Zodiac

Before PSP and Nintendo DS, Zodiac Introduced the Technology That Made Them Possible

Zodiac, the world’s first true mobile entertainment console, ups the ante on handheld entertainment.  

You've seen the PSP and its beautiful, unusually large screen.  You've seen the Nintendo DS and pondered how much innovation could be created with a system that includes a touch screen.  What you probably haven't seen is the system that introduced these two innovations: Zodiac.  

Unveiled in 2003, Zodiac comes equipped with all the features you could ask for a next-gen handheld system to have: a big screen (3.8 inch) that's not only gorgeous, but can also be touched for unprecedented interactivity.  And it has an analog stick, something the N-Gage and Nintendo DS both lack.  

Zodiac's current game lineup includes a number of next-gen favorites, like everyone's favorite pro skater, Tony Hawk.  There's a variation of the PlayStation 2 version of SpyHunter, as well as ports of two classic first-person shooters, Doom and Duke Nukem.  New titles (like Warfare Inc.) have been designed for the system as well.  

Game Lineup (available now):  

• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4

• SpyHunter

• Doom II

• FireHammer

• Warfare, Inc. (real-time strategy game – think Command & Conquer)

• Galactic Realm

• Kickoo’s Breakout (like Arkanoid but with better controls)
   

    

 
SpyHunter in action!  

For a complete list, visit www.Tapwave.com.   

At its core, Zodiac is a PDA (personal digital assistant).  This means that it has an operating system, a menu screen, and a number of applications that were designed for gamers in the business world.  Have two appointments and want to see how much game time you can squeeze in?  Check your date book.  

Text can be added in one of two ways: by writing it out or by using the on-screen keyboard.  Technologically, the letter recognition software is great.  Some letters must be written in a strange way or else they won't be recognized since you can't remove the stylus from the screen.  When the stylus is removed the software interprets that as a completed letter.  It couldn't work in any other way.  Remarkably, when you write the letter "E" the letter "E" appears on screen.  When you write a "Z" it appears on screen.  This probably sounds simple and maybe even pointless to gamers, but like I said, this IS a PDA, and creating software that responds to handwriting is not easy.  

Because writing takes so long, Zodiac also features an on-screen keyboard.  It's still slower to point-and-click letters than it is to use a real keyboard, but many of my game-loving friends can't type anyway.  (They spend hours typing with just their index fingers!)  When I'm away from the office and paper is nowhere in sight, this thing comes in really handy when I need to make a note of something.

One of my favorite things about the Xbox is being able to listen to my own music while playing a game.  Now you can do it on the go as well with Zodiac.  MP3 is the digital format of choice these days, so that's the format that this system uses.  Download a song directly to the unit, or store your songs on an SD card and pop it into one of the Zodiac's two expansion slots.  

Zodiac's internal memory is available in two sizes: 32MB and 128MB.  The expansion slots prevent you from having to buy the 128MB version if you don't want to.  (The 32MB version retails for $299; the 128MB version retails for $399.)  

Controls: 9
If you didn't know better you might mistake the Zodiac for a variation of the PSP.  Its layout is very similar: an analog stick, four face buttons, and two shoulder buttons on top.  Keep in mind that the Zodiac was introduced long before the first concept images of the PSP appeared.  

The analog stick works great.  It's an integral part of games like SpyHunter, Galactic Realms, and Stuntcar Extreme, where it's necessary to make slight movements.  The face and analog buttons work just as good as they do on any standard, home console game controller.  

Because of the small size of the unit it can be somewhat painful to use your index fingers to press the shoulder buttons for long periods of time.  Not everyone will experience discomfort, but if the GBA's shoulder buttons bothered you, Zodiac's will too.

    

 
Tony Hawk 4, Zodiac-style.  

Screen: 10
Bigger, brighter, and superior to the LCDs used in portable DVD players, Zodiac's screen is its most impressive aspect.  And it should be -- with the exception of its MP3 player, every Zodiac feature requires that the user looks at the screen.  You can't play a game with your eyes fixated on something else!  That's why it's so important for the screen to be top-notch.  

Although it should go without saying, Zodiac's screen is always lit up.  I'm not sure if it's a backlight or some other technology at work, but all that really matters is that the screen is always bright, even in complete darkness.  

The clarity is unbelievably impressive, especially when watching FMV (full-motion video).  I recently picked up a portable TV and it can't even begin to compare.  Faces are crystal clear -- the picture has no distortion whatsoever.   

Almost more impressive than the screen's beauty is how responsive it is.  You can imagine how much easier it makes scrolling through menus, but what impressed me the most is the door it opens for games.  Warfware Incorporated, a Zodiac-exclusive RTS, introduces a great concept: select your units just by touching them.  No more mousing around.  No more point-and-clicking.  Just take your stylus and drag it over the desired units to select them.  Then press the stylus on any point of the screen to make them head in that direction.  If there's an enemy they'll automatically attack; if it's a resource vehicle it'll automatically begin gathering resources.  

This alone makes me wish that every PC came equipped with a touch screen.  I hear all this talk about innovation with high-definition TVs and PC monitors, but all they do is make the picture brighter and wider.  Where's the future of video gaming lie?  Interactivity.  A big part of that interactivity will be a screen that you can interact with.  

  
Colony is like an extreme version of Othello.  

Graphic Power: 9
All you have to do is look at the games for proof of the power that Zodiac has under its hood.  But if you want to get technical, the graphic accelerator is powered by ATI (Imageon W4200) and packs 8MB of dedicated SDRAM.  That's mighty impressive for a handheld game system.  

So what's 3D acceleration like on a PDA?  Thus far, the games look almost as good as the first run of PSone games but with a higher resolution (and thus less pixelation).  Galactic Realms is a good example of this.  

In the never-ending battle of which mobile game system has the most power, it's too soon to crown a winner.  Zodiac blows away every Game Boy system out there, but the N-Gage can't be defeated as easily.  Zodiac has the prettier driving game (SpyHunter), but N-Gage has the superior version of Tony Hawk.  Other than that there aren't too many direct comparisons that can be made.  Both systems offer a different game lineup that's geared at different audiences.  

SpyHunter is currently the best example of what Zodiac can do.  

Battery Life: 5
Here's the problem with next-generation gaming: it eats battery life.  Gamers don't think twice about this when using a home console, but now that the mobile units are catching up to the power of PlayStation 2, the problem becomes evident.  

Zodiac gives you roughly two hours per charge.  That's not going to get you through a lengthy car trip, but it will help pass the time, and is much more fulfilling than any alternative offered on a bus or plane.  Charge time is short -- about an hours and the unit is ready to go again.  It comes with an AC adaptor, so you don't have to run on battery life if you're near an outlet.  And you can always buy a car adaptor for use in the mini-van.  

As short as two hours sounds, keep in mind that Sony and Nintendo have still not announced how long their new portable systems will run for.  

Overall: 9
Once I wrapped my hands around the Zodiac I couldn't put it down.  "Awesome" is not a powerful enough word to describe how cool the technology is.  The touch screen is one of the most useful and innovative features to hit gaming since the analog stick.  You'll have to wait for GameZone's review roundup to find out the verdict on Zodiac's hottest games.  However, it must be noted that if the games had stunk, the overall score would not have been so high.  Game consoles are only as good as the games that they play.  Zodiac offers a great selection of titles developed to run on Zodiac and only Zodiac.  The operating system is a variation of the Palm OS, meaning that it will run Palm-compatible games as well.  

Zodiac can be purchased at all CompUSA locations starting this June.  Eager gamers can pick one up now at www.TapWave.com.