iRiver flowing into portable gaming?

New G10 handheld reportedly plays games with two D pads, 4-inch 800x400 screen, wireless capabilities.

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Tapwave's Zodiac, Tiger's Gizmondo, and Nokia's N-Gage have all recently tried to break into the lucrative portable-gaming sector. However, with little brand recognition and lukewarm software support, the first system has gone the way of Betamax--and the futures of the others are uncertain. While these handhelds were part of the new wave of multimedia portable gaming devices, it was Sony's PSP that was the Big Kahuna.

But even Sony's "must-have" PSP plays second fiddle to Nintendo's two portables, the Game Boy Advance and the DS, which account for roughly 78 percent of the handheld market. With two handheld giants to contend with and history stacking the odds against new entries into the portable market, it would seem that Nintendo and Sony will be going tête-à-tête, at least for a while.

Enter iRiver. The Korean company best known for portable digital music players is reportedly unveiling the iRiver G10, its first dip into mobile gaming, at the Consumer Electronics Show taking place now in Las Vegas.

According to various reports around the Web, the unit will run on the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, have multiple storage options of 4GB or 8GB, and feature WiBro wireless Internet functionality. Its 4-inch 800x480-pixel color display (the PSP's screen, by comparison, is a 4.3-inch 480x272-pixel screen) and takes up much of the unit's face. However, in a move similar to T-Mobile's Sidekick phones, the front slides up, revealing two D pads, and select, start, and on/off buttons.

However, none of the aforementioned details for the G10 have been confirmed by iRiver, and inquires to representatives for the company had not been answered as of press time.

GameSpot will have more information from CES soon.

95 Comments

  • thepeter

    Posted Jan 15, 2006 1:58 pm PT

    Nintendo has squashed a dozen competitor's in the the portable arena.
    Nintendo is un-stoppable! not even the fan-boy support for the psp can hold a candle to Nintendo. Simply put iRiver will be a iDryRiverBedofaShamefullKindi'mNotDoneYetDontStopReadingPleaseYourAlliGotNoooo....

  • GaaraZanta

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 2:26 pm PT

    Yeah does someone want to explain the disaperance of the iriver logo from the 2nd picture to the first. Wierd.

  • macacd

    Posted Jan 10, 2006 12:19 pm PT

    iRiver's rock, they produce the greatest mp3 players they just can't market a product.

  • DarkPassion

    Posted Jan 10, 2006 12:10 pm PT

    Isn't that ChoroQ on the screen? Oh God.

  • xxGnarKillxx

    Posted Jan 8, 2006 5:13 pm PT

    i bought both the ds and the psp, i hated both of them and i sold both of them on ebay. ill stick with the gba and if this idea goes well i will pick this one up as well.

  • oh_its_on

    Posted Jan 8, 2006 8:09 pm PT

    looks good maybe it just shoulda been a phone or a MP3/video player woulda been better

  • best-gam3r

    Posted Jan 7, 2006 4:54 pm PT

    It looks cool to me. But I think I'm gonna stick with my PSP

  • LinkedDS

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 9:55 pm PT

    The only way this thing won't flop is that the price needs to be under $200 (not a chance) and needs to have great third party support (not gonna happen). So yeah, this thing will fail. Sure looks cool, though.

  • Freer

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 2:30 pm PT

    Even if I had the money to buy this, I think I'd go with a Gizmondo anyway, come on people, GPS technology as part of your gaming experience, why is noone buying them????

  • barrett_rob

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 2:11 pm PT

    If it can run emulators I would take one

  • thevillaelaine

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 10:35 am PT

    something fishy about this. just look at the pictures, the iriver logo magically disappears when the controls are popped out.

  • remmbermytitans

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 9:23 am PT

    lol.... here we go again..... back in the days of the Game Boy.... everyone tried to take a piece of the Nintendo-owned portable world..... and to this day NO ONE has been able to do so..... first sega, with its game gear, and sony with its PSP, now these fools..... hahaha.... this will not make a dent in Nintendo's portable world..... what a waste of time and money..... and who's going to make the games? what are the graphics like? how much? and who's going to buy it? too many questions..... can you say going to bomb?

  • lebanese_boy

    Posted Jan 6, 2006 6:27 am PT

    this is n-gage all over again ...

  • proteus66

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 9:06 pm PT

    my H10 works just fine with the exception of when i incorrectly installed a firmware update I haven't had any problems

  • salamisandwich

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 8:40 pm PT

    Wow, all PSP fans must be drooling over this. More multimedia and graphics.

    Well they should be, either that or they aren't true to their word.

    Anyways the controls look unnatural. Connected D-pad is far better then unconnected. It just feels more natural.

    Not to mention the pleauge of NO DEVELOPERS!

