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No Axl in Your Pocket • Panasonic cancels Jungle

amar212

Member
Searched, lock if old.

Panasonic cancels Jungle portable gaming device

Electronics giant Panasonic has confirmed that it has cancelled plans to release its handheld online gaming device, codenamed Jungle.

No explanation for the cancellation was offered, with a statement saying only that, 'Panasonic decided to suspend further development due to changes in the market and in our own strategic direction.'

The Jungle device was announced last October, to considerable puzzlement from analysts - especially given Panasonic's recent focus on environmental technology and healthcare. Nevertheless Panasonic established a new U.S. subsidiary, named Panasonic Cloud Entertainment, to develop the project.

The device was larger than a mobile phone but smaller than a laptop, with a clamshell design that featured a full keyboard, two circular touchpads and shoulder buttons. The device ran the Linux operating system and was primarily intended to run massively multiplayer online and browser-based games.

The only formally-announced title for the device though was BigPoint's massively multiplayer online title Battlestar Galactica.

Apart from announcing the recruitment of testers in December, nothing further was ever revealed about the device - which now seems likely to be quickly forgotten.

Unlike rival Sony, Panasonic has only ever dabbled in the games industry, most famously with its version of the 3DO platform in 1993 and the Japanese-only GameCube hybrid Q.

via GamesIndustry.biz

I am shocked.
 

onken

Member
Damn would have been nice to have a little Linux-based handheld to mod and such. Oh well, first sensible move they've done with it.
 
Still would love to know who decided MMO's on the go were a good idea...

But at least they bowed out now instead of committing to an expensive launch that would of been wholly overshadowed by 3DS and NGP. God bless vapourware
 

Xater

Member
The real question is who at panasonic was dumb enough to think this was a good idea in the first place?
 
Would be interesting to see if NGP played any part of putting the nail in the coffin.

And to think it was announced in such a blaze of glory...
 
1MY7d.jpg
 
You know what this means, right? Microsoft is entering the handheld market.
[edit] Also, I blame EA for not releasing Madden on it.
 
Cosmonaut X said:
Was there anyone?
Someone was making an MMO for it or some shiT. This thing cracks me up. I'm not surprised in the least. No way it would have even sold 5k. Even that may be a generous guess.
 
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