Theres a new competitor after GameBoy

[Dark Samurai]

IGN Pocket October 20, 2003 - I've only been covering the Game Boy market for a little more than four years now, but one thing's absolutely clear: nobody's been able to do what Nintendo's done when it comes to its handheld gaming system. Nintendo's Game Boy system has never been the only handheld gaming system out there, but the way it's dominated the market in its lifespan, it definitely seems that way. Competitors have come along with their own offering, but in nearly 15 years nobody's been able to topple the Big Nintendo and its Little Game Boy. Sega, Atari, NEC, SNK have made the attempt with the Game Gear, Lynx, TurboExpress, and Neo Geo Pocket Color respectively, but as quickly as these competitors come they never seem to stick around long enough to make a dent.

We're looking at the next round of competitors to try and steal some audience away from Nintendo. Between this year and next there will be a few new challengers in the form of Nokia with its recently released N-Gage, as well as Sony with the hugely anticipated PlayStation Portable.

And then there's Tapwave, a genuine newcomer, not only to the handheld market, but videogames in general, who has its own handheld gaming system called the Zodiac. The company revealed the system as the Helix several months ago, but the announcement didn't exactly take the world by storm considering that the company was a bit new to the scene. In fact, I'll go as far as saying that many folks believed it was simply "vapor."

Well, it's vapor no longer as Tapwave finishes up the final touches on the operating system software that drives its Palm-based videogame system. It arrived, unceremoniously, this morning; I've got one of the first near-final versions of the system in-hand. And brother, I am impressed. The system is one of the sleekest, sexiest gaming gadgets I've seen in a long time. From its capabilities to its attention to user interface, the system is amazingly impressive. Whether or not Tapwave has the marketing muscle to steal away important market share from Nintendo remains to be seen, but at the very least the company has made a huge first impression when it comes to handheld system design.

Well im impressed with it i dont know about you but it looks great

[Jonbo298]

I haven't had a chance to try the Tapwave, but it sounds pretty interesting. It might become the Apple of the handhelds (not as popular, but still holds it own).

In the past, companies were either not popular enough or the hype wasn't enough to get it off the ground.

But I think Sony will be the best competitor to GBA even though the PSP is more of an all in one electronic handheld like the N-Gage rather then a straightforward gaming handheld.

[Dyne]

Hmm, interesting. I hadn't heard of it before I read this article...

[Canyarion]

http://www.gametavern.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6986
But we will forgive you this time.

[Dyne]

I wasn't around for E3. I was on a Band Trip in Oregon. I had so much news to look at when I got back that I skipped over that article.