Laserium Neptune

Laserium Neptune is an upcoming video game console, developed by Nimbus Electronics Limited, Konix Systems and Mega Asder, under license from Old Dominion Interactive Media Group, which released the predecessor Laserium Mars.

It is a hybrid console, which means it can be used as both a home console and as a portable console. In the home console mode, the main unit can connect to a television screen or monitor through an HDMI port. Alternatively, for portable use, it can be removed from the dock and operated similarly to a tablet computer through its LCD touchscreen. It can also be placed in a standalone tabletop mode visible to several players.

All systems can be used as development kits, allowing any Neptune owner to also be a developer, without the need for licensing fees. The system does not use region locking. Like its predecessor, the system utilizes an ultra-modified NewSystem operating system, albeit an embed version this time, with support for Linux operating systems confirmed for the Kickstarter prototypes.

Background
In May 2019, three companies (Nimbus Electronics Limited, Konix Systems and Mega Asder) pitched their designs for the next installment in the Mars console franchise to the IP owner Old Dominion Interactive Media Group, which also developed the console. Shortly after this process, Nimbus and Konix noticed that their designs and specs were similar to each other's, and started collaborating on their improved design.

Mega Adser's inital pitch for the console included the fact that it was planned to be optimized enough to support HDMI 1.3, composite video/stereo audio RCA, 9-pin Mini-DIN, USB Type A, and USB Type B through adapters, but after Nimbus/Konix's version was picked, the idea was scrapped.

Development
After Nimbus and Konix showed their improved design a month later to Old Dominion Interactive Media Group, ODIMG granted the license to use the Laserium branding on the new console. Mega Asder soon joined the project as Nimbus and Konix needed a partner to experiment with the compability between hardware components, development of custom hardware and various other design ideas.

Mega Asder soon hired ex-Flare Technology and ex-GamePark/GPH employees. They soon developed, in collaboration with Konix Systems, the custom system-on-chip codenamed Phoenix One, being a reference to Flare Technology.

Fraunhofer, Genesi and sMedio lent their hands at assisting in the development of the hardware components for prototypes. Konix Systems brought on Lynx co-designer R.J. Mical, and Xbox creators Seamus Blackley and Ted Hase to assist at R&D.

In August 2019, Nimbus Electronics Limited, Mega Asder and Konix Systems formed Neptune Technologies LLC and started up a Kickstarter for the console, now called Laserium Neptune, to gauge how many people were interested in the project. They reached USD$17 million near the end of the campaign. The original goal was USD$45 million, but they lowered the goal to USD$5 million after receiving additional funding from selling distribution rights to various companies. The Kickstarter funding was analyzed afterwards, and was said to come from outside Japan and the United States. This was done to help at clearing up what their target audience will be. However, there are plans to market Neptune to Japan as well.

In September 2019, Tectoy S.A. and AtGames were signed up to manufacture and distribute the consoles in Brazil and China respectively. That same month, the new independent video game distributors System Avenue Ltd and Sanura-Aussoft (Sanura-Australian Software) announced to take up distribution of the Neptune in the ex-Yugoslavia countries and Australia (with New Zealand and Oceania) respectively.

XPZone announced to feature the prototypes for the console, once they're completed and sent to their locations by Nimbus Electronics Limited.

Console distributors
The distribution of the consoles will be handled by the following companies:
 * Tectoy S.A. in Brazil
 * Lenovo for Mainland China
 * Pulsar in Bulgaria
 * Anvol in the Baltic countries
 * Samsung and LG in South Korea
 * Dixons Carphone in Ireland
 * Hagkaup in Iceland
 * BUG MultiSystem Ltd in Israel
 * Rola Games and NC Games & Entertainment across Latin America, Central America and the Carribean (excluding Brazil)
 * 1C Company in Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the CIS - also distributes through the Cenega brand in Hungary
 * Wywy Group (in co-operation with New Era) in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore
 * New Era in Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
 * Alesayi United (in co-operation with Red Entertainment Distribution) in the Gulf
 * Galaxy Group (in co-operation with New Era) in Thailand
 * Red Entertainment Distribution in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Laos, East Timor, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar and Nepal
 * Koch Media and Ster Kinekor Entertainment (in co-operation with Red Entertainment Distribution) in Africa (excluding South Africa)
 * Prima Interactive in South Africa
 * Koch Media and Stadlbauer Marketing + Vertriebs GmbH in Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland
 * Ecoplay and Concentra - Produtos Para Criancas, S.A. in Portugal
 * Pan Vision, Bergsala, Nordisk Film and Koch Media in Denmark, Sweden and Norway
 * Big Ben Interactive (in co-operation with Koch Media) in France, Spain, Andorra, Monaco, Italy, the Benelux and Germany
 * Zegetron AE in Greece and Cyprus
 * AtGames (in co-operation with New Era and Foxconn) in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong
 * CD Media and ARAL in Turkey
 * Sanura-Aussoft in Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu and most of Oceania
 * System Avenue Ltd in the ex-Yugoslavia countries
 * AMO in Finland

Game distributors
The distributors for the markets in the US, India, the UK, Japan and Canada are still unknown.
 * Bandai Namco Partners in Australia and New Zealand
 * Play Interactive in Indonesia and Malaysia
 * Level 03 Distribution in the Benelux
 * Tencent for Mainland China

Production
Flex, AtGames and Foxconn will work with Nimbus Taiwan on the primary Neptune manufacturing. Mattel was announced to support the development of Neptune, with their assistance in the new NFC-based component and accessory developed with Mega Asder and Konix Systems. As mentioned before, Tectoy will manufacture their own version for distribution in Brazil.

