as I can tell. What do they mean by AV output, anyway? I hope it's not the usual Blaze component output. For $800 you should be getting component, RGB and / or HDMI.
So what's the deal? Is it so overpriced because Neo Geo collectors are willing to spend more than others? If I wanted to play Neo Geo games on a handheld, I could just as well emulate them on a PSP or even DS, and if I wanted to spend money on a separate handheld to do that, I could always get the Caanoo for ~$150. It seems to handle Neo Geo games just fine, and from what I've seen on YouTube, it has enough processing power to emulate PlayStation [although I'm sure the emulation isn't perfect, the games look very much playable].
If the price is set that high to make Neo Geo fans pay through the nose, I'm wondering if this handheld will be anything more than what those Sega licensed Plug & Play devices are to a hardcore Sega fan. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I never believed Neo Geo X to be real, but more and more portals are reporting it to be legit, so either someone has managed to pull off a good prank or people at Blaze had lost their mind. $800? Really?