History of video games/Platforms/Panasonic Jungle

__NOTOC__ History thumb|Panasonic Headquarters in Osaka, Japan. This photo was taken on March 13th, 2011, just about two weeks after the cancellation of the Panasonic Jungle. Development Panasonic had previously attempted to bring a console to market with the M2. The Panasonic Jungle was developed by the Panasonic Cloud Entertainment divisionWelcome to the Panasonic Jungle https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/panasonic/106327-welcome-to-the-panasonic-jungle 28 January 2021 Pocket-lint 5 October 2010 en-gb as a handheld game console oriented around playing MMORPGs on the go. The Panasonic Jungle was shown to the press on October 4th, 2010.Exclusive: First Photo of Jungle, Panasonic's Portable Online Gaming System https://gizmodo.com/5655371/exclusive-first-photo-of-jungle-panasonics-portable-online-gaming-system 28 January 2021 Gizmodo en-us The console was met with skepticism on announcement.Morris Chris Opinion: Panasonic Can't See The Jungle For The Trees https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/121572/Opinion_Panasonic_Cant_See_The_Jungle_For_The_Trees.php 22 March 2021 www.gamasutra.com en Unlike many niche consoles, Panasonic took marketing the console very seriously, going as far as to employ the then popular media company Machinima for marketing the console. This resulted in a 7 episode cartoon promoting the console, with a number of stylized mascot characters. The console was also promoted on the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory.Panasonic's New "Gaming Console" Mistaken For a Pager On MTV https://kotaku.com/panasonics-new-gaming-console-mistaken-for-a-pager-on-5655957 17 March 2021 Kotaku en-us Development of the Panasonic Jungle had proceeded relatively well. The Wi-Fi only model would have cost $299.00, with a later pre-launch price reduction to 249.99. The model with a 3G radio cost $349.99. Branded in ear headphones and MicroHDMI cables were listed for sale. However there would be no launch, as the Jungle was officially canceled on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011.Panasonic says has dropped game development project Reuters https://web.archive.org/web/20110304002857/https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/01/us-panasonic-games-idUSTRE7201MD20110301 27 January 2021 web.archive.org 4 March 2011 Legacy The legacy of the Panasonic Jungle is intrinsically tied to the rapidly changing market conditions of the time. A well executed portable handheld designed around playing popular MMORPGs in the early 2010s would have likely been successful in its niche had it only faced traditional competition. However the threat to the Panasonic Jungle posed by Smartphone gaming was not only very real,Death By Smartphone: Panasonic’s Jungle Gets the Axe https://www.technologizer.com/2011/03/03/smartphones-kill-panasonic-jungle/ 29 January 2021 Technologizer by Harry McCracken 4 March 2011 it quickly became an issue for larger and companies already established in the handheld gaming market such as Nintendo and Sony.Kuchera Ben Biggest threat to the 3DS and PlayStation Vita? Your smartphone https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/08/biggest-threat-to-the-3ds-and-playstation-vita-your-smartphone/ 28 January 2021 Ars Technica 15 August 2011 en-us Thus the act of canceling the console and avoiding the risk of a launch was thus widely seen as a safe call,March 2011 Matt Bradford 02 Panasonic cancels the Jungle console, there will be no fun and games https://www.gamesradar.com/panasonic-cancels-the-jungle-console-there-will-be-no-fun-and-games/ 28 January 2021 gamesradar en though even with smartphone gaming on the rise, the failure of the Jungle was still not a certainty. One can only speculate how the then high end, though likely quite pricy, experience offered by the Jungle would have fared against early smartphone gaming. A functional prototype Jungle console surfaced in 2018 by a member posting on the forms for the DragonBox Pyra.A certain rarity... https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/a-certain-rarity.83019/#post-1438835 Official Pyra and Pandora Site 28 January 2021 In 2020 the system was more throughly documented by gaming historian "Developer Jeff".Panasonic Jungle https://developerjeffdev.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/panasonic-jungle/ Developer Jeff's Prototype Preservation 28 January 2021 en 23 August 2020 Technology It is important to note that for some time little was known about the actual specifications of the Panasonic Jungle, and most sources prior to cancellation give specifications that are either educated guesses, or are based on rumors. Even after a prototype surfaced, solid specifications were elusive for some time. Compute thumb|A Tegra 2 SOC, similar to that used on the Panasonic Jungle. The console uses an NVIDIA Tegra 2 SOC containing a 32-bit dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1 gigahertz.Hanlon Joseph What in the world is Nvidia Tegra 2? https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/what-in-the-world-is-nvidia-tegra-2/ 5 October 2022 CNET January 5, 2011 en This SOC included a GPU which was considered a powerful mobile graphics processor for the time.Hanlon Joseph What in the world is Nvidia Tegra 2? https://www.cnet.com/news/what-in-the-world-is-nvidia-tegra-2/ 28 January 2021 CNET en The console has about 448 megabytes (448,452 Kb) of LPDDR2 single channel RAM clocked at 300 megahertz. This memory has a bandwidth of 2.4 gigabits per second. The console has about 4 gigabytes (3,927 megabytes) of internal EMMC flash storage, which is expandable by MicroSD card. There was a rumor that the device ran a version of Linux as its operating system. Hardware The console has a primary IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1280 pixels by 720 pixels, as well as a secondary OLED screen.The Unreleased Panasonic Jungle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFUef5OdmOU 28 January 2021Other - Panasonic Jungle preservation thread https://www.obscuregamers.com/threads/panasonic-jungle-preservation-thread.2408/ Obscure Gamers 28 January 2021 The console was designed to connect to the internet, and thus included a radio for Wi-Fi, and optionally included a 3G radio. The handheld includes a small built in keyboard, which has red LEDs below keys for backlighting in the dark. These LEDs appear to be software controllable, and each key is also touch sensitive. Supported games Battlestar Galactica OnlinePanasonic to debut mobile game handheld called the Jungle https://venturebeat.com/2010/10/04/panasonic-to-debut-mobile-game-handheld-called-the-jungle/ 28 January 2021 VentureBeat 5 October 2010 RunescapeParkin Simon Panasonic Reveals Handheld System: Jungle https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30785/Panasonic_Reveals_Handheld_System_Jungle.php 28 January 2021 www.gamasutra.com en Stellar Dawn World of Warcraft (Dubious if this was ever official, or simply media speculation.) External Resources Jungle (console) Panasonic Official Website - Archived website in 2010. Developer Jeff - In depth look at the console and related materials. References 2 100% __NOTOC__