Tapwave Zodiac Creators Update On Handheld

Thanks to Zodiac Gamer for reprinting a progress report on the reception to the Tapwave Zodiac handheld gaming system, as the creators of the Palm-compatible device mention accolades such as a CES 'Last Gadget Standing' award from PCMag, and also note they've "received a very small number of units back for joystick-related issues", mainly involving calibration problems. The post also comments on newly released games enhanced specifically for the device, singling out the Atari Retro pack, which ZodiacGamer had earlier previewed, and discussing upcoming titles: "Doom II is going through final single-player testing and sign-off and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is in our final phases of multiplayer testing."

Comments

32mb vs 128mb of FLASH RAM, not regular RAM

[Rayonic]

Both the $300 and $400 models of the Zodiac have the same amount of volitile work RAM, thus can play the same games and have the same performance. It's just the flash-ram storage that's different. An extra $100 apparently buys you an extra 96MB to store your files and programs. Both, I believe, have flash card slots if you need extra space.

You may know this, but I feel it is important to point out to the public at large. When they see a difference in "RAM", they automatically assume that one is more powerful than the other, thus they'd better not be stuck with the cheaper one, lest some future games not work. And, as you may guess, a $400 machine will sell a lot less than a $300 one.