Microtek Exousia

The Microtek Exousia is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed and manufactured by Microtek in 2001. Originally named as the Pocket32, it was designed by Joel Langley. It was designed to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance in terms of 3D capabilities and performance.

Devlopment
In late 1998, Joel Langley, a lead hardware designer at Microtek, was disappointed with the capabilities of the Nintendo Game Boