I met with Rich Jenkins, CEO of Media Power yesterday, and he told me that the new Gizmondo is here, but not yet on sale. I asked for physical proof, whereupon he opened a small storage room with combination lock, only to return like another Santa Claus with a big hard package, stacked with neatly bubblewrapped Gizmondos. Direct from China. "The rest are in the warehouse," he said.
Rich Jenkins says that the deal with the Chinese manufacturer is "negotiated and done," and that the company can ramp up production next year depending on the demand. The design is basically the same as the first Gizmondo, but with a newer version of nVidia's graphics chip and a new battery. (Owners of the first Gizmondo can send in their old crappy battery and get a new and better one for free.)
The price? Carl Freer thought he could launch it at $99 dollars when we spoke almost a year ago, but Rich Jenkins says that it probably will be higher. "We're working on the price," he says. The new Gizmondo will come with either Windows CE 6.0 or Google's new Android operating system. the new unit will be open, so that you can run any Windows CE game on it. But you have to choose between CE and Android. You can't have both, or switch, at least not yet.
You'll have to wait until November-December to order it on the company's upcoming - and really, really cool website, which will be launched in Mid-October.
And I had almost turned cynical about the new Gizmondo, as deadlines passed only to be followed by new ones.... but here it is at last!
Hans Sandberg
PS. Back home in my office, I asked myself. How do I know that it really was the new version he showed me? It was a new box and unopened shipping box from China he cut open, but couldn't it have been an old box? I guess it could have, but what would he and Carl Freer have gained by doing that? To extend a charade for another two months? It doesn't make sense, so for now at least, I believe that he told me the truth and showed me the real thing.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Gizmondo 2 Is Here - Sales Start In November/December
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9 comments:
Unfortunately, they are probably too late. Their two biggest competitors are already taking preorders (Wiz) or are just about to start (Pandora). This is an open source handheld gaming device that has virtually no community behind it so I have a bad feeling that it isn't going to be around for very long. Other things going against the new Gizmondo is the fact that they kept the same exact design as the original. Gamepark Holding's (GP2X) new console Wiz is tiny and will easily fit in your pocket and the Pandora is basically a Linux PC that is about the size of a Nintendo DS and has gaming controls on it. It would've been wise to cut down the size of the unit and make it more pocketable. The only thing that I see that could possibly save this is the fact that it runs Windows CE as opposed to Linux which allows for some overlap in the community. It'll run different software than the other systems will. They should try to get the price back down to as close to $100 as they can. If it costs $150 or more, it probably won't have a chance. Sorry to be negative but Gizmondo has another tough road ahead of them.
Obviously you've had a few skeptical readers read this article, hence the 'p.s....' bit at the end.
However the Gizmondo in the picture is clearly an original model and hasn't changed at all, thus this still seems highly unlikely.
A huge pinches of the salt, required!
"And I had almost turned cynical about the new Gizmondo, as deadlines passed only to be followed by new ones.... but here it is at last!" LOL it wouldn't be Gizmondo if they didn't, still I am looking forward to the new release now to decide if i want Android or Windows CE 6.0 or both :)
Well I will buy one if it is cheap enough just for the heck of it. I do want to compare it to the Pandora when it releases. Hopefully, Carl Freer will make this comeback worthwhile.
;)
gizmondo sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow. A seqel to one of the biggest flops in gaming histroy. This should be fun to see it fail (probably more fun than the games :D)
Well considering they don't play their employees so they are all quitting I can't wait to see what is going to happen. With nobody working there it should be interesting.
I will buy one, but I'll probably be the only one. How come there hasn't been any recent news about it?
We are still waiting, Mr. Jenkins:-)
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