Another One Bites The Dust?
Following last week’s demise of Tapwave, makers of the Palm OS Zodiac gaming device, Kotaku says it looks like another new game handheld, the Gizmondo, is DOA as well. With the supposed US launch date less than a week away, the company’s US PR firm isn’t handling press for it — in fact, nobody’s handling US press for the launch. This comes after the closing of its UK games studio at the beginning of July, as well. Both the Tapwave and Gizmondo had pretty solid features, with the Gizmondo even having built-in GPS and GPRS, but when you look at these devices’ problems and the underwhelming impact of the Nokia N-Gage against the continuing success of Nintendo’s Gameboy line and Sony’s successful launch of the PSP, it’s clear that technical specs aren’t the only thing that matters. Building relationships with developers, and perhaps more importantly, significant buzz, will sell more devices than a long list of features. Update: Gizmondo says it’s merely revising its plans for its US launch, which has been delayed until the “pre-Christmas selling period.” Apparently, sales in the UK have been so strong that there’s been a shortage of the devices.
