Tapwave Zodiac Handheld Detailed

Posted by simoniker on Saturday September 6, 2003 @06:41AM from the the-anti-ngage? dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the PalmInfoCenter article revealing new details and pictures of the Tapwave Zodiac handheld gaming device, ahead of the official unveiling on September 17th. According to the article, "The Zodiac will be based on Palm OS 5.2 and will feature a 3.8 inch diagonal 480 x 320 pixel screen, analog joystick navigation with integrated triggers and buttons, 3D graphics acceleration... and Bluetooth for multiplayer wireless gaming." The handheld "will... be able to run the already vast library of Palm OS software", and furthermore, "it will launch with between 15-20 games optimized for it [each costing around $30 each], including 'Neverwinter Nights,' 'Tony Hawk', 'Spy Hunter', and 'Doom II'". GoodThatWay.com has a few more details on the Zodiac, of which "a 32MB model will cost $299 and a higher end model with 128 MB of RAM will sell for $399."

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$400 = GBA SP and IPOD by kninja · 2003-09-06 07:36 · Score: 1, Redundant

The SP has a huge base of games, and a well established market, costs 1/3 as much. If you want audio, buy an IPOD. And at the price they want, you could buy both an IPOD and an SP.

The control better be tight on this thing. The GBA SP has some seriously tight control (IMHO), and it's comfortable. Battery life needs to be at least 10 hours to stand a chance, 20 would be competitive with the SP.

This is a matter of preference, but the D-PAD on this thing looks like one of those round things, where L could end up being UL, L, DL, or D. I hate those things.

At 300-400 USD, they'd better not be re-releasing SNES/Genesis/etc. games for this thing, as in the point here.