Opinion: Is the homebrew approach enough for Gizmondo Mk2 success?

February 4th, 2008, 17:15 Posted By: wraggster

Following the shock news that the much derided Gizmondo handheld has been bought back from the liquidator for a second attempt at the market, UK trade publication MCV has caught up with new owners, UK tech company Plextek.

Showing something of the lack of industry experience which got the original company in trouble in the first place, asked about competing with DS and PSP its technical director Ian Murphy is quoted as saying:

"It's fair to say that much of DS's content is not exactly spectacular but it's still a very successful machine because it has a point of difference. There's no reason we can't compete. An open platform will offer something that other handhelds can't."

The mention of an open platform is in reference to the company's plan to relaunch Gizmondo - the device itself will remain "almost identical" - as a homebrew system, for which anyone can create, share and sell games within an online live marketplace.

Ironically, the decision to maintain the basic guts of the Gizmondo isn't in-and-of-itself a bad move, though. Despite the collapse of the business, the device was well designed, featuring an Nvidia 3D chip, as well as inbuilt GPS technology. Indeed, Pocket Gamer's own Gizmondo still gets irregular use as a handheld navigation system, even if the quality of the available games (perhaps with the exception of Sticky Balls) was very poor.

The key question, however, is whether this new attempt can enthuse enough homebrew and indie developers into supporting the system, especially when there are plenty of other opportunities such as WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade, not to mention mobile games.

Still, maybe at this early stage, we should be charitable. After all, the GP2X series of Linux-based handheld consoles seems to have found itself a niche - although not one that has Sony or Nintendo shaking in their boots.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Vario...ure.asp?c=5587

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