EVO Linux Gaming Console Opens Pre-Orders 247
Engadget is reporting that Envizions, maker of the EVO Linux game console, has finally announced final specs and opened the doors to pre-orders. All bets are off until users actually see the hardware, but it will be nice to see a new player in the market. Of course, this assumes they put some time into a little polish that is usually expected from the gaming community (that website, yikes) and some effort into a killer game library. "Envizions say that the console will run a modified, quick-boot distro of Fedora called Mirrors (which can be upgraded to a beefier build named Mirrors Evolution X), and will feature a "cloud" service stacked with Amiga (!) games and an Akimbo-based video service. Beyond that, proper titles will be sold online and on SD cards for around $20." I'm sure they won't forget to send Slashdot a beta review copy with a couple of games.
$380... (Score:5, Interesting)
This thing is going to retail for $380. For $19 more I can buy a PS3, install their linux distro, play all of the games this system can play, all of the games PS3 can play, and also play blu-ray movies.
I'd really like to know, who is their target audience?
Seems like a weird time to enter the market (Score:5, Interesting)
How many more $200-$400 game consoles does the market need? My opinion is that we need fewer than we have. I would like to see more $50-$100 game consoles. I think there is a place in the market for an inexpensive console that everyone can afford, that has some built-in networking for purchasing content and service.
It could be as basic as $50 + $7.50/puzzle game. Plus if you focus on online purchases you don't have to setup retail channels, and you don't have to battle the used game market.
Wii, 360, PS3, iPhone, and Amazon Kindle are examples where a consumer device is plugged directly into an online store for buying apps. But all those devices are over $200 (except maybe a used 360).
Specs don't have to be fantastic either, if you aim for simple games that "non-gamers" like to play. I'm just thinking out loud here, but there are a lot of options for the hardware while still being fairly economical. The 600MHz OMAP3530 (ARM) [beagleboard.org] can do HD resolutions and 3D graphics, although I think a game system would have to be around $125 if you use that to break even. Maybe if VIA does a Nano with integrated chipset(System-on-Chip) the prices might be low enough for an x86-64 based console. But even if it was just an SNES with ethernet welded onto it, that would be good enough for a fair number of simple games. And SNES hardware is incredibly cheap to reproduce (I have an Chinese SNES clone that cost $30). But I think most of us would be willing to pay double or triple to have something that could do vector graphics and maybe light 3D.
Re:So... what will it play? (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems like all FS2 Open and Vega Strike will need is some interface work. FS2 Open might not even need that, I think you can run it without a mouse already. That's two spaceflight sims, one with support for persistent multiplayer worlds (and the other one with an extremely high level of polish.) There's three or four car racing games which I think are sufficiently polished to put out a halfway decent product. Linux means HID means USB KB+Mouse and 2GB memory and dual-core means that you can run Wine and run many Windows games on top of that as well. This is the game console that can actually function as a full PC... I don't know that I'll preorder, but I would certainly buy one at full retail. I will have to chew over the preorder question. I'd have to know where they're being made and that they actually have a high likelihood of being made. It would help if I knew the hardware design was 100% complete.
Re:Nobody knew PlayStation or Xbox (Score:3, Interesting)
YHBT. Nintendo was well-known in gaming when they got into consoles, because they made arcade games. Before that they made playing cards, which are game-related. Microsoft was well-known in gaming when the Xbox came out, the Xbox's name is really the DirectXbox (look it up) and Microsoft had already been publishing games for many years. IIRC Sony, too, had been involved with publishing video games for years by that point (they are currently the fifth-largest publisher [wikipedia.org] -- I'm having a hard time finding cites... but I could swear I've seen Sony logos of some sort on numerous cart-based console titles. I couldn't have played so many games for so many years and not be able to remember something like that? I recall it being a white square rotated 45 with a purple feather-looking something-or-other running up and down the middle of it. HTH, HAND.