View source for Tapwave Zodiac

{{short description|Handheld game console}}
{{Infobox Video game system
| title = Tapwave Zodiac
| image = Tapwave-Zodiac2-FL.jpg
| caption = The Zodiac, in aluminum case
| manufacturer = Tapwave
| generation = [[Sixth generation of video game consoles|Sixth]]
| release date = {{Start date|2003|11|01}}
| discontinued = {{End date|2005|07|31}}
| type = [[Handheld game console]]/[[Personal digital assistant|PDA]]
| os = [[Palm OS]]
| cpu = [[DragonBall MX-1|Motorola i.MX-1 ARM9 processor]]
| memory = 10 MB dedicated to the System [[Dynamic RAM]]
| storage = 32 MB (Zodiac 1)<br>128 MB (Zodiac 2)
| top game = ''[[Warfare Incorporated]]''
| connectivity = [[Wi-Fi]], [[Infrared]], [[Bluetooth]], [[USB 2.0]]
| CPUspeed = 200 MHz
| lifespan = 2 Years
| units sold = 50,000+
| graphics = 480x320
| controllers = Built In Controllers
| camera = None
| touchpad = None
| website = www.Tapwave.com
}}

The '''Tapwave Zodiac''' is a mobile entertainment console and [[personal digital assistant]]. Tapwave announced the system in May 2003 and began shipping in October of that same year. The Zodiac was designed to be a high-performance mobile entertainment system centered on [[video game]]s, [[music]], photos, and [[video]] for 18- to 34-year-old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the [[Palm Operating System]] (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm's personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community. The company was based in [[Mountain View, California]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050515155219/http://www.pcvsconsole.com/news.php?nid=2195 The Tapwave Zodiac Console Now Shipping]}}</ref>

The Zodiac console was initially available in two models, Zodiac 1 (32MB) for US$299, and Zodiac 2 (128MB) for US$399. Some of the game titles for the product included ''[[Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4]]'' ([[Activision]]); ''Mototrax'' (Activision); ''[[SpyHunter]]'' ([[Midway Games|Midway]]); ''[[Madden NFL 2005]]'' ([[Electronic Arts|EA]]/MDM); ''[[Doom II]]'' ([[id Software]]); ''[[Golden Axe III]]'' and ''[[Altered Beast]]'' ([[Sega]]); ''[[Warfare Incorporated]]'' ([[Handmark]]); and ''[[Duke Nukem]] Mobile'' ([[3D Realms]]/MachineWorks).

Due to insufficient funding and strong competitive pressure from the [[PlayStation Portable]] (PSP) from [[Sony]] (which was pre-announced at E3 on May 16, 2003, and shipped in North America on March 24, 2005), and the  [[Nintendo DS|DS]] from [[Nintendo]] (released on November 21, 2004), Tapwave sold the company to an undisclosed multibillion-dollar corporation in Asia in July 2005.

The Zodiac console garnered strong product reviews and received many industry awards including ''[[Popular Science]]''{{'}}s Best of What's New Award, [[Stuff (magazine)|''Stuff'' magazine]]'s Top 10 Gadgets of the Year, ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine's Fetish Award, [[CNET]]'s Editor's Choice Award, ''[[PC World]]''{{'}}s 2004 Next Gear Innovations Award; ''[[PC Magazine]]''{{'}}s 1st Place Last Gadget Standing at [[Consumer Electronics Show|CES]]; ''Handheld Computing'' magazine's Most Innovative PDA of 2003; [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] Best Gear of 2003; and the ''[[Business Week]]'' Best Products of 2003.

