Yet another... platform
category: general [glöplog]
I just found out about this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebo
Very interesting concept/idea. On the other hand that's more or less what UMPCs were suposed to be, and now UMPCs are €400 computers, quite far from the initial €100 or €50...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebo
Very interesting concept/idea. On the other hand that's more or less what UMPCs were suposed to be, and now UMPCs are €400 computers, quite far from the initial €100 or €50...
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US dollar price of the Zeebo will be $258, or $599 in Brazil
Not quite what I was expecting... people have to make a living, I guess.
Unless I'm missing something terribly obvious, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of designing a whole new console for BRICs when the price is comparable to the Wii, which already has a huge market base and lots of readily available software to boot? All that would be needed would be to repackage titles for the desired markets with a new more fitting pricepoint.
it's always good to see such fresh project but imho it's born to join the long list of stillborn consoles : it's less powerful than a wii, the competition is monopolized by fierce giants, the price you give is too expensive for the primary target market.
what the market is missing atm is an open nextgen console (i guess the PC has been filling that segment for years)
what the market is missing atm is an open nextgen console (i guess the PC has been filling that segment for years)
When I first heard about the Zeebo I immediately thought about comparing it to the wii... but then my guess is that ZeeboNet might be way cheaper than Wii games?
You see, I can't post figures right now, but after the first year, the Wii was the top-selling console (obviously because of its price), however many people just had the Wii Sports game that came with it, and no other game... on the other side, not that many XBox360 or PS3 consoles were sold, but on average, anyone having those two had at least 5 or 6 games.
The Wii hardware has a very fair price, however, on a price/quality tag, its games are expensive as shit.
My guess is, THAT could be be fixed with Zeebo... specially since EA, Activision, Namco and Capcom are willing to make games for it.
Then again... my knowledge about gaming platforms is near zero... I have an old PS2 I bought second hand laying around on my living room... and that's about it. I've probably played 3 or 4 games with it, ever.
You see, I can't post figures right now, but after the first year, the Wii was the top-selling console (obviously because of its price), however many people just had the Wii Sports game that came with it, and no other game... on the other side, not that many XBox360 or PS3 consoles were sold, but on average, anyone having those two had at least 5 or 6 games.
The Wii hardware has a very fair price, however, on a price/quality tag, its games are expensive as shit.
My guess is, THAT could be be fixed with Zeebo... specially since EA, Activision, Namco and Capcom are willing to make games for it.
Then again... my knowledge about gaming platforms is near zero... I have an old PS2 I bought second hand laying around on my living room... and that's about it. I've probably played 3 or 4 games with it, ever.
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many people just had the Wii Sports game that came with it, and no other game... on the other side, not that many XBox360 or PS3 consoles were sold, but on average, anyone having those two had at least 5 or 6 games.
It seems that attachment ratio for the Wii is on par with PS3. source
Jcl: indeed, cheap game prices could be the opportunity segment where the zeebo shines, specially if its old games are already amortized.
just don't forget that the surpringly huge success of the wii isn't only because of its price (the arcade 360 sku is cheaper than the wii) but also because of its all age target, its cute & intuitive interface, the triumph of casual gaming and a perfectly orchestrated nintendo marketing campaign...
damn i hate the wii :>
just don't forget that the surpringly huge success of the wii isn't only because of its price (the arcade 360 sku is cheaper than the wii) but also because of its all age target, its cute & intuitive interface, the triumph of casual gaming and a perfectly orchestrated nintendo marketing campaign...
damn i hate the wii :>
I still can't believe that the Wii has become so popular - it is total crap!
* Crap hardware
* Crap motion control system (at least in the games I've tried, it's more like motion detect. You wiggle the remote and it does some action, but the correlation between how you wiggle and what happens on screen is loose at best).
* Crap hardware
* Crap motion control system (at least in the games I've tried, it's more like motion detect. You wiggle the remote and it does some action, but the correlation between how you wiggle and what happens on screen is loose at best).
yeah wii is more hype than matter most of the time, though a fair deal of making it work as a system really is in the developer's hands (and of course, they screw up most of the time).
as for the hardware -- it's not crap. in fact, it's rather easy to handle as long as you respect it's fair limits (like you'd do on any console, but this might be more or less comparable to xbox 1).
this zeebo thing has 1 stupid flaw (at least if i may believe the wiki page): VGA (640 x 480) - 4:3 aspect ratio
now i guess that probably 90% of the brazilians indeed do still own one of those late 80s wooden panelled color tvs but wont this be a) over soon and b) not the case in the rest of the world?
as for the hardware -- it's not crap. in fact, it's rather easy to handle as long as you respect it's fair limits (like you'd do on any console, but this might be more or less comparable to xbox 1).
this zeebo thing has 1 stupid flaw (at least if i may believe the wiki page): VGA (640 x 480) - 4:3 aspect ratio
now i guess that probably 90% of the brazilians indeed do still own one of those late 80s wooden panelled color tvs but wont this be a) over soon and b) not the case in the rest of the world?
btw zeebo <-> booze ?!?
Interesting concept using mobile telephony networks for distribution of the games. If it works well out-of-the-box in geographical areas where DSL/cable internet connections are rare this could be a limited success.
But the controller looks like a fucking toy and gaming systems with crappy controllers usually fail.
But the controller looks like a fucking toy and gaming systems with crappy controllers usually fail.
this may work. For example in Russia official Nintendo presence is minimal. Zeebo might be the thing. On the other hand, it's price is yikes.
I'd guess a lot of the cost is for the free 3g subscription.
Hey, i'm still waiting for my Phantom console!
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But the controller looks like a fucking toy and gaming systems with crappy controllers usually fail.
oh yes:
Jcl: NES joypads are fantastic. Durable, good buttons, good size for the majority of users, lightweight... So I fail to see your point.
They may look slightly toy-ish (along with the rest of the system) but one must remember that back whenever it was that the NES started being sold in the United States the Atari 2600 and the entire "video gaming industry" had completely died out (in that market) and finding retailers for video game consoles was very difficult. Nintendo managed to get some stores to buy it when they said that it was a toy instead of a video game and to aid the "toy" image they even made some retarded robot add-on and whatnot. But times are different now and looking like a toy may no longer be quite as advantageous.
They may look slightly toy-ish (along with the rest of the system) but one must remember that back whenever it was that the NES started being sold in the United States the Atari 2600 and the entire "video gaming industry" had completely died out (in that market) and finding retailers for video game consoles was very difficult. Nintendo managed to get some stores to buy it when they said that it was a toy instead of a video game and to aid the "toy" image they even made some retarded robot add-on and whatnot. But times are different now and looking like a toy may no longer be quite as advantageous.
un drôle: i didn't really have a point... just got your quote and proved it wrong... NES controller do look like a fucking toy (for whatever reasons) and the gaming system was one of the most successful ever (60 million consoles sold... for a console that dates back to 1985 :-) )
Times are different, yes, but this ain't Brazil, Russia, India or China either, so who knows... judging the future successfulness of a gaming system just for the looks (you haven't even -tried- it) of its controller *IS* indeed a crappy idea.
Times are different, yes, but this ain't Brazil, Russia, India or China either, so who knows... judging the future successfulness of a gaming system just for the looks (you haven't even -tried- it) of its controller *IS* indeed a crappy idea.
You're missing the point. In south america a Wii costs like €500, and games €100!
This will cost like €250 there, and games will cost something like €10. Aparently.
The idea is just going around the laws of distribution and sell games online only: PROFIT. The makers will be happy, the people will be happy.
This will cost like €250 there, and games will cost something like €10. Aparently.
The idea is just going around the laws of distribution and sell games online only: PROFIT. The makers will be happy, the people will be happy.
Why are consoles and games so expensive in South America btw?
"Taxes" is the only answer I get. I have no idea what they're taxing for. Probably that old gamming = gambling grammar confusion.
Now this one will be strange. It seems to be built upon a platform conceived for handheld navigation devices and high-end cellphones, the Qualcomm QST chip... now go figure out how powerful it will be, compared to WII. Yeah, nice processor and lots of memory if it was a handheld, but nowhere near what one expects of a TV game console.
Wikipedia goes as low as to specify 1.6Mio Tris/s throughput, although Qualcomm names 2.8 and the vendor himself names 4 Mio. Compare that with Dreamcast's 5 Mio, and consider that PS2 and GameCube were a couple of times faster than DC.
My guess is that fillrate would be around 130 MPixels/s, as that seems to be the highest that Qualcomm does in its higher-end systems. Compare: Dreamcast - 200 MPixels/s (visible geometry only, hidden is faster), other named platforms are much faster than that.
It might have some commercial success in South America, given it is distributed with a free wireless network subscription, but i totally wonder what kinds of titles one might get to see on it - probably cellphone title ports, that also goes well with expected low title price. I see no chances for this system in Russia or elsewhere.
I wonder what SDKs will look like, whether one gets it, and what kind of operating system it will run.
Wikipedia goes as low as to specify 1.6Mio Tris/s throughput, although Qualcomm names 2.8 and the vendor himself names 4 Mio. Compare that with Dreamcast's 5 Mio, and consider that PS2 and GameCube were a couple of times faster than DC.
My guess is that fillrate would be around 130 MPixels/s, as that seems to be the highest that Qualcomm does in its higher-end systems. Compare: Dreamcast - 200 MPixels/s (visible geometry only, hidden is faster), other named platforms are much faster than that.
It might have some commercial success in South America, given it is distributed with a free wireless network subscription, but i totally wonder what kinds of titles one might get to see on it - probably cellphone title ports, that also goes well with expected low title price. I see no chances for this system in Russia or elsewhere.
I wonder what SDKs will look like, whether one gets it, and what kind of operating system it will run.
It is important to understand that it is the games which decide the success of the console, not it's technical aspects. It really comes down to what games will be ported and developed for it.
As for the controller, looks fine to me.
As for the controller, looks fine to me.
not always, look at the buzzy wii :p
wii is not the latest word in technology, is it. And there are some fine games there, like that Mario Planets game.
Adreno 120 and Adreno 130:
• OpenGL-ES 1.0+/OpenGL-ES 1.1
• High performance fixed function pipeline with texture combiners and
matrix palette extensions
• OpenGL-ES 1.0+/OpenGL-ES 1.1
• High performance fixed function pipeline with texture combiners and
matrix palette extensions
