Gizmondo launches in North America

We're a bit surprised we didn't get a liveblog-like stream of emailed press releases from Tiger Telematics this morning because today's their big day in North America. That's right, the Gizmondo is officially on sale for $229 with fourteen launch titles. They did roll deep by buying a full-page ad in USA Today with Verne Troyer (aka Mini Me) shilling the Gizmondo, but we're not so sure a launch with some weak hype, obvious insecurity with their press presence, abysmal sales abroad, and a third of a billion in mounting debt is reason enough for Tiger's EU managing director Carl Freer to be "extremely proud of what [they've] achieved."

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[ravi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Is it just me, or does it look like a hughe metal block with dents in it. :|

[trev @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

i guess youve never seen one then.. go see one its smaller than the ds or psp.
i personally didnt like the lack of hyping up the gizmondo has had deffintly a case they need to get rid of the slacking marketing dept.

i'll let the psp lovers bitch now as they normally do when the gizmondo gets a nod in the news. :D

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

this is probably why they fasly claimed that they tracked a criminal the other day! this explains alot!

[trev @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

nah they can do that with gizmondos as they have to go through the gizmondo system for gps, im guessing it works like cell phone blocking and tracking

[Bad Attitude @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

>

[Bad Attitude @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

...crickets chirping...

[toadvomit @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Holy shit! These are historical news of epic proportions! I am *soooo* glad the wait is finally over. OMG! OMG! Can anybody confirm that Minesweep and Solitaire are indeed part of the 14-game lineup? xoxo

[Craig @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

how the hell do you refer to the buttons? i thought playstation buttons were kinda goofy when it came out, but at least you can refer to them as "triangle, square, circle, x." are you supposed to say "approximate equal sign, three vertical lines, and nine dots?"

[Neko Tsukimi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

So it's finally out, eh? I wonder if it'll see the end of the year... Or even the beginning of next. They've got a lot of fighting to do.

[embassy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"how do u execute a super fireball u ask?..well first press the 2 squigly lines...then tap on the 3 lines of dots real fast...after than hold down , left then hit the 3 regular lines...then..."


"....."

[brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

>reason enough for Tiger�s EU managing director Carl Freer to be
>�extremely proud of what [they�ve] achieved.�

You mean ex-managing director. He resigned from Tiger Telematics 2 days ago http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065581/000126967805000205/tiger8k102005.txt :

"The Company further announced the resignation of Carl Freer as Chairman of the Board and as a Director effective October 20, 2005. In addition Mr. Freer resigned as Managing Director of Gizmondo Europe, Ltd. and as an officer and employee of all other subsidiaries."

Looks like the rats are jumping from the sinking ship...

[boynamedsue @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

8, I would just say squig, dot, line, circle.

oh, and i am one of the psp lovers. i love my psp. I still would have considered this if they'd skipped this and went right to widescreen.

[Quentin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I have not met one person - online or in real life excited about this device. Tiger, you have no chance in hell.

[jamms @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

in ten years you all are going to wonder where you where when the giz launched.

right here baby.

this thing is such a disgrace. fake screen shots on the official website, years of lies in the press. this whole charade was a scheme for the top execs to rob this company of anything valuable while they take as much as possible without being caught.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

HAHA look at the shoulder buttons..!!!!

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Maybe they are pulling a "the producers" dealio. If gave them some of your hard-earned cash, you should start looking for it, and ask yoiurself why you gave them any.

[Brad Twitty @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Does it have Harvest Moon?
What? No?
It will fail for sure.

Brad

[BigTeebo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Who the heck chose the characters on the buttons? ABCD was too hard/copyrighted?(can't be). Reminds me of the symbols on those cards for psychic tests.

[Pete @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Yuck. Did they employ the ROKR guys to design this?

