Handheld gaming has always been a big part of the gaming industry. From the late 80’s there were many that competed for the top spot such as the Gameboy, Game Gear and Atari Lynx. For a long time, the three battled it out until Nintendo became victorious and since then have been producing more hand-held consoles such as the Pocket Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance and SP. Nintendo seemed to have had it easy through the late 90’s and early 00’s but now the death match has begun once again.
Gizmondo has entered the arena, armed with gaming, Camera capabilities, Music player, Movie player, messaging, GPS, Bluetooth and amazing power, this new handheld is going to create a high kill count.
The Gizmondo, is by far, the most advanced mobile gaming unit that has ever burst its way onto the market. Now as there is a large boom in mobile gaming, everyone seems to have come up with new and innovative ways of play and features to make their unit number one but this wonderful machine has gone way beyond that.
Although the new handheld is very futuristic and up to date in terms of capabilities and technology, the look and style of the console itself is very retro. It has very much followed in the same line of handheld consoles that took on in the late 80’s when they were first developed and produced. Though there are some slight changes and additives, it very much follows along in the same suit as the Game Gear, Atari Lynx and now the Gameboy Advance. With an 8 way directional control pad, two shoulder buttons and the four game buttons, it allows for a lot of control within the game and advanced control systems. The TFT screen in the centre, then the directional control pad on the left and four buttons on the right, it looks as though it will be a nice comfortable hold. At the moment it has only been seen in silver by it is a sure estimate that more will be revealed at EGN this September. The machine looks very stylish and slim to fit in with a very good look and theme of being technical and advanced but still has the retro hint to it.
Gaming is the most important and pushed aspect of the machine, as it is obviously the sole purpose of its creation. At the moment there are only four titles that are looking to be released with the handheld and the majority of them use the most amazing and original ways of play to enhance the gaming experience to a maximum level.
‘City’ is the first of the games they show. Upon first look it seems as though it is a very boring and rather bland game. Throw those judgements aside and take a look for yourself. One of the best qualities of this game, along with ‘Colours’, is that is uses the capabilities of the GPS. Using this ability, it draws the player into the game like never before and customizing it to such an original level that you could play for weeks---if not months---without becoming bored. It takes your locations and surroundings and places it into the game, giving you things to do that are unique and interesting anytime you play, anywhere you play.
Along with this, there is also the inbuilt capability of the bluetooth technology, allowing gamers to connect up with fellow Gizmondo users when they are in close proximity to each other. This is not the only way of multiplayer gaming, as through the GPS once again, you can link up into a massive network to play many others and see who can be the champion gamer.
The Gizmondo boasts of having a 240 x 320 pixel TFT screen, a 3D games engine and a graphics accelerator. All of these brilliant specifications rolled into this wonderful machine will surely create games that will be remembered within the history of mobile gaming and pushing it up to a very high level of calibre and break the boundaries of expected standards.
The main problem that seems to be facing the Gizmondo, which is a very dire concern, is the fact that there are only the four games promised to come out for the handheld console’s release; City, Colours, Stuntcar Extreme and Speedgun Stadium. In fairness, all of these seem to be magnificent titles that will be able to push the release of the Gizmondo to no end but soon when they become warn out, the gamers will want more.
Not only does the Gizmondo have graphics capabilities to rock the gaming world but it also has many other good specifications in its favour. The machine will also support music and movie files. Not only are they already great features but it also means that the sound quality of the games will be incredible.
One game in particular---Speedgun Stadium---uses this to a great advantage. Within the game, it is said that the crowd will play a big part with the gameplay and get the player whipped up into a mad frenzy that will result in more killing and wonderful play. Speedgun puts you in the shoes of a fighter of a TV show. You are given a force field and a gun and then sent off to kill as many people as you can find within the arena. The crowd will cheer madly when you are on a killing frenzy but will boo and hiss if you get shot apart. Although this sounds like great fun, it is not the impressive part. Depending on how the crowds react to your skill, it will affect the way of gameplay. If they are shouting for more then new features will be unlocked; you will be able to use more guns or robot killers will be unleashed into the arena to track you down and finish you off!
Despite Speedgun using the sound in a major way, all of the games will have brilliant quality sound to them; enhancing the sound effects, music and voices---if there are any. Such specifications like MP3 playback, MIDI/WAV formats, Speakerm, Polyphonic ring tones, a stereo headset socket and inbuilt Windows Media 9; this will burst your ears with its sound abilities.
The power of this machine is circuit blowing too, with an overall power of 400Mhz and the ARM9 technology to boost this machine some strong juice.
Not only does the Gizmondo have great gaming features but it also has GSM Tri-band, GPRS class 10, WAP 2.0, MMS receive and send, SMS, MPEG 4 video playback, JPEG digital camera, SD flash card reader, Mini USB client, Bluetooth class 2, Temperature range OC to 55C, GPS tracking application, GPS mapping application, Removable sim and battery, and Flight mode.
The Gizmondo is more than an impressive handheld console; it is a mark, an example and a standard of what mobile gaming should be all about. With all of its amazing features, it puts together a wonderful presentation for not only games but all media as well. This is one impressive machine.
It is to be launched in Autumn 2004 and I say that is not soon enough; this type of technology should have been taken advantage of a long time ago, especially in the field of handheld gaming. The Gizmondo offers this stunning technology rolled into the one desirable handheld console. The new era is about to begin and Gizmondo has been written into the stone of its history.
Tobias Rowe
