Carl Freer: "I'm going to resurrect Gizmondo" -- indeed he is

We've been in contact with Hans Sandberg, the Swedish journalist who quoted Carl Freer saying unequivocally, "I'm going to resurrect Gizmondo." This, plus yesterday's teaser, is the source of the Gizmondo mongering lighting up the Intertubes yesterday. Fortunately, all the important bits from Hans' interview are now translated from Swedish into English for some good ol' fashioned global scrutiny. As unthinkable as the proposition might sound, we bring you the highlights for your morning amusement and trepidation:

• Carl believes there is a still a market for Gizmondo and is "ashamed" of his failure -- he hopes the resurrection can pay back early investors
• Florida-based Tiger Telematics will formally own the new Gizmondo
• Gizmondo v2 could be up and running by May 2008 -- by Christmas 2008 we'll see "a more advanced version with widescreen"
• 35 titles will be available at launch, 6 are new, more on the way
• An "easy to use program" will allow kids to create games, save them to SD, and play them on their Gizmondo
• Price: $99, possibly free if Carl can work a deal with a cellular provider
• Unfortunately, he doesn't offer any explanation of the "exciting psychic worlds" in this interview snippet

Our personal favorite has to be this, though. Carl says he has a deal in place with a Chinese company in Shenzhen which will manufacture the device "on credit" on condition that they will be the sole reseller in China. Oh, that sounds like a deal alright.

Update: Plextek, the original Gizmondo device developer, have confirmed to Eurogamer that they will indeed be building the resurrected Gizmondo. Stefan Eriksson is currently not involved, Freer is. You know what this means... Gizmondo lives!

[paul34 @ Jan 24th 2008 3:57AM]

For the love of all that is good, please leave the Enzos out of it this time. Please, we don't want to lose yet another Ferrari masterpiece.

[Brian Oakley @ Jan 24th 2008 4:08AM]

Why not just release the widescreen version first? Selling an obsolete version (after already announcing the windescreen one) for only 8 months is absurd. I expect them to die again, although I like their idea, if they make it as ugly as the first...

[Trevsweb @ Jan 24th 2008 5:27AM]

they did that last time... before the release of the original giz (i mean back in the day when it hit london store(s?))gizmondo widescreen prototype looked a bit like this.. http://www.gizmondoforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8238

[Jarhead2012 @ Feb 10th 2008 7:15PM]

@Trevsweb

That thing looks surprisingly like a watered down PSP. Look at the opening game slot in the back, the D-Pad, the wide screen, shoulder buttons, and the button diamond. hmmm.....

[Trevsweb @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:02PM]

@ jarhead
the device uses sd cards the slot at the back your referring to is the battery compartment
also the gizmondo has never used a diamond button appart from concept image found on google..
sorry from dragging the old news up

[Matt @ Jan 24th 2008 4:08AM]

Why would they say they're gonna release a v2 and then say they'll be releasing a better version just a few months down the track? Who will buy v2? That's just stupid.

[yoshi @ Jan 24th 2008 11:26AM]

Because Carl thinks a new batch of suckers were born since his previous failure. Give him a break, will ya. I'll bet it's hard for him to keep from laughing all the way to the bank.

[Richard @ Jan 24th 2008 4:25AM]

So they are going to stop kissing Steve Jobs butt ?

[Richard @ Jan 24th 2008 4:27AM]

heh, wrong Gizmodo, thought it was the website.

[Jagannath A @ Jan 24th 2008 5:13AM]

o.O

[michas_pi @ Jan 24th 2008 5:58AM]

Lol.

[Brian Oakley @ Jan 24th 2008 5:21AM]

Why not just release the widescreen version first? Selling an obsolete version (after already announcing the windescreen one) for only 8 months is absurd. I expect them to die again, although I like their idea, if they make it as ugly as the first...

[Brian Oakley @ Jan 24th 2008 5:23AM]

dammit doublepost

[atomicthumbs @ Jan 24th 2008 5:27AM]

Why even bother when the Pandora is coming out in April?

