Yesterday came the tease that new gaming hardware would be debuted on MTV of all places.  What was waiting in the wings?  Microsoft Xbox 720?  Sony PlayStation Portable 2?  Nintendo Wii HD?  Try none of the above.  Instead it was Panasonic that stepped into the spotlight and revealed a handheld system that it calls merely Jungle.  Why would Panasonic try to get back into the hardware business more than a decade and a half after flaming out with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (and why won't the gaming media let Panasonic forget about that expensive failure?  I doubt that any of the 3DO team is behind Jungle.)?  The catch is that Jungle isn't a traditional DS or PSP kind of system.  Instead it's more of a pocket PC that runs Linux and is meant for MMORPG players to get their World of Warcraft fix on the go.  Gizmodo has more information.

Sure, the PSP and Nintendo DS have online multiplayer gaming, but it's not the core of what they do. That's why Jungle seems more like a tiny PC, with a full QWERTY keyboard and a touchpad along with the d-pad and shoulder buttons you'd expect in a tiny gaming console—so you can take online games from the PC with you.

In case you're not getting it, let me spell out the potential of this device: It could enable MMORPG addicts leave their apartments for the first time in years. So get ready to see that cousin of yours. Might want to have some sunscreen waiting for him.

The Jungle looks like almost like the original Game Boy Advance, but bulkier and more rugged, designed to withstand a hail of gunfire. And turned into a clamshell. It is not a dainty device. The heft is cradling a high definition screen so good, a test gamer who got to see it at PAX told us, "The screen resolution is bananas. Everyone was freaking out about it." It's not confirmed what kind of guts are powering it, but it follows that the silicon's gotta be substantial to push decent-looking games on that kind of screen. (And push video out through the HDMI port that the device is rumored to have.) Wi-Fi is obvious, but if it's going to be truly play anywhere, it's hopefully got some kind of 3G powers too.

It seems that Panasonic isn't chasing the DS/PSP crowd here, nor is it after the Apple iPhone market.  It's going more for a portable PC kind of thing that's smaller and more compact than a laptop or netbook.  Kotaku has some analysis regarding this bold move, particularly regarding the Linux angle and how that could be a stumbling block for widespread adoption on the developer/publisher side of things.

World of Warcraft does not run natively on Linux. You cannot grab your World of Warcraft disc, slip it into a Linux machine, and click on go; it does not work that way.

That's not to say that World of Warcraft will not run on Linux. Linux users play World of Warcraft every day. How? They use programs like Wine, which allows Windows programs to run on Linux. It's not a simple thing, but that's to be expected. Linux is an operating system built to do things well, not simply.

Is your average World of Warcraft player up to the task? That's not likely. If Panasonic offered versions of the Jungle with World of Warcraft preloaded on them I might see the device capturing the hearts of a few players, but otherwise the complexity of getting their favorite game running might drive them back to their trusty laptops.

I'm curious if there's even a market worth chasing for on-the-go MMORPG action.  Now I may snap into a quick round of Peggle or Bookworm while waiting in the airport for a flight or sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, but it just seems rude to open up a Jungle and start on a Warcraft raid while out in public somewhere.  Warcraft and its ilk aren't exactly the kinds of games that one jumps in and out of at a moment's notice.  I'm curious to see where Jungle's path leads it as times goes on.  There's plenty of potential here, but I believe that most of it is misguided.