Preview Tapwave��s Zodiac: a Remote Control for Mobile Media

After decades of Nintendo dominance, the handheld gaming scene will soon be flooded with competitors. Rival companies are banking on the maturation of the Game Boy audience��people in their twenties who are eager for a handheld entertainment device with more power than a GBA, and one that doesn��t look like it was stolen from a 7 year old.

To attract the sophisticated gamer, TapWave has attached a larger screen, 3D graphics processing power, and an analog joystick to the guts of a Palm PDA. It��s called the Zodiac, and it plays MP3s, displays digital photographs, keeps track of your contacts and appointments and lets you play SpyHunter or Tony Hawk��s Pro Skater.

Most of today��s digital assistants are myopically focused on mobile professionals��people for whom the calendar is the most critical part of their virtual life. Tim Twerdahl, a senior product manager at TapWave who was formerly at Palm, left Palm because he wanted to see the PDA evolve. He saw his younger friends expanding the power of their PDAs with downloaded games or goofy, fun applications. The Game Boy, Twerdahl points out, looks far too childish to appeal to many adults. But if you had a device with the power of a Palm that could be pulled out in front of coworkers, no one need ever know what you��re actually doing with that stylus.

Gamers who grew up with the Game Boy will be pleased by the smart product design of the Zodiac. The analog control stick is responsive under the left thumb. TapWave has switched the Palm��s orientation from vertical to a more gaming-friendly horizontal. There are a good number of buttons, including shoulder buttons, but not so many that they get in the way.

One thing the TapWave Zodiac won��t be doing is communicating��at least, not over long distances. Unlike the N-Gage or other upcoming mobile gaming devices, the Zodiac has no mobile phone capacity or long-range Internet networking capacity. TapWave has left out functions that others have tried to shove into their devices. The Zodiac is meant for watching or listening to media or for playing games.

However, the Zodiac does boast a Bluetooth connection, denoted with a smart blue LED button at the top of the unit. Press that button and your Zodiac broadcasts a signal that you��re available for local-area multiplayer gaming. One person can host a Doom II match, say, and a half-dozen players in the area can join the low-latency, in-person, multiplayer fun.

All this mobile entertainment power will cost between $300 and $400 per unit, depending on the amount of internal memory��twice the price of most game consoles. But Twerdahl believes that the Zodiac is worth the initial sticker shock because it replaces your MP3 player, digital picture frame, PDA, and Game Boy. Would I buy one? I��m still angling to keep my demo model, but if that doesn��t work, I just might.

Launch Titles for Tapwave��s Zodiac

Tony Hawk��s Pro Skater 4

Phantom Strike

SpyHunter

Warfare Incorporated

Doom II

Galactic Realms

BUNDLED TITLES

Stuntcar Extreme

AcidSolitaire

AND ��SOON AFTER�� LAUNCH

Duke Nukem Mobile

Neverwinter Nights

Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.