[x20mar @ Jan 24th 2008 6:42AM]

Sorry but what's Pandora? All I can find is an internet radio

[Cesar Cardoso @ Jan 24th 2008 7:03AM]

For those who don't know:

http://www.openpandora.org/
http://pandora.bluwiki.com/

[Jesse S @ Jan 24th 2008 9:50AM]

If that Pandora thing has a hard drive and desn't cost too much, it would be amazing. Their site is...blank, for me at least (stuck on IE7 at the moment, not my computer).

[wootman @ Jan 24th 2008 5:32PM]

the pandora has 2 (!) high capasity SD card slots, and usb could be used for storage.
and thanks for the april date, i had no idea when it was supposed to come out.
why not have the analog nubs on the INSIDE of the d-pads?

[BlissX @ Jan 24th 2008 5:52AM]

When it said that children can make games and store them via SD.

I'm thinking... this thing is going to be easy homebrew. With a built-in SD slot, I could imagine this thing sold as an 1000-in-1 GBA.

[ByronGman @ Jan 24th 2008 2:10PM]

Heh heh, your avatar is sweet...

I just sat there and stared at it, didn't even read the comment lol.

[JoeSmack @ Jan 24th 2008 6:01AM]

heh, i thought that was Gary Busey pictured for a second.

[JoeSmack @ Jan 24th 2008 6:03AM]

oh, and this sounds like a bad idea. obviously.

[webon @ Jan 24th 2008 6:12AM]

...can pay back early investors (and lawyers)

[Jason @ Jan 24th 2008 7:05PM]

Hahaha
good one :P

[x20mar @ Jan 24th 2008 6:40AM]

If they make it a rival to the N800 or a mylo v2 $99 maybe not be that bad. Well in theory anyway

[Randy @ Jan 24th 2008 7:02AM]

IS that a $850 dollar Stokke Xplory stroller I see in the background? Why yes it is - so trendy....

[JC @ Jan 24th 2008 7:04AM]

What was that thing that someone said about beating a dead animal or something?

[PEZ @ Jan 24th 2008 7:32AM]

For those who dont, or never knew what the Wide Screen Gizmondo would look like, take a look:
http://www.godmode.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6204&highlight=gizmondo

[oshean @ Jan 24th 2008 8:53AM]

Headlines:
Carl Freer works a deal with cellular provider. 'Side Talking' makes a come back!

[Esat @ Jan 24th 2008 9:05AM]

Hey everyone, I've got this great product. It comes out of a kettle when the water boils and you can do all sorts of things with it, like view condensation and other such things that entail fun. After a while, we will release our new widescreen version. We would prefer if you bought both.

If you wanna buy vapour-wear then look no further ;)

*WARNING* the above post potentially = fail

[locke6854 @ Jan 24th 2008 9:34AM]

lots of luck to them... going up against the DS. what market are they aiming for?

"kids can create a game then download to their sdcard and play on the gizmondo"

Will kids go through the effort? Older gamers will stick to the DS or PSP...

Freer! Who'd buy this!?

[Chebwa @ Jan 24th 2008 10:05AM]

"Carl believes there is a still a market for Gizmondo..."

...

LOL!

[Libb @ Jan 24th 2008 10:49AM]

Carl Freer must be a hell of an negotiator if he convinced a Chinese manufacturer to essentially do a run of the devices for free right now with the state of their credit. That manufacturer is gonna be kicking themselves in 6 months when they realize Gizmondo can't pay them back for the units they made...

[OneLove @ Jan 24th 2008 11:23AM]

In a flooded pmp, dap, dmp, std market who's gonna but this?

[OneLove @ Jan 24th 2008 11:24AM]

but = buy. lol.

[EMaster @ Jan 24th 2008 11:36AM]

That guy looks like that Dude from the first Die Hard movie!

[Nova @ Jan 24th 2008 11:39AM]

I hope its a joke.

[Brian @ Jan 24th 2008 11:52AM]

Hell yes! The Nintendo DS could use some competition!

This guy sounds willing to sell his soul to get this platform off the ground... what more could a console ask for?

