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 and the never-released XGP. GamePark Holdings 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. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Game Park entered the industry using

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

. Some clones of Japanese consoles such as the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

(cloned by

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

) and

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

(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 GP32 (Game Park

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

), their first system, was then being designed. Several iterations of it were developed, including a

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

lic look, and a style issued from the original

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

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, or ...

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

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game trade fair and 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 Publication ...

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 polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

look, a lot like the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

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

Launch

The GP32 originally launched in November 2001, in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

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 is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

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 Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

sound. It is almost physically the same as the GBA except for a bigger screen, higher-quality speakers and more ergonomic handling.

Surprising market

Though the GP32 was planned to be a gaming console, its

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

selection was not sufficient in quality or quantity to truly compete against the

. One of its advantage was that in Korea no

ese

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 Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

handheld attractive to independent developers and capable of supporting

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

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 sound ...

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 (SP stands for "Special") is a 32-bit handheld game console made by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on February 14, 2003, and to international markets in March. This model is an upgraded version of the Game Boy Advance ...

. 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 power.

GP32 BLU

The GP32 BLU (standing for Back Lit Unit) was another iteration of the GP32 (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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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

, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. 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

import An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...

ation, due largely to the fact the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

on it features both Korean and English 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 Team 17 Digital Limited (Team17) is a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish dev ...

, the developer of

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

, offered to port their games directly on the GP32 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 outside Japan – taking place in Paris, France, although it has branched out into a partnership festival – Comic-Con Paris, Kultima – and expanded to inclu ...

. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 a Japanese corporate group and '' keiretsu'' that traces its roots to the ''zaibatsu'' groups that were dissolved after World War II. Unlike the ''zaibatsu'' of the pre-war period, there is no controlling company with regulatory power. Ins ...

(a well-known company in

) abandoned Game Park for a bigger company,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

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

Today

The GP32 knew a small success in Europe.

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

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 GamePark Holdings, which successfully released the GP2X handheld console in November 2005 and released the GP2X Wiz 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. 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 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

)
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