En
Zodiac Gamer acaban de publicar una entrevista hecha a los tipos de Tapwave sobre varios temas acerca de la la Zodiac, su futuro y cual es la estrategia que piensan tomar
Lo que es interesante son los prototipos de Zodiacs que se pensaron, la vista en el mercado internacional, y la opinion de la NDS y la PSP (donde en la 1era tienen algo de razon y en la 2nda meten la pata)
Prototipos Zodiac
Al parecer el modelo A fue el que despues se uso como definitivo para la Zodiac. Lo demas, segun tapwave, puede que sean usados en un futuro
We've been thrilled by the worldwide response to Zodiac, and look forward to serving a broader geographic market. Although we do not yet ship products outside the U.S., we actually have registered customers in over 70 differencountries today (i.e., they seem to find a way). Also, over 40% of Tapwave's developer community is international. Remarkably, Zodiac has even been featured on the cover of 3 different Japanese magazines.
Al parecer los tipos en Tapwave no esperaban el recibimiento que tuvo la Zodiac en el mercado internacional...
.......we are making preparations to make our products available for sale internationally. First, we must get our developers on board to make sure we have strong content available. Second,
we must complete the product enhancements necessary for international distribution (international power supply, certifications, localization, etc). Our goal is to have an international version of the Zodiac available for this fall.
Ya estan haciendo arreglos para venderla en el exterior, pero primero quieren asegurarse de poder controlar la distribucion y que haya juegos suficientes para el mercado
Today, there are no indications that the new 2-screened version of the Game Boy (or even Nintendo's brand) will enable them to move upstream to a new customer segment. There are also a lot of unanswered questions around the true value of a two screen solution (other than having one side to preserve compatibility with the current collection of existing games). I haven't found too many developer's, publisher, or industry analysts that are sincerely excited about the DS.
En resumen, la opinion de Tapwave sobre la NDS. Coincido en que lo de 2 pantallas no parece ser una innovacion o motivo de compra en si (aunque el ejemplo que da carece de sentido) ademas que no veo muchos programadores pidiendo turno para programar en ella
Otro comentario que recalcan en Tapwave es
With this in mind, it's also important to note that today's core video game demographic has grown older (with an average age of around 28 today). Nintendo's brand and technology platform are not effectively addressing the mobile lifestyle needs of our target age group (primarily 18 to 34+) and do not deliver the richer entertainment value and functionality that Zodiac was specifically designed to do.
Basicamente, nintendo apunta a los niños (o que no sabian??) mientras que ellos apuntan a la Zodiac como un sistema "para adultos" lo cual no me parece mala estrategia porque casi todo el mundo busca diferenciarse, y mas cuando el mercado de usuarios grandes ve que la unica portatil diponible esta basada en un mercado para de pibes de 6 a 12 años.
Sobre PSP, mayormente mete la pata con specs erroneos, aunque algo que no se le puede discutir es lo obvio, y es que el sistema de Sony no apunta a ser ni modificable ni para adultos, ya que el punto para sony son los compradores de GBA
- Even our current generation products (we are not pre-announcing our second generation products) are ahead of PSP in many ways and possibly better aligned with the interests and lifestyle needs of the 18-34 core entertainment demographic. Zodiac has a higher resolution display, more expandability
(128MB vs. 8MB), Bluetooth peer-to-peer wireless multiplayer gaming, a touch-screen for more interactive game play and text input, a more flexible landscape and portrait architecture, dual expansions slots, the ability to add much more functionality (including over thousands of existing Palm OS applications and games), anodized aluminum (vs. plastic) housing, and significant size/weight/portability advantages (i.e., length, thickness and
width).
Como sabe que la PSP no va a ser de metal?
Sony PSP will not run PlayStation titles as they exist today. PSP has a different display aspect ratio than PlayStation I & II, the physical media is not compatible, and the controls do not map exactly 1 for 1. It's also reported that the polygon performance of PSP is below PlayStation II, but quite a bit higher than PlayStation I. All of these differences are significant and imply that PlayStation content will need to be "ported and modified" to work appropriately on the PSP platform
Mas fallas con los specs y problemas que todavia no existen, para que inventar?
Anyways, despues de esto vale que les especifique: estos tipos NO SON diseñadores sino los ejecutivos que formaron Tapwave, y como a todo ejecutivo, no puedes pedirle un conocimiento mas abstracto de los juegos que el que tiene cualquier persona comun
Para terminar, creo que ya es obvio que estos tipos no buscan hacer una nueva GP32 sino vender juegos y softeware de Zodiac oficialmente. Eso explica el precio del sistema, ya que cualquier PDA con las caracteristicas de Zodiac esta por los 500-600 dolares[mad]
