Gizmondo set for 19th March launch

Multi-entertainment handheld Gizmondo will launch on 19th March in the UK, the company has confirmed today.

The talented machine, which can be used as a mobile communication device and comes with a contract-free SIM card, will retail at UKP 229 and will mainly be available from Gizmondo's flagship London store, at 175 Regent Street.

"Gizmondo is the British challenger in a market that will witness a spectacular boom this year," said Carl Freer, Gizmondo's MD. "We've been able to introduce exciting new features like GPS into gaming, and with such a remarkable list of features, the Gizmondo is the most powerful, feature-laden piece of multi-entertainment hardware available."

Games, including Conflict: Vietnam and Richard Burns Rally, will cost between UKP 9.99 and UKP 29.99.

Running on WindowsCE, Gizmondo sports a range of features including MMS, a camera, GPRS networking, an MP3 player and MPEG-4 movie playback. It even contains a GPS chip.

But despite the feature-heavy spec of the machine, Gizmondo is facing very high profile competition, certainly in gaming terms, from the release this week of Nintendo DS and the upcoming launch of PSP in Europe.

We'll have more in Gizmondo's launch next week.