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The Zeebo is a discontinued home entertainment and education system from Zeebo Inc. It enabled users to play
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s, and also connect to the Internet using its 3G modem, communicate online and run educational applications. The Zeebo was targeted at developing markets such as
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. Zeebo was founded by Reinaldo Normand in 2008, based on a working prototype developed by Dave Durnil and business plan by Mike Yuen at
Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...
. The company's stated intention was to create an affordable console with inexpensive games and educational content delivered via wireless
digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...
to circumvent piracy. The Zeebo does not use DVDs or cartridges; games and other content are downloaded wirelessly over broadband cellular networks. In addition to games, the Zeebo system also provides Internet connectivity, enabling users to access educational and information content, communicate via e-mail and do social networking (this capability was supported in Brazil and Mexico). Before its discontinuation, Zeebo had attracted content from companies such as
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
,
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
, Digital Chocolate,
Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and inter ...
,
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
, Fishlabs, Flying Tiger, Gamevil, G-Mode, Glu,
id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
, Limbic Software,
Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
, Polarbit, Popcap, Twelve Interactive and Vega Mobile.


History

The Zeebo was first announced in November 2008 in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, Brazil and went on sale there in limited quantities on June 1, 2009 with a suggested retail price of 499 Brazilian reals (US). Zeebo Inc. described the Zeebo as bringing "the fun and excitement of interactive entertainment and education to those who—until now—have had little or no access to such technology." In September of the same year, the price was cut to , and the price was reduced again in November to (US). The console was distributed nationwide in Brazil in December 2009. By August 2010, there were approximately 40 games launched for Zeebo in Brazil. On September 1, 2010, Zeebo announced that it was adding new capabilities and accessories to the Zeebo in Brazil, including Internet connectivity, a keyboard and new more ergonomic gamepad. The new Brazilian system configuration was priced identically to the previous one: (US). The company announced that Brazilian owners of previous system configurations can upgrade to the new one for free. The Zeebo was launched in Mexico in November 2009. It shipped to national retailers across the country on November 4, 2009, with a suggested price of 2,499
Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...
s (approximately US). The Mexican system configuration was similar to that introduced in September 2010 and includes Internet connectivity, a keyboard and ergonomic gamepad. The price was cut to 2249 pesos (US) in April 2010. The Zeebo was available in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. Reports indicated that the Zeebo was planned to become available in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
by 2011. A release in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
had also been planned. Zeebo Inc. announced an agreement with
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
in March 2010. The company stated that, "The agreement gives us access to AT&T's international roaming network, allowing us to carry out rapid trials of the Zeebo platform in new geographic areas as we establish longer-term agreements with local carriers for deployment of the system. It will also give us a chance to explore opportunities in the US market in the future." However it appears that Tectoy has decided against the Zeebo and on its homepage now states that they are gearing towards a more educational market. On May 27, 2011, Zeebo announced its end of operations in Brazil and Mexico. According to the company, all games would undergo a price reduction and Zeebonet 3G would remain active until September 30, and all warranty services would be honored. On the same day, on ZeeboNet 3G, a message was added to the details of the game ''Turma da Mônica em Vamos Brincar'' ("''Monica's Gang in Let's Play''"), stating that the game would be unavailable for purchase by the end of the day. Zeebo's home page still stated that the company was "currently working on a next generation Android-based platform for launch in 2012" but the product had not been released.


Wireless capabilities

The Zeebo system was developed by Zeebo Inc. with the participation of 12 companies, mainly
Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...
and Tectoy. It was manufactured and distributed by local partners in target countries (e.g., Tectoy in Brazil). The console uses a
Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...
BREW mobile gaming chipset similar to that in mobile phones. Players are able to buy and download games and other content wirelessly through 3G or EDGE. The user was always connected to the wireless network without any subscription fee. Purchases are made through an online store using a virtual currency, Z-Credits. Zeebo's gaming delivery system reduces costs (with no discs or cartridges needed) and overcomes piracy barriers – two elements that have hindered sales of game consoles in developing markets. Z-Credits are purchased by bank transfer, credit card, bank debit or prepaid cards. Games cost from about 500 to 2500 credits. The console's wireless connectivity also allows users to browse web sites, send and receive e-mail and take part social networking activities via the wireless network. The Zeebo can also perform "over-the-air" (OTA) updates to the console's firmware—delivering new content, features and bug fixes.


Accessories


Z-Pad

The standard Zeebo "Z-Pad" controller includes a total of 7 buttons, a D-Pad and two analog sticks. On the right side, there are four buttons (numbered 1–4); two shoulder buttons rest on the top, called ZL and ZR; at the center, there is a "Home" button, which takes the user back the start screen of the Zeebo interface, while functioning as a typical "Pause" button during games. Directly below this button are the two analog sticks, whereas the D-Pad is located at the leftmost side.


Boomerang

The Boomerang, sold by Tectoy in Brazil, is a wireless controller with a built-in
accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...
, using motion-sensing technology to play games with actual physical gestures. It has a D-Pad, two buttons (labeled 1–2) on the top-left side, a "Home" button, a sliding on-off switch and a wrist strap. It requires two AA batteries as a power supply.


Keyboard

The Zeebo also includes an external keyboard, used with the system's web-browsing, email and social networking functions.