[Mr. Tuaw @ Jan 24th 2008 12:59PM]

Gizmodo is so lucky. They get to drive ferrari's and bring awesome products to the market, under their alter ego GizmoNdo, and run a blog at the same time. What do they mean that Gizmodo is going to make a come back? I never knew they were in trouble.

I wonder if Gizmodo will be selling their products in the Engadget Superstore in Malaysia?

[ben @ Jan 24th 2008 1:21PM]

So if this gizmondo is coming back from the dead...will it begin to hunger for brains?

[ug @ Jan 24th 2008 1:27PM]

Talk about unfortunate naming. Whenever I hear the word "Tiger Telematics" all I can think of is this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game.com

[elyardj05 @ Jan 24th 2008 1:49PM]

well come on, carl freer has got a lot of balls to bring it back, the first gizmondo was not perfect in any area, but with homebrew and all the stuff now for it, its a quirky little beast.

i hope the second version will be as good :)

[nikescar @ Jan 24th 2008 7:19PM]

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/gizmondo.html?pg=1&topic=gizmondo&topic_set=

Go there to get an idea of how much of a thieving no good bastard this guy is. The fact that any company would consider working with this guy makes me hope he one-ups himself and takes em for $800 million this time.

[Spencer @ Jan 24th 2008 8:24PM]

Whilst I agree that the likelihood of this just proving to be more vapourware/confidence scamming, this video shows some of the impressive potential of the original Gizmondo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfp8id6bpDU

Remember, that's a handheld, and one that came out 8 months before the 360, and a full 20 months before the PS3. Kinda makes Eye of Judgement look pale by comparison, don't you think?

[Aryan @ Jan 24th 2008 9:29PM]

i hope they really make it
Gizmodo was actually a pretty good device and i know i would buy the v2

[ether @ Jan 25th 2008 2:51AM]

LOL! This is about the funniest thing ever, I thought this kind of thing only happened in movies?

It's amazing how few remember or know anything about what happened the first time. The crap this guy and Eriksson did in the business market and in Europe previously is enough to make a damn fine blockbuster movie. They both got off clean until Eriksson was caught red-handed in a sheared-in-half stolen Enzo from Europe and it had nothing to do with their businesses why he got busted at all was his own vanity and that's a miracle in and of itself.

Companies doing business with each other for millions owned by all the same group of people so it looked like they were spending money? Those businesses linked to off-shore bank accounts and transfers? Mafia style loans, assault, kidnapping, cocaine and Scarface posters? Importing in 3.8 million dollars in cars into the US that weren't even being paid for? (Bill Gates couldn't get a Porsche 959 into the states years ago...that he did pay for!) Creating mock government agencies to carry/purchase fire arms and government credentials? Gangsters as business Directors? Multi-Million dollar salaries...100k 'automobile budgets'? Buying a modeling agency to have hot women at high class parties and was one of the only companies that actually made money that they had? (Admittedly...that was a hell of an idea...) He might have jumped out of the relationship pre-Enzo crashing (sobbing) but really. 10 million dollar yacht and a 6.5 millon dollar house...I hope this time he realizes how lucky he really is for not being where Eriksson is...

You could read the Wired magazine article on it 5 times and still make your mind boggle.

Come to think of it..maybe I will write that movie script...anyone got the contact information for that modeling agency they got? Need some research.

[tekdroid @ Jan 25th 2008 11:45AM]

So, the whole vibe I got from this thing is:
"wow cool Windows CE-based cheap device that will be so open and cool and teenagers will love it, developers will lvoe it, investors will love me, price will probably be $99, but I plan to get out of this once I resurrect the company..."

[TurboFool @ Jan 25th 2008 1:42PM]

I thought Tiger Telematics was based in the UK, while Tiger Electronics (who has no connection to Tiger Telematics) was based in Florida.

[Casey R Williams @ Feb 17th 2008 4:26PM]

Tiger Telematics was based in Florida, but designed and orchestrated the launch from the UK. Tiger Electronics is now part of Hasbro, made the game.com before they were bought, and had nothing to do with the Gizmondo. I know I have horrible taste, but I still really want a Gizmondo!

[jake @ Apr 14th 2008 12:53AM]

wow, does it mean it is bad idea to work for this guy