  • NnyCW

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 7:06 pm PT

    The only way any of these things is going to take off is if they're able to run things like N64 emulation...and even then, the company gets no money off of it and it faces possilbe lawsuits. Looks nice, but they can't expect the gaming portion of it to be a success.

  • rusty_ghia

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:47 pm PT

    I don't know about your experience with iRiver, but my H120 plays flawlessly. No lag or freeze ups on my side.

  • Sonicwizard

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:13 pm PT

    The iriver now cant even get through playing songs with some lag and freeze ups.Htere is no way I a m trusting them with handheld gaming

  • DarkStarBlack

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 1:48 pm PT

    Looks good, probably wont do good

    Bigger screen than the DS, music, it sounds good but it just doesnt have potential next to sony and nintendo. Plus its getting a late start...if any.

  • mnstang

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 1:24 pm PT

    iRiver is a huge company that they can afford to put somehting like this out there and not be disappointed, its one of the biggest Korean Companies!

  • Lordkintendo

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 12:30 pm PT

    O NOES ITS THE NEXT NGAGE,lol that thing is gonna suck

  • skyvader

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 9:45 am PT

    Maybe MS needs to team up with this thing and have their portable "xpocket" unit rather than go through the trouble of R&D on building one of their own. MS basically has their pick of any portable media unit ranging from these guys to Diamond to Creative. You know they have been wanting a piece of the handheld mkt just as they wanted in on the console mkt. Imagine a portable ver of halo with wifi support.

  • Metron4

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 9:15 am PT

    Hmm...wireless broadband...browser...nice screen...hard drive. Can you say "carputer"?

  • Seraphim_24

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 8:54 am PT

    Even the PSP isn't all its cracked up to be. The DS got off to a slow start but now is fdrowning in excellence, and I love it, while I just sold my PSP for $150 and traded all my games for DOA 4 and a couple of DS titles. I hope the PSP gets its stuff together, but right now as far as handhelds go Make mine Nintendo.

  • winnazdaluza

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 6:36 am PT

    I agree with the few people on this board who say we should give this iriver a chance.After all we need competition to shake up the industry and promote creativity--so far we have only nintendo and the psp which comfortably coughs up unimaginative ports everyother time.

    if we wanna see diffrent things happen--and fast--we should encourage more competion and encourage more handhelds to join the mix--prices will drop and the software will get innovative.

    I also agree that it has quite a task ahead of it and it has to look for a strong distinguishing mark to keep it from going under.It does look cute but if it offers other superb features--to best the other hand helds I will definately look that way.

  • bamf03

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:37 am PT

    Iriver, you are wasting you money. The iRiver will be a failure, so why don't you give the money to charity instead?

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:34 am PT

    they should talk to the n*gage creators if they don't want to waste money (they're just asking to be owned by DS & posp)

  • enjoi_your_day

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 4:12 am PT

    I actually like the design. Also who said this thing is to be a direct opponent of the PSP and DS. I really think this thing will be more of an mp3 and maybe portable video player with the ability to play games. Not games that have millions invested into developing them, more like cellphones games but better, just not on a DS quality level.

  • PaulMorris01

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 3:38 am PT

    I like it - lets ave one

  • forever_blank

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 11:08 pm PT

    I doubt that this will make much of a splash, when it 'jumps in' to the gaming market. It certainly is 'revolutionary' in comparason to the DS. It doesn't look like much of a 'good play station'. LOL

  • Atomic_Mutant

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 9:45 pm PT

    Unless they lower the cost to be more attractive to the consumer niche market interested in multi-function device such as this, it will remain just that; a niche product. The price could be quite high since IRiver does not have the manufacturing prowess to absorb significant losses in hardware just to compensate in software sales. I seriously do not consider IRiver prepping this device as a legitimate challenger to the handheld gaming market; as such, given their experience in DAPs, they will market this as a device that can play MP3s, multiple video formats, as well as some games with internet connectivity on the side. It runs on Windows OS so we might see Java games and other mobile games on it. Running Windows OS also alleviates somehwat what many saw as the weakest point in IRiver devices, lacklustre software interface, even with very sleek and well built hardware form factors. BTW, the game featured on the unit in the screenshot is a fairly popular MMO kart racing game for Windows in Korea (or so I think).

  • EMH88

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 9:02 pm PT

    The problem is that only a small group of people are reading the news and I'm sure we will never see a commercial of it on our tv's. I even doubt it will make its way to north america. Nobody will hear of it. It still looks cool
    But this thing will have no games and without games will only be a gadget and a gadget don,t live long enough.

  • EMH88

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 8:58 pm PT

    Too bad it will cost 400$ and nobody will buy it

  • EMH88

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 8:57 pm PT

    This thing sure look damn cool...very sleek.

  • Neoyamaneko

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 8:18 pm PT

    Yay! It's the Gizmondo 2!

  • GunslingerMan

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 8:17 pm PT

    These companies don't get it, if you don't have a big name to back it up it will fail just like the blasphemy of the N-gage .

  • quocthai

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 7:19 pm PT

    i'm not that much into handheld anyway

  • taiwanesealn

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 7:06 pm PT

    Give it a chance. I support companies like this. For instance, I know that the iPod is all the rage in mp3 players right now. I'd rather buy something else because I know other mp3 players have something to offer as well.

  • vroenis

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 7:01 pm PT

    Hooblagatos' comments regarding regions and the GP2X are exactly on the mark here. i don't think iRiver's market strategy is to break into the same markets that Sony and Nintendo serve, not even the same regions. they aren't aiming to sell the same volume of units that the afore mentioned companies do either. i sense that their market strategy will be focussed mainly on South Korea, China and the more ecclectic cultures in Japan, and it's certainly possible that they'll see relative success in these regions.

  • proteus66

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 7:00 pm PT

    to hell with apple their products are overrated and the only reason they are still in buisness is because they have been riding the ipod for the past few years. with the exception of some nifty and usefull software programs apple has nothing that i wouldn't rather get from some other company.

  • zeroroach

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 6:49 pm PT

    If iRiver were actually beating Apple in its main business here (mp3 players), I could see some concern. Since they aren't, this is nothing.

  • proteus66

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 6:41 pm PT

    ha the home console market is to big of an investment for most companies to make. i think iriver has a swinging chance they make great quality products and have a definite style all to themselves. all they need is some support from the gameing community (that's us). It also wouldn't hurt if microsoft got in and supported them a lil wich in all reality is incredibly likely since they have coraborated with each other in the past. so with some support from gamers and microsoft that big beautiful screen and hopefully some raw power to back it up and it'll be the best thing on the market, or at least a cult hit. i mean it'll prolly easily outclass the psp, better screen resolution, probably a better battery life, and with at least 4 gigs of memory screw having to buy memory sticks. hopefully it'll have a few pda functions and be able to surf the web with it's wifi and i'd b willing to plop down a few hundred for it.

  • auron212121

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 6:25 pm PT

    maybe someone should try to break into consoles beside the big three instead of making crappy handhelds.

  • GameDestroyer88

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 6:15 pm PT

    Even if this new fangeled machine makes it to the market they have to go through Sony and Nintendo.....and it probably wont even break the PSP. However....if it does manage to do better than Sony....they still have to go through Ninty.....and thats where the trouble starts.

  • Mit_Man

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 5:58 pm PT

    Massive Korean game franchises will probably get games onto this, and I can see it succeeding rather easily over there. Over here it'll be a definite flop, and who knows, iRiver might know that and not even bother. They sure don't sell all of their mp3 merchandise to us.

    And dang, that screen kicks PSP's butt.

  • Kbs64

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 5:12 pm PT

    In the Cornor, its the unknown IRiver and in this Cornor Is the PSP and the knuck claming of the Nintendo DS!! Will the IRiver make waves or be swept away with the current?....... We'll find out ... ahhh forget it. IRiver won't even make a splash regardless of how you market it.

  • rusty_ghia

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 5:11 pm PT

    iRiver does make some of the best DAP's available (better than Apple, by my experience,) but I just don't see this thing succeeding solely as a portable game console. Maybe as a DAP that also plays movies and the occasional mobile game.

  • cube-gage

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 5:06 pm PT

    i own a PSP and an original n-gage, the latter happens to be the best thing i have ever bought!
    you all think the n-gage is awful but a fair amount of highly playable titles and millions of s60 apps available out there (e.g picodrive s60, a superb genesis emulator)

    and as for the Gizmondo it's gpu/cpu would really Kill the PSP's graphics,
    it's just a shame that it dosent have enough title support, unless microsoft promoted it as a joint project between them and tiger to rival the PSP it wont succeed,it's the same with the Iriver.
    and dont forget that a gizmondo redesign may be on the cards
    > http://cn.engadget.com/images/2005/10/gizmondo.jpg

    and nintendo is soon to be anouncing a "Mobile Phone Based"
    DS redesign

    plus nokia has been working on a new platform for several years Posibly the succesor to the n-gage, i hope anyway.
    the n-gage belongs in a similar cult that Dreamcast now has with every
    n-gage game available on irc.
    talkin of Dreamcast imagine if sega were to enter the handheld market, that thing would PWN all others, Shenmue would be brilliant on it.

    for those that cant wait for a sega handheld then get urself one of these
    > http://image.lik-sang.com/content/dc/davids-portable-dc-12-large.jpg

  • The_Answer_1

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 5:05 pm PT

    Sounds cool keyword here Sounds

  • chupamiubre

    Posted Jan 4, 2006 4:52 pm PT

    well if it has movie play back and is more like a pvp it just might survive but could you imagine scratching the screen

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