History of video games/Platforms/Red Jade

Introduction
The turn of the millennium saw a great amount of the general public adopting mobile cell phones to use in their daily life. Yet these majority of these phones were limited, capable of only basic communications and rarely simple applications or games.

While simple mobile gaming and handheld game consoles had existed prior to the Red Jade, this device sought to meld a high end 3D gaming experience to the those on the go with added utility of emerging mobile phone technologies further differentiating the device from established competitors. Many of the technologies pioneered on the device, such as exclusively using digital distribution, would not be seen on major handhelds for nearly a decade. Beyond technological superiority, the console was backed by proven developers and significant financial investments.

However shortly prior to launch a recession ultimately caused the device to be scrapped, with only a smattering of photographs, press releases, and news articles offering any proof of the existence of the console. Still, the device shows an interesting look at the cutting edge technologies for the time, and the trade offs required to achieve them.

Development
In February 2000 Red Jade was founded as a company by DICE founder Fredrik Liliegren, with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Red Jade sought backing from Sega and Sony, before partnering with Ericsson, who wanted to enter the gaming market to get ahead of their rival Nokia. Ericsson invested $7 to $10 million on the console, with plans to invest up to $500 million further in development (Which did not come to pass), and with Swedish venture capital firm IT Provider providing a further $3 million of backing. With Red Jade developing the system, Ericson would have been in charge of most other responsibilities, including manufacturing the handhelds, distributing the produced consoles, and marketing the consoles, which as a cellular hardware giant they were better positioned to do.

Linux was used on Red Jade development kits.

Red Jade was just a placeholder name, and would have likely been replaced release to launch had the console actually launched.

Legacy
Red Jade was cancelled in April 2001 as a result of the early 2000s recession. The console would have cost anywhere between $100 and $300 at retail, with price being a common concern. Despite the relatively high hardware cost, the console would have used digital distribution for games, allowing Ericsson to sell cheaper gamers at a cost of only $20 instead of the common $30 price point. The console was not planned to sometime in 2002. The console stands out as one of the first handhelds to seriously attempt online game store as it's primary distribution system.

Red Jade was later restarted in 2006 as a game development studio by Fredrik Liliegren, notably assisting with titles such as Battlefield: Bad Company. Ericsson would later produce a console in the Experia Play as Sony Ericson.

Technology
Red Jade took care not to reveal too much about their console, and it seemed like many details were intentionally in flux to quickly adapt to market conditions. As a result, little solid information is known about the console.

The system used either a 32-bit or a 64 bit MIPS architecture processor. The system used a custom 3D chipset, with some suggesting an unconfirmed NVIDIA partnership.

The Red Jade is said to have had software supporting PDA functionality and MP3 Playback.

The Red Jade is said to be capable of 3D graphics comparable to fifth generation home game consoles.

The Red Jade had radios for Bluetooth, Cellular phone networks, and GPS signals. As Ericsson is a telecommunications technology company, and also the inventor of Bluetooth, it makes sense that they would promote such features.

The system would have had a TFT screen without a backlight.

Known Games

 * Quake III Arena was ported to the device.

External Resources

 * Official Website - Archived version.