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Blimey. If we’d have known how much of a stink
our earlier news story on Gizmondo
would have kicked up… well, we’d have made a lot more of it, to be honest.
It seems that the legacy of the company hasn’t won it many friends in the industry.
But what do you make of it all? Will you be fighting to make Gizmondo’s return a difficult one?
Email us here to tell us – and join a growing chorus of industry voices.
The full transcript of our new interview with Gizmondo boss Carl Freer is below. Obviously, his inclination was to answer questions on his upcoming product – and who can blame him…
Is the technology of Gizmondo Mk.2 comparable to the modern hardware of PSP and/or DS?
We are currently upgrading the board with some new features. I believe that this will make the Gizmondo stand-out technically, against its rivals… The new feature set will be revealed end of October 2008.
What are its key selling points?
Open platform. We can see what the iPhone has done with the App Store. Removing the barriers to enter for smaller developers is key here. We are also hoping to introduce a Linux based Android version of the Gizmondo.
Is it still on course for a 2008 launch?
We are going to make a limited version available end of this year.
Do you have a price point in mind?
We will be announcing price together with spec-sheets end of October.
Can you reassure retail that both the manufacturing and build will be smooth?
Like last time?… 😉 😉 No, this time around we are going to focus on online sales only. If there is retail demand we will of course be more than happy to supply, but being the underdog here, we aren’t expecting too much help in the first run.
The way we have set up the manufacturing deal, we will be able to ramp up quicker than before. Our manufacturing partners will be heavily involved in the Chinese launch of the Giz.
What other improvements have been made?
There are too many to mention… I think the big change is the open-source” environment we will be offering, as well as some serious improvements on the component reliability side. No company Ferrari’s!… 😉
Who will be creating the games for the machine?
We will be announcing some deals during Q4 but again we will largely rely on independent publishing here.
Does going up against the might of global competition in Sony and Nintendo frighten you at all?
Historically it never did and my answer before must be the same as now; There is room for another niche player especially with the open platform distribution concept.
