Brazilian veteran gaming company
Tec Toy today announced its new console called
Zeebo, produced in a joint venture with
Qualcomm. The new console's main characteristic is its gaming media distribution: all games are downloaded "over-the-air" via a 3G network called ZeeboNet3G directly to Zeebo's internal disk. Games are expected to cost about R$ 19,00 (less than US$ 10,00) and can be bought directly through the console's interface.
See a picture of the console
here.
Among the games already announced are
Quake,
Crash Nitro Kart and
Fifa 08,
Need for Speed: Carbon and
Prey. Besides ports from platforms including the PC, PSP and even Gizmondo, Tec Toy mentioned the interest of big companies like
EA to develop specific games for the new platform. Graphic-wise, the console is somewhere between the PSOne and PS2. Tec Toy also promised a motion sensitive controller.
The console is primarily aimed at the Brazilian market (estimated release date is October 2009), but the company intends to release it abroad if it proves its worth. In a piracy-ridden country, the download distribution scheme aims to prevent great losses, but the console's initial cost doesn't seem very attractive: R$ 599,00 (circa US$ 260,00), about the same one could pay for a PS2, a much more well established platform.