Gizmondo

Gizmondo

Manufacturer	Tiger Telematics
Type	Handheld game console
Generation	Seventh generation era
Lifespan	19 March, 2005
Units sold	less than 25,000 (as of July 302007)
Media	SD, MMC
CPU	ARM9 processor at 400 MHz
Online services	GPRS

The Gizmondo handheld video game unit. United States and British coins included for scale.

For the technology blog, see Gizmodo.

The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console with GPRS and GPS technology, which was manufactured by Tiger Telematics. Launched in 2005, the Gizmondo sold poorly, and by February of 2006 the company discontinued the Gizmondo and was forced into bankruptcy. Gizmondo was overshadowed by Stefan Eriksson's involvement in organized crime.

In November 2007 Carl Freer stated in an interview for the Swedish-American journalist Hans Sandberg that he was interested in starting up production of the Gizmondo again. The interview was published in the business news site Realtid.se, and a translated segment of the interview was made available on the author's blog The Nordic Link on January 23, 2008. The week before, Veckans Affärer, another Swedish business publication, had confirmed Realtid's story about Carl Freer's cooperation with the British company Plextek, who designed the original platform.

Functionality and specifications

The Gizmondo includes a GPS module for in-car navigation which could also be used to track player movement in real-time for multiplayer games. It also contains a 0.3 Megapixel VGA camera mounted on the rear of the device. The Gizmondo can play MP3/WAV/MIDI music, WMV/MPEG4 videos and a variety of 2D/3D games. It can send email and even SMS/MMS messages, although it lacks the ability to send or receive voice calls.

The phone service to enable users to send messages was provided by pre-pay Vodafone accounts bundled with the device. It can also access the Global Positioning System for use as a navigation aid. There were plans to support a variety of location-based services, for example. GPRS and Bluetooth wireless connections were intended to provide multiplayer gaming.

The Gizmondo also had a feature called "Smart Ads." In exchange for a discount on the Gizmondo (of $170 in the US, £100 in the UK), up to three advertisements per day would be displayed on the handheld’s screen. Although the ads would not interrupt game play or other functions of the unit, the user would be forced to watch them before going on to the next function or shutting down the device. However because of the closure of the company, "Smart Ads" currently do not run on the 'Smart Ads' enabled devices.

Gizmondo is powered by a 400 MHz ARM9 processor and has a 2.8 inch 320x240 pixels TFT screen and an NVIDIA 128 bit GoForce 3D 4500 GPU featuring fixed-pipeline shading, hardware transform engine and 1280KB of embedded memory (only 830KB are left when memory is allocated for the double buffers and the z-buffer). The unit measures 128 mm (4.9 inches) in length, 82 mm (3.2 inches) in width, and 32 mm (1.3 inches) in depth, and weighs in at 155 grams (4.2 oz) including the battery.

GE (Gametrac Europe), before changing its name to Gizmondo, said it will offer mobile data communications, such as texting, multimedia messaging, WAP, email, and over-the-air game, music and ringtone downloads, but not voice.

The device would feature a tri-band radio. It supports GSM Class 4 and GPRS Class 12 connections. The GPU was added relatively late in the system's design, causing some delays for launch titles and the system, as they were redesigned.

The system's appearance and ergonomics were created by industrial designer Rick Dickinson, who worked in a similar role on various Sinclair products such as the ZX Spectrum.

Games

See also: List of Gizmondo games

At the time of the US launch (22 October 2005), fourteen games were available for the Gizmondo.

• Classic Compendium 1 (Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Four-in-a-line, Reversi, Othello)
• Classic Compendium 2 (Shogi, Chinese Chess, Gomoku, Chinese Checkers and TaiPei)
• Fathammer Classics for Gizmondo: Angelfish, Stuntcar Extreme, Super Drop Mania (3 game bundle)
• FIFA 2005
• Interstellar Flames 2
• Hockey Rage 2005
• Motocross 2005
• Pocket Pingpong
• Point of Destruction
• Richard Burns Rally
• SSX 3
• Sticky Balls
• Toy Golf
• Trailblazer

Hit & Myth was the only game that was released after the US launch on the 13 April 2006.

Some games that were going to be released:

• Agaju: The Sacred Path of Treasure
• Carmageddon
• Chicane
• Colors
• Conflict: Vietnam
• Catapult
• Jump
• Momma Can I Mow The Lawn?
• Supernaturals
• Johnny Whatever
• Rayman

Although more games were in development, the company’s bankruptcy prevented release of further titles. A list of Gizmondo games can be found here. There were also rumors of Microsoft trying to port Halo (series) games on the Gizmondo, but the possibility vanished when Tiger Telematics went bankrupt. The most anticipated Gizmondo game, Colors, was never released due to the company’s bankruptcy (and would have been one of the few exclusives).

Release

United Kingdom

Gizmondo was released in the United Kingdom on 19 March, 2005, initially priced at £229. Units enabled with "Smart Ads" (see above) had a reduced RRP of £129. The Gizmondo was available from the Gizmondo flagship store on London's Regent Street, via Gizmondo's online shop, and other highstreet and online retailers (such as Argos, Dixons, Currys, John Lewis among others).

