* Partnership with Chip Manufacturer to build a new Gaming platform: Millions of Dollars

* Research and Development: Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

* Cost to setup an E3 Booth: Tens of Thousands of Dollars

* Building Brand Awareness: Tens to Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

* Forgetting to hire a legal team: Priceless

Looks as if the Ministry of Mobile Affairs (MoMA) has run into a slight roadblock with their former, yes former, Eve system. Their website has been put on temporary hiatus status until they straighten out some trademark violations. The name “Eve” is a registered trademarked of Iceland company CCP Ltd. (obvious Adam trademark jokes inserted here).

Ministry is re-evaluating their Brand that they spent so much time, effort, and money building up.

Don’t fret, MoMA, you’re not the first and definitely not the last to have this happen. Gametrac, err, Gizmondo can relate. And Eve was such a clever name, with the Eden processor and all. Oh well, better luck with your next brand. I guess the good news is you can re-announce your product at next years E3!

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Update 7/9/04 12:42 CDT In case it happens to mysteriously disappear soon, here is a full repost of the 404 error found throughout their site:

Error 404: page not found bulletin

If you are looking for a page that belongs to the Ministry of Mobile Affairs Inc, please note that due to a trademark issue this website has been temporarily suspended. The Ministry of Mobile Affairs’ mobile gaming product, formerly codenamed “Eve”, shall be renamed and this website relaunched. “Eve” is in fact a registered trademark of CCP Ltd., an Icelandic company. We appreciate their graciousness in notifying us of the issue in a cordial manner.

All of your bookmarks and old hyperlinks will work once the website is relaunched, so there is no need to update your hyperlinks during this temporary service interruption. We estimate this website will be back on-line in mid-July 2004.

MoMA’s Trademark Flaw is Irresistable, No More Eve is a post from: Portagame

And has anyone figured out what that hollow space under the thumbpads is for? Our guess is it’s an air duct for cooling. Takes an Interactive Gaming experience to a whole new level if you have a warm gush of air blowing on your crouch constantly.

MoMA Eve’s Motherboard Revealed is a post from: Portagame

Via was expected to make an announcement at E3 about a new portable system. When that news first hit, everyone rolled their eyes. Now, after seeing the system and finding out more about their specs, we realize they might actually have something going for them. Extremetech had some specs available:

The Eve mobile console integrates the S3 Graphics UniChrome Pro IGP chip, featuring a 200-MHz clock that can drive a pixel rate of up to 200 million pixels per second with two textures each. MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video will be displayed on a 4-inch LCD screen capable of 640×480 resolution. The Eve uses two hot-swappable lithium-ion batteries, each with a charge of about two hours, Hwang said.

According to Hwang, the Eve will ship with a SIM card, the type used by some digital phones to limit access. With the SIM card inserted, the Eve will be unlocked and will allow the user to play games that have been loaded onto the console. The Eve will include a USB 2.0 port, 802.11b wireless, as well as a CompactFlash card for portable content. Inside the handheld resides a 20-Gbyte hard drive for storing games.

Engadget (who informed us of the system) sees trouble ahead:

There are a lot of problems here besides a complicated content protection system. First, the price. The MoMA Eve is supposed to cost “under $500” which means it’s going to cost a lot more than most people will want to pay for a portable game console, even with all those fancy features. Second, the design. Yeah, we love the white plastic, but did they not realize that without folding up there’s no way anyone can carry one of these around?

So it’s not really a “Handheld Gaming System” so to say. It fits closer in the hybrid category along with oQo and Vulcan’s FlipStart. As far as the hybrid market goes, the FlipStart is very much on the top of our list. If Via/MoMA markets their system correctly, as a “ultraPC gaming system” and sell it at CompUSA at the PDA booth far, far away from the Nintendos and Sony’s, it might have some staying power. Otherwise, labelling it as a handheld would just sentence it to an early death because the field is too crowded.

Peter at Engadget says it best:

(why does every manufacturer suddently think they should have one of these?).

I actually like the design. Reminds me of a large Dreamcast VMU for some reason. It won’t fit in my pocket and security guards will gawk when they see it in the luggage x-ray, but hey, it will look nice sitting on my desk next to my future oQo and FlipStart systems. We’ll watch for more news on the Eve system and perhaps open it into its own category (hell, GizmoNdo has one, so why not?)

System Watch: Via’s MoMA Eve New “Handheld” System is a post from: Portagame