It was announced that the white and blue versions would glow in the dark, a feature suggested by Mega Asder CEO Marcus Jones when the issue about the aesthetics in the console cover design was addressed. This feature wasn't for the black version because "black can't glow in the dark", according to Jones.

Media support
Like its predecessor, the sound system was developed by Vexner Laboratories specifically for the system. The software includes the last position memory feature on its native media player software. This was to make Neptune more of an general entertainment system (a device with integrated features from personal assistants, portable media players and so on), in case the system wasn't used as a gaming console.

The soundtracks on the Neptune games is required to be uncompressed and lossless.

Neptune Partners program
In August 2019, with the Kickstarter campaign, it was announced that Konix Systems, Mega Asder and Nimbus Electronics Limited formed a developer-centric program Neptune Partners to provide content and help the manufacturing and production for Laserium Neptune. Every backer who backed $1000 or more became part of the program, when it was confirmed that the backer in question was a developer. Nimbus announced that in the future, anyone could apply to the program, however, the requests may take up to a week to process, due to possible overflow.

Partners

 * NEC announced that the TurboGrafx-16, TurboGrafx-CD, TurboDuo, TurboExpress and SuperGrafx game libraries will be available in the Arcade, within the Neptune's game store (codenamed Alpha Zone Store).
 * Unity Technologies announced to add support for Laserium Neptune into its Unity game engine, starting after next few updates.
 * THQ Nordic announced to publish games for Laserium Neptune in the near future.
 * Testronic Laboratories and Keywords Studios announced to provide official QA and related services for indie titles and future console accessories.
 * China Post Group, Sky Team, OneWorld and Parcel Force Worldwide announced to assist at speedy delivery to distributors, claiming that they can help at delivery of units with each delivery being 550,000 units total, taking less than 12 hours for every delivery.

Nimbus Electronics Limited
Nimbus Electronics Limited is a British consumer electronics company, founded in 2019, by ex-Laserium Mars developers Ryan Martin and James Fields.

Aside from being one of the main developers of the Neptune, Nimbus also operates as the developer relations team for the project.

History
On January 30, 2019, ODIMG Technologies filed for bankruptcy. The former key members of the operations, Ryan Martin and James Fields, went on to form Nimbus Electronics Limited, with backing from Brittany Kurosaka, the owner of Qualis. They shortly afterwards acquired patents and trademarks related to Laserium Mars and its then-planned successor, along with other patents, including patents related to Mattel's HyperScan console, albeit for a new console accessory.

The company's purpose was "to produce a series of consoles that can take on two of the biggest console franchises ever (Xbox and PlayStation)".

Around March 2019, Nimbus Electronics proposed a Sinclair-branded 3D-capable video game system to Sinclair Research and Sky plc (owner of the Sinclair trademark), but as result of the failure of ZX Spectrum Vega+, the proposal was denied.

In May 2019, Nimbus Electronics and Virgin Group announced to work on a gaming console, however those plans were quickly halted, which resulted in Nimbus pitching around the project until they pitched it to Old Dominion Interactive Media Group, which gave birth to the Neptune project.

Nimbus Taiwan
In September 20, 2019, Nimbus Electronics Limited hired people who have worked at numerous manufacturing plants for numerous hardware-focused companies (e.g. Quanta Computer, Pegatron, Saygus, Compal Electronics, Xperi Corporation, Acer, Funai Electric, Hitachi, LG, Western Digital, Memory-Tech Holdings, GlobalFoundries, AMD, NVidia, Corsair, Intel, TCL Corporation, Mitsumi, Qualcomm, Sharp, Kyocera, Hosiden, BluFocus, CESI Technology, Scenarist, Texas Instruments, CyberLink, Macrovision, Ritek, Irdeto, MediaTek, Denuvo, China Huaulu Group, Samsung, Pioneer, Mitsubishi, Lite-On and Toshiba), and reportedly also "migrated Chinese factory workers", to form a subsidiary called Nimbus Taiwan, with its business based in New Taipei, Taiwan.

To maintain their business aside from manufacturing and developing Neptune hardware, it also works for various electronics companies as an OEM and a semiconductor foundry.

The business is split between three units; Semi-Conductors, DRM Technology and Display Technology.

Konix Systems
Konix Systems is a Spanish/Taiwanese electronics company, founded in 1995 as Konix de España S.p.A. after a merger between a Barcelona-based company and an unknown Taiwan-based manufacturer which became its production facilities at first, orchestrated by Konix, the British electronics company. They spun off from Konix in 2002, and are allowed to keep their Konix name. Shortly after spinning off, the Taiwanese facilities became their second headquarters.

In 2006, they acquired patents related to ApeXtreme, Indrema L600, the Eve handheld console, XGP, Gizmondo, 3DO consoles, Ericsson's Red Jade and TapWave Zodiac, hoping to launch a handheld and home console series within 15 years.

Mega Asder
Mega Adser is a Johannesburg-based semiconductor and video game console manufacturer, founded in 2009.