United States

In the United States, the Gizmondo launched on October 22, 2005. Retail price was $400 for a unit without Smart Ads, or $229 for a Smart Ads enabled device. It was available only through Gizmondo’s website or at one of several kiosks located in shopping malls. However, only 8 of the planned 14 games were ever released in the U.S., along with no CoPilot GPS software, though the software was sold on the British site for a week or two. There was little to no advertising, and some of their advertising was even put in magazines of Nintendo Power (Nintendo's official magazine). Plans to distribute the handheld through other retailers never materialized.

Gizmondo widescreen

Tiger Telematics planned to release a widescreen Gizmondo in 2006. It was intended to have a larger screen and upgrades like Wi-Fi and TV-out support. The widescreen Gizmondo was announced just a few weeks before the US launch of the Gizmondo, possibly prompting some potential customers to not buy the Gizmondo, and instead wait for the improved model.

Tiger Telematics

Despite the losses, Tiger Telematics had gained continuing funding, including $73.1m worth of investment capital during the year 2005, and it issued some 24.7m shares which brought in over $200m.

In October 2005, shortly after Gizmondo was released in America, a Swedish yellow-page paper printed a story linking Stefan Eriksson and two other Swedish Gizmondo Europe Executives to the Swedish crime ring "Uppsalamaffian" (Uppsala Mafia.) The paper investigated a six months' loss of 200 million dollars, exhibiting large payouts to later bankrupt entities. Further, the trio's felon history was revealed such as Eriksson's 10-year prison sentences in 1993/94, for, among other things, conspiracy to pass counterfeit currency and attempted fraud, and the fact that Johan Enander was wanted by the Swedish police. In light of these findings Eriksson and others resigned. One of those resignations came from Carl Freer, the Chairman of the board and a director, who co-owned along with Eriksson Northern Lights Software Limited. (Freer had previously sold luxury cars in France, Germany and the U.K., some of which turned out to have been stolen. In an interview for Realtid.se he claims that he had no knowlege about that, and that it back then was very hard to verify if a car bought from another country was stolen or not. At one point he stopped a check to a German seller since he suspected him of having delivered a stolen car, not knowing that it was a crime in Germany to stop a check once you had accepted delivery.) Northern Lights was paid a large sum of money to create Chicane and Colors, two Gizmondo games that were actually developed by Gizmondo Europe itself. Freer paid the money back to Gizmondo in order to stop an investigation into the matter. The Gizmondo company itself denied knowing anything about Eriksson's past.

Enander, nicknamed 'The Torpedo' started his career as a local bouncer at various restaurants in Uppsala and then rose to become the main enforcer and debt collector of Uppsalamaffian. He was sentenced to over six years for a series of violent crimes. In December 2003 he was again sentenced to one and a half years for physical assault on a woman, upon release, he was assigned as Head of Security. Another management employee was Peter Uf who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for similar charges to Eriksson, namely attempting to defraud 22 million Kronor from the Swedish Bank Giro Central. Uf was the other executive to resign. However, Gizmondo conveniently relocated Eriksson to California for its US launch, raising questions as to how Eriksson, a wanted felon, could legally enter the US.

Gizmondo booth in a mall in West Covina

In 2000, Carl Freer had formed Eagle Eye Scandinavian, a small electronics business in Sweden. In 2002 he quietly merged Tiger with Floor Décor, a loss-making carpet retailer based in Jacksonville, Florida, purely for the carpet company's shares, which were quoted on America's pink sheets grey market, which allowed him to have a group of shareholders from whom he could raise finance for his new project. Once that was completed Michael Carrender would come on board as the company chief financial officer. The electronics company would soon be renamed Tiger Telematics, Inc. and a new ticker symbol "TIGR", with an attempt to take on Sony and Nintendo at the UK market, the third largest market and relocated at an office near Farnborough Airfield. Stefan Eriksson who Freer had met during a previous business visit was brought along into the company with Peter Uf

The other executives who were employed by the company were: Steve Carroll, chief technology officer; Peter Lilley, who was the head of the company's Smart Ads operation; David Levett, chief software architect; Rich Clayton, the company's US producer; Tamela Sainsbury, corporate secretary; Johan Enander, Head of Security, and Eriksson's wife, Nicole Persson who was 'marketing and public-relations services officer' for a short period, so was Anneli Freer, the wife of Carl who was paid £100,000 for the same "consultancy services" which included an introduction to the singer Sting, and time spent in connection with the Agaju gaming concept.

In 2004, Eriksson was paid £1.1million by the company with other bonuses that amounted to another £145,000 and also received a car allowance of £5,000 a month. Not to be outdone, Freer was paid £1.1million with a chauffeur-driven Maybach and his own Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren despite an 280,000 USD vehicle allowance. Persson was paid £90,000 for 'marketing and public-relations services' for just over one year. Steve Carroll was paid £800,000 with a company Bentley Continental. The three executives between them own shares of the company amounting to 94 million USD. Carroll's girlfriend, former actress Sainsbury, was paid £78,000 with perks worth £43,000 and a Mercedes-Benz M-Class for a company car.

