14 DAY TRIAL // Last week Panasonic revealed the existence of a new mobile gaming console, the Jungle, which does not yet have a launch date but seems specifically designed to allow player to enjoy their MMOs and their online games on the go.
The Jungle has a full blown keyboard and a sturdy design and Panasonic is using the upcoming Battlestar Galactica MMO from BigPoint to promote the new device.
Billy Pidegon, who works for M2 Research Told Industry Gamers that, “The Jungle is a highly specialized dedicated portable for a non-existent market. This is an unprecedented hardware strategy, and probably for good reason. If MMO players want to go more portable than a laptop, I guess this would be the way to go. Frankly, this looks like a non-starter.”
David Cole, from DFC Intelligence, added, “my inclination would be to say a system like the Jungle is a non-starter right out of the gate. Until they can show me otherwise I just don't think Panasonic has the right pieces to compete in this space.”
Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets also believes that the Jungle has little chance of making an impact on the market if it does not managed to get exclusive content deals going or creates a clear differentiation from the Nintendo DS line and the PlayStation Portable.
Jesse Divnich from EEDAR also focuses on the need for software, saying that the Jungle needs to get support from a lot of MMO makers and online games to have a chance in the highly competitive mobile market.
At the moment Nintendo is preparing the launch of the 3DS handheld, which offers three dimensional gaming without any glasses, coming to Japan on February 22, 2011 and then to the West.
Sony is also widely rumored to be working on a PlayStation Portable 2, which might arrive before the 2011 holiday, and Apple is making the iOS device more attractive than ever to gamers.