iRiver's G10: Gaming Handheld

[Paco]

Gizmondo has a GPS addon! :) N-Gage is also a cellphone, this thing is really a PDA (like the Tapwave Zodiac... a decent idea which failed and died...)... doesn't mean that any of them actually have a chance of success. :) The problem is that this 'convergence' thing... how much do people actually want it? Yes, perhaps it is easier to only have one thing that does a bunch of stuff... but so far, that doesn't seem to have translated to a whole lot of success... maybe a few cases have something with multiple successful functions (perhaps the PS2 as a DVD player?), but usually...

The new MP3 players with music AND video playback have been selling like hotcakes.

I haven't heard much word on how successful, if they were at all, the cell phone + MP3 players have been. They seem to have fallen off the map since the videoplay back in the other devices came about.

As for the PSP, it has benefitted from the movies and stuff mainly because the actual game lineup is so thin, I'd say... and most of the games it does have are PS2 ports. Yay. (but really, I don't get the UMD movie thing. They can only be played in that one format! On a tiny screen! It just seems like a waste of money...)

That's exactly why I don't want one, the whole UMD thing. However, it's not the only way to watch movies on your PSP. There are programs you can buy that allow you to copy DVD's to UMDs or memory sticks. The same can be said for the emulation and homebrew scene. I still say it's popular because it's a multi-media device.

As for the PSP being competition for the iPod, um, I don't think so...

No, I don't think so either. The fact that the PSP relies on memory sticks and UMDs for storage really puts a kink in that comparison. However, a iPod or other MP3 device with gigabytes of storage space available for music, movies, and games...I can see the potential.

Yes, because videogaming on Apple platforms is such a vibrant, growing field... :D

Didn't say it was.

Sorry, but no. This is about as likely as those rumors of an Apple videogame console, and about as likely to be successful as this iRiver thing.

Stop looking at this from a video game perspective and more as a multi-media device. You simply can't deny the popularity of MP3 players, and now the more recent video playback. The fact that UMD's sell is also a testament to notion that people do want media capabilities on the go.

Also, ever play a short game of bejeweled on your cell phone? I know I have quite often. Nobody said videogames had to be the primary function of the device, but as a bonus they are nice.