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RSSNew games console announced at GDC
March 25, 2009 | Game News, Gaming | 0 CommentsA new games console was announced at the Games Developers Conference held in San Francisco between 23 and 27 March 2009. The new console, dubbed the Zeebo, was announced by John Rizzo, the CEO of Zeebo Inc.
Target market
The console is not incredibly powerful, almost as powerful as Sony’s aging PlayStation 2, which is 9 years old this year. Even though, in terms of processing power, the Zeebo is not likely to make a play to lure current generation console owners away, it is more aimed at emerging markets where mainstream gamers cannot always afford the latest gaming consoles, or the big name games published for them. Zeebo Inc will launch their “console for the next billion” in Brazil next month for US$199, and in other countries like India, China and eastern European countries, for US$179 later this year.
Hardware
The Zeebo will be a diskless console, is a little bigger than the Nintendo Wii, and will be 3G-capable, especially useful as cellphone networks are rolled out much quicker and are much more affordable in developing countries than wired broadband. The console was developed using some of the mobile chip manufacturer Qualcomm‘s technologies. Instead of playing games from disks, gamers will play games downloaded via a cellphone network which won’t cost gamers a cent, they only pay for the cost of the game itself.
Support and pricing
Big names in games, such as Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard have pledged their support for the upcoming console, and said they will make their games available for it. The plan is to sell the games or a fraction more than what pirated games cost on the black market, the equivalent of about US$10 in Brazil.
Local South African launch?
Attempts to contact Zeebo Inc for comment on a possible South African launch of the Zeebo console have so far gone unanswered, but as the target market for the console is emerging markets and areas where broadband penetration is slow or non-existent, and where the large portion of potential gamers have never played a highly realistic game on a current generation games console, it seems that South Africa is a great market to tap. Here’s hoping, as personally I love gameplay over graphics where it matters, and with the Zeebo being almost as powerful as the PS2, it would be nothing to sneeze at.
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