Games

The Zeebo features remade versions of games from mobile phones and other consoles, such as '' FIFA 09'', '' Resident Evil 4'', '' Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D'', ''Galaxy on Fire'' and ''Rally Master Pro''. There are also a number of original game titles developed specifically for the Zeebo, including “ Zeebo Extreme” racing games, " Boomerang Sports" games, Zeebo "Football Club" games and '' Un Juego de Huevos'' (known as ''Um Jogo de Ovos'' in Brazil), an action-adventure game based on the hit Mexican animated film '' Una película de huevos'' from Huevocartoon. In March 2010, Zeebo began releasing a series of classic arcade games. These games were originally created in the 1980s and 1990s by
Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. At one time, the company had annual sales of 20 billion yen in ...
Corp. in Japan and have been modified to run on the Zeebo system. The titles include ''Caveman Ninja'' (originally known as Joe & Mac), ''Spinmaster'', ''Super Burger Time'' and '' Dark Seal'' (also known as ''Gate of Doom''). In June 2010, in advance of the World Cup, Zeebo released the first of its ''Football Club'' ("F.C") titles, '' Zeebo F.C. Foot Camp'', developed by Zeebo Interactive Studios in Brazil. It includes four mini-games, each emphasizing a particular soccer skill, such as dribbling, juggling and goal-kicking. Along with ''Zeebo F.C. Foot Camp'', the company released '' Zeeboids'', an application that enables users to create personal characters ( "avatars") to be used with the ''Football Club'' games. Also in June, Zeebo announced a variety of forthcoming games from independent developers such as Digital Chocolate, Fishlabs, Limbic Software, Twelve Interactive and Vega Mobile. In Brazil, the Zeebo was sold with three free games embedded – '' FIFA 09'', '' Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City'' and '' Brain Challenge'' (known in Portuguese as "Treino Cerebral"). Three other games, all in Portuguese, are available for free download with new systems: '' Prey Evil'', ''Zeebo Extreme Rolimã'' and ''Zeebo Extreme Jetboard''. More 30 other titles are available for purchase (via Z-Credits) and download. On September 1, 2010, Zeebo announced a number of new games and educational applications to be launched in 2010 and 2011. They included a new ''Zeebo Football Club'' game, called ''Zeebo F.C. Super League''; a duo of titles from Disney Interactive Studios, including ''Disney All Star Cards'' and ''Alice in Wonderland''; and a series of titles based on the popular ''
Monica's Gang ''Monica and Friends'' (), previously published as ''Monica's Gang'' in Anglophone territories and as ''Frizz and Friends'' in London, is a Brazilian comic book series and media franchise created by Mauricio de Sousa. The series originated in a c ...
'' ("''Turma da Monica''") comic books in Brazil from cartoonist
Mauricio de Sousa Mauricio Araújo de Sousa (; born October 27, 1935), known artistically as Mauricio de Sousa or mononymously just as Mauricio, is a Brazilian cartoonist and businessman who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's co ...
. In Mexico, the console includes five free embedded game titles (''Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D'', ''Pac Mania'', ''Tekken 2'', ''Zenonia'' and ''Zeebo Family Pack''). More than a dozen games were available for wireless purchase at the time of the Mexican launch in November 2009. More than a dozen more have since been introduced, all in Spanish. Zeebo has also announced that the English language teaching company Interlingua will be developing entertainment and education applications for the console. In addition to games and educational content, the console provides access to more than 50 web sites, grouped in subject categories, called "Z-Channels."


Development

Content for the Zeebo is based on the BREW platform and is created using the Zeebo SDK, downloadable from the Zeebo Inc. website. Gamepad peripherals are made possible by a BREW extension. The Zeebo system supports OpenGL ES 1.0/1.1. Applications are downloaded wirelessly over-the-air and commonly range in size from 5–25MB, though games content could be as large as 50MB on device. After the release, some titles were known to consume more than 50MB on its internal storage. For such titles, most had its assets already preloaded from factory, being the download/purchase comprised just of the license and the main data. A known example is the game '' Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City'', using more than 100 MB of the device's storage.


Technical specifications

* ARM11 / QDSP-5 in Qualcomm MSM7201A SoC running at 528
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
Tectoy, Qualcomm Aim Emerging Video Game Markets with Zeebo. Zeebo Presents Gaming For The Next Billion
// XBit Labs, Anton Shilov, March 23, 2009
* ATI Imageon, later renamed to Adreno * 1 GB eNAND Flash * 128 MB
NAND Flash Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...
in MCP * 160 MB RAM, 128 MB DDR SDRAM in MCP + 32 MB stacked DDR SDRAM in MSM7201A *Resolution: VGA (640×480) – 4:3 aspect ratio * 3G (scaling back to 2.5G or 2G where necessary) * 3
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
ports 2.0 Standard A (for accessories) *
SD card Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including dig ...
slot / interface *Interface: USB HID *Power: AC adapter 5V 3A *Consumption: 15 Watt max. 1 watt standard. *Graphics: 4 million triangles / second *Audio: 8 channels simultaneous MP3,
ADPCM Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM) is a variant of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) that varies the size of the quantization step, to allow further reduction of the required data bandwidth for a given signal-to-noise rati ...
,
MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...
*Size: W × D × H – 157 × 215.4 × 44 mm *Weight: Less than *Operating System: Qualcomm BREW


References


External links


Corporate Website (Archive)
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