Friday, April 3, 2009

Zeebo--for 3rd world gamers?

I find that offensive--why build a crap gaming system for poor people? Do you think they even have time to play games? They're busy eating dirt or something.

Whooaaaa there Bill "Atlas Shrugged" Evans, get away from the keyboard. Thank you. But Bill is right about one thing, Zeebo, created by a company of the same name, is a budget video game system that's being targeted at developing nations, what business people like to call "emerging markets". China is one of those markets, although that might be exclusive of tier 1 cities, but maybe not.

What makes the Zeebo stand out besides its Super Nintendo like power to grip one's imagination and paralyze it before it can lose its sense of disbelief is its game distribution mechanism--no cartridges, no discs, and not even online transfer in the traditional home network sense. Nay, it uses 3G technology to let people purchase and download games over the mobile phone airwaves.

Obviously the Zeebo is all about affordability, and I ain't not gonna knock that. It's a noble endeavor to bring gaming to people that want it but aren't ready to drop 2-3000 kuai on a console, and microtransactions, which it seems it may have potential for, are something Asians dig more than Westerners. so good luck Zeebo, I wish you well, and certainly weller than those knock off systems China loves to churn out every time a real console maker releases a new system.

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