The Tapwave Zodiac console, its accessories and games made their retail debut today in J&R Music World, a large consumer electronics and entertainment destination in lower Manhattan. The Zodiac boasts a brilliant high-resolution display, excellent graphics performance, rich stereo sound, and the multimedia full-throttle power of the Zodiac mobile entertainment console.
Along with the Tapwave Zodiac, J&R consumers will also be able to pick up the latest Zodiac accessories and popular Zodiac launch game cards, such as Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and Midway's SpyHunter. Along with premiere titles, Tapwave is also offering 2 game packs - Z:Pak: Adventure, which will include Galactic Realms and Legacy; and the Z:Pak: Fun featuring Paintball, MegaBowling and Kickoo's Breakout. In a few weeks, id Software's DOOM II and 3D Realms/MachineWorks Northwest's Duke Nukem Mobile will also be joining other Zodiac games on the retail shelf.
The Zodiac accessories available today include the Zodiac Sport Case, Zodiac Cradle and a Zodiac Stylus 3-pack. Other accessories for the Zodiac will also be available in the coming weeks. These include a Zodiac Deluxe Leather Case and the Zodiac Universal Travel Kit.
In addition to launching at retail, this year Tapwave expects to offer a total of 60 to 75 Tapwave Certified titles, such as Tiger Team: Apache vs Hind (helicopter combat game), Orbz (action arcade) and Acedior (RPG). Some of the Zodiac premiere titles for this year will include 3D Realms/MachineWorks Northwest's Duke Nukem Mobile, Activision's MTX: Mototrax and Street Hoops, Eidos' Tomb Raider and Atari's Neverwinter Nights. Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 just released in March, and id Software's DOOM II recently launched in May.
To ensure the continued success of the Zodiac, Tapwave is partnering with leading game publishers to bring other well-known premiere titles to Zodiac console users. Since launch, Tapwave has licensed premiere property titles originally created by Activision, id Software, Eidos, Atari, Midway, 3D Realms, Fathammer, Sega and Epyx.
The new retail model comes with the latest Zodiac 1.1 software suite which includes many new enhancements like background music playback (e.g., listen to music while you play games, view a photo slideshow or read an e-book) and the ability to sync your personal organizer data with Microsoft Outlook using Chapura PocketMirror. Housed in a sleek and ergonomic 6.3 ounce, anodized-aluminum design, the Zodiac console not only provides an unparalleled mobile gaming device with analog control, 3D graphics, stereo sound, vibration effects, and wireless multiplayer gaming, but also everything required for a rich multimedia experience including music, pictures and video. From a work perspective, the Zodiac offers the added benefit of running a Tapwave-enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T) and provides immediate access to thousands of existing applications and games already available on the operating system.
The console is offered in two models - the Zodiac(1) for USD 299 (32MB RAM) and the Zodiac(2) for USD 399 (128MB RAM).
