By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Lee Myung-bak wants South Korea to have its own Nintendo, so state-sponsored engineers are getting busy working on it.
Just a month after the president's now infamous ``Nintendo comment'' in which he lamented to policymakers that Korean companies can't make products like the Japanese video games giant, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced a partnership with a local electronics maker Monday for developing game machines and software.
GamePark Holdings is highly regarded by hard-core gamers for its handheld consoles such as ``GP32'' and ``GP2X,'' but doesn't have a prayer of competing with Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which hold unbeatable edges in reputation and game titles.
With the number of commercial games limited by the dearth of quality game developers here, GamePark Holdings have been relying on an open-source model to secure games for its consoles. Through the partnership, ETRI is vowing to help the company find its own Super Mario.
Under the agreement, ETRI and GamePark Holdings will collaborate to develop a software development kit, game titles and other software for the company's latest handheld console, ``GP2X Wiz.'' The company's open-source model would allow anybody, including amateur engineers, to participate in developing software, ETRI officials said.
ETRI has already been helping GamePark Holdings to develop operating systems, graphics and interface frameworks for its consoles since last year. This helped GamePark Holdings produce a software development program based on Qplus, a Linux-based operating system, distributed to local game developers providing their products to the company.
Through the 2-year partnership, ETRI and GamePark Holdings plan to develop 2D and 3D game engines and also produce a newer version of the Qplus-based software development kit.
``The idea is to create a game software platform that would allow game developers to produce games for different consoles using a single set of development tools,'' said Kim Hui-cheol, an official from ETRI's technology applications team.
``This means that games developed for GP2X Wiz will be easily converted for use in other platforms. We are optimistic that the partnership between ETRI and GamePark Holdings could produce big things, as ETRI has a wealth of wireless Internet technology that could open new opportunities for handheld game machines,'' he said.
GamePark Holdings has been garnering solid reviews, particularly for GP2X, which has dual 200MHz CPU, a 3.5-inch touch screen and SD card storage. The company boasts that its successor, Wiz, which is nearing release, will impress even more.
GP2X Wiz runs on a 533 MHz CPU and supports a wide range of multimedia functions such as video, music, digital photos and e-book, going toe-to-toe with any conventional console in terms of technology.
GamePark Holdings generated about six billion won (about $4.3 million) in revenue last year and has sold more than 60,000 GP2X units, but the domestic market accounted for just a miniscule part of its console business, with most of the growth coming from North America and Europe.
Securing more game titles has been a major concern for GamePark Holdings, which acquired a local game studio last year to develop its own games.
The company pans to produce 20 commercial titles this year for GP2X Wiz, which it plans to sell 100,000 units of this year, and also says up to 60 user-generated games will be available for free downloading on the company's Web site.