A while ago, we looked at both handheld gaming wannabe, Gizmondo, firstly questioning their strategy and then looking at some very dodgy goings on in terms of management remuneration and benefits.

On the eve of their US launch on Saturday, Chris Morris at CNN has got his hands on a device and is singularly unimpressed too. The game portfolio is poor, controls are errr…..poor, video playback is pretty poor too. See a pattern emerging here?

But the thing that beggars belief is that they’re “launching” without any retail support. Oh, they do have 14 stand-alone kiosks in malls around the US. So that’s OK then.

Call me naive, but how on earth can the management justify their million dollar packages, with performances like this? And why on earth would people keep investing in this company?

I’ll leave the last word to CNN, lest you think I exaggerate. Bear in mind that Gizmondo is priced at $150 more than the PSP, for its unsubsidised model:

Regardless of whether the Gizmondo’s launch is in stores or online, it probably won’t make a big difference. The system is sub-par. The games are barely worthy of mention. And the extra features just won’t appeal to the gaming audience the company is targeting.