GamePark Holdings has announced the release of the GP2X - a Linux based handheld console. The device packs a 240MHz dual core processor, 64MB of RAM and 64MB of on-board NAND flash memory, and can be used not just to play games, but to playback music and movies, and to read e-books and store and view photos. In fact, you've got everything you need there to waste some time the minute you get bored.
The predecessor of the system, the original GP32, didn't really do very well. In fact, less than 30,000 systems were sold. The main problem was the lack of published games. But the GP2X is designed to be open source and emulator friendly, and has high capacity SD card compatibility and TV output. GamePark Holdings are pretty proud of the little device, claiming that it delivers higher quality audio and video playback than the Sony PSP. They claim to have sold almost 3,000 consoles in the first 24 hours. No plans for a North American launch have been announced; the device has been released in the UK and makes its debut there.
Although the console has little in the way of traditional publisher support, it has a significant homebrew and emulation community, with more than 500 games and applications having been developed for the console and its predecessor, the GP32, which are not cross-compatible.