R.I.P. Tapwave, Zodiac

I have A Zodiac 2 and i must say, I love it.

I have an emulator that runs, Snes, nes, Megadrive, mastersystem, gameboy and all the old Atari and Spectrum games. I also have 2x 2gig SD cards Which the Zodiac can take 2 of at 1 time.

I also have a Divx/Xvid player that plays pixel perfect Movies and i can store 4-5 movies on it at one time (With my 1000+ roms).

If you get the chance to pick one up, i suggest you do.

Tapwave (tm).
went. did. dead.

I wish I had one, but I enjoy the challenge of running those types of applications on devices not designed with it as intended purpose. :P

Although, I'm sure ebay prices have inflated today :( ... I wouldn't mind one...

R.I.P to technology that died before its time...

Hearing about what everyone did run on these reminds me of what I hear from everyone and the PSP. Seems like people are more interested in emulating other, successful, formats than the games actually produced for the system.

This isn't a comment on the machines capabilities, but seriously, what did they expect? I'm glad theres still competition out there who are willing to make/break their business with a new handheld but they should have handled it differently. I saw an interview with the Gizmondo people and even they didn't seem too enthusiastic about their new baby. When asked about how are they going to try to compete with the PSP/DS they gave out a very, very vague and uninspiring answer. I'm predicting the same fate. Sadly there really isn't room for another handheld right now. RIP Zodiac.

It's a little unfair to say that the Tapwave only had less than 20 games - after all, it was a Palm OS device, which means that technically it had a library of games that probably exceeded every other handheld platform. The games that were specifically designed for the Zodiac were few, but with all the other software, games and applications, it was a very good platform and at least in concept, made a lot of sense. And unlike the PSP and other handheld gaming devices, it was designed (AFAIK) to be profitable on the hardware alone, not the software. Obiously that didn't work out for them too well though, and it probably won't work out for Gizmondo either - even though their hardware is pretty slick, being based on WinCE doesn't make it a great target for developers of really great games.

I think the reason for this is the old classic systems were just that: classic! They might not have been the best graphics (the 16 bit systems look beautiful on a handheld) but the games were simply fun. We grew up with them as children, teens, and adults and will always have fun with them. I think it's awesome to be able to play Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, Shining Force, etc. on my Zodiac. To bad the Tapwave is dead now, but this doesn't mean the end of hombrew developement which is the main focus of the Zodiac community anyways. Long live the Zodiac!

Why does it being based on WinCE not make it a good target? just curious.

As for the zodiac, it had some specific issues, but it still was a fun little machine (I use mine and pluckr all the time) bike or die on it a must have...and we will be releasing our game free for it as soon as we can get it signed: ZapEm, plus we still offer zodtris for free as well...

For the past few days i have been trying to choose between a Palm Lifedrive, Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000 and Archos PMA400(now for only 599). I have had 2 ipaqs and didnt want to go the micrsoft route at all even though i almost gave in to the dell axim x50v with gps for $390!!!!! deal (the only drawbacks were lack of usb host and ms os). During my comparison i came across a Zodiac and Zodiac 2 at a CompUSA and was really surprised how effective the analog stick was and how nice it felt in your hands. Very nicely shaped and very slim. I didnt go ahead with it because it lacked built-in wifi,compact flash slot and usb hosting.
However, if gaming is a prioority for some one, grab one if u can as pricing are dropping. As a game device, its really good to hold and use. Much better than any ipaq, palm, axim, cell phone or zaurus. unless ofcourse somebody opts for the new bluetooth joypad or something. As a PDA it was basically average. Though it was very light and thin, the shape is not elegant and mature. It fits nicely in the hands, but looks like a toy and lacks the PSP elegance and wow factor. However, a PSP can not take in sd cards nor has a touch screen.

It pocket emulation is your game, why not go with the Nokia Engage QD? I picked one up, and I gotta say, it sucks for the platform intended, but it rocks as an emulation machine.

