The Game Wave Family Entertainment System, commonly abbreviated as Game Wave, is a hybrid

DVD player A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...

and

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...

manufactured by

ZAPiT Games ZAPiT Games, Inc. was a Canadian company based in Mississauga, Ontario. It was formed in 2003 to create a family oriented home video game console.seventh generation of video game consoles The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nint ...

History

In October 2004 the first Game Wave prototype system was made. It was first released in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in October 2005. It was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at an

MSRP The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

of $99. It was packaged with the

pack-in game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

''4 Degrees: The Arc of Trivia, Vol. 1'' (later changed to ''VeggieTales: Veg-Out! Family Tournament''). Because of the use of family friendly games and a partnership with

VeggieTales ''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retell ...

, the system found some success with Christian households. The system was discontinued in 2009. A followup console had been planned for 2009.

Hardware

The Game Wave was packaged with both

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

and

S-Video S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video ) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chan ...

cables, along with 4 IR-based wireless controllers (modeled after typical DVD remote controllers) and a case that holds up to 6 controllers. The case and console are designed to sit side-by-side on a shelf to form a complete wave shape. The primary processor of the system is the Mediamatics 8611, which is coupled with 16 megabytes of SRAM and 2 megabytes of NOR flash memory storage. An

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MAX II CPLD is also used. An Atmel serial EEPROM is used for save data. The system uses a dedicated 2 channel audio DAC in order to avoid royalties for the one integrated in the Mediamatics processor. Game software for the Game Wave Family Entertainment System is typically scripted in

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. The system can operate as a typical DVD player.

Controllers

The Game Wave controller has 4-directional navigational buttons used for menu navigation and DVD playback control. The controller has 4 alphabetical buttons along the top labeled "A", "B", "C", and "D" designed primarily for selecting responses in

trivia games Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...

. A

numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the palm-sized, usually-17-key section of a standard computer keyboard, usually on the far right. It provides calculator-style efficiency for entering numbers. The idea of a 10-key nu ...

lines the bottom of the controller with Menu and Setup buttons. The Game Wave controllers came in 6 colors: blue, yellow, green, red, purple, and orange. Blue, yellow, green, and red come packaged with the console, whereas the purple and orange controllers could be purchased separately for an MSRP of $30. Each controller color has a different IR

beat frequency In acoustics, a beat is an interference pattern between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, ''perceived'' as a periodic variation in volume whose rate is the difference of the two frequencies. With tuning instruments that can produce ...

, allowing the console to differentiate the different controllers for

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

gameplay for up to 6 players (if the game in question supports it).

Games

Due to the shape of the controller and marketing concerns for a "Family Entertainment System," no heavily action-based game genres are present within the Game Wave's 13 game library. Rather, the software library consists mainly of

trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forke ...

and

puzzle games Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. ...

. In addition, many Game Wave games are heavily inspired by other video games and TV shows. A 14th game, Quiz Konnect was developed for the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

market.

References

External links

* (Archived)
Game Wave - Video Game Review
at

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

{{Home video game consoles Seventh-generation video game consoles Home video game consoles Products introduced in 2005 DVD interactive technology Discontinued video game consoles Video gaming in Canada