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.

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.

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 their USD$7 million goal near the end of the campaign. The original goal was USD$35 million, but they lowered the goal after receiving additional funding from selling distribution rights to various companies.

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, a new independent video game distributor Sanura-Aussoft (Sanura-Australian Software) announced to take up distribution of the Neptune in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

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
 * Rola Games and NC Games & Entertainment across Latin America, Central America and the Carribean (excluding Brazil)
 * 1C Company in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the CIS (excluding Russia) - 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
 * Koch Media and Ster Kinekor Entertainment (in co-operation with Red Entertainment Distribution) in Africa (excluding South Africa)
 * Koch Media and Stadlbauer Marketing + Vertriebs GmbH in Austria and Switzerland
 * Ecoplay and Concentra - Produtos Para Criancas, S.A. in Portugal
 * Pan Vision, Bergsala, Nordisk Film and Koch Media in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway
 * Big Ben Interactive (in co-operation with Koch Media) in France, Spain, the Benelux and Germany
 * Zegetron AE in Greece
 * AtGames (in co-operation with New Era) 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
 * Lenovo for Mainland China

Game distributors
The distributors for the markets in the US, India, the Baltics, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the UK, the former Yugoslavia, South Africa, Italy, Russia, Iceland, Israel, Turkey, South Korea 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 and Foxconn will work with Nimbus Taiwan on the primary Neptune manufacturing. Mattel was announced to support the development of Neptune, with assistance in the new NFC-based component and accessory developed with Mega Asder and Konix Systems. As mentioned before, Tectoy and AtGames will manufacture their own versions for distribution in Brazil and non-Mainland China respectively.

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 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). Trip Hawkins announced that original games developed by The 3DO Company and 3DO exclusive games would also be available in the Arcade.
 * 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.

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 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, Intel, TCL Corporation, Mitsumi, Qualcomm, Sharp, Kyocera, Hosiden, BluFocus, CESI Technology, China Huaulu Group, Samsung, Pioneer, Mitsubishi 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 two units; Semi-Conductors and Visual Elements.

Konix Systems
Konix Systems is a Bareclona-based electronics company.