Behind closed doors at E3, MyGamer had a chance to talk with Gizmondo’s Senior Account Manager Rannie Yoo about their new portable system. The unit, launched in Europe last March after receiving over 500,000 preorders, boasts a 128-bit Nvidia GoForce video GPU supporting its 400mhz ARM9 CPU from Samsung and a 2.8 inch LCD screen. While the machine does not surpass the specifications of Sony’s PSP handheld, the Gizmondo’s ‘under the hood’ technology creates an impressive package given the small size of the unit.
Besides the normal dashboard suite of features such as an alarm clock, calculator, and even currency converter, the Gizmondo comes equipped with a 3 megapixel camera capable of capturing detailed images. The modified Windows CE operating system ensures compatibility with mp3, mpg, and avi formats, and its US incarnation will support even more file types with an upgrade from Windows Media 9 to 10. Rounding out its feature set is a sophisticated GPS device, a first for a handheld gaming console. The UK-based portable is set to launch stateside this August at a price point of $229.
The GPS component is the Gizmondo’s major distinguishing factor; with many possible applications both game related and otherwise. A designated “panic button,” when pushed in times of emergency, sends a distress signal including your exact coordinates via Bluetooth to other Gizmondo users within the system’s fifteen-meter range. The “Geo-Fencing” system enables the user to set up a GPS ‘fence’, or perimeter, and if this boundary is breached a notice is sent to the user’s pager or cell phone. The example given was if a user places the Gizmondo in his car and establishes a Geo-Fence, and if the fence is broken as the car is stolen or towed, the user is sent a notification so further action might be taken. Lastly, concerned parents might want to outfit their children with the Gizmondo for its tracking abilities, in the unfortunate case of abduction.
But the most important part of the Gizmondo’s feature library has yet to be discussed—the games. With nearly 90 games promised in time for the system’s US launch, courtesy of developers such as EA, Ubisoft, SCI, Buena Vista, Microsoft, and Mace Griffin-creators, Warhawk Studios.
The software library so far comprises of conventional franchises such as FIFA 2005 and SSX, to titles not usually seen on handhelds such as the sim-oriented racer Richard Burns Rally. Casual gamers will have plenty of options like Sticky Balls, a twitch puzzler based around combining strings of like-colored balls while avoiding spheres of opposing colors, all of which must be done under the effects of a fully integrated physics engine. Action fans will gravitate towards Hit and Myth, a top-down brawler with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor similar to Smash TV, and The Supernaturals, a monster-fighting game that’s still undergoing design work.
The GPS functionality is put to good use in Colors, a Bluetooth-enabled location-based gang warfare game. The gist is to take over other gang’s territories by extending your gang’s color influence, all while defending your turf from encroaching parties. Finally, the French-born urban sport Free Running (the city-as-obstacle-course activity seen in Nike ads) sees its first incarnation as a videogame in the Gizmondo exclusive Jump, which was shown in its very early concept stages.
While it remains to be seen if the Gizmondo will provide the PSP and DS a worthy challenger in the portable market, its small size, GPS capabilities, and distinctly European flavor might just be unique enough to leverage support among US customers.