Gizmondo Launches this Weekend

Gizmondo, the red headed step child of the handheld video game market, is set to launch in the US this weekend. The system plays games, has built-in GPS, plays music, has a camera, and can send/receive text messages. The big games for the launch are EA's SSX 3 and FIFA 2005. Otherwise you may be interested in a game called Sticky Balls, which is the follow up to Alec Baldwin's "Saturday Night Live" game, Schwetty Balls. I haven't yet put the Gizmondo in the realm of the much lambasted N-Gage, but I do believe its heading in that direction.

I do have to say, though, that I am interested in a game called Colors which utilizes the GPS for real-world turf grabbing (think turf battles in GTA:SA). The price for the unit is $229 which requires you to allow up to three 40 second commercials to be sent to the unit each day, or $399 which eliminates the commercials and ads GPS Navigation capability for your car. For more info, check out CNN Money's Game Over column.