The Gizmondo device made its debut as a concept product at the German CeBIT show in March 2004, when its European subsidiary was then known as Gametrac Europe before renaming itself as Gizmondo Europe.

Gizmondo's flagship showroom on Regent Street

The company became known for its extravagant spending, despite not yet making a profit, let alone getting the Gizmondo off the ground. It counts amongst its exploits buying out model agency ISIS, and leasing a shop in Regent Street in London as its flagship showroom at a cost of £175,000 per annum.

The showroom also ran a launch party at the Park Lane Hotel and its own store, sparing no expense. The party was hosted by Dannii Minogue and Tom Green, with performances by Sting, Pharrell Williams, Busta Rhymes and Jamiroquai. Sting was rumored to be paid £750,000 for the performance. In an attempt to promote the product, Eriksson competed at the 24 hours of Le Mans in the Gizmondo sponsored Ferrari 360 Modena GTC in 2005 but retired in the morning with mechanical troubles.

In August 2004, the company announced it was buying Swedish games developer Indie Studios, which had already agreed to create two titles for the handheld.

In addition, Gizmondo paid $4m to Games Factory Publishing for nineteen concept games on the handheld, including a game called Typing Tutor despite having no keyboard peripheral, $5.9m to Electronic Arts to port its SSX and FIFA games and $3.5m to Northern Lights to develop Colors (the urban gang warfare first-person perspective shooter) and Chicane (a Formula One racing game being developed exclusively for Gizmondo) which was in fact developed by other Indie Studios.

Around March 2005, US-based Tiger Telematics bought UK stock market-listed games developer Warthog, for almost 500,000 Tiger shares and $1.13m in cash—together worth $8.1m. Acquiring all of Warthog's operating subsidiaries, along with the group's debts, and Warthog's CEO, Ashley Hall, COO Steven Law and CFO Simon Elms, to become Tiger employees. Warthog's team also has close ties with key games publishers and game franchise owners.

Bankruptcy

On January 23, 2006, the UK based arm, Gizmondo Europe (GE) declared bankruptcy. Gizmondo haemorrhaged hundreds of millions of dollars before filing for bankruptcy: in 2004, Tiger Telematics reported a loss of $99.29 million, and between January and September of 2005, they lost $210 million, "Principally due to development costs for the Gizmondo and non-cash expenses associated with shares of restricted common stock issued for services". In other words it has bartered shares in lieu of cash payments. Soon after Gizmondo retail locations in both the US and the UK closed, and the Gizmondo website was shut down. The game development arm of Gizmondo also went out of business. The company was also involved in various litigation. Swedish Ogilvy Group, MTV Europe, Christian and Timbers (landlord to their office), Handheld Gaming and the Jordan Grand Prix all filed million dollar suits against the company. Gizmondo is currently under investigation in the UK for approximately £25-30 million owed to HM Revenue and Customs. On February 21, 2006, Eriksson lost control of a million dollar Ferrari Enzo sports car which he allegedly drove while drunk on the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Eriksson claimed to have been a passenger in the car, but this claim was not supported by forensic evidence. The car itself was not owned by Eriksson, but was claimed by the Bank of Scotland during the bankruptcy of Tiger Telematics. It was found that the crashed Ferrari and two other sport cars were leased in Britain, that lease payments since had ceased after the company collapse, and that after the export, the Mercedes was reported stolen in Britain with insurance pay-out. On November 7 2006, Eriksson pleaded no contest to embezzling the two other sport cars and illegally possessing a gun and was sentenced to 3 years in jail. The following month in the same week as the Ferrari crash, Freer, Lilley, Levett and Clayton have founded a virtual network operator called Xero Mobile which is similar to business in terms of business model to the Smart Ads. In early February 2006, the High Court appointed two liquidators. David Rubin & Partners would deal with the sale of the company's assets, thought to amount to little more than the furniture in its Regent Street showroom and Begbies Traynor was asked to investigate exactly where Gizmondo's money had gone. The 27 staff remaining at Gizmondo's head office in Farnborough and five at its London store were made redundant. No Gizmondo accounts for 2005 have been published. But internal figures show sales of just £1.4m in the first nine months of the year. Losses were equivalent to £500,000 a day. Directors' salaries amounted to £6.6m for the nine months. And leasing cars totalled £2m-plus.

The console was deemed the worst console of all time by Gametrailers because they claimed it caused Tiger a horrible fate of bankruptcy. [1]

External links

• Wired Magazine - Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up
• The Sunday Times - The firm that blew it all in two years
• This Is Money - Crash and Burn!
• GameSetWatch - Gizmondo: Inside the Eye of the Tiger
• - Eriksson's troubled times
• The Nordic Link/Realtid.se - Interview with Carl Freer about his plan to resurrect Gizmondo
• - Plextek confirms Gizmondo set to return to market