Two days ago we reported on Panasonic’s new handheld, MMORPG-oriented gaming device called The Jungle. The initial announcement didn’t wow very many people; it didn’t wow very many Lazygamer readers either because it was pretty much just Geoff and me discussing the thing in the comments section.
Well, the good news is that various private analyst groups have decided to add their two cents to the growing pile of apathetic responses and WTF reactions. What’s the good news then? Well, they agree with everybody else’s initial reactions, and analyst guys are CLEVER, which makes us clever as well!
An M2 Research analyst said, “The Jungle is a highly specialized dedicated portable for a non-existent market.†He went further and accused the device of looking like a “non-starterâ€.
A second analyst group, Lazard Capital Markets, said that Panasonic is going to have an “uphill challenge to launch a new portable gaming device unless there is some meaningful differentiation or access to proprietary content.”
David Cole, from DFC Intelligence, also expressed his concern that Panasonic would not be able to compete against the likes of Sony. He ended saying, “my inclination would be to say a system like the Jungle is a non-starter right out of the gate. Until they can show me otherwise I just don’t think Panasonic has the right pieces to compete in this space.”
Bam! Right in the kisser. We’ll have to keep an eye on Panasonic’s new baby; it’s still very early days indeed.
Source: Industry Gamers [via 1Up]
Last Updated: October 7, 2010
Uberutang
October 7, 2010 at 16:22
If you could play WOW on it, on the move.. then yes well done… else… meh
Karl Thomson
October 7, 2010 at 17:35
It still looks dumb, and its so left field that I think not many people will know what to do with it.
Do you remember Panasonic’s last console? The 3DO was a huge success 😛
Luna
October 7, 2010 at 23:16
Almost exactly what I would have said.
There IS a market, but they are bypassing it completely.
NiteFenix
October 8, 2010 at 05:52
I dunno, it looks like those pre-gameboy fake handheld systems that you used to be able to pick up from any Checkers for R19.99.
Honestly though, being a non-MMO player, this doesn’t really “Rock My World”. So I’ll take a pass on this one.
Hadlee
October 8, 2010 at 07:40
If it’s really running Linux that might be a huge nail in the coffin, because so many MMORPGS are Windows-based.
Although there’s like a 150 percent chance that someone will hack it to run emulators so that’s cool :tongue:
Christo Le Grange
October 8, 2010 at 10:40
I think its, cool but kinda useless for the western market if it wont run WOW, Giuld Wars, FF online…If it will only run these Pokemon games and the rest of those , very crappy JRPG’s with the crap graphics then I dont see any use for it…
If they decide to develop their own titles somehow, then its gonna be flippen hard to break into the market i think.Not impossible, just difficult.