New Portable Console From Panasonic!

[Asmo]

using it as a touchpad you just slide your thumb around the pad. When in direction key mode you actually click down in the direction you want and get a tactile click.

Like the combined Nubs/D-Pads on the Ocosmos OCS-1, looks like a theme developing, could work well so you don't have to take your finger off direction controls to make other selections.

 

[Miner49er]

I can't understand why people would say this looks ugly!
I mean, It _does_ look pretty stylish compared to the Pandora.
However, I don't care what things look like - if I did I wouldn't still own an iRiver H320, I would've purchased an iPod (as looks are the only extra iPods have...)

Pandora looks...retro and that's what we like yeah? The only thing missing on the Pandora is a Rainbow stripe in the bottom-right corner!

 

[Asmo]

The only thing missing on the Pandora is a Rainbow stripe in the bottom-right corner!

I probably shouldn't mention HDMI then...

 

[fusion_power]

I can't understand why people would say this looks ugly!
I mean, It _does_ look pretty stylish compared to the Pandora.
However, I don't care what things look like - if I did I wouldn't still own an iRiver H320, I would've purchased an iPod (as looks are the only extra iPods have...)

Pandora looks...retro and that's what we like yeah? The only thing missing on the Pandora is a Rainbow stripe in the bottom-right corner!

It looks good, I like the smooth Surface appearence, I wonder if they had their cases painted too, to get such a Surface. I really want to know how long it took to develop this "Jungle" thingy. At the Moment it looks like Panasonic just snips with the fingers and it just apperared. Unfair, compared to the blood, sweat and tears the Pandora Dev Team had to go through.
ANd when Panasonic want to play (Browser) MMOs, they need FLASH capabilities into the Dvice, do they use an ARM Processor? I would be surprised if they can manage the huge "FLASH on ARM" problem, we still have onto the Pandora. Would be also unfair if they can solve it while we waiting to death for a usable Flash version for Pandora. ^^"""

 

[skeezix]

Sort of clunky looking imho, and wedge-shaped; need to see the real dimensions .. ie: pocketability, size relative to pandora, etc.

The big Q I think is .. how locked down will it be? ie: Running linux means they'll have to supply source for things, but it could be like a Tivo -- bootloader locking down the whole thing and needing a big crack to get inside. But could be promising!

jeff

 

[Jourdy288]

The top half is hideous. I'm sorry, it just is. What were they thinking? A plain old screen would do. Maybe they could have made it bigger, but that wedge thing is really messing with me aesthetically.

 

[Dunny]

This is the first 'Pandora competitor' that could actually pose a threat, IMO.

To be fair Gruso, all they have to do to threaten the Pandora is get it on the market.

D.

 

[Javacat]

Anyone want to play Guess The Dimensions!?

Using some guestimates and semiknown measurements I get
3cm tall (at tallest)
7cm deep
14cm wide

It does appear as though the keyboard can't be any deeper than 3cm as well, which means the keys aren't going to be much bigger than what are on my mobile:/

So yeah.. slightly smaller than a DS Phat, but not quite as small as a DSL. Anyone else gonna guess???

 

[CPUnltd]

definitely interesting... and I see that most everybody is getting into the mobile game in some fashion or another (funny how trend cycles work). Looks kinda cool, but until more information is out there about it, I'll watch from a distance... besides, I doubt it could truly compete with the Pandora in it's raw openness. I've owned an iRiver (oddly enough, Apple has yet to try to sue them for that name), Archos 5 (non-android edititon), Archos PMA-420 and a few cell phones... I'm pretty much done with the locked-down models of handhelds and would stick with Pandora for that more than anything else... and if I'm lacking something power or space-wise (as that's the only thing that ever truly lacks on a computing system) I'll figure out how to beef that up myself. Simple as that.

 

[Blue Ion]

Srsly guys, this thread needs moar specs.


Though having HDMI output and a high res screen already means at least a beefyish cpu, sadly this doesn't mean anything about the graphic part, the odroid (first gen) had a crap gpu and did hdmi, and perhaps more importantly battery life.

