Notebook Manufacturer Acer Planning to Make a Game System

No, it’s not April 1st, and as far as I can tell, this isn’t any sort of joke. Acer, the Taiwan-based company which is the third largest computer manufacturer in the world and made headlines last year when it acquired Gateway, has announced that it intends to enter the game console market.

At a press conference last week, Acer exec James T. Wong said that the company is thinking about developing a videogame platform with an emphasis on “open standards.”

“If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right now — Nintendo’s, the Xbox — they are ‘closed’ and proprietary systems,” he told BetaNews.

So should Microsoft, Nintendo and the snubbed Sony be worried about the AcerStation, as I plan on calling it? Probably not. Given the monetary investment it’s taken Microsoft to enter the home console market and the appropriately named Phantom, an interest in joining the fray doesn’t mean much.

But, a dedication to open standards would be an interesting selling point, and would be a haven for independent developers – assuming, of course, the system ever got an install base. Without charging some sort of royalties, though, I don’t see how Acer could avoid a high price tag on the system.

With its background in hardware manufacturing, at least we can assume that the AcerStation won’t suffer from the Red Rings of Death.

via NeoGAF