WiBro planned for iRiver's upcoming PSP "killer"

by Paul Miller { Nov 8th 2005 at 8:30AM }

Nothing like slapping a bit of bleeding edge technology into your forthcoming portable gaming handheld to grab a bit of attention, and iRiver is doing just that with their announced plans for sticking WiBro (that longer range, but slower tower hander off-er) into their 2006 device. WiBro is looking to be Korea's Wi of choice, and iRiver is planning this device for rollout along with the planned WiBro networks for South Korea. That's about all we know so far, other than their aim to compete with the PSP with this guy. We'll keep you posted, alright?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JinKazama @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I hope that pic is just a mock-up...cause that is a horrible button layout for a gaming machine

Stu L Tissimus @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

PSP killer?

How can you kill something that's already dead? (Haw, haw, I made a funny.)

is @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

recipe for a psp killer:

- Hard Drive or decent flash memory storage, first and formost.
- Ability to easily transfer and view movies off pc.
- Encouragement to homebrew developers and full support of emulation
- Wifi, with Decent interface for web browsing
- Dont waste time with music capabilities, cos nobody with a brain will use a device like this as their music player

These arnt hard requirements. The gizmondo nearly cracks it, for gods sake. Id happily pay alot of money for such a device, so much so that it wouldnt need to recoup revenue on software sales

Jack @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I just dont see it. But looks layout dont look so good and hopefully games dont resemble gameboy color. But if they have something good features and hopefully that thing isnt big, they might go through. The thing is there's so many of handhelds like gizmondo, n-gage, DS, tough compitition.

Martin @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I agree with #2 ... how can you kill something that doesn't have much life to begin with? Don't you have to pretty much be at the top of your game (no pun intended) to be "killed" in the urban sense of the word?

A GBA SP killer would be appropriate, as would a Nintendo DS killer. PSP killer is just an impossibility.

Shin @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

PSP killer? What? That's like saying Mac killer. Or Firefox killer.

Nintendo is the one dominating in the handheld business, damn crappy image hunting companies >:[

CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Sadly it most likely just going to be another GP2X . As cool as the GP2X was it was totaly under the radar.

leeboy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Damn that button layout look like doo-doo

32_Footsteps @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I actually own an iRiver mp3 player. And if they build portable gaming devices like they built that player, then Nintendo and Sony have nothing to worry about. Based on past experience, I think the NGage is a more viable platform.

White Rose Duelist @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Let me fix that for you, is:

recipe for a psp killer:

- games

Dhomas @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

#7: The GP2X hasn't even been released yet! It comes out November 30th. Let it come out before declaring it "under-the-radar." It may carve out a little niche for itself, as did its spiritual predecessor, the GP32. Running Linux, it looks like it may be a good system for running homebrew and emulation, with no firmware updates to take that away from it.

thepingofdeath @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I think all of you who don't have a PSP are just jealous of the fact that I can play River City Ransom anywhere I go and you can't.

Zeek @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Anytime something claims to be an "X" killer, it usually increases it own chances for painful death one-hundred fold.

Except "QuarkKiller" InDesign. Man, did that slaughter Quark, amen.

Joe @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I am sick of hearing the word "killer" with every product launch. When some product is actually killed as a result of some new gadget, then fine. But until that happens, "kill" the idiotic "killer" moniker.

J (The other one) @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I use my psp as a music player but only because I have it housed in the Nyko theatre experience with its aluminum shell. If not for that I would never use my psp for portable music. And I still wouldn't be caught dead skateboarding or biking with the thing as adveretised in the commercials. I wouldn't even jog with my psp.

Google Nazi @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Games for the killer eh?

Naw... Innovation is the key which is why the DS is brutally killing the PSP along side of afford-eee-ness.

Nintendo knows what they are doing and it is why they have always concquered the handheld business.

As Reggie said, you can keep working on making the same thing better or you can create something new and exciting like the sony mp3 discman vs the apple ipod. The PS3 is wickedly cool but if it were just PS3 vs REVO i'd go with revo but since Xbox360 is there i need to support ps3 and revo lol That and umm... PS3 games are gods... no really they are! ^_^

Jody Anthony @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I dont get it..are they even planning on releasing it here? cause maybe I'm just not tech savvy, but ive never even heard of WiBro before.

CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

#11, Sorry that was my bad, I ment the GP32, don't know why I said the GP2X insted? I guess I just can't wait for the GP2X, I really like my GP32.

jc @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Bill Gates has invested money into Cowan before, I wouldn't be surprised to see the X360 give this new iRiver device some support...

VGuru @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Let's see so far in handheld gaming:

Game Park 32 & XGP
Nokia N-Gage & QD
Tapwave Zodiac
Tiger Gizmondo
Bandai Wonderswan
SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color
Atari Lynx
NEC Turbo Express
Sega Nomad & Game Gear
Nintendo Gameboy, Virtual Boy GBC, GBA, GBA sp, DS & Micro
PSP

Did I forget any?

And now the WiBro. Has a nice ring to it. "Dude you playin yo Bro?"
Destined to fail.

thepingofdeath @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Are you retarded or did you just not read the article? WiBro is a form of WiFi, not the name of the iRiver device.

Ravnos @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

#12: I can play River City Ransom on my GBA any time I want and it cost me almost $200 less to do it. If the PSP's number one selling point is playing old games from dead systems then it's a pretty sad machine indeed.

Ian @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

wow, looks like we got a bunch of fanboys here

david @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I doubt that the iriver player system will look anything like that picture. the picture is just of their old PMP modded some and a picture of a game on it. it's probably sell better than the PSP in Korea, but I'd doubt it would in the US if it ever comes out here

Uchiha Sasuke @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

I guess the number one factor whether a portable gaming device will succeed is the software support and duh! ofcourse portability. Nintendo is on top of portable gaming for this reasons. If Sony is able to release more original games aside from PS2 rehashed they'll be in good shape but since they don't have the luxury of releasing first party quality games like the Big N they're on the crapper for now.

vakerorokero @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

Game Park 32 & XGP
Nokia N-Gage & QD
Tapwave Zodiac
Tiger Gizmondo
Bandai Wonderswan
SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color
Atari Lynx
NEC Turbo Express
Sega Nomad & Game Gear

all killed by nintendo's gameboy.

there's already a PSP killer. its called the Nintendo DS. You can't kill something twice unless it's Freddy Krueger (about 6 times killed) or Jason (which has been killed like, what, 15 times now? Or you get in one of those Groundhog Day Forever timeloop.

Badison @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

everyone, i don't think that pic is it. I'm pretty sure that is an older piece of hardware of theirs (right joystiq?)... I'm looking around to confirm, i feel like i've seen that hardware somewhere on engadget before as a pmp...

I'm not defending it, I mean they have to compete with the people who havent already boughten a DS or PSP (and I'm sure it wont be better than either lol ...)

Look, stop making it sound as though PSP hasn't made any sales, they've penetrated the market, look at past portable systems like atari lynx, game gear, turbo express, nomad ~shudder~, etc.... some of those didn't achieve a significant amount of sales. Of course Nintendo is dominant in the portable market still, they did good and have had no competition for years. Some analyst have even predicted that PS3 will at least have a majority based purely on ps2 dominance in sales (and I think that makes sense, same with nintendo and gb driving gba sales which drive DS sales to a large extent over the years).

James @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

wow you guys comparing the ds and psp are idiots. if you guys knew anything, it would be that the psp is selling well. not as well as the ds, but it's far from death. they both have their own niches. i agree with Ian, i see a bunch of nbots.

VGuru @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

The Nintendo DS is selling well in Japan and the Sony PSP is selling well in Europe & the U.S.

mankaikov @ Dec 18th 2005 10:16PM

this is amazing this new pmp deal. i've looked around for firmware upgrades for this thingy and i can't find anything, FINALLY something new!!!!! and come on, instead of wasting money on games why don't they spend more money on making themes and different start-up screens for this device. it gets so boring sometimes. even the psp has customizable screens. heck it even has a cursor u can use that resembles a mouse. i dunno, it's great to take on plane trips this device. i've used mine and used mine and used mine. it's great!