How many handheld gaming consoles-stroke-platforms can you name? Chances are a good few. But is there room for another?

The ‘Nd’ project hopes so.

nD = Indie

The nD is a new handheld ‘indie’ gaming console currently under development that will run a custom Linux OS, making it ideal for current open-source developers to port their games over to.

The device will be sold for just $20 – the price it costs to make.

Games developers will be free to develop on the nD with the option to sell their wares through the nD “App Store”, receiving a healthy 90% cut for each purchase. The remaining 10% will go to Nd.

Promotional video ahoy: –

The man behind the project

The project is steered by self-taught game developer Robert “Bob” Pelloni. Bob is infamous in the gaming community for staging a 100 day protest at Nintendo for delaying, and eventually denying him, official developer status.

If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em?

How far along is it?

The Nd console is in ‘development’ and no units are available for purchase.

Bob says: –

“We have a couple working prototypes. development boards are being prepared and will be made available.”

Further information

The nD site can be found @ the-nd.com.

Thoughts

I should note that I am not a Business Major. Hell, I even slept through compulsory business modules during University.

But it’s hard to see how this project will come to fruition.

Bob is currently seeking investment to bring the nD to market.

For me, the idea of selling hardware at cost is unattractive. Even a dollar profit from each console would be more a more enticing prospect sat alongside a slice of 10% from software sales in an untested software store to an untested market.

To go on a tangent, it seems that ‘App Stores’ are the new Gold Rush.

Whilst Apple’s iOS App Store has made a handful of developers millionaires Google’s Android and Chrome WebStores, as well as Apple’s desktop App Store, are all posting very small sales.

Couple this with the launch of a platform that, on the surface at least , could prove attractive to open-source developers creating free games, and the chance of the nD making any kind of substantial profit starts to look small.

I wouldn’t put the nD on your Christmas lists just yet, folks.