Spotlight: GPS Enhances New Portable Video Game
A new interactive video game has been introduced that features an embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) chipset. Gizmondo Europe Ltd., a business unit of Jacksonville, Fla.- based Tiger Telematics [TIGR], unveiled a GPS-enabled game called “Colors” recently at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) 2004, a Los Angeles-based trade show for computer and video games and related products.
Created by Stockholm, Sweden-based Indie Studios AB, the interactive, multi-player game incorporates a player’s physical location into the contest. “Colors” also is the first release in a line of interactive games developed exclusively for Gizmondo, a next-generation mobile video game device. The demonstration of the portable new video game was offered during the May 12-14 E3Expo trade show.
Mikael Astrom, executive producer of Indie Studios, said “Colors” enables players to battle for supremacy of their designated environment by leveraging Gizmondo’s GPS- capabilities. In addition, players can use the device’s Bluetooth 2 for trading items and a digital camera to help personalize the gaming experience. The game’s players also will have the option to create ‘crews’ or teams with friends to test their skills against other teams.
Gizmondo is powered by a Microsoft Windows CE.net platform, featuring a 2.8-inch TFT color screen with a Samsung ARM9 400Mhz processor. It also incorporates a 64-bit graphics accelerator, multimedia messaging, a MP3 music player, MPEG 4 movie playing capability, and a GPRS network link to allow wide-area network gaming. Both the game and the Gizmondo device will be sold worldwide at consumer electronics and toy retailers starting during fourth quarter 2004, company officials said.
Tiger Telematics is a provider of advanced tracking, navigation and information devices used to combine global GPS functions and voice recognition technology to locate and track vehicles and people down to street level in countries throughout the world. The service operates using GSM technology.
–Paul Dykewicz
(Mike Carrender, Tiger Telematics, 904/279-9240)