Panasonic Jungle - MMO handheld canned

Panasonic has decided to drop development of its handheld MMO console, the Jungle.

Announced back in October, the Jungle was meant to be Panasonic trying once more to push into the lucrative gaming sector.

However, the electronics giant has said that it is no longer part of its plans for 2011, explaining in a statement picked up by Reuters: "Panasonic decided to suspend further development due to changes in the market and in our own strategic direction."

Maybe it took one look at the mindblowing technology inside the Sony NGP and the 3D-capable Nintendo 3DS and decided it couldn't quite compete.

Jungle bungle

Most who are savvy with goings on in the games world could have predicted that Panasonic wasn't on to a winner with the Jungle.

Releasing a handheld in an already crowded marketplace which only appealed to MMO gamers was never really going to fly.

Panasonic didn't see the wood from the trees, however, and persisted on pushing development on a console that boasted an MMO of BattleStar Galactica and a 'badass' online Machinima called Online Underground as its launch titles.

In November 2010, Panasonic even began public testing the device – although there were no reports about how well it was received.

Panasonic was always facing an uphill battle with the Jungle, especially from the press who still remembered the debacle that was the 3DO.

Via VG247