China is known as an export giant in addition to being famous worldwide for its local corporations' abilities to copy everything from digital handsets to automobiles and produce them cheaply in great numbers. So it is no surprise the news coming out of China
that two Chinese technology firms have banded together to release their own gaming console.
Chinese gamers have a tough time with consoles since foreign manufactured consoles are not allowed to be sold in the country with the majority of Chinese gamers using PCs for their gaming needs. However consoles are widely available in the parallel import
market. Lenovo, the Chinese multinational firm that acquired IBM's failing personal computer division in 2005, is a Fortune 500 corporation which provides personal and corporate computer hardware solutions to its clients. The firm has reportedly has teamed
up with Beijing eedoo Technology to break into this market segment. In a joint effort, both firms have created their own games console known as the iSec (Sports Entertainment Center). It was renamed from the initial eBox at the behest of Lenovo when it entered
to jointly develop the iSec.
The two companies are planning to release the console in December 2011 on a trial run with a full scale launch scheduled for “early 2012”. The console will be sold only in the Chinese market at the start and it is being priced at 3000 Yuan ($470). The console
will be available in three colours of red, white and black with the design having an uncanny resemblance to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and will feature motion sensing technology very much like Xbox Kinect. Players using the motion sensor will be able to play sports,
exercise, do martial arts as well as skateboarding and fighting virtual monsters.
The two companies do not plan for a worldwide launch with the console only to hit Chinese shelves at the start. Plans for a worldwide launch will start when the console has sold around 1 million units, according to spokesmen for Beijing eedoo Technologies.
The system has still not gained approval of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology which bans foreign companies from selling video games consoles and accessories in China.
Sony and Microsoft are currently taking steps to have the ban overturned eventually and enter the lucrative and huge Chinese gaming market. Nintendo is the only company to release a console specifically tailored to the Chinese market, but the Wii is still
not sold in the region.
With China growing at a rapid pace only time will tell if it can impact the huge console market worldwide and especially the nascent Chinese console gaming scene.
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