Tom61's Console pages - Game.com
Alot of people online that see my collection ask what the Game.com is. Considering Google just brings up www.game.com, Hasbro's site, I guess it's a valid question. (If you type "game.com" you get more sites, but most are urls ending in game.com for the first several pages!)
The Game.com was Tiger's (owned by Hasbro?) entry into the cartridge handheld games market of the mid-90's. An interesting handheld, as this is the only one (besides the Zodiac) I know of with a touch screen. It's touch screen is composed of grid (visible if you hold it right). The grid was fairly large, so you can't do 'drag and drop' motions with it like on the average PDA. Games that used the touch screen, such as the built-in Solitaire and the US pack-in Lights Out, had to place the on screen objects to where you tapped between the grid.
Where does the .com come from you ask? The .com comes from the fact that it is capable of getting on the internet. This requires an 'Internet Cartridge' and a cable. It could log on to Compuserve or other text based internet provider. That's right, no graphics support. The first version of the kit included a cable to go to an external serial modem (very expensive then), the second version connected to a serial port of a PC to get on the internet(I think you could also upload high scores to the game.com site for braging rights).
Why it failed: It was a black and white game system, and, if I remember right, Nintendo's Game Boy Color came out about the same time and you could still buy Sega's Game Gear in most stores. Another thing is the ads, there was only one TV ad I recall of, and it wasn't very appealling. The only real claim to fame is that it had a port of Duke Nukem 3D (DN3D was still very big then), but it was nearly impossible to find in stores. I also remember thinking it was expensive at that time.
There was a second, smaller version of the game.com. I'm not sure it had a touch screen. I can't find my Game.com currently, otherwise I'd have more pictures, probably some scans of the documents that come with it, and more info on the second version.
Text I stole from an Ebay auction(Who probably just read off the box);
"Features of Tiger Game.Com System:
Revolutionary touch screen and stylus interface.
Speech & state-of-the-art sound.
Built-in organizer functions: Phone book, Calendar, and Calculator.
Automatic high-score save.
Two game cartridge slots.
Built-in solitaire game.
Optional Internet and email access with modem cart."
If you know of any sites dedicated to this (except the stupid cheat sites), please tell me! I'll gladly link to them here.
