Gizmondo Europe Ltd. will begin retailing the Microsoft Windows CE based Gizmondo multi-entertainment device this weekend, with the opening of its flagship store in London West End.
At the heart of the Gizmondo is the Windows CE.NET operating system and Windows Media Player. This, coupled with a Samsung ARM9 400MHz processor, 64MB onboard memory, expandable storage via SD card, and a 128-bit NVIDIA GoForce 3D 4500 graphics accelerator, makes it a powerful mobile entertainment and handheld gaming device.
Three games titles have already been announced for the Gizmondo from Microsoft Games Studios, with further announcements expected later in the year.
The compact handheld device delivers gaming, music and video playback, SMS, picture messaging, email, a camera, and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) hardware.
One of the many things that make this pocket-sized device unique is the GPS functionality. As well as offering location-based services, the Gizmondo will be able to perform satellite navigation, permissions-based tracking, geofencing, and location broadcasting to mobile telephones. But one of the most significant advances affects the mobile gaming genre; GPS functionality is already being developed into games to make the users' location in relation to other gamers and their environment an actual game element.
The Gizmondo flagship store will open at 175 Regent Street, London. The Gizmondo device and its games are in retail stores from 19th March 2005 in the UK, and in North American and Continental Europe markets from Spring 2005.
