|
I completely missed Tapwave on the show floor. If you're not on the proper E3 roster, you're tough to find! However, there was an insert in one of the magazines published for the show, and this I can comment on. Therein they revealed a few choice bits of info. For one thing, the system will support games, music (MP3 or midi is not specified, but MP3 is safe to assume), video and image viewing.
It's powered by the Motorola ARM9 processor, a step up from the GP32, which is still the world's most powerful existing handheld on paper. Not sure how this stacks up against the PSP specs, but...ARM9 already exists for the consumer market at least.
The screen is backlit 3.8" 480x320 16-bit color display, and the system uses dual lithium batteries for longer life.
Helix uses Palm OS and compatible applications.
Graphics processing will be done by ATI Imageon graphics and the X-Forge 3D engine. There will be stereo speakers (first company outside of Korea to try this), and rumble effects.
It will sport an analog controller, integrated triggers and an action button array. So...it has "some" buttons, in other words. SHOCKING. VAGUE.
Bluetooth will be used for wireless multiplayer gaming.
The thing is slated for a late 2003 release. So far two publishers have gone public with support for the Helix; namely Activision, Infogrames (now Atari) and Midway. The Midway support is very curious, given the fact that they have just almost completely scaled back their GBA division.
There's a video of the device playing games up at their new site www.godoplay.com. Graphics look nice, and the system itself has a brief cameo as well. Looks...long and skinny. Interesting to see that N-Gage's big title (Tony Hawk) is coming to the Helix as well, on a bigger screen no less.
This handheld thing is getting complicated. It will be a tough scramble for second place if these systems are all indeed launched inside of the year. Given Tapwave's proximity to us, I will attempt to secure a proper product demo.
It should be noted that this is a PDA based game system, not a phone based one.
Stay tuned...what a bizarre place this world is.
Brandon Sheffield
|
