According to a report from Bloomberg, Chinese phone maker ZTE is releasing a games console.

It's linked up with Chinese online publisher The9 to create a joint venture.

This news follows the Chinese government's decision to lift its longstanding ban on consoles in the Shanghai free-trade zone, although the joint venture has been in operation since 2013.

Mobile in a box

Like similar attempts in the west such as the Ouya unconsole, which runs Android and has its own curated app store, the ZTE9 Fun Box will be based on a mobile architecture - Nvidia's Tegra 4 processor, which is found in the Nvidia Shield and Microsoft's Surface 2.

It will also ship with Bluetooth controllers and offer streaming video features.

The companies are said to be in talks with others developers to make content available as The9 doesn't have a strong portfolio of mobile games.

Neither pricing or supported games haven't been announced, but ZTE apparently hopes to release the Fun Box during March 2014.

[source: Bloomberg]