Obviously the #zeebo flopped, espechally due to #Qualcomm's #BREW #OS ¹ which is basically '#JavaMobile but worse in order to circumvent #SoftwarePatents' whilst also having dogshit performance and being hard to develop for or even port games to, making it even worse than #Gizmondo or #NGage which used #J2ME.
- Making the #OUYA look like a piece of perfection in comparison, because that #cube didn't cost 20x more to port games to but merely demanded the (OUYA-exclusive) #GameController #API (which predates the later #Android-Standardized one!) to be supported, which is closer to a #patch than a #redevelopment!
But even in a starved market like #Brazil most households weren't gonna dump over 1 month minimum wage on an aging #3G-#Cellphone with composite video and 6-button #USB #controllers.
- Also who thought that announcing a price cut before launch was a good idea in a time the "Osbourne Effect" was already well known?
So yeah, blame Qualcomm for this shitshow...
- To add insult to injury, #piracy on it is rampant... and the #PS2 whipped it's ass around town cuz it even as #import #console like the #PlayStation2 could shaft them in spite of #tariffs because by that point #Sony closed their books on that platform and didn't give a fuck about #piracy, only allowing pre-agreed licensees like #EA to still shove out their games for it.
And lets be honest, #Edutainment is not a cash cow because in places like #Mexico it's way easier to get even cheaper #PC|s due to #NAFTA #FreeTrade (i.e. all the stuff #refurbishers couldn't sell in the #USA anymore got offered there before being sold further south...
- Really sad, cuz if the Zeebo was like a €50 box, it could've been a smash hit, so it died due to lack of resources...
Needless to say the Zeebo is the strongest argument for #StopKillingGames as these devices are nearly useless these days and piracy is the only way to get / change games on it and play them these days.
- Also respect to Derek from #SSFF for playing the entire Zeebo catalogue tho there's nothing to ride home about...
Nowadays the nieche of the zeebo is served by cheap #PCs for #gaming even cheaper #Android devices and (aside from few stores like #Steam that managed to upstell a #DRM as a #feature), rampant #piracy to the point that #MobileGaming outside of #iOS is basically dead unless we account #PayToLoose #Shovelware of the "#DisguisedGambingGame" kind as "#Gaming" which is an insult even for #gambling, because there at least in theory, with a honest operator the chance of winning is greater than zero (tho I'd still disrecommend it because no gambling game is *"fair" beyond the theoretical chance of winning by the rules)...