[J @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I can't wait for these things to fail then drop to a mere $25.00 on ebay. I am sure after they get raped by all the wonderfull hackers out there that it could be a great emulator toy and I can upgrade my psp to version 879.5
#8 makes a great poit. How crappy of a Sony rip off is the button layout. It would have been better to label them 1,2,3,4. Using symbols instead of letters and numbers is no big deal but then you make them so ugly and crazy that it is just confusing. They are definitely playing hide the sausage with the company (#11 makes a great point also).

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

i mean i know a lot of people dont want to spend 250 on the PSP, like me, why the hell would you buy this for 229?! i want a psp so badly. and like the logical part of me says- well this is for a psp post, but the important thing is this, tiger did something that will go down in history - as the worst product launch ever.

[Jack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

thats an old screenshot, the actual Giz, has a play stop rewind, and fast forward button, and i am happy it came out here, now i have a new multimedia device and a camera

[ap @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This is the pic of the final product:
http://www.gizmondo.com/webshop/images/devices/silver_gizmondo_front.jpg

[melloncollie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

It still looks disgusting.

[ken fager @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I'll just file this next to my Virtual Boy when I pick it up at my local videogame shop for $20.

[is @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

so whats actually wrong with it? Honestly, you guys are so funny.

[Oddmanout @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I'm kinda with 'is' on this one. Sure, there's a lot of things the Gizmondo ISN'T (like...a PSP, a DS, an iPod, a device that's likely to go mainstream...) but there's a lot of things that it IS. It's a gaming device, an mp3 player, a video player, a text messager, a digital camera, and a GPS device. It's also only $229 (though I'm sure, to do all those things I mentioned reasonably well you're going to HAVE to buy some accessories).

I ain't saying it's better than the PSP or DS, or that it is in any way at all a threat to their dominence, but what's with all the hate ?
Certainly everyone is free to talk as much trash as they like...but why ? Stack this device up against all those pdas out there that people pay $250 for and then never use, or never use for pim anyway. Is it such a bad deal, considering ? Or up against $300 - $800 gps devices that people add to their cars for navigation that do nothing but. See ? It's got some validity.

Probably not enough to keep the line alive...but a few people out there will probably be happy to get it.

There, now I've given my soap-box-cumbaya rant...I've got it out of my system (for now)...the fanboy anti-rants my now commence...

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

ok number 23 here we go:
bad design
terrible game lineup
bad pr
bad camera, no flash or zoom
unrealized potential
bad mp3 player
price
announced widescreen version before they
released this one
advertisements

basically it tried to do everything but doesnt do anything well

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

did i miss anything?

[Anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Before you start talking out of your asses, I have playtested one of these suckers.

"It's a gaming device, an mp3 player, a video player, a text messager, a digital camera, and a GPS device. It's also only $229 (though I'm sure, to do all those things I mentioned reasonably well you're going to HAVE to buy some accessories)."

FALSE. All those things are already included. They are all inbuilt. Additionally, the camera is behind the giz, which can be used to play games. For example, by moving the giz around, you can play a first person shooter game (Camera tracks movement relative to the environment). Again, these are potential things it can do. There is alreadya game where you keep the giz in one place, and you can build stuff with the camera looking at your hand movments and projecting them on the screen.

Personally, I was hoping they didn't do sim card. Maybe a hard-drive>?

[Pnarse @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

embassy: That's exactly what I was thinking when I first saw that picture.

"Ah we best not use normal shapes, those belong to sony!"

So what are they called in game?
'Press the button with a bunch of dots on it to continue, or the one with a few lines or something to exit.' Stupid.

[Jono @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

It really doesn't help that that's one of the ugliest handhelds I've ever seen.

GPS would be a cool feature though.

[delerious @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Trailblazer would be awesome for the DS or PSP. One of the best games I've seen for a long while. Furious Phil looks awesome and would be great as a PSP title(probably the best looking title for the Gizmondo yet, when it gets released). And I wouldn't say no to Carmaggedon. Conflict: Vietnam is probably worth looking into. Future Tactics looks badass. Hockey Rage 2005 looks awesome.
These are the games I'd look foward to, they're all kick ass titles from what I've seen(except Conflict: Vietnam, there are only a few screenshots so I can't really make out if it's gonna be awesome).

