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Well, it looks like there's a mysterious new contender on the field of handheld gaming: the GameGadget. Set to launch January 2011, there's really not much information about it aside from a single press release- one that I managed to get my hands on!
So, what do we know? Well, the GameGadget is going to be running Linux, and aims to be not only a strong hardware platform, but feature powerful software- software with online integration that could rival the XBLA and PSN, thus making a potential competitor to the upcoming Playstation Vita.In the press release, Jason Cooper, the creator of the GameGadget, had this to say:
“GameGadget has been designed with the ultimate goal of playing every game on a single device, just as the “iPod” was for music. Hundreds of thousands of games are currently “archived” and no longer being enjoyed by Gamers, with no value being generated for the Developers and Publishers. The launch of GameGadget creates a market for gamers to play the games they want to play. The GameGadgetGames service, just like “Apple’s App Store”, allows the owners of these games, to re-market their back catalogue, in their original format, set the appropriate pricing and gain incremental revenue, BUT with no additional investment”.
I rather like the sound of that- an iPod for games? But what'll prevent from winding up like the PSP Go? In case you don't know about the PSP Go, here's a quick synopsis: Sony tried launching a PSP with no UMD drive, so it would only run games you purchased via downloads- needless to say, the device failed. People weren't going to buy a crippled device.
So how are these two different? Well for starters, the device doesn't seem to have any disk drives (although it might have an SD card slot), so from the photos and info in the press release, it seems that it's already geared towards totally digital distribution, rather like an iOS device. I'm fine with this, and it doesn't seem to be a crippled machine, so I've got no complaints, really. In fact, I like the idea of using it to sell older games that could use some attention, perhaps it could integrate with the likes of Good Old Games and Steam? I think gamers would certainly appreciate linking their own massive catalogues of games with their devices. I know that I certainly would!
There was part of the press release I'm still curious about however:
"All games played on any GameGadget that are delivered via “GameGadgetGames” are encoded using a unique DRM (Digitial Rights Management) system.
Publishers can establish a brand new and unique digital revenue stream without any further investment by simply uploading games in their original format to GamesGadgetGames."
So let's say I already own, oh, an original copy of Starcraft (I really do!) and want to play it on my GameGadget (not sure quite how that'd work, anyway- through the magic of emulation perhaps?), will I be able to just plug in the files from my original copy into my little device and just play? Will I have to re-buy the game from the publisher? I don't know, it hasn't yet been revealed how this is quite to work, though I trust more information will come soon.
"GameGadget 1.0 uses a Linux based Operating System which has been highly optimized for handheld consoles. This allows programmers to develop content just like they would do for any other Linux based system.
Popular game development libraries such as SDL and DirectFB are fully compatible, creating a cross compiling environment. GameGadget provides all documentation, start-up guides for developers, lists of available libraries and specific platform notes. "
Well, that certainly looks promising! While I'm not quite sure how they plan to make games from other platforms run on the GG, at least I know that it'll be able to run some of the awesome open source games I already know and love. Developers are already being reached out to, and I thus have hope for this little device, and look forward to seeing how far it goes. Stick with us for updates!
Official Website: GameGadget.net
Note: I originally posted this here: http://blackmannrobin.com/2011/11/21/new-handheld-game-console-announced-the-gamegadget/