Back in June of last year, after E3, I talked a little bit about the SteamBoy, which looked a lot like a PSP, but was designed to play games on the Steam platform on a portable gaming device. There was very little information at the time, with only the name and the general concept being publicized. Well, now thanks to Gamescom 2015, there is now an update about this pretty awesome sounding project.
First off, the SteamBoy's name has been officially changed to "Smach Zero." Is the "Smach" pronounced like "smock," or "smach (like the ch in cheese)," or like "smack," until I exert the energy to hear a press conference report about it, I'm settling on either the "smock" or "smack" pronunciation. Anyway, the main reason that I speculate as to the name change was a possible copyright issue that either Nintendo and/or Valve had with the use of SteamBoy. The "Steam" because it's not a Steam product developed by Valve and may not be under the Steam Machine license (if that is in fact a thing that Valve licensed out to only specific companies), and the "Boy" as potentially being confused with Nintendo's GameBoy. So I'm a little bit up in the air as to the new name Smach Zero. Maybe there's more to the meaning of that new name that has yet to be revealed.
Back on June 18th, Smach Zero did release a specs video with the following information:
- 5" Touch Screen
- 720p Resolution
- WiFi & Bluetooth Connectivity
- 4G Connectivity on Pro Model Only (no word as of yet how the Pro Model will differ besides a 4G feature)
- 1000+ Games Available at Launch (available by purchase through the Steam Client)
PC Gamer relates additional specifications such as:
- 4GB RAM
- 32GB Internal Storage
- HDMI Output
- AMD embedded G-Series SoC 'Steppe Eagle' with Jaguar-based CPU and GCN-based Radeon graphics
The most recent video released by Smach Zero has the system being released in the 4th quarter of 2016, so the system itself is still over a year away, which might end up changing/updating some of the hardware a bit. It currently also has a MSRP of $299 for the US and €299 for Europe (except the UK because they still have Monarchs).
Their price video also mentions that the Smach Zero will have "USB OTG," but what that means in terms of the system was not exactly clear. Will it be chargeable via USB connection, can you download/transfer games from your PC to the Smach Zero via USB, can you use a USB cable to play against other Smach Zero users like the good ol' days of GameBoy's Game Link Cable?"
My other biggest concern, before I go ahead and use Conklederp's money to preorder a system this upcoming November, is what is the battery life like? The New 3DS touts a 3.5 - 10 hour battery life depending on the 3D setting and the PS Vita has a 3 - 6 hour life depending on the model. I would like the Smach Zero to have nothing less than at least 5 hours of battery life, if only because I'm a demanding person, but again, I feel that this is information that I would need to know before considering buying a system. What I'll probably end up doing, is waiting a year or so before buying a system just to see if it goes the way of the DS and an updated system is released to fix any kinks.
So that's all that I have to report, or I guess more like relay since I'm just repeating information that I've read as opposed information that was given specifically to me. But, that's just the way things go.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
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