Wow, this was unexpected. Article Translated: Tectoy announces the Zeebo console, aiming for emergent markets. Tectoy announced the launch of Zeebo, it's new console (actually it's first console), to be launched on the first quarter of 2009, in Brazil. The console, that had some speculation since the partnership of Tectoy with the american Qualcomm was announced, it's going to be produced on the Tectoy facture in Manaus on it's initial phase and after it's released in Brazil, it will be offered for licensing in other countries, specially the emergent markets. The big new thing of the Zeebo is the fact that it doesn't use any kind of external media for games: They are stored on the console internal memory and available through download on the "Zeebonet 3G". The games doesn't need a special modem, any access to broadband or any pay subscription. It only needs to be connected on TV. The Zeebo automatically conects to the wireless ZeeboNet 3G, that is totally free and available were it has availabilty in the country (check the map at www.zeebo.com.br). "This business model is totally innovative and it's the first trully anti-piracy iniciative on the gaming market." says Fernando Fischer, Tectoy's CEO. The big advantage of Zeebo over piracy, besides distribution, will be the competitive prices of games - something like R$ 10,00, that Tectoy believes to be both attractive and compatible to the brazilian reality. The idea of the Zeebo console started in 2006, inside Tectoy itself, idealized by Reinaldo Normand, one of founders of the Outer Space gaming website. "The Zeebo is a global project that involved companies from 7 different countries: Brazil, USA, Argentina, China, Israel, Japan and France" affirms Fischer. The Zeebo was though mainly for emerging countries consummers. By the Goldman Sachs projections, more than 800 million people will rise to the middle class on the next decade just on the so-called BRIC market (Brazil, Russia, India and China). "These consummers are avid for a new entertainment option and high tech education, and the accessible price of the Zeebo offers that", says Fischer. It's worth mention that it's not just the consummer that wins with the Zeebo. "The whole business eco-system is benefit: The publisher - be it a international studio or a local developer that will give jobs and will raise the national gaming industry - the retailer, with the government collecting taxes", affirms the Tectoy's CEO. In Brazil, the Zeebo will be launched with 6 pre-installed games - Action Hero 3D, Treino Cerebral (Brain Training), Prey Evil, Quake and 2 more games of a big publisher, that will be announced on the upcoming weeks. Beyond those, the inicial Zeebo catalog has more than 10 games, all developed to this platform and will cost starting at R$ 10,00, and R$29,90 on the most important releases. A big important difference is that all games will be in Brazilian Portuguese. "We are all working with the big name companies and franchises like Activision, Sega, Namco, Capcom, beyond others, and the support of those players confirms how innovative our project is", celebrates Fischer At least on it's initial phase, the focus of Zeebo will be games based on actual franchises and those developed specialy for it, but the company expectation is to be able to offer in the future even Mega Drive classics, plus remakes of those games. The price of the console will only be confirmed close of it's launch, around april or june 2009. Today, Tectoy says R$ 599,00, a value over the initial prediction thanks to the financial crisis and Real devalue. With the launch in other countries, the company expects to lower the price as soon as possible. In 2009, there will be more than 50 consoles available for the wireless console, among them versions of some of the biggest franchises in the gaming industry, like Resident Evil (A simplified version of Resident Evil 4 is one of the possible games for the console). Another feature is the accelerometer, that is already being developed by Tectoy. This joystiq, in bumerang shape, has sensors that detect and capture the players movements and transfer these actions to the game environment. And this brings a highly desireable feature to a accessible platform. Purchase system To be able to buy new games and download them, it will be necessary to acquire "Z-Credits", in a very simple process that is made on the console and ZeebotNet 3G network itself. The "Z-Credits" will be bought through Credic Cards, Debit Cards, Pre-Paid Cards or Bank payment slip and become avaiable on the user account, that is associated directly with that console. This was, parents can buy Z-Credits and let their kids use them by their own preference. When a user selects a