Game Park was a South Korean company that was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in March 2007. It is responsible for creating the

GP32 The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the South Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea and distributed in some parts of Europe. History The GP32 was shown at E3 in 1999, 2000, 2001 ...

and the never-released XGP.

GamePark Holdings GPH, formerly known as GamePark Holdings, was a South Korean company responsible for creating the GP2X that was founded by former employees of the game maker GamePark in 2005. History Several years after the release of the GP32, its maker GamePar ...

was founded by former employees of Game Park in 2005.

Foundation

Founded in 1996 in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, Game Park entered the industry using

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

money. At the time, games in Korea were only made for PCs and

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

. There was a law established after World War II that forbid importation of Japanese

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

. Some clones of Japanese consoles such as the Sega Saturn (cloned by

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

) and

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

(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

n 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

(Game Park 32-bit), their first system, was then being designed. Several iterations of it were developed, including a

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

lic look, and a style issued from the original

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

design, and a flat panel with a screen on the upper part and

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

s on the lower part. Those systems were shown at the 2000

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. ...

but failed to catch attention with their inferior hardware and games. After five years of development, Game Park opted for a more

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

look, a lot like the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

. Game Park's new handheld also had a major internal hardware upgrade making it more powerful than the

GBA The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

Launch

The

originally launched in November 2001, in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

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

developer Developer may refer to: Computers * Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web d ...

s 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 never was 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

except for a bigger screen, higher-quality speakers and more ergonomic handling.

Surprising market

Though the

was planned to be a gaming console, its game selection was not sufficient in quality or quantity to truly compete against the

. One of its advantage was that in Korea no Japanese

were allowed, the

included. On January 1, 2002, however,

finally allowed imports of Japanese electronics. The system's success hinged on being an open source handheld attractive to independent

s and capable of supporting

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

and

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound * Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

playback.

GP32 Variants

GP32 FLU

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 Game Boy Advance SP (GBA SP), released in Japan on February 14, 2003, is a sixth-generation handheld game console developed, released, and marketed by Nintendo that served as an upgraded version of the original Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in ...

. The big difference, however, is that the GP32 FLU has exactly the same mold, buttons, etc. as the GP32, unlike the completely redesigned

. This reduced the cost of the modification. This system was released in Korea exclusively again, in 2002. The front light can be switched off to save

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

GP32 BLU

The GP32 BLU (standing for Back Lit Unit) was another iteration of the

(the equivalent of the brighter GBA SP), again having nothing changed in appearance, except for a now back lit screen, much better than the FLU. The BLU gave players a very bright and colorful screen. This unit was introduced in 2004, and later that year they even released it in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. A problem is that without the back light the screen looks very dark and it's hard to see the image, so the backlight must run continuously except when it's not necessary to look at the screen (for example, when using the console as an MP3 player).

Imports

The system has been subject to much importation, due largely to the fact the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

on it features both

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

support, even though it was exclusively sold in Korea for many years.

Competition

In 2003, the Game Park line still was not released in Europe or North America.

Team17 Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two co ...

, the developer of

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

, offered to port their games directly on the

for free. Although most companies demanded financial support, Team17 only asked for two GP32 units to test their games. Game Park refused, for currently unknown reasons. In July 2003, GP32News, a French news web site for the GP32 took a personal initiative to show and publicize the GP32 at the

Japan Expo Japan Expo is a convention on Japanese popular culture - the largest of its kind in the world - taking place in Paris, France, although it has branched out into a partnership festival - Kultima - and expanded to include some European and US pop c ...

. Game Park refused to fund the site, which would have helped give the GP32 a publicity boost. At the Game Convention event in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in August, the GP32 was announced with a European launch for Holiday 2003. Numerous distributors, to sell the system, as well as the first editors of European games to start development were contacted. The company in charge of distributing the GP32,

Mitsui is one of the largest ''keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industries ...

(a well-known company in Japan) abandoned Game Park for a bigger company,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

. Mitsui then was in charge of distributing the Sony PSP in Europe, after having no communication from Game Park.

Today

The

knew a small success in Europe. North America never saw the GP32. The GP32 was sold in the Americas through web stores but has become increasingly rare. In early 2005, there was an internal disagreement in Game Park about where to take the company. Some former employees split off to form

, which successfully released the

GP2X The GP2X is a Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only. The GP2X is designed for homebrew developers as wel ...

handheld console in November 2005 and released the

GP2X Wiz The GP2X Wiz is a handheld game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings running a Linux kernel-based embedded operating system. It was released on May 12, 2009, and was also the first console from bot ...

in April 2009. In 2006, the original Game Park officially announced the XGP, the successor to their GP32. They also announced the XGP-Mini, a smaller version of the XGP with half the

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

. Later on, they announced the XGP-Kids, a redesign of the GP32, featuring the same hardware at a lower price for younger players. None of these consoles were actually released, and in March 2007 Game Park filed for bankruptcy.Fin de l’aventure GP32 : Game Park dépose le bilan
''Videogames Pockett.'' March 2007. Accessed on: September 13, 2008. Gamepark's officia
website
is currently unavailable and was previously replaced by a website for a shoe store before it was taken down

References

External links

Official website
(retrieved from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

)
History of Game Park Holdings split
{{Electronics industry in South Korea Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 2007 Defunct video game companies of South Korea Electronics companies of South Korea Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in South Korea