The Game.com sold fewer than 300,000 units and was discontinued in 2000 because of poor sales. ==History== Tiger Electronics had previously introduced its R-Zone game console in 1995 – as a competitor to Nintendo's Virtual Boy – but the system was a failure.
The Game.com is a fifth-generation [game console] released by Tiger Electronics in August 1997.
Prior to the R-Zone, Tiger had also manufactured handheld games consisting of LCD screens with imprinted graphics. ===Original version=== By February 1997, Tiger was planning to release a new game console, the handheld "game.com", as a direct competitor to Nintendo's portable Game Boy console.
Prior to its release, Tiger Electronics stated that the Game.com would "change the gaming world as we know it," while a spokesperson stated that it would be "one of this summer's hits." The Game.com, the only new game console of the year, was on display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May 1997, with sales expected to begin in July.
Dennis Lynch of the Chicago Tribune considered the Game.com to be the "most interesting hand-held device" on display at E3, describing it as a "sort of Game Boy for adults". The Game.com was released in the United States in August 1997, with a retail price of $69.95, while an Internet-access cartridge was scheduled for release in October.
By the end of 1997, the console had been released in the United Kingdom, at a retail price of £79.99. The Game.com came in a black-and-white color, and featured a design similar to Sega's Game Gear console.
None of the console's games made use of the Internet feature. ==Technical specifications== ==Games== Several games were available for the Game.com at the time of its 1997 launch, in comparison to hundreds of games available for the Game Boy.
Tiger planned to have a dozen games available by the end of 1997, and hoped to have as many as 50 games available in 1998, with all of them to be produced or adapted internally by Tiger.
In 2018, Nadia Oxford of USgamer noted the Game.com's "paper-thin" library of games and stated that the console "died in record time because it was poorly-made, to say the least." ==Notes== ==References== ==External links== Game.com official website (archive) The end of the game.com Products introduced in 1997 Fifth-generation video game consoles Handheld game consoles Monochrome video game consoles 1990s toys
Tiger planned to have a dozen games available by the end of 1997, and hoped to have as many as 50 games available in 1998, with all of them to be produced or adapted internally by Tiger.
The console was shown at the American International Toy Fair in February 1999, and was later shown along with several future games at E3 in May 1999.
The Game.com Pocket Pro had been released by June 1999, with a retail price of $29.99.
Cartidge size was in the 16 megabit range. At the time of the Pocket Pro's 1999 release, the Game.com library consisted primarily of games intended for an older audience.
Some games that were planned for release in 1999 would be exclusive to Game.com consoles.
The Game.com sold fewer than 300,000 units and was discontinued in 2000 because of poor sales. ==History== Tiger Electronics had previously introduced its R-Zone game console in 1995 – as a competitor to Nintendo's Virtual Boy – but the system was a failure.
Despite several games based on popular franchises, the Game.com console line failed to sell in large numbers, and was discontinued in 2000 because of poor sales.
Reparaz stated that the Game.com's continuation into 2000 was a "pretty significant achievement" considering its competition from the Game Boy Color. In 2013, Jeff Dunn of GamesRadar criticized the Game.com for its "blurry" and "imprecise" touchscreen, as well as its "limited and unwieldy" Internet and email interfaces.
The Game.com was a commercial failure, with less than 300,000 units sold, although the idea of a touchscreen would later be used successfully in the Nintendo DS, released in 2004. ==Internet features== Accessing the Internet required the use of an Internet cartridge and a modem, neither of which were included with the console.
[...] It's astounding what power comes out of such a tiny little speaker." In 2004, Kent included the modem and "some PDA functionality" as the console's strengths, while listing its "Slow processor" and "lackluster library of games" as weaknesses.
In 2011, Mikel Reparaz of GamesRadar ranked the Game.com at number 3 on a list of 7 failed handheld consoles, writing that while the Game.com had several licensed games, it "doesn't actually mean much when they all look like cruddy, poorly animated Game Boy ports." Raparaz also stated that the Game.com "looked dated even by Game Boy standards," noting that the Game Boy Pocket had a sharper display screen.
Reparaz stated that the Game.com's continuation into 2000 was a "pretty significant achievement" considering its competition from the Game Boy Color. In 2013, Jeff Dunn of GamesRadar criticized the Game.com for its "blurry" and "imprecise" touchscreen, as well as its "limited and unwieldy" Internet and email interfaces.
In 2016, Motherboard stated that the Game.com was "perhaps one of the worst consoles of all time," due largely to its low screen quality.
In 2018, Nadia Oxford of USgamer noted the Game.com's "paper-thin" library of games and stated that the console "died in record time because it was poorly-made, to say the least." ==Notes== ==References== ==External links== Game.com official website (archive) The end of the game.com Products introduced in 1997 Fifth-generation video game consoles Handheld game consoles Monochrome video game consoles 1990s toys
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