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LeoNatan
☢ NFOHump Despot ☢
Posts: 73196
Location: Ramat Gan, Israel 🇮🇱
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 Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 15:38 Post subject: [OTHER] Zeebo, a new cheap console |
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| Quote: | GDC: Zeebo Announces Console Launch, 'Gaming for the Next Billion'
Early Monday morning, Zeebo CEO John Rizzo and Qualcomm games and services senior director Mike Yuen today announced the launch of the Zeebo console, intended for emerging markets worldwide, specifically BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which represents 800 million people.
"In 2000 Bill Gates introduced the original Microsoft Xbox at GDC," said Mike Yuen. "We're honored here to release what we believe will be the fourth big console."
Zeebo is based on Qualcomm mobile technology, from the graphics chipset to the 3G wireless network, and has positioned itself as a piracy-free alternative to the larger, more expensive consoles.
In Brazil, for instance, where the console is launching first, a PS3 costs the equivalent of US$1,100 new, and the Wii costs US$1,000, because neither console has officially launched there -- the only alternative for those consoles is piracy.
The Zeebo is launching at the equivalent of $199 USD, with games costing in the range of $5 to $15. Games are download-only across a 3G wireless network, which can also be used as a connectivity point for laptops in those homes without internet.
Yuen compared the video game market to the Matterhorn, in that many have died trying to climb it. "Lots of companies have tried to conquer the big three, and died doing it. So, within Qualcomm we've been thinking about how we can do this differently, and with cellular technology."
Qualcomm and Zeebo did a number of market tests and research in various regions, and found that most middle class families had not been exposed to much marketing about games, but had used cell phones to download ringtones or simple games.
Yuen then showed a picture of a pirated goods district in Sao Paolo, noting that in this environment, you simply point to a piece of software, and then a runner goes off and brings you back a disc. You have no guarantee what's on it, and you have to go to a potentially dangerous region to get it. This is where Zeebo feels the console has an advantage, given its price point and download-only, supposedly piracy-free structure.
Meeting the Needs of Consumers and Publishers
John Rizzo took the stage next, highlighting the ways in which he feels Zeebo will meet both consumer and publisher needs in a new way.
Rizzo says a consumer's key requirements are affordability, local language, culturally relevant content, and ease of purchase and play.
"Our focus is frankly not at the top of the pyramid," says Rizzo. "The richest people in those regions frankly can afford to buy the biggest consoles. We’re aimed solidly at that middle class."
Publishers' key requirements, according to Rizzo, are piracy prevention, less expensive title development, low cost, efficient marketing, and access to new markets.
So, how does Zeebo connect the needs of publishers and consumers? Rizzo says it's by way of the console having zero marketing waste, minimal development cost, nearly no cost of goods due to the download format, and no piracy.
Rizzo says the mobile architecture, aside from being cheap to manufacture and buy in bulk, is useful from both distribution and updating standpoints as well.
"If you want to think about how you maintain something like this in a field, there's no way to update a console in Brazil or India right now," he says, because of the lack of broadband penetration. "But we can push updates by waking up the console and updating it."
Rizzo then brought up the example of Quake, saying that at the time of its release, it was one of the biggest experiences available. "Most people in these emerging markets haven’t played Quake, much less a game in 3D," says Rizzo.
"Maybe it doesn’t hold up against the newest games, and it might be a bit slow...but imagine these people in emerging markets who haven’t been exposed to the marketing of these titles, playing Quake for the first time." Quake is one of five titles that comes embedded on the Zeebo flash drive at launch.
Console Details
Zeebo Inc. founder Reynaldo Norman stepped up to the plate to demonstrate the console live from the conference room. He was using a Brazilian launch unit with a U.S. SIM card, and it worked quite well.
The console sports a game-by-game single screen UI with games rotating on a wheel in 3D space. In the top left corner, you see signal strength, and in the top right your number of Z-credits, similar to Xbox Live points.
It took about 30 seconds to connect to the shop, but Norman indicated this was not the norm, and depended on signal strength. From there, browsing was actually quite brisk, as Norman flicked through genre categories (though only Quake was actually displayed).
He downloaded Quake live, and it took under 20 seconds for the full game to be downloaded and ready to play. As with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the Zeebo allows players to purchase additional credits via the UI.
Games shown to be eventually playable included Quake, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart Racing, Tekken 2, Double Dragon, and Zeebo Racing.
