Sept. 1 – China-based Lenovo, the world’s 4th largest PC manufacturer, is developing a controller-free video game console and will launch the product later this year as it seeks to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox360, Sony’s Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii.
Beijing eedoo Technology Ltd. was established over the summer for the project and some 40 Lenovo engineers have been tasked with developing the eBox gaming console for a late 2010 release in China to test the market before expanding abroad.
“The eedoo (eBox) family sport entertainment center will be released at the end of 2010 to Chinese market and then spread gradually to the Asian-Pacific regions and overseas market,” the company says on its web site.
Much like Microsoft’s Kinect, which is due out in North America and Europe in November, the eBox operates without a controller – instead relying on an infrared camera that detects and interprets body movements. This new technology could be a potential game-changer for the industry, much like the Nintendo Wii was when it was released in 2006.
Industry analysts, though, are skeptical about the profitability of such a unit on the Chinese market, where rampant piracy issues severely hamper profits – especially with regards to software. Nevertheless, eedoo believes that the eBox console will appeal to a wide range of Chinese consumers.
“Considering 12 millions of children, teenagers, office ladies, and the retired people living in urban area, eBox commits to bring in brand new games and multimedia entertainment and create a fresh healthy life style for Chinese families,” the eedoo web site says.
The launch of the eBox console could also lead to yet another WTO-related protectionism issue as China promotes a domestic product while outlawing foreign competitors from entering the market. The Chinese government has banned the importation of video game consoles since 2000, citing the potential danger to the physical and mental development of youth. And by forbidding Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony from entering the domestic market, it of course means that Chinese merchants can openly sell counterfeit Wii, Xbox, and Playstation gaming consoles and software at the local electronics market.
Um, game console import is restricted but it’s not banned. There are legal xBox, PS, Wii in China. Also this import restriction does not apply to SAR like Hong Kong, Maccau.
@CharlesL
Actually that’s incorrect. China’s Ministry of Culture issued a notice in June 2000 forbidding any company or individual to produce and sell electronic game equipment and accessories. The only game console to be legally sold in China since then has been the iQue, which was created for the Chinese market in a joint venture with Nintendo.
The government’s stance on this issue is particularly ironic because most of these game consoles are actually manufactured in China. This is perhaps why the counterfeits perform so well and why the eBox so closely resembles the Kinect.
You are right in that the import restriction does not apply to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.