14 DAY TRIAL // To match the recent price cuts all major consoles have been going through, less popular ones are forced to also drop prices. In this context, Brazilian manufacturer Zeebo announced that its console's new price would be of BRL 399 or $223, as opposed to the current BRL 499 or $278, and the price cut is expected to become available by Children's Day on October 12. The Zeebo console will also receive ten new titles to add to the list of available games.
The console's software is developed using the BREW SDK that is more common in mobile platforms and offers its games solely through a download system, relying mainly on porting games released originally on mobile phones. The new titles made available will be Bejeweled Twist, Galaxy on Fire, Tekken 2, Zeebo Extreme - Air Race, Zeebo Family Pack, and Zenonia. Most of these seem to fit the release date of Children's Day perfectly, since most of them are directed toward a younger audience.
Bejeweled Twist's developer PopCap, which also released the game for PC and for mobile phones, said that the console opened up a whole new market for the company. "Zeebo is the first system to enable PopCap Games to bring popular family-friendly games such as Bejeweled Twist directly to consumers in Brazil," Andrew Stein, PopCap's mobile business development director, stated. "We are excited to deliver fun and easy-to-learn games that appeal to everyone from age 6 to 106."
Currently available only in Rio de Janeiro, the Zeebo must be the shyest console on the market. Even if the company plans to expand the console's distribution to other regions of Brazil and to Mexico next month, the statement coming from PopCap regarding a new market may not be untrue, but it definitely is very kind and flattering for the Zeebo. Everything must begin somewhere, but considering the competition, the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii, it doesn't look like the platform has a lot of room to grow in popularity.