Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
And now for something you probably won't care about....
Jimmy_Scythe
Member CommonPosts: 3,586
It looks like Panasonic is working on a handheld gaming device. Shockingly, this thing is meant to target MMO players. Keep in mind that we are talking about the company behind the 3DO and that the device itself looks like a cross between a Pandora and a N-Gage.
Seriously, If you want to bring MMO players into the portable market, you'd be better off just making an MMO for the PSP, DSi or iPhone.
Comments
I hope they bring it out.
I miss laughing at all the people who bought the worthless N-Gage, as well s all those poor 3DO suckers.
Panasonic has always been great for laughs in the gaming realm. I'm glad they're keeping the tradition alive.
The only thing that would be funnier would be Phillips announcing a CD-I successor.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Ah, the CD-I. That brings back memories. The worst game system ever created, with some of the worst games ever created.
The 3DO wasn't all bad. It brought us my favorite version of Star Control 2. My friend still has his, we play Super Melee mode sometimes. I actually can't think of any other games that system had besides The Horde (which was also pretty cool).
I'd be damn surprised if this thing takes off (and works).
I probably wouldn't be surprised at the drop in work efficiency afterwards if it did.
TGWTETIPTNMAITC! -Gary Whitta
"The clamshell device will allegedly sport a super high-resolution display, features a full QWERTY keyboard along with what looks like a touch sensitive d-pad and button arrangement, and may run atop a custom Linux build."
And that kills it.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
2 points
How much will it cost when it goes retail
How much will say the cheapest Pad be that can run online mmo games.
And if the clamshell monster costs less will the other features of the Pad make it more worthwhile to have?
Ok so 3 points
Also lets call it the Clamshell Monster as it fits the shape andsize of this "portable" gizmo.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Um... I use Linux. I'm also going to buy a GP2X Caanoo, which runs Linux, in a couple of months. Then again, I don't normally use my computer for gaming. But when I do, most of the games I want to play run in Wine.
I'm mainly a retro/indie gamer, so Linux is a good fit with me. This Panasonic thing though.....
I just don't see it working out. We already have a lot of open handhelds on the market and there is no way in hell that this thing is going to compete with the PSP, DS or iPhone.
The PSP and DS both run custom Linux builds.
Pretty much every portable device that doesn't run Windows (which is pretty much everything) runs either a custom Unix/Linux OS.... including all Apple devices.
Back on topic though, Portable Gaming Devices are pretty much dead. I think they are called "Cell Phones" now. I've only found one use for a PSP and that was almost 2yrs ago and I haven't touched any of my 3 PSPs since. If I want to play a game where I'm not near a computer, I usually just pick up my iphone and play one of the thousands of games. No need to buy stupid cartridges, no need to carry around a bulky portable gaming device and keep it charged, no need for anything other than just using what I carry with me everywhere.
Like Trading Card Games? Click Here.
the d-pad... disk.... thingie isn't exactly made for gaming. And most traditional cell phones have lower resolutions than an 80's arcade machine.
Smart phones don't have buttons. Seriously, try playing Street Fighter 4 on the iPhone. It sucks. Smart phones aren't bad for the occasional game of bejeweled or chess, but they just aren't doing it for games like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or New Super Mario Bros.
But hey, if you rather play Angry Birds then who am I to argue...
It will fail.
MMO are still a niche market.
Portable MMO are a super niche market.
It's running Linux, niche market.
I just beat Angry Birds today. :-|
I didn't have a problem playing Street Fighter on my iPhone or Tony Hawk. Each year smartphones are getting more powerful and I think the iPhone 4 may have more power than the PSP.... which isn't bad. Most people have smartphones today and if you don't, then you should get one. I haven't seen a smartphone since 2004, that didn't have at least SNES graphics.
Even still, I would rather carry around a phone then a bulk portable gaming device any day.
Like Trading Card Games? Click Here.
Agree. I thought it was funny when Nintendo was showing off SFIV on their 300$ 3DS.
I've seen it on Nokia, Android and Iphone already months ago.
Let me clarify my "This kills it." comment regarding it running on LInux.
How many modern, or even old, mmos were made to run with Linux in mind?
So now, in order to get the "big guns" of the mmo genre to sign on and actually make this thing worthwhile, Panasonic would not only have to convince Blizzard, SOE, NCsoft, etc. to adapt their games to a portable form ( since there's no way in hell that handheld is going to be holding 10-20gb of client data + patches) thus requiring completely separate clients and servers, but also change their Windows dependent code to run flawlessly on Linux. You think Blizzard is going to completely remake WoW to fit on a handheld, and then also code it completely with Linux supported code with OpenGL graphics rather than good ol' Wndows and DirectX which they're familiar with? Think SOE is going to blow the money to completely rebuild EQ2 ( or even EQ ) just for this?
The fact of the matter is, if these developers wanted their games on Linux, there would be Linux clients. Hell, the majority still refuse to even bother with Macs. They are not going to redesign new client versions for a portable handheld made by a company with a history of complete failure in the gaming hardware business.
So this leaves Panasonic to most likely have to find indy devs to make generic mmos for the system. Yeah, that'll go over well. Come to think of it, that's how the 3DO and the N-Gage died. Noone would develop for the systems, and thus noone would buy what shit there was for the systems. This is of course, in the N-Gage's case, in addition to the N-Gage being an awkward and clumsy design to begin with. Kinda like this new "clamshell" system, now that you think about it.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-