Year of Release: 2005, discontinued in 2006
Quick overview: In the time before iPhone, Tiger Telematics’ Gizmondo device promised to be all things to all people: a mobile phone, a portable MP3 and video content player, and a GPS unit. The brash marketing promised that the oddly named handheld would outclass other devices.
Best Game on the System: N/A
None of the games on the Gizmondo were very much good, but it did innovate by having Bluetooth multiplayer support for several titles.
Reason for Downfall?: Hubris and lack of interest
The device was never available through enough retail channels to serve demand. (Not that it was very high…) The launch library was a mish-mash of ports and weird original games that never gave the device a clear identity. Today, the Gizmondo is most infamous for its ad-supported price subsidies, its organized crime ties and its reckless Lamborghini Ferrari Enzo-crashing exec.