[Jon wright @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Why don't you people shutup, and just give the thing a chance. I have the PSP and the DS, both aren't that great. Your people are trying to kill it just like you did the Dreamcast.

[embassy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

umm the dreamcast was one of THE best consoles ever( although shortly lived) and was from one of the most respected video games companies of all
time...this is the fuckin "gizmondo"..c'mon..say that with me outloud..GIZMONDO...which is developed by a -300 million dollar tech company...umm...yeh...nothing else needs to be said...

[Rory Bigger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This thing sucks. I hope they go bankrupt for such a stupid idea. That said, maybe I am just hoping it fails so I can get one at GameSpot for $30 in a few months and try to hack it.

[peteremcc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

actually it does do gps...

http://www.gizmondo.com/mygiz/giz_navigator_2006.asp

[a1210 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Ok almost everyone that has been pointing out problems and dissing this has not done their research.

The image is an OLD image and the buttons are different.
It has a LOT more features than the PSP and you cannot find a device with all those features for the same price. The only real problem with usability of this is the battery life and screen size.

[miki @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"The only real problem with usability of this is the battery life and screen size."

The only REAL problem is lack of developer support and... other than its ugly.....

if 90% of people hate it, its dead in the water

[miki @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"The only real problem with usability of this is the battery life and screen size."

The only REAL problem is lack of developer support and... other than its ugly.....

if 90% of people hate it, its dead in the water

[DC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Why is engadget still got this up top?

Move along please, nothing more to see here.

[Hmm @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I thought the world learned its lesson with the taco-shaped cell phone.

I was once told history does not repeat itself because the circumstances are never the same, which I believe. But I can't stop thinking that it maybe isn't a coincidence this time.

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

It actually looks pretty decent, I think. The WideScreen Version which supposedly comes out soon looks good. With better launch titles, a hardrive instead of SD Cards, the widescreen, better camara....I'd buy it.

This First Version though, is lacking. If Tiger Telematics can pick it up with Version Two, they might be able to pull it off.

[Stakker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

We have one in our company, and personally I like the looks. Also, once you hold it in your hands, it feels incredibly rugged. I mean military-grade tough compared to the PSP or DS. The surface even has a rubbery feel to it so you can grip it better.

It was designed by the same guy who designed the looks for the Spectrum BTW.

There's just the slight annoyance that there aren't any games for it :-P

[Ryan Smith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

History repeat itself? This isn't the second time, it's about the 5th or 6th time. Just recently we had the Ngage and Zodiac. I actually bought the Zodiac because I needed a PDA, but like all devices that integrate a lot of features, they do a lot, and they suck at everything. The PSP is an exception, because they only put features in it that you would actually want from that type of device, and it does them well. The Gizmondo doesn't even have a touch screen, so I don't even see how it can compete with the Zodiac, and that thing failed misserably. Why do companies even make devices like this, unless you can have the backing of huge game developers, it's going to fail. They would be better off just trying to make a cool PDA or something. No one is going to buy this thing, we all know it, even someone that likes to get every gadget like me.

[yet another Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot:

http://urbansurfer.dyndns.org/syitf.jpg

[vrf @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

If it did full speed NES/SNES/Genesis/MAME with sound, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. The market still doesn't have the perfect emulation gaming handheld.

PSP isn't really there, although the screen is sure nice. Plus Sony keeps trying to stop it.

[jennifer kind @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Why don't you mention about the actual product itself, instead of the marketing campaign??

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

soeaking fo the wide screen version, would you buy this if you knew tiger was either going to go bankrupt or make a better version? i mean they announced it before they announced this one.

[eric @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

soeaking fo the wide screen version, would you buy this if you knew tiger was either going to go bankrupt or make a better version? i mean they announced it before they announced this one.