Zeebo breaks cover with 'world's fourth console'

One of the most intriguing presentations at this year's GDC Mobile show will be the one from Qualcomm's Mike Yuen and Zeebo's John Rizzo, talking about the latter company's new mobile gaming device.

Zeebo is still officially in stealth mode, but the GDC conference programme has revealed more about its plans, with this entry for Yuen and Rizzo's session (titled 'Gaming For The Next Billion'):
 


There's an official website for Zeebo which promises more details, although you have to register and receive a password in order to access it. We're waiting for ours.

Presumably someone who has is responsible for this Wikipedia page on Zeebo though, which provides more details and specs, along with links to Brazilian media coverage suggesting that publishers EA, Activision, Namco, Capcom, Sega and id Software are involved.

What's more, it suggests that Zeebo will have 51 games by the end of 2009, including FIFA 2009, Need For Speed Carbon, Prey, Quake, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart, and Action Hero 3D.

It's no surprise to see Qualcomm as a major investor in Zeebo: Yuen has been a vocal supporter for many years of the notion that mobile gaming has huge potential in countries where console penetration is still low.

The focus on Brazil, Russia, India and China is also interesting, since those four countries (or the BRIC markets, as they're known), are forecast huge mobile growth in the coming years.

We first picked up on Zeebo at last year's BREW conference in San Diego.

05 November 2009 Zeebo console launched in Mexico

28 August 2009 America Movil teams with Qualcomm for Zeebo console launch in Mexico

07 August 2009 Mike Yuen leaves Qualcomm for Zeebo

20 March 2009 More details emerge of Zeebo 3G games console

29 May 2008 BREW 2008: Zeebo breaks cover (kind of)