Press F to pay respects. Remember the Smach Z? A handheld gaming unit where you could pick between Windows 10 and SMACH OS (Linux) - well it looks like it's all over now.
The situation surrounding the Smach Z has always been a bit of an odd one, with the team behind it often going completely silent with plenty of people out there who considered it a scam from the beginning. It's had multiple funding rounds with €474,530 from Kickstarter and a further bunch from IndieGoGo in 2016, and they had pre-orders available since 2018 too. Over time it seems they pulled in some investors too but the well has run dry.
In a forum post from the Founder, Daniel Fernandez, which isn't available to view publicly (but reposted to Reddit) Fernandez goes on to mention how they "might soon enter bankruptcy" due to their main investor pulling out of the project and they were the only thing keeping it afloat.
Fernandez makes it clear that despite all the money, "the project was way more ambitious than the budget we were managing" and they even had aid given by their government and private investors but "after a few missteps, the investors felt forced to decide to stop supporting the project".
What does Fernandez claim are the reasons? A mixture of COVID, the charging unit failed an emissions test and problems with the batteries heating up too with continued delays that has led to this.
Will anyone get their ordered devices? Considering some have pre-ordered units for close to £1,000, it's a lot of money to lose on your dream handheld gaming device. Sadly, it looks like a no and there's only three people on their team so it's clearly not going to happen. How about refunds then? If they do declare bankruptcy, anything they have left will apparently go towards refunds. They also claim to have been providing refunds "for a very long time" already but they can no longer do it now due to the investor pulling out.
Sounds like a clear message: It's dead, Jim.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
we could be donating to one of those open source projects that exist and struggle to make money like make human and gimp...I'd never heard of MakeHuman. Awesome! They also announced MakeTherapist. Which in this day and age, I think we could all use, Ha!
Actually that reminds me of the old Eliza program...
never heard of maketherapist...
reading here, looks like they are trying to bite more than they can.
"The toon "speaks" using speech synthesis. This is implemented via eSpeak. "
eSpeak sucks, i'm sorry for those who will have to interact with such abandonware.
talking to a chater bot dont seems like an good solution for those who need therapy, we cant even pass the turing test, imagine helping people who need help from therapy, it might turn things worse instead.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me