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Tapwave Zodiac Creators Update On Handheld

Posted by simoniker on from the leo-pisces-capricorn dept.

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."

2 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. TapWave as a PDA, not a GBA replacement... by RevAaron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I said it before- here and elsewhere- and I'll say it again. If I were in the market for a many functioned PalmOS PDA, I would get a TapWave Zodiac. And I can't say I would plan on buying more than a couple games, a few classics or puzzle games that I would play often.

    For $400, you get a pretty nice PalmOS machine. A fast CPU, a big and nice screen, bluetooth, dual SDIO slots, and a heaping helping of RAM. For $300 you get all that, but with 32 MB instead of 128 MB of RAM- still a nice price for a nice machine. Similarily equipped Sony or PalmOne devices often cost more- and none of them have dual SD slots. Definately a handy thing to have, especially if you don't have both CF and SD.

    --

    Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  2. Last gadget standing. by Lord+Graga · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No wonder. This is the first well-designed multi-application device that I have ever seen. It's a PDA, a REAL pda! Not a PDA-like OS. And, it has a gaming mode and other special features that is independent from Palm OS. That is interesting, because that's what peoples wants! Nobody likes N-Gage in a year, because it's *another* multi-application system that tries to solve it's needs with a new OS/etc. Zodiac uses Palm OS, an allready existing OS that peoples will actually make programs for. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't any N-Gage support in Nokias next "(gaming+phone)/2;". That's why they are screwed, and that's why Zodiac will live: If it will suck as a gaming machine it will still be a quite powerfull PDA.