May 7^th, 2003 (12:00am) - Tapwave, a company formed by Peng Lim and Byron Connell, are steping up to do the impossible: co-exist with Nintendo in the handheld gaming market. Like the Nokia N-Gage the company has just revealed its plans to get involved in the portable videogame arena with what it’s now calling Helix.

Helix is a system designed around the Palm platform, running off the Palm OS. The system itself runs off an ARM9 Motorola processor, an ATI mobile-specific graphics processor, and audio hardware supplied by Yamaha. The system will feature an LCD screen at nearly seven inches square, with support for more than 64,000 on-screen colors. The system will network between other units via the built-in Bluetooth support, and have two SD card slots to move media from and to the unit. The current design will feature an analog stick, four face buttons as well as buttons on the shoulder much like the Game Boy Advance system.

The unit doesn’t have built-in 3D support; rather Tapwave has licensed Fathammer 3D technology, the same engines that drive many of the upcoming Nokia N-Gage games. Because it runs on the Palm platform, it has productivity abilities as well, including MP3 and video playback.

In terms of specific games, none have been announced. But the company has revealed licensing partnerships with gaming companies such as Activision, Midway, and Atari. The company also has not revealed specific pricing on games or the actual system itself, but it’s expected that it will retail in the gadgetty $200 to $300 range when it hits the market by the end of 2003.

My Thoughts
Its looking better than the N-Gage but it still set to be a waste of time. It will be released around xmas were the GBA SP will dominate 95% of the portable market. While the Helix fights for the 5% scraps with the N-Gage.

~ditto~