== History of Tapwave ==
* May 2001: Tapwave was founded by former [[Palm, Inc.|Palm]] executives
* May 2002: Tapwave closed initial Series-A funding
* May 2002: Tapwave signed [[Palm OS]] licensing agreement with PalmSource
* May 2003: Company was formally launched at Palm Developers Conference & [[Electronic Entertainment Expo|E3]]
* September 2003: Zodiac entertainment console launched at DEMO conference
* October 2003: Zodiac console began shipping to customers directly from livescribe.com
* November 2003: Tapwave announced that “over 1200 game developers” had signed up for the Tapwave developer program
* February 2004: PalmGear and Tapwave announced partnership to launch an online store to feature the best applications, game titles and ebooks available on the Palm OS platform
* April 2004: [[Synchronization]] between Zodiac and [[Mac OS X]] desktops enabled by MarkSpace
* June 2004: Zodiac launched into [[United States]] retail distribution with CompUSA
* October 2004: Zodiac launched in [[United Kingdom]] and sold through [[PC World (magazine)|PC World]], [[Dixons (UK)|Dixons]], and [[Currys]]
* October 2004: Zodiac launched in [[Singapore]] and distributed by ECS
* November 2004: Zodiac launched in [[South Korea]] and co-branded with Sonokong (OEM)
* December 2004: Audible announces audio book support for the Zodiac
* December 2004: Tapwave announces [[Wi-Fi]] [[SD card]] for the Zodiac with “enhanced mail application and web browser”
* January 2005: Tapwave and [[Virgin Digital]] announced strategic alliance for audio download and subscription services
* July 2005: Tapwave discontinued the sale of the Zodiac mobile entertainment console<ref>[http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/7990/tapwave-discontinues-zodiac-business Tapwave Discontinues Zodiac Business]</ref> and sold substantially all of its assets to an undisclosed multibillion-dollar corporation in Asia and wound down operations

==Primary features==
[[File:Tapwave-Zodiac2-Bottom-FL.jpg|thumb|right|The back of the Zodiac]]

===Music, images, and video===
An [[MP3]] music player is included in the system's applications, and allows the creation of custom playlists using drag-and-dropping of files. MP3 music files can be played from either SD slot, or the internal memory of the device. MP3 files can also be used as alarms, along with conventional Palm OS alarms.

Photos ([[JPEG]] or [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] format) could be downloaded to the device using the Palm Desktop software or loaded onto [[SD card]]s, and could be shared and made into a slideshow (with background music) on the device.

The bundled video player on the device, Kinoma, would only play videos in a proprietary format, converted using the Kinoma Producer software (which supported conversion of MPEG1, MPEG4, QuickTime, AVI and DivX). The software however was limited in its conversion abilities, enticing users to pay for the full version{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}. It has been suggested{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} that this difficulty in converting video for the device diminished the Zodiac's success. Several aftermarket [[DivX]] and [[XviD]] players have been developed (such as the [[The Core Pocket Media Player|TCPMP]]), and, at the time of bankruptcy, Tapwave were working on an update to supply [[MPEG-4]] hardware decoding{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}.

===Device design===
Due to the metal construction of the Zodiac, the device was seen to be more solid than other [[Personal digital assistant|PDA]]s. However, on some models the adhesive on the shoulder buttons failed, and occasionally the screen was scratched by the screen cover when grit entered{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}. Furthermore, due to the insecure clip holding the stylus, they could be knocked loose and potentially lost. Some alternative cases solved this problem with their own stylus holder.

===Compatibility===
The Zodiac is a [[Palm OS]] 5-compatible device, and most software compatible with Palm OS 5 runs without issue. In particular, most Palm OS 5-compatible games play on the Zodiac. Tapwave also provided proprietary APIs to allow developers to take advantage of the Zodiac's graphics and sound hardware. A great deal of [[freeware]] and [[shareware]] games and [[emulators]] are therefore available. For example, there are versions of ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'', ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'', ''[[Hexen: Beyond Heretic|Hexen]]'', ''[[Hexen II]]'', and ''[[Heretic (computer game)|Heretic]]'' as well as versions of emulators such as [[Unix Amiga Emulator|UAE]], [[ScummVM]], and LJZ/[[Little John Palm|LJP]], a multi-system emulator. There have also been attempts to emulate [[PlayStation]] games onto the Zodiac, the most successful emulator being PPSX.<ref>[http://www.emuboards.com/invision/index.php?showtopic=24315 Now closed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210085853/http://www.emuboards.com/invision/index.php?showtopic=24315 |date=2006-12-10 }}. Emuboards (2013-05-05). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.</ref> It is, however, nowhere near completion and many games are not playable yet.

===Battery===
The device has a total battery life of about 3 hours when using video, backlight+screen and CPU-intensive tasks, and while running as a dedicated audio player it is closer to 6 hours. The original battery was a 1500mAh [[Li-Ion]]; third party replacements with 2000mAh capacity are still available from some manufacturers.

===Software===
The Zodiac used a modified version of the Palm OS, designated version 5.2T. The main navigation menus consisted of 8 radially-arranged choices selected using either the touchscreen or thumbstick. It also came with the Palm OS Productivity Suite (containing a calendar, to do list etc.), an eBook reader, the Wordsmith word processor and the powerOne graphing application. It came bundled with two games, ''AcidSolitare'' (by Red Mercury) and ''Stunt Car Extreme'' (by Vasara Games).

===Models===
The Zodiac console was initially available in two models, Zodiac 1 (32MB), and Zodiac 2 (128MB). The Zodiac 2 was $100 more expensive than the original Zodiac.

==Games==

Games which utilized some or all of the Zodiac's hardware/software are incompatible with standard Palm OS devices. This does exclude platforms outside of Palm OS (e.g., Doom II is also out for PC, but the Zodiac version listed here won't run on standard Palm OS handhelds). This list also excludes standard Palm OS games which are also available for Zodiac handhelds, which were either identical or slightly improved on Zodiac, called "Zodiac tuned" (e.g. a game available for standard Palm OS only has the extra features of vibration and shoulder buttons as extra usable buttons when played on Zodiac).

Some of the games were never released due to the discontinuation of the Zodiac in July 2005. However, the testing builds of some of these games were leaked and are playable.

===Zodiac exclusive titles===
* ''Acedior''
* ''[[Altered Beast]]''
* ''Animated Dudes''
* ''Anotherball''
* ''Atari Retro''
* ''Avalanche''
* ''Bike or Die''
* ''Billiards''
* ''Bubble Shooter 2''
* ''Colony''
* ''Crossword Puzzles''
* ''Daedalus 3D – The Labyrinth''
* ''Dreamway''
* ''Firefly'': Pacman clone
* ''FireHammer''
* ''Fish Tycoon''
* ''Frutakia''
* ''Galactic Realms''
* ''Gloop Zero'' by AeonFlame: (was shareware, but is now freeware) puzzle game where players direct the flow of liquid slime material to its goal by drawing platform lines and using other tools.
* ''[[Golden Axe]]''
* ''Interstellar Flames''
* ''Jet Ducks''
* ''Kickoo's Breakout''
* ''Legacy''
* ''MegaBowling''
* ''MicroQuad''
* ''Orbz'' (was shareware, but is now freeware as of September 2006)
* ''Paintball''
* ''Pocket Mini Golf''
* ''Pocket Mini Golf eXtra''
* ''RifleSLUGS-W: Wild Web Wars''
* ''Stunt Car Extreme'': 3D, 1st-person or 3rd-person racing game. Comes with the Zodiac CD.
* ''Table Tennis 3D''
* ''The Green Myste''
* ''Tots ‘n’ Togs''
* ''Xploids''
* ''ZapEm''

'''Zodiac exclusive titles, also available on SD card'''
* ''[[Doom II]]''
* ''[[Duke Nukem Mobile]]''
* ''GTS Racing Challenge''
* ''[[Spy Hunter (2001 video game)|SpyHunter]]''
* ''Tiger Team: Apache vs Hind''
* ''[[Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4]]''
* ''Z Pak: Adventure''
* ''Z Pak: Fun''

'''"Zodiac tuned" titles'''
* ''[[Madden NFL 2005]]'' (CD-ROM; uploaded from PC)
* ''[[Warfare Incorporated]]''

'''Unreleased but leaked games'''
* ''[[Street Hoops]]'', tech demo
* ''[[MTX: Mototrax]]'', complete
* ''Hockey Rage 2004'', complete, but crash on exit
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights (2002 video game)|Neverwinter Nights]]'', tech demo
* ''[[Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (video game)|Terminator 3]]'':<ref>[http://www.cinergi-interactive.com/html/corporate_page_01_profile.htm contentFrame]. Cinergi-interactive.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-23.</ref> Complete game, few sound elements missing.
* ''[[Tomb Raider]]'', complete original first and second game