RIP Zodiac!
I have on of these and its great! Sorry to see it go....

the nokia n-gage for emulation? please. the 1.8inch screen makes the thing worthless. i use my zodiac alot more than i do my n-gage(so don't think i haven't tried the n-gage)
long live the zodiac homebrew!

Shane: this is just my take, but I think the WinCE system isn't a good target because most of the WinCE machines out there are geared toward business use, which means that there is generally less of an audience for high-end games than on other platforms, and the games are generally built for the standard controls of the PPC platform. It's the same as Palm, really (I wasn't knocking WinCE vs. Palm).

It's all about the number of devices divided by the development costs. Dev costs are probably relatively low for PPC and Palm, but the number of devices is also low, so the chances of making big profit are slim.

Well its defiantly cheaper to get up and running on a pocketPC as the dev tools (embedded visual tools) is free. For the palmOS its free too if you use PODS but for things like the tapwave you really needed codewarrior to get at the ATI card in it using tapwaves API's. I dont think pocketPC devices have such issues with their API's cause you can use gapidraw or what not and be pretty sure your getting the most out of the device...

so thats what I was saying :)

Next RIP wil be PSP.

Experience in history, nobody can beat GameBoy. Nobody does.

Ah such a pity. The TapWave was a very nice device to use and develop for. I write commercial Palm software for a living and never had any problem with the Zodiacs. Unlike every crappy cellphone/Palm OS smartphone!

Before you folks go much further drawing comparisons between the Zodiac and the Gizmondo, and particularly before prematurely predicting the latter's fate, just remember this: Tapwave/Zodiac NEVER attracted the expressed support of the formidable strategic partners types that Tiger Telematics/Gizmondo already has.

And along these lines, Sparky has to figure that TGTL's impressive list of strategic partners, which includes Microsoft, Samsung, Nvidia, and a growing bunch of high-class gaming companies; all understand the gaming industry, the Gizmondo device, and Tiger Telematics as a company, FAR more than all of us combined.

For these reasons, Sparky urges all objective observers to think analytically and to just STAY TUNED!

Sincerely,

Sparky

I agree that its a shame that Zodiac died... The rotating joystick was one of it's kind! I think it was developed by a Norweigan company. However, reading the editors comments about Gizmondo and a few of my fellow authors above re the comparison against the PSP, we do have to remember one thing (in my opinion); That this is a handheld business arena trying to poach consumers who are cleary sophisticated enough to demand the best in portability. Isn't it fair to say that there IS only one device out there with the (current) most intereting convergance spec, GSM, GPS, Camera, and the WinCE with all its peripherals like MPEG4, Mediaplayer 9 and the GeoforceSC10 3D chip. I really beleive that this spec captivates the current demands from the public. If you want the same from PSP or DS you have to buy a utility belt... Sorry, but its true. WiFi will be mature enough to compete with GPRS one day, AND even replace it, but not YET. Therefore I think the best place goes to Gizmondo. Give the little guy a chance... The day I turned my "Mass-Trend-Institutionalized" little head around was when i saw that Gizmondo had started developing games for its unique feature sets; Camera-"Agaju", GPS-"Colors" plus a gyroscopic game that I didn't catch the name of. Sorry for the lengthy comment, but I thought best tribute to innovative technology (LIKE TAPWAVE) is to remind people, in the interest of progressive developments in the industry, to support the "Davids" of this world. NOT SINK THEM just coz they are not SONY... Amen.

well said godzilla. The giz had one cool game on I saw at E3 and it was like smash tv meets diablo II, it didn't look to bad and the developers were nice. The rest of the games I saw there really lacked production and polish. And the biggest downfall if there is one I would say is trying to come out with a 3d system that has no analog joystick, even the DS has an ability to mimick (somewhat poorly) analog controller functionality. Thats my only grip with the gizmondo, oh that and i really think the asthetics suck on it.

FYI Fry's Electronics is selling the Tapwave Zodiac 1 for $99.00 and the 2 for $179. I just picked 1 up for my self.