The console sports 1 GB of flash memory, and the games will be "between five and 50 megabytes," says Norman. He deleted a game to demonstrate the process, and a notification window popped up indicating that if you delete any software, you will have to buy it again should you want to replace it.
The development process, Rizzo says, is "almost identical to BREW development but a little better in some ways." Companies become a BREW developer, get Zeebo approval, develop with the BREW SDK, go through approval by testing firm NSTL, and then reach the console.
"There's a question, the big elephant in the room, which is the iPhone," says Rizzo. "There's a big sucking sound with all the resources going to iPhone from the other platforms."
But in Brazil, an iPhone plus a rate plan is $2,400. The Zeebo, which has no rate plan, and works on a normal TV, is $199. From a publisher position, there are 6,000 games on the iPhone app store, so new products are a drop in the bucket.
With Zeebo, there will be about 300 games, Rizzo estimates: "We want to have a smaller number of developers, focusing on quality." Current publishers and developers include Com2Us, Digital Chocolate, Glu, id, THQ, Namco, Capcom, Pop Cap, EA, Activision, and others.
Zeebo plans to have 15 titles available at launch and 30 within 90 days, claiming to have the largest launch selection of any home console.
"We have low expectations but high hopes and high dreams for the future," Rizzo summed up, saying that the console is entering retail in Rio de Janeiro first in May, in Mexico later in 2009, in India in 2010, in Eastern Europe in mid-2010, and then in China in 2011. No date has yet been announced for North America.
Additional information can be found in Gamasutra's interview with John Rizzo. |
Source
Tech specs:
- ARM11 / QDSP-5 running at 528Mhz
- Qualcomm Adreno 130 Graphics Core
- 1 GByte NAND Flash
- 160 MB RAM, 128 MBytes DDR SDRAM + 32Mbyte stacked DDR SDRAM in MSM7201A
- VGA (640 x 480) - 4:3 aspect ratio
- 3G (scaling back to 2.5G or 2G where necessary)
- 3 USB ports 2.0 Standard A (for accessories)
- SD Card Slot / Interface
- Interface: USB HID
- Power: AC adapter 5V 3A
- Consumption: 15 W max.
- Graphics: 4 million triangles / second
- Audio: 8 channels simultaneous MP3, ADPCM, MIDI
- Resolution: 640x480
- Size: W x D x H - 157 x 215.4 x 44 mm
- Weight: 1.3kg
- Sensitivity: <- 106 dBm (in UMTS)
| Quote: | Games
Zeebo will feature games such as Sonic Adventure, FIFA 09, Need for Speed Carbon, Prey, Crash Nitro Kart and Quake.
In Brazil, Zeebo will be launched with three games installed — FIFA 09, Action Hero 3D and Brain Training. Prey, Quake and Need for Speed Carbon will be available for download for free, all in Portuguese. In addition to these titles, Zeebo's library has more than ten games, all developed for this platform. By the end of 2009 Tectoy expects to have a library of 51 games. |
Source |
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garus
VIP Member
Posts: 34200
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 15:49 Post subject: |
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snip
Last edited by garus on Tue, 27th Aug 2024 21:10; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 18:18 Post subject: Re: [OTHER] Zeebo, a new cheap console |
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"We're honored here to release what we believe will be the fourth big console."
I lol'd.
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 18:30 Post subject: |
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I can flash games in my browser for free.
C2D E6750 @ 3.2Ghz, 4GB 800MHz DDR2 4-4-4-12, GeForce GTX 260 c216 OC 896MB, 3.2TB, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Xbox 360 Elite, PS2 Slim, Xbox
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 19:02 Post subject: Re: [OTHER] Zeebo, a new cheap console |
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| twoism wrote: | "We're honored here to release what we believe will be the fourth big console."
I lol'd. |
If they sell to just a fifth of their user demographic that's what it will be. The western market is saturated at the minute, the only place for a fourth console is in the markets they're targeting.
"Techniclly speaking, Beta-Manboi didnt inject Burberry_Massi with Benz, he injected him with liquid that had air bubbles in it, which caused benz." - House M.D
"Faith without logic is the same as knowledge without understanding; meaningless"
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 19:54 Post subject: |
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IZ ZERE A MODCHIP 4 ZIS? I WANTS 2 PIRATE!!11oneone
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javlar
Posts: 1921
Location: Kalmar, Sweden
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 23:13 Post subject: |
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Holy hell that video was terrible. Well, not the video, the Zeebo.