===Ports===
Several [[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] (freeware) games were released on ports.
* ''ZDoomZ'', a ''[[ZDoom]]'' port to Palm/Zodiac
* ''ZHeretic'', a ''[[Heretic (video game)|Heretic]]'' port to Palm/Zodiac
* ''ZHexen'', a ''[[Hexen: Beyond Heretic|Hexen]]'' port to Palm/Zodiac
* ''ZHexen2'', ''[[Hexen II]]'' port to Palm/Zodiac
* Little John Palm (LJP), a multisystem emulator for Palm/Zodiac
* LJZ, the old version of LJP, discontinued.
* pPSX, Emulates psx games at limited speed without sound. Low compatibility. Incomplete.
* ''ReverZi'', an Othello/[[Reversi]] clone for Zodiac
* ZodMAME, a [[MAME]] port to the Zodiac
* ZodNEO, a [[NeoGeo]] port to the Zodiac
* ZodSCUMM, [[ScummVM]] port to the Zodiac
* ZSpectrum, a [[ZX Spectrum]] port to the Zodiac
* ''REminiscence'', a Zodiac port of ''[[Flashback (1992 video game)|Flashback]]''
* ''Thruster'', a fast-paced cave flyer.
* ''[[Noiz2sa]]''
* ''Orbital Sniper'', Look down from high above and shoot hostiles in a city grid layout while protecting innocent lives. (Freeware)
* ''Zodtris'', Zodiac only version of ''[[Tetris]]''. (Freeware)
* ''Zap 'Em'', a close conversion of ''[[Zoop]]'' for PC (Freeware)
* ''ZoT''
* ''Zyrian''
* ''[[Another World (video game)|Another World]]''
* ''ZodTTD'', an ''[[OpenTTD]]'' port to the Zodiac
* ''TCPMP'', a media player that could play back many codecs that the Zodiac did not originally support

==Hardware specifications==
[[File:Ati-w4200-tapwave-zodiac.jpg|thumb|Device teardown, highlighting the ATI W4200 chip]]
Two versions of the Zodiac are available, differing only in the amount of memory and case colour.
* CPU: [[ARM architecture|Motorola i.MX1 ARM9]] processor (200&nbsp;MHz)
* Memory: Zodiac 1 had 32&nbsp;MB. Zodiac 2 had 128&nbsp;MB. Both have 10&nbsp;MB Dedicated to the System [[Dynamic RAM]]
* Graphic Accelerator: [[ATI Technologies|ATI]] [[Imageon]] W4200 2D [[Graphics processing unit|graphics accelerator]] (with 8&nbsp;MB dedicated [[SDRAM]])
* Controls: Analog controller (or joystick) with 360 degrees of motion, built-in triggers and action button array similar to other gaming consoles.
* Display: 3.8&nbsp;inch [[transflective]] 480×320 (half [[VGA]]), 16-bit colour backlit display (65,536 colours)
* Sound: [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] sound and stereo speakers, 3.5&nbsp;mm earphone plug
* External Connectors: 2 expansion slots (both are [[MultiMediaCard|MMC]] / [[Secure Digital card|SD]] capable, one is also [[Secure Digital Card#SDIO|SDIO]] capable), Zodiac Connector, 3.5&nbsp;mm headphone jack
* Wireless: Infrared, [[Bluetooth]] (Compatible with some Wifi SDIO cards depending on drivers)
* Battery: Rechargeable Lithium Batteries – Dual totaling to 1540 [[milliampere-hour|mA·h]]
* Size and Weight: {{convert|5.6|x|3.1|×|0.55|in|mm|abbr=on}}, {{convert|6.3|oz|g|abbr=on}}
** Compare to the [[Palm TX]] which is smaller at 78×15×121&nbsp;mm due to fewer buttons, but includes WiFi
* Colors: Zodiac 1: Slate Gray, Zodiac 2: Charcoal Gray
* Casing: Synthetic rubber, anodized aluminum, plastic

==Peripherals and accessories==
* 5V regulated DC switch mode battery charger, using proprietary connector
* USB PC synchronization cable, incorporating pass-through female charger connector (allowing charging from mains while synchronizing)
* Car battery charger
* Cradle attachment for sync cable (poorly designed, unreliable electrical contacts)
* Folding Keyboard (some 3rd party Bluetooth & IR models, unknown whether dedicated keyboard capable of using sync cable connector existed)
* Some SDIO cameras could be used, such as the Veo Camera

==See also==
* [[Handheld game console]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Tapwave Zodiac}}
* {{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20050830101350/http://www.tapwave.com/index.html}} (Archive)
* [http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/zodiac.cgi OpenHandhelds Zodiac File Archive]
* [https://tapwave.net Tapwave Reborn Zodiac File Archive]

{{Sixth generation game consoles}}
{{Handheld game consoles}}

[[Category:Handheld game consoles]]
[[Category:Palm OS devices]]
[[Category:Sixth-generation video game consoles]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 2003]]
[[Category:Products and services discontinued in 2005]]
[[Category:ARM-based video game consoles]]
[[Category:Discontinued handheld game consoles]]