Question: Are you excited about the Gizmondo?

by Ben Zackheim { May 24th 2005 at 12:47PM }

With all the big guns in the room, the Gizmondo portable console was a bit quiet at E3. After a healthy debut in the UK recently, the device is about to make its North American bow. Come August 11th, the 50 states will be able to pick one up and start playing…

•     Angel Fish
•     Chicane
•     City
•     Colors
•     Conflict: Desert Storm II
•     Conflict: Vietnam
•     Fallen Kingdoms
•     Furious Phil
•     Future Tactics
•     Gizmondo Motocross 2005
•     Hockey Rage 2005
•     Interstellar Flames 2
•     Johnny Whatever
•     Milo and the Rainbow Nasties
•     Momma Can I Mow the Lawn?
•     Speedgun Stadium
•     Sticky Balls
•     Stuntcar Extreme
•     Super Drop Mania
•     The Great Escape
•     Toy Golf
•     Trailblazer

Not a lot of AAA titles, but they could be good. So, tell us…if you own one, do you like it? If you don't own it, do you want to?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

So, according to a Gamespot interview I saw during E3, this thing is getting released in the US for $400 dollars.

Are they crazy? $150 more than a PSP... $250 more than a DS? Someone in that company is insane.

I'd consider it at about 1/3 it's expected price. Maybe.

(And, yes I know I can get it cheaper if I'm willing to let it advertise at me. No thanks.)

Chris Norman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Yeah, I can't wait to walk into Gamestop and ask the pimply-faced register boy to "gimme Sticky Balls".

I mean, with game titles like Johnny Whatever, I'm surprised they didn't name the console 'Game Playing Whogivesashit'.

El Payo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I had a chance to 'play' one at E3. It has a great feature set, the GPS is cool, but here's what I noticed right off:

1. Impossible to hold. The thing always felt like it was about to fall out of my hands - the ergonomics are atrocious. Plus the D-Pad is tiny. A little money put into i.d. instead of promotion would have helped.

2. Insanely long load times for games. Plus the games themselves felt like something you'd expect on a cell-phone, not a gaming platform.

3. Tiny screen. This alone makes it not worth the price, thanks.

4. Booth babes and a huge E3 budget do not a console make. There were a ton of hotties in that booth - which was built out like a Disney themeland, but the emphasis should have been on the Gizmondo. They had to dedicate an entire blank wall to 8 or 9 Gizmondos outside their space just so you could see them without the distraction of all that silicone, foam rubber & paint - and I'm not talking about the 'set.'

5. DS. PSP. GBA/GBASP/GBAM.

If you're going to compete with these guys, get an exclusive, must-have title.

Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I wasn't excited about this game until I saw a video of it from E3 running an augmented reality game on it.

Basically, it used the camera and gyroscope to create a window on reality with a video game laid atop. It was totally wicked and sometyhing I've never seen done before.

I wish I still had the video link. I think I saw it on Game Trailers.

Eran Hawke @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Here you are, try this.

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1811

murph @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

me and my PSP say
"zzzzzzz"

WebPimp @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Hehe. The little company that "couldn't". Or, Too much to late?

Vagabond Artist @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

awww... it's like a Game.com part two

http://www.cwest.com/ebay/71770.jpg

boxmyth @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Saw the thing at E3. Loved the hotties all around it. The car on display was cool. The DJ spinning was suprisingly decent. Oh, and the hotties were hot.
Great game-related setup. Just be sure to have hotties, an expensive car, and a good DJ wherever it's sold and it should give the PSP a good fight...

Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Actually, it's already pre-selling at KBtoys for $229 US, so the $400 is nonsense.

Eric @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

what the hell is Gizmondo? ;) hehe

Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

#10 - That's certainly the "Ad Enabled" version that will force you to watch sponsored messages before/after (during?) gameplay.

http://portables.about.com/b/a/171057.htm

There's the $399 figure. And I *saw* a Gizmondo rep quote that same price to the Gamespot live crew on a streaming telecast from E3.

It's certainly not nonsense. Well, actually it IS nonsense, but it's of their own making. I didn't price this thing. ;-)

Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I give it six months to totally vanish from the face of the earth.

Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Here's some info on the "Smart Adds feature" (are they kidding here? Talk about spin!) from the UK where the Gizmondo is already released.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/13/gizmondo_smart_adds/

JD @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I was excited when I first heard about this thing because of the GPS stuff. It sounded like a cheap way to get portable GPS ($399 versus $599 for most of the other portable GPS units). Plus I'd get a camera and messaging built in. I could care less about the gaming stuff.

But with such a small screen, I have my doubts about it's usefulness as a dedicated GPS unit.

Plus I was hoping for a web browser. Does this thing have one?

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Are you guys f*ckin mad? Have any of you even got a bloody gizmondo? I do and i must say that it's an exceptional piece of gear. Better than the DS by miles, roughly the same as the PSP, but marginally more powerful, and with more features. I've spent so much time on my gizmondo, and feel that the ergonomics are bloody fab, and to whoever said they weren't, were you f*ckin high when you held it? Because the thing just melts into your hand, and fits perfectly into your pocket, unlike the DS, which is like a book you open and write in with a pen, and doesnt fit in your pocket because its so frickin big, and the PSP is just so big with so many buttons crammed onto it by the designers to fill the space of the massive surface area, oh and it doesnt fit into your pocket either, i've tried.