Graphics from two generations ago that LAGS? What the fuck..
And 200$ for it, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that only like 50$ less than what you'd pay for a basic xbox 360?
Gaming - Intel Quad Q9450 @ 3.2GHZ | Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB | SB X-Fi | PC6400 8GB | 300GB Velociraptor
HTPC - Antec Fusion Remote | AMD Athlon 7850 X2 | PC6400 2GB | 74GB Raptor
Server - Athlon 64 X2 4200+ | Radeon HD 3450 | SB X-Fi | PC5300 2GB | 4TB+ total space
XBOX360 Gamertag: javlarmate
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nouseforaname
Ãœber-VIP Member
Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 23:38 Post subject: |
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I was stunned when I saw just how SHITE Quake1 was running. Seriously, that game ran on my old 486-DX66 better than that!
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| Posted: Tue, 24th Mar 2009 23:53 Post subject: |
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Holy mother fucker shit ,someone shot that abomination and put out of misery.
50% of power goes to the ugly glowing logo
Brazil should stick making caipiriña.
I live in Argentina a less wealthy country than Brazil and most of the people i know could consider 200 a scam for this piece of junk.
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 00:36 Post subject: |
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A GeForce256 was able to provide more than 10 million triangles/second. And this sucker comes along with 4 million? Damn they should've built in a little bit better gfx card. The cpu with ~600MHz is ok 
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azzman
Posts: 4059
Location: Australiiiaaa , maate
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 02:47 Post subject: |
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Jesus is thing a gag or what? I didnt think anything could come along and out do the wii in terms of outdated hardware. $200 is criminal, and quake did look like it was rendering at about 10FPS
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lhzr
Posts: 3902
Location: RO
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 08:21 Post subject: |
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I think you would have to be a fool not to invest all your life savings into Zeebo stock! Clearly this console not only end the console war but also proves that consoles are infinitely better than PC's. Zeebo also proves that there must be a god and that only he (must be a he as whens the last time you heard a woman inventing something?) could have made it.
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garus
VIP Member
Posts: 34200
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 14:49 Post subject: |
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snip
Last edited by garus on Tue, 27th Aug 2024 21:10; edited 1 time in total
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azzman
Posts: 4059
Location: Australiiiaaa , maate
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Horrordee
Soderator
Posts: 8867
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 15:46 Post subject: |
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Does it support 1080p? or just 720p?
Space for rent. Contact me for rates!
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nouseforaname
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Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 15:57 Post subject: |
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garus
VIP Member
Posts: 34200
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 16:02 Post subject: |
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snip
Last edited by garus on Tue, 27th Aug 2024 21:10; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 16:14 Post subject: |
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If i had a half million dollars right now i will buy stocks in ZEEBO. Targeting country's like China, India and Brazil is a wise idea. All of them have a i high population and millions of people as potential costumers.
At the end of the day this isn't intended for spoiled western kids. This is intended for people who by our means are poor people.
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azzman
Posts: 4059
Location: Australiiiaaa , maate
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 16:23 Post subject: |
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| bogo24dk wrote: | If i had a half million dollars right now i will buy stocks in ZEEBO. Targeting country's like China, India and Brazil is a wise idea. All of them have a i high population and millions of people as potential costumers.
At the end of the day this isn't intended for spoiled western kids. This is intended for people who by our means are poor people. |
Yea with a $199 USD price tag, I can see alll those poor people lining up for one now
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nouseforaname
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| Posted: Wed, 25th Mar 2009 22:53 Post subject: |
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ps1 quaLITY lollllllllllll
what piece of crap
| Sin317 wrote: | | while you can't "turn gay", you can cut off your balls. believe me, you'll never think of women again. |
| zmed wrote: | | Or just a defense mechanism. If you fart, you'll most definitely smell it so your brain tells you it ain't bad as strangerfarts. |
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lhzr
Posts: 3902
Location: RO
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| Posted: Thu, 26th Mar 2009 00:16 Post subject: |
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a 200$ pc could play a lot more than quake (quake fucking 1!?). hell, a pentium 3 would be 50$ or something.
the lame thing about this shit scam is that it's not aimed at rich kids. instead they're gonna fuck over people for whom 200 bucks actually matter. fuck these zeebo guys.
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