April Fools’ recall: Five famous hoax consoles

The PSPBoy? The Apple iGame? Like many a video game myth we know, names like these went down in the annals of gaming history as some of the more hyped consoles we almost expected to launch. For today’s April festivities, the folks from 99lives have provided a top five list of hoax video game consoles that includes other names that many of you may have heard from before. For our first system:

Sega Phoenix:
A rumor started back in 2005, the Sega Phoenix promised, among other things, the computing power of four AMD processors, a 120GB hard-disk drive, and backwards compatibility for all previous Sega gaming systems titles. Rundown: It had the PS3’s specs, a Wii-like retro gaming library, and the Xbox 360’s looks (with liberal amounts of blue) – imagine the phrase “Looks like pork, smells like fish, tastes like chicken…”

Sony PSPBoy:
The name says it all – a cross between the PSP and a Nintendo Gameboy portable consoles. As it turns out, this faux-portable gaming system was crafted by our very own MaDSouL, who pulled off this project using his computer’s trusty Photoshop application. Among other features the PSPBoy was rumored to carry were 2GB memory sticks, LCD screens and dual analog controllers (the PSP’s thumb analog, to be accurate).

The complete console hoax list is available at the Full Article

  

The PSPBoy? The Apple iGame? Like many a video game myth we know, names like these went down in the annals of gaming history as some of the more hyped consoles we almost expected to launch. For today’s April festivities, the folks from 99lives have provided a top five list of hoax video game consoles that includes other names that many of you may have heard from before. For our first system:

Sega Phoenix:
A rumor started back in 2005, the Sega Phoenix promised, among other things, the computing power of four AMD processors, a 120GB hard-disk drive, and backwards compatibility for all previous Sega gaming systems titles. Rundown: It had the PS3’s specs, a Wii-like retro gaming library, and the Xbox 360’s looks (with liberal amounts of blue) – imagine the phrase “Looks like pork, smells like fish, tastes like chicken…”

Sony PSPBoy:
The name says it all – a cross between the PSP and a Nintendo Gameboy portable consoles. As it turns out, this faux-portable gaming system was crafted by our very own MaDSouL, who pulled off this project using his computer’s trusty Photoshop application. Among other features the PSPBoy was rumored to carry were 2GB memory sticks, LCD screens and dual analog controllers (the PSP’s thumb analog, to be accurate).

The Apple iGame:
This mystery console supposedly by Apple came out in last year’s EGM April edition, and was rumored to be an iPod variant capable of playing games purchased online. It also featured access to iTunes, which would have given it quite a run against the PSP or DS, except we did say this was featured on EGM’s April 2006 issue… does Sheng Long ring a bell?

The Sega Hedgehog:
Much like the bigger Phoenix, the Hedgehog was reported to be capable of playing old and new Sega titles. It was also claimed to feature a 566Mhz processor (for comparison: the PSP runs on 333Mhz), a 128 Mb graphics card, a 640AX360 screen, and touch-pad functions. Slap on the reported DivX support, and USB/SD/Compact Flash interconnectivity, and it would have sounded like a sweet deal… if it were true.

The Nintendo ON:
Before the Nintendo Revolution was ever named the Wii, people will probably remember Pablo Belmonte (aka psyco3ler) – the guy who cooked up this beautifully-done video below featuring the Nintendo ON. On one hand, this VR helmet would have been an interesting mix to the Wiimote’s motion-sensitivity. On the other, we can imagine how much console-related injuries would have increased exponentially.

Via 99lives