Gizmondo: The hype & the downside

Great. Just what any parent wants: A portable game device that allows gamers to get a fix on each other's exact physical location. And judging by the news coverage, the Gizmondo is going to be one very popular item. It's now available in the UK. For 229 pounds ($440), "the most tricked-out handheld device yet created ... plays games, music and videos; takes digital pictures; and sends and receives text messages to and from mobile phones. It includes Bluetooth for multiplayer games [over the Net] and can be a tracking device via its GPS satellite navigation," MarketWatch reports. Parental controls just aren't keeping up with the increasingly mobile Internet! Gizmondo's makers suggest that GPS tracking won't be just a minor add-on but rather a "game element" - which could land the device on every gamer's holiday wish list next fall. Here's what they say: "One of the many things that make this pocket-sized device unique is the GPS functionality. As well as offering location-based services, the Gizmondo will be able to perform satellite navigation, permissions-based tracking [if that means *user* permission, parents and kids will need to configure them together], geofencing, and location broadcasting to mobile telephones. But one of the most significant advances affects the mobile gaming genre; GPS functionality is already being developed into games to make the users' location in relation to other gamers and their environment an actual game element." Here's picture of Gizmondo at Geekzone in New Zealand.