domain names were responding to ping or http access attempts at publication time.
Several gamer websites, including
Gamasutra,
Kotaku, and
Spong, reported earlier this year that Tiger Telematics appeared to be in the process of filing for bankruptcy protection.
Msmobiles reported on April 16 that the Gizmondo store on Regent Street in London has shut its doors and is "now in process of liquidation," adding that parent company Tiger Telematics has a debt of over $200 million (USD). The website attributed the Gizmondo device's demise to, among other things, the absence of WiFi and the inability to use its built-in GPRS radio for ordinary phone calls.
First announced in November of 2003, the heavily-promoted Gizmondo game console was a multifunction entertainment device incorporating GPRS wireless communications, an MPEG4 decoder, a digital camera, and GPS, among other features. It ran Windows CE on a 400 MHz Hitachi ARM9 processor, coupled with an
Nvidia 3-D multimedia graphics accelerator. Key portions of the device's software were
developed under contract by Intrinsyc Software, based on Intrinsyc's wireless telephony suite.
The unit was
initially released in the UK in October of 2004, roughly a year after its original announcement. The North American release was initially set for
August of last year, but the device didn't reach US store shelves until
October, ostensibly owing to delays in a couple of software packages.
The demise of Gizmondo leaves the portable game console market to Sony's PSP and the Nintendo DS.
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