Kotaku
POSDATA and sister company POSBRO announced at CES today that their portable online gaming device for cell phones, the G100, will be coming to America. US consumers can find the WiMAX device on sale late 2008 - early 2009, but the G100 and the WiMAX gaming network will be available and online in Korea early this year. No word yet on what the games will be, but the companies promise a "variety of online game titles... to meet customer's tastes". And why, exactly, do these companies think it will be wildly popular in the US?
The effect of portable online gaming device will be inspiring in US where video game through TV and online game on PC are quite popular among young people. In the near future, they will be playing high quality online games through G100 via mobile WIMAX network.
Huh. Well, it really is a lovely idea, in theory. But judging by how spectacularly the N-Gage failed, and the lukewarm mobile game market in North America, I've got my doubts.
Hit the jump for the press release.
Jan 09, 2008 03:30
POSDATA Launches WIMAX Game Business in US
LAS VEGAS —(Business Wire)— Jan. 9, 2008 Today at CES 2008, POSBRO, POSDATA's subsidiary for mobile WIMAX device, announced the intention to launch mobile WIMAX online game business in the US market.
POSBRO has been developing mobile WIMAX specialized terminal under the brand name of FLYVO, and unveiled the world's first portable online gaming platform, named G100, at WiMAX World USA, Chicago, 2007.
KT, the world's largest mobile WIMAX operator currently servicing more than 100,000 commercial subscribers, already signed a commercial agreement with POSBRO to provide online game service via G100 to KT Wibro network starting early 2008 in Korea.
Continuing this success, the G100 will be launching in US around the beginning of 4Q, 2008, or end of 1Q, 2009, according to POSBRO. The G100 will be demonstrated at SPRINT's booth, in CES this week showing the potential of SPRINT's XOHM(TM) Mobile WiMAX network.
"We're delighted to bring this revolutionary mobile WiMAX device to US market, and it will dramatically change the way people enjoy games and Internet while they're on the move," explained Mr. Joonil Shin, CEO of POSBRO.
"We are pleased that POSBRO is expanding its presence to the U.S. market with its leading on-line game products," Mr. Bin Shen, VP, Product Management and Partnership Development for Xohm. "The development of devices and services like this will demonstrate the power of true WiMAX mobile broadband."
The effect of portable online gaming device will be inspiring in US where video game through TV and online game on PC are quite popular among young people. In the near future, they will be playing high quality online games through G100 via mobile WIMAX network.
POSBRO is currently adding up variety of online game titles which are optimized for G100 platform in cooperation with major game developers to meet customers' various tastes.
Comments
I will be the first in line not to play it.
Why do companies insist on bringing mobile game devices to a country that is far from having any kind of overall WiFi.
This originally started out as the iriver G10.
@krunkjuice:
Because of the moniez!!!
If Uwe Boll made gaming consoles, this would be his.
well if the prefix "POS" isnt obvious...
Wouldnt POSBRO be a brother company?
Is POSDATA and POSBRO for real? You'd think someone might pick up the POS acronym...
IMHO, games sell a gaming device, so if this contraption wishes to play up its gaming capabilities and not be regarded as simply a phone, they better start announcing some titles, and those better be awesome.
well i like the looks of the device quiet a bit...reminds me of a combo between old school video game controllers and modern day tech. i dont know the specs but if i was them i might focus on creating a website (possibly voter based) that would keep track of all the best flash games on the net. there are certain sites that major in having flash games, but they certainly dont have all of them. and there are some little random ones out there that are addictive as hell (like this one i played a while back that was a side scroller shoot em up that was matrix themed)
anywayz, thats my two cents. i think though that these companies really need to work their asses off in finding their niche market before even beginning to develop this kind of stuff.
Hey, I like games...and things that are popular!!
will it be able to play all my favorite n-gage games?
Ah, yes... "young people." Way to know how to talk to your demographic, grandma.
The design certainly looks good. I, for one, could be persuaded to get something like this next year. The hitpoint they have to nail is having some multitude of flash games available for play/ download. If they could tap into the casual games market and form alliances with the likes of pop cap and reflexive, they might actually be successful with this.
None of that cartridge crap, thank you very much.
yay another things that will polute the planet when everyones get rid of it ! COOL!
way to go stupid company
I was scrolling past this article, until I saw that picture of a PSP on top of a Wiimote. That things gonna be AWESOME...SOme...some...me.
sister company...POSBRA
2D MMO title should fit this device nicely, if it can allow user to connect to the network any time. I bet those korean MMO addicts will play this 24/7
This = instant fail
Meh, what a waste of money.
Isn't this the device they showed a while back playing Kart Rider? Can't see anyone getting excited over this.
Doesn't look THAT bad... but the concept model already has flaws.
Why did they put the buttons on the middle, instead of putting them closer to the borders? Was this made for aliens who have thumbs the size of their middle fingers?
Still, I have to agree... this will probably fail hard.
The only way I see a cellphone making a great portable is when a major portable company decides to make a portable with cellphone functions.. not the other way around.
Simply because it's way harder to enter the gaming hardware market than entering the cellphone market.
@Furysetzer: Sounds good in paper actually, your theory. The bad thing is that these companies dont do good things with these products.
I'm not even saying that people wont play this...people wont even KNOW about this thing.
How young are we talking? Can I play too?
Oh... The GUI is a chalkboard... I'm guessing we're talking the 6-14 demographic then?
And is that the MSIE icon? Does it actually use Explorer or does that just signify some lame WAP browser. Can I get my foxfires on there?
This will fail horribly. American consumers just don't care for this sort of product. Yes, we like to play games on our tv's and computers, but when it comes to portable gaming we all prefer gaming dedicated systems from well-known companies.
wow...
I sent info about this months ago...
oh well...
@EightBit:
Yep, you're so right. The PSP and Nintendo DS are such failures compared to the consoles that they're outselling. America will never buy into the portables that they're buying in troves. It's just not a viable platform.
This looks oddly close to a Xbox Portable concept I saw long ago.
@PerswAsian:
The PSP and DS are dedicated gaming devices. I think what this sucker is attempting to target is the mobile phone market that seems to be booming in Japan, but not so much here. I guess you could call it the casual mobile market.
@PerswAsian: That's what I said. When it comes to portable gaming, we like the Nintendo ds and Sony psp, both gaming dedicated systems from well-known companies. Any other portable system here from a company that is virtually unknown in the states will fail miserably because everyone here would far prefer to own a psp or ds, not a cell phone gaming device.
I am a sucker for cool gadgets like this, so I like it.
This is really just a chance to test a block quote.
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