Cant be bothered to paragraph all that, or even sort it into proper sentences. Try and make sense of it somehow...

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

About the browser, it's getting one soon here in the UK, and for its launch in the US, it should already have a browser ready and built in for launch over there

jyu @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

What the hell is a gizmondo anyways? Its uglier than Mark Blount (www.MarkBlount.com)and it takes what...cartridges? I'd get a PSP before this, especially if its $400. I give this system 6 months before its dead.

Anthony @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Whew is that ugly. Does anyone know exact dimensions on it? Screen size etc.
Also, this thing takes cartidges and has loading times? Sense this does not make...
mmmmMMMMmmmmm

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

No, not cartridges, SD Cards. I've got a 1 gig card in mine with the following movies on it:

Saw
Matrix Reloaded
Ice Age
The Incredibles
Napoleon Dynamite
Team America
Chris Rock - Never Scared

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

No, hold on.
Go here:

http://gizmondo.com/unit/function.asp

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

It looks ugly, because of the stupid fugly looking prototype image joystiq chose to put up. go to

http://gizmondo.com/unit/function.asp

for a real look at its design.

Codejoy @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Actually I was semi suprised by the gizmondo. The one game I played (a diablo like game with this dude riding a tiger?) was suprisingly fun, very smash tv like and the casting of spells was pretty good. I talked to the producer to and he seemed cool enough. The game wasn't that bad. The racing game though (advertised by the sweet car and hot babes) sucked a big one. It wasn't bad nessciarly just extreemly loose in every sense a game can be. It seems like they have some issues with polish. Though the final word is, 3d system fine but it needs a analog joystiq. Tapwave had a great joystick (for 3d) but crappy one for 2d (even though its mostly a 2d machien), and gizmondo has a great gamepad for 2d but crappy for 3d (even though its a 3d machine). Why do these company smoke crack when they design game systems as such?

amiga_tone @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

A game where you play an electric guitar with lasers coming out of it. Hmmm.. interesting.

The graphics do look really good and the game genres are, well, interesting. But it does seem to be throwing the pebble into the ocean as far as Nintendo and Sony are concerned.

Maybe it will be as successful as the N-Gage?

I like that virtual game that moves around as you move the device and reads the cards but you really need an extra hand for that. I also think the thing looks ugly if not unlike that new Nokia 7710 but uglier.

Nah DS first then the GBA/SP/M and PSP for me.

Gary @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

Well, after watching the video from E3 it all looks like a bunched of hyped up crap to me. Maybe in the UK its something special, but here in the USA, that thing is gonna bomb BIG TIME. The games i saw them showing looked really cheezy and not at all anything that i would want to play. To me the real nail in the coffin is going to that price tag!!!
Gizomondo makers, you better say lots of prayers between now and august, because your about to go to gaming hell here in the U.S. lol.
Sorry, but that system might have some pretty awesome hardware in it, but without the following of heavy hitters like konami or capcom and the like , your screwed lol.

monturner @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I own a gizmondo and use it mainly to display my own visual work and listen to mp3s. That is until TomTom5 is released and i'll never get lost again!

I think it's unfair to immediately rubbish a product just because there are other "established" products in the market. Lets not forget that nintendo was the only real handheld until the psp, and sony are new to this market.

With the sat nav, video playback and mp3, its superb! yes, i to am awaiting various games (colors, mech assult, furious phil and johnny whatever) but it's more than just gaming.
Just wait till 11th August to see the release titles, and then post something constructive.

Rocket Punch @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

While it is nice to see another company dive into this product segment head first.
I like the GPS feature, but thats about it. It is, however, worrying too see its high price tag and the "Finish Him" move: the lag of 3rd party game support.

Personally, I would not buy one.

Lesbian Ham @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

I just went down to the shop earlier today, and had a go on "Agaju", a game to use augmented reality and Gyroscopic technology,

http://www.gizmondoforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1545

And it was really cool.

I also found out that a Quake game is in the works for the Giz, and will use gyroscopic technology for the game. That means you move the giz around kind of like a virtual viewfinder, you move it in real life, and your first-person view in-game moves accordingly. It's really cool and can imagine it working greatly with FPSs like Quake. Can the PSP do that? Can the DS do that? NO. (well, not unless they release some FAT stick-onto-the-back accessory, which will add to the already hug masses of the DS and PSP)

Also, you might be interested to know that developers such as Ubisoft, and EA have signed up to develop for the Giz. Yay! Come on Splinter Cell!

monturner @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM

With regards to a high unit price, not any more! If your in the US, have a look at http://www.kbtoys.com/Results.html/textSea...IIWa0FD991E913A
for US Gizmondo games etc. Or try http://www.gizmondo.com it is without a doubt one of the best purchases i've made for ages.

Also, apart from the amusing name, "Sticky Balls" is a seriously addictive game.