gaming title to download, the own system checks if there’s enough credits, and if it has, the purchase is confirmed and the download starts. One time the game is installed, it can be played anywhere. The ZeeboNet 3G was designed por some of the best wireless network specialists of the world and it’s composed by 2 types of servers: The games servers and the Z-Credits servers. On the games servers, the games are stored. On the other servers, the responsible for Z-Credits buy operations, that involves bank account checking and credit card companies. The download of the games is only permitted by the server, after the Z-Credits server confirms the purchase and the credits balance.Each download completed is registered on those servers and the royalties payments for the gaming studio or it’s local retailer is effected imediately “Our gaming commercial model is revolutionay and brave, that doesn’t have space for piracy and offers a innovative experience to the consummers”, emphasizes Fischer. Still this year, the brazilians all over the country will be able to check the features and advantages of the Zeebo personally. It’s the VIP test, that will happen in december. The idea is for them to evaluate the console. In March, the console will be launched in one of the capitals and after, nationwide Zeebo Launch in Brazill: April de 2009 (market test phase) June 2009: Nationwide em todo o paÃs Price (expected: R$ 599,00 Games prices: From R$ 9,90 to R$ 29,90 Technical Specs: Storaged: 1GB internal Flash memory Interface: USB HID Power: AC 5V 3A Power consumption: 15 W max. Graphics acceleration: 1.6 million triangles / second Audio: 8 simultaneous channels MP3, ADPCM, MIDI Resolution: 640x480 Size: L x P x A - 157 x 215.4 x 44 mm Weight: 1.3kg Sensibility: < - 106 dBm (em UMTS) Operation conditios Temperature: -20 a 55C Humidity 95% (40C) --- So, the new "Phantom" ? :110:
Console official website: http://www.zeebo.com.br/ Some pics: And some more info: Platform Qualcomm Chipset Applications Processing (Audio/Graphics) ARM 11 / QDSP-5 running at 528Mhz 3D Graphics Processing Qualcomm Adreno 130 Graphics Core Mobile Display Processor (MDP) (Concurrent 3D Rendering & Screen Operations) Internal Memory Non-Volatile Memory: 1 GByte NAND Flash RAM: 128 MBytes DDR SDRAM + 32 Mbyte stacked DDR SDRAM in MSM7201A Image out system: PAL-M and NTSC Image Resolution: VGA (640 x 480) - 4:3 aspect ratio Band: - Quad Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) MHz - Tri Band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1900/2100) MHz Antenna: Internal Modem Processing (Integrated in MSM7201A) ARM 9 CPU / QDSP-4 Power External Power Adaptor (Battery Not Required) Power Supply 100 - 240 V (50-60Hz) (universal) USB 3 USB 2.0 Standard A ports (for accessories) - USB 2.0 OTG ? Mini B (Accessible to Service Centers and Developers only) Other specifications: RCA Connector (Video Composite TV Signal, x2 Stereo Audio) SD Card Slot / Interface Power Key Functions Power On / Power Down / Power Off Software BREW-based Pre-Loaded Content 4 Games + 1 Free Wirelessly Downloaded Game Audio Formats - MIDI (72 voice polyphony 512 kB wavetable, 44kHz sampling rate) - MP3 - PCM - ADPCM - CMX - QCELP Messaging SMS, server initiated User Interface (UI) Proprietary Zeebo User Interface (Updatable wirelessly) Console ID International Mobile Equipment Identity IMEI
Curiously, it has a Qualcomm dual core processor ARM 11 528MHz ARM9 274MHz The Nintendo DS has a dual core of: ARM 9 67Mhz ARM 7 33Mhz By the specs, i think the games will be something between PS1/N64 and DC/PS2. But that is just a guessing.
Some videos from the press-conference, showing the prototypes: Menus and Interface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx1rWdEHDCM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIfEL-iDw60 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYGZk_jln7E More stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ3NdWS2_QQ Crash Nitro Kart running: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiYfT_f2s90 Showing the prototype console: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6pJbKlQSls Discussions: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341860 http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/tectoys-zeebo-gaming-console-to-run-on-3g-network-in-brazil/ http://www.destructoid.com/zeebo-announced-in-brazil-all-games-are-download-only-111316.phtml
Wow.. really interesting and kinda came out of the blue h: I really liked the design of the console, looks pretty damn good, though I wouldn't say the same about the controller (just looks like a Wii Classic Controller). Nice initiative from TecToy, a bit pricey though... maybe it'll get cheaper soon after release.
