The 7-inch Archos GamePad is gunning for PS Vita

The French electronics company Archos has announced a new 7-inch gaming tablet which bears more than a passing resemblance to Sony’s flagship handheld gaming device.

[majiebeast]

It has gameloft ripoff's sony should really fear this..

[StraightPath]

Ipad more powerful then both. Retina display

[TimeSkipLuffy]

A Retina Display won't give it games beyond Angry Birds XDD

[JKelloggs]

Ok. LOL.

[TIER1xWOLFPACKx]

you are wrong vita is more powerful than ipad, ipad has a dual core processor at 1ghz with a quadcore gpu. ps vita have a quadcore processor at 2ghz with a quadcore gpu. retina display doesnt make it more powerful it actually makes it less powerful as it has to push more pixels the ipad 3 with its retina display is practically the same as an ipad 2 power wise because of the screen.

[zgoldenlionz]

Dude the only thing the iPad can do is decent graphics. Any game with halfways good graphics has the dumbest AI you've ever seen. And by that I mean games that try to rival console experiences I'm not talking about time killers. Go play amazing spiderman, Tdkr, modern combat or anything else remotely mimicking current gen gaming and you will find dumb as a rock enemies and awful physics.

I might as well point out now I own a new iPad bought it day 1 and love it, but in no way is it better than a vita when it comes to a true gaming experience.

[one2thr]

And the Retina display is lacking in the refresh rate department as well.

[GribbleGrunger]

It's Android and not anywhere near a Vita. But it's Android! If you know Sony strategy, you'll understand why this is GOOD for Sony and not close to bad.

[MasterCornholio]

Yeah and people say that Playstation Mobile is only for the Vita. Pretty funny that they refuse to accept the fact that Playstation Mobile games are also for playstation certified devices which means that some androids like the Xperia S will support it.

Seriously the only one who forgot about smartphones was Nintendo not Sony. IMO

[ABizzel1]

PS Mobile needs to be open to all android devices. It will bring tons of money in for Sony because software almost always makes developers more money than hardware due to the production cost difference.

Sony needs to build PSMobile to have a tiered policy. If your device isn't powerful enough to run PSP games and higher than the store shouldn't display them.

Whereas something like this (I'm guessing Tegra 3 is running it) should have access to all PSMinis, PS1, PSP, PS2, and most PSN games. It's nothing but easy money since those games are already out and cost nothing but licensing fees to promote. Sony would literally make billions of dollars on this and I don't understand why they haven't had this on the forefront of the business strategy for the PlayStation brand.

PS Vita games will remain off PSMobile since it's there current handheld, and PS3 games will be off limits until the PS4 launches. This let's your new consoles continue their success, and bring in easy money by basically selling your previous console titles to a brand new audience (for the most part).

[joeorc]

all android based outside of the PSVita gaming tablets getting physical controls, wikipad, archos game pad, wiki pad is already playstation mobile certifiedm i would imagine Archos is looking to do the same. Android os 4.0+ has wired built right into the os support game pads , even smartphones with Android host support can with bluetooth or an otg cable have a game pad hooked up. Is it really a shocker that sony is doing a plat form on smartdevices to help sell playstation software on one of the largest and growing market's today?

[r21]

I wonder if this new handheld will get the same amount of save and doom articles like the ps vita.

[specialguest]

The best this device will do is the ability to play PS one and N64 games with emulation. The "real" games from Gameloft just looks like it lacks depth.

[Baka-akaB]

Lol Archos' tablets are always horrible , so no .

[Hicken]

Good luck with that, Archos.

[Qrphe]

This is good. The more developers that step up with a product like the Vita means that they're just trying to tap into a growing market, which ultimately does benefit Sony.

[DivineAssault]

Vita will have so many better games made for it than this piece of junk.. Do ppl really enjoy ios/android games to the point were this is questionable? I dont mean casuals either

[joeorc]

While the build quality is sometimes hit or miss with the arches brand, the chipset their using in this game pad is not junk. For one a quad core MalI 400 Gpu is no joke it's quite robust for games.

How do I know before people start calling it junk people need to Learn something look at the link an look what it's demo on

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

That's right the same d@mn chipset!

[DivineAssault]

i know.. Gizmondo & Ngage were no joke either.. Im not talking bout power bro, i mean the types of games it gets.. U really think it will deliver quality games? sure there will be lots of free garbage n casual things but good games with good production value?

