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Revision as of 07:18, 28 March 2005 by 66.71.68.180 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console with GSM and GPS by Tiger Electronics. There is a lot of criticism about the Gizmondo, mainly that it is too expensive to succeed in today's competitive handheld market. It has been speculated that the name Gizmondo was inspired by the gadget blog Gizmodo.
Gizmondo was released in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2005. Priced at £229, the handheld device goes on sale in the US and mainland Europe in the next few weeks. A catalogue of about 20 games is being prepared for the gadget, including The Great Escape and Conflict Vietnam.
The British-backed gadget faces stiff competition from handheld gaming devices made by Nintendo and Sony.
The Gizmondo device packs a lot of functions inside its black cover and is aimed at gamers and those that want more from their game-playing gadgets. It can be used to play games, music tracks and movies. It can take and store digital photos and be used like a mobile phone to send text, multimedia and e-mail messages.
The phone service to enable people to send messages is being provided by pre-pay Vodafone accounts bundled in with the device. It also works with GPS (Global Position System) so can also be used as a navigation aid or to support a variety of location-based services. The GPRS and Bluetooth wireless data systems onboard mean that it can be used for multi-player gaming.
The gadget will be available from the Gizmondo store on London's Regent Street and from several other retail partners. Although the device rolls together an impressive list of functions, it will face serious competition from three established names in mobile gaming: Nintendo, Nokia and Sony. The Nintendo DS handheld went on sale on March 11 and priced at £99 costs far less than the Gizmondo.
A similar device, Nokia's N-Gage, is a direct competitor of the Gizmondo. The N-Gage is based on the same general design, combining cell phone capabilities with the ability to play video games.
External links
- Gizmondo home page
- GamingMoz - Gizmondo games documentation.
- Gizmondo Gadget hits the shelves - BBC.co.uk on Gizmondo release
- Tiger Telematics