Am I the only one reminded of Zeebo the clown from Scary stories to tell in the dark? Anyways, I don't see myself buying this. To be honest it looks like a Wii clone, and unless I'm mistaken, that was 599 USD? A $600 Wii clone? Are you kidding me? If so, I think this thing is going to fail, and hard. I don't see it making much of an impact on the current console gen anyway, even if it was $50.
It was 599 Reales (Brazilian Currency) it wuold be like 240-270 US Dollars. Either way it's expensive.
lol..watched some of the youtube stuff from above and have to say, this hardware is at least 12 years behind the present generation. how much it will cost again? :lol: better they concentrate on releasing their 398th SMS or MD clone than that piece of shi..ehrm..unamusing hardware.
Some things to be said: - The price is not yet decided. They say R$ 599,00 because of the Real devalue and financial crisis. The Dollar - Real exchange, before all this was, 1 dollar = 1,60 Reais. Now it's 1 dollar = 2,29 Reais. And let's not forget high taxes in Brazil. - Secondly, it's aimed at kids, not the hardcore gamer. It's not going to be next-gen, nor it does need to be, since their main market are countries like Brazil, China, Russia and India. - Although they say anti-piracy, i think it will be hacked as soon as it gets released. Anyway, the all digital distribution is simple, fast and effective. No wonder Namco, Capcom, and others are avaiable. Games like Ridge Racer, Tekken and Street Fighter are mentioned on http://www.zeeboinc.com/ (former Tectoy USA). - Qualcomm bought shares of Tectoy, so it's not just a partnership. It's going to be released in another countries. - It's Tectoy first own console. Not a Sega official console, not a damn MD os SMS with tons of games but without cart slot... Anyway, i hope the price go down and depending the games quality, i'll probably get it. The biggest problem is the composite only out. C'mon, why not component?! PS: Comments of a game producer : http://texpine.com/2008/11/12/the-zeebo-console/
insane. why buying this instead of a x360 or a ps2 or damn, even a psx with a chip? remember that it's meant to be aimed at poor markets... poor market and 200$+ price tag = FAILURE (at least IMHO)
that's because it IS the wee classic pad! they stole it, and consider now nintendo as one of their 3rd party accessoire producer.
It's basically an enhanced mobile gaming platform. BREW was designed for mobile phone gaming and Qualcomm's bread and butter is in mobile chipsets. It's relatively low cost from a hardware perspective, familiar to any developer with a mobile division and easy to manufacture. Selling it through to consumers is another question, but from what's been described here there's nothing really new. The hardware is all off the shelf parts. The innovation is in how the system was put together. Personally, I'd be most interested in seeing how the unit connects to the network as there doesn't seem to be a separate charge mentioned for network connectivity. Who wants to hack it for games? The Zeebo is a 3G modem with free data. I'd want to hack on an external connection and use it as a modem for the PC. Keep in mind that a standalone 3G data card costs nearly as much as one of these devices if you buy it without a plan. So pricewise it is competitve for the tech that is included. -hl718
Pretty much. If you want to see the level of graphics that the Zeebo should be capable of, check out this link. It has a video of the graphics chipset running a tech demo. http://www.qualcomm.com/media/videos/adreno.html The only thing preventing the Zeebo from being capable of calling is really the lack of a microphone and possibly lack of support for GSM voice codecs. I wouldn't know that for sure without tearing one open and looking at the chips used. From the spec sheets though, it's using fairly standard parts that were designed with the mobile market in mind. It supports EDGE and 3G data, as well as SMS messaging (likely setup to receive system messages from the network). In order to keep costs low, I'm going to guess that each unit probably has a SIM card from the preferred carrier inside. Each territory likely has a deal with a national carrier to provide the data access. It's also possible that the network keys are stored in flash inside the unit instead of on a SIM card, though that would make it slightly more difficult to shift product from one territory to another if sales end up going well as you would need multiple production lines. With a SIM-based solution, you only need one production line. Region coding is naturally enforced via the method of distribution. A console sold in Brazil is going to be connecting to the cell network of a local carrier. You bring that console to another country and it won't be able to get on the GSM network as the account would be coded to not roam internationally. The guys and gals that put this together deserve credit from an engineering perspective. -hl718