[Baka-akaB]

and ? Even when Archos uses the same componant as their competitor their android stuff ends up being crappy .

People are just used to that and react accordingly . Not every mediocre brand is going to pull an acer (or MAdcatz) that easily

[rpd123]

I don't think it poses a threat to the Vita. It will not get anywhere near the support the Vita does from developers.

[joeorc]

as for getting near the support the PSVita does from developer's, many that are thinking that are overlooking one problem with that way of thinking, this device does not have too, as a matter of fact it will only help not hinder, the more of these like minded PSVita like devices that get released only bolster's the chance to sell software. the point is Sony's not just thinking of the PSVita by its self, its thinking about the entire smart device market as a stream for income.

you talked about support, well Sony made the Playstation Mobile for just that reason, many talked about fragmentation of the Android OS for games right?

well what many are not looking at is thing's like this:

"On Wednesday during IFA 2012 at an Asus press conference, Epic Games and Nvidia demonstrated Unreal Engine 3 running in the Windows 8 and Windows RT environment. It was done using the Epic Citadel app -- which was previously released for iOS and Flash platforms -- installed on the Tegra 3-powered Asus Vivo Tab RT (formerly known as the Tablet 600).

"The Unreal Engine 3-powered ‘Epic Citadel’ demonstration for Windows RT tablets implements our full DirectX 9 pipeline, with shaders and materials, all running beautifully on Tegra 3," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. "By porting the full engine as opposed to a modified mobile version, Nvidia and Epic have made it easy for UE3 developers around the world to bring their best content to Windows RT, Windows 8, and Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor. Windows RT code is available to licensees from Epic now and we’re excited to see the great games they develop with it."

http://www.tomshardware.com...

that's right the $99.00 OUYA, The many freaking smartphones and Tablet's can run UNREAL ENGINE 3 the full freaking engine, not stripped down, the full Engine.

Sony is counting on it! smartphone's ,smartTV's, TABLET'S all are running processor's like the TEGRA 3+ as a matter of fact the Tegra 3 chipset is already in the Asus, Sony's xperia Tablet, wikipad all running the Tegra 3 chipset, thus the Full EPIC's unreal game engine can run on the Tegra 3.

That means that smartphones, tablets, Smart TV's and some topset boxes can run advanced games past "Angry Birds"

[Baka-akaB]

People hardly doubt the power to run better than "angry birds " , just how often do they even want to do otherwise , and amidst those rare times , how often arent they :

- Pretty but mediocre knock offs from known brand like Need for speed .

- Pretty but mediocre clones of known games .

- Hd remastered oldies with a few gifts , but still an inferior control scheme .

And i already see it coming , but please spare me part of the usual rebuttal ... like "everyone buy phones not everyone is going to invest in expensive handhelds" , or "you can plug a pad on your tab".
It's not related to the quality of the games so far , quite the opposite . we aint economists nor usually involved financially with any of the companies , so who care .

If some got to reply , then just answer this :

- name games you'd choose to play over handhelds equivalents

- Name ports that actually play better than their console or pc counterparts

- Where are the innovative power hungry UE3 games ?

[joeorc]

1.6GHz quad-core Exynos which is in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is running once again the quad core Mali 400! , just like the Galaxy S3 also using the Quad Core Mali 400.

and the benchmarks was already shown :

http://www.engadget.com/201...

that's right this Archos Game pad despite the diatribe going on in this thread, is very robust in it's hardware. it is no slouch, unless you also want to call the Galaxy Note 2 that is just being released...Junk?

info about this Archos Game pad

7-inch capacitive screen, 2 shoulder buttons, 4 face buttons and a directional pad. It also boasts 2 recessed analog sticks which resemble the circle pads on Nintendo’s 3DS. ARCHOS has wisely included HDMI output and a MicroSD card slot to compliment the 8GB of onboard storage.

The GamePad will house a dual-core processor running at 1.5 GHz, and a Mali 400mp quad-core GPU – the same one used in Samsung’s Galaxy S III — to handle graphics.

and what will the retail price be:

It’s set to retail for about $189 USD, making it a very affordable gaming device in conjunction with its full capabilities as a 7” tablet.

http://www.forbes.com/sites...

ram and resolution is not known yet, but i would imagine being close to the Galaxy Notes resolution and ram being being 1 GB

[tarbis]

"two nubby looking sticks"... More like n00by. XD

[hkgamer]

I doubt the Archos would do anything good