 

[Asmo]

Ouch:

It does, however, conjure up memories of other handheld platforms that have failed or vanished into vaporware. Remember the Pandora, the Tapwave Zodiac or the Gizmondo?

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/10/panasonic-jungle/

Mind you, the same piece says the 3DO failed because it went head to head with the Playstation and N64. Which were released 2 years later, long after it was in terminal decline.

 

[sebt3]

It does, however, conjure up memories of other handheld platforms that have failed or vanished into vaporware. Remember the Pandora, the Tapwave Zodiac or the Gizmondo?

http://www.wired.com...nasonic-jungle/

I changed your emphasis on something, I'm sure, Craigx will love...

 

[CPUnltd]

also, as far as HDMI goes, the FitPC2 is a good example of HDMI on a crap GPU... Specs will definitely make the difference for a LOT of people. we shall see how this develops

 

[Javacat]

I can't remember on which article I read it, but there was talk about this being related to Panasonic's Cloud (eeew) network. Could this device be something that has been designed to act as a "front end" to one of those gaming networks where the games are run remotely then the video is just streamed back at you?
Doing that would certainly allow for some very sexy games and the lag wouldn't be an issue for MMORPG's like WoW.

 

[cbox]

Yeah it's being released by the same Panasonic Cloud company.

 

[Soap]

I can't remember on which article I read it, but there was talk about this being related to Panasonic's Cloud (eeew) network. Could this device be something that has been designed to act as a "front end" to one of those gaming networks where the games are run remotely then the video is just streamed back at you?
Doing that would certainly allow for some very sexy games and the lag wouldn't be an issue for MMORPG's like WoW.

Is that such a good idea considering it's a portable console?

 

[Javacat]

Quoting from the wired article:

Jungle claims to be both a mobile device made specifically for online gamers on the move, and a new ecosystem for MMO games. It’s been designed around making online games portable, and releasing addicted web-gamers from the shackles of their desktop.

There are also quite a few people mentioning 3G/4G on it for connectivity, although that might be speculation.



Actually.. I've just looked up Battlestar Galactica Online. I could find much info about it, other than how it's going to be a browser based game and is based on the Unity engine. I've looked that up and it seems to be a 3D engine for MMO's, which is pretty portable (Win/OSX/iPad/iPhone/Android/Wii/PS3/360). It seems quite limited and just loads objects on the go, rather than installing the entire game in one go. I guess that's where the 'cloud' comes in.
I guess this sort of means that it's only going to run games made specifically for it and no handheld WoW for me
The good news in that is that it won't be using a crappy streaming service for games
Info and some specs on the engine are on wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(game_engine). You could use that to try and work out at least the basics of what the console might be capable of.

There's also another free MMO based on the engine @ http://fusionfall.cartoonnetwork.com/. It has the powerpuff girls in it :wub: B)

 

[EvilDragon]

Ouch:

It does, however, conjure up memories of other handheld platforms that have failed or vanished into vaporware. Remember the Pandora, the Tapwave Zodiac or the Gizmondo?

Heh, well, they also said the Tapwave Zodiac failed... so I guess a fail for them is every device where only little numbers have been sold... so add the GP32, the GP2X, etc.

This is a somewhat weird device... seems they're into big commercial MMO games, but then Linux wouldn't make much sense (too open...)
Well, it's not even set yet, some say it might also use Android, which would probably make more sense.

Not much is known about that device yet, neither the openness nor anything else... except for that it is mainly targeted at Online-Gaming.
Let's wait for more info

 

[neko]

This is a somewhat weird device... seems they're into big commercial MMO games, but then Linux wouldn't make much sense (too open...)
Well, it's not even set yet, some say it might also use Android, which would probably make more sense.

The only problem with an open platform and MMO games is you'll have cheaters. They will probably end up banning accounts when they think people are cheating.

 

[DaveC]

That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen for a handheld system.

That's what thousands of people say about the Pandora.

[edit] Thread moved & merged.

I am not sure why as Pandora basically looks like a DS lite with a keyboard instead of second screen. I don't hear people saying the DS is ugly. Doesn't make sense the DS actually looks more plain.

Where are the speakers on the jungle? I don't see any by the screen.