Panasonic Burns Jungle to the Ground

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Panasonic Burns Jungle to the Ground



Panasonic has decided to cancel the release of the Jungle MMO gaming handheld.

Panasonic's handheld gaming device announced last year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104039-Panasonic-Reveals-New-Online-Gaming-Handheld], the Jungle, has been canceled before it even had a chance to sprout. Panasonic has called in the bulldozers and razed the project to the ground.

The Jungle was meant to be a handheld that would play online games such as Runescape and the Battlestar Galactica MMO, sort of like a mini-laptop with a full keyboard and touchpads. Analysts heavily criticized it [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104085-Analysts-Call-Panasonics-Jungle-a-Non-Starter], saying it probably wouldn't appeal to anyone and that Panasonic didn't necessarily have the tools to compete in handheld gaming.

In a statement, Panasonic said: "Panasonic decided to suspend further development due to changes in the market and in our own strategic direction." It either took the criticism to heart, or realized that there wouldn't be enough interest in the device.

Without the support of big names like World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B000H96C9M], the Jungle probably would have been a failure. If people are playing browser-based MMOs at home, there's no reason why they wouldn't just use a laptop. Being able to play out in the wild would require some kind of 3G support, which would cost extra money and turn off consumers. In addition, to actually play MMOs like World of Warcraft the device would have to be packed with a certain amount of power, leading to an increased price. It was a good concept, but perhaps just not financially viable in a world filled with iPads, 3DSs, and NGPs.

Source: GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-03-01-panasonic-cancels-jungle-portable-gaming-device]

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WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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No big surprise... The hendheld market is practically cornered by Nintendo, and a Laptop would probably be a better choice for gaming than this.

[sub]tee hee[/sub]

Welcome to the Jungle, you're gonna die!
 

beema

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Aug 19, 2009
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Not terribly surprising. I have no idea why they thought Panasonic as a company or this device could ever break in to the handheld market successfully.
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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When I read the title I thought it meant a literal jungle. I was curious what that was goin to cost them.

OT: It sounded like a piece of shit and the Battlestar MMO was going to be an exclusive which seems like a total waste of an IP though the game would probably make no sense anyway.
 

Atmos Duality

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Mar 3, 2010
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manythings said:
When I read the title I thought it meant a literal jungle. I was curious what that was goin to cost them.
That's called a "hook".
Judging from the response, it seems to have worked.
 

maddog015

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Sep 12, 2008
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Maybe if they allowed more than just MMOs on the system, it might have worked out better. Something along the lines of the OpenPandora. http://www.openpandora.org/
 

RheynbowDash

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Jan 26, 2009
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teh_Canape said:
great T-T

I was honestly looking forward to it
Same here skippy.

It was only a matter of time before someone hacked this to play nes titles or something.

LAWLS.
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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Not really surprised, especially considering it'd probably be put in direct competition with the new 3DS and NGP, and it'd probably lose.
 

OldAccount

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Sep 10, 2010
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I'm not all that surprised but I'm throughly disappointed. I wanted to see were this would lead to. =(

There is at least one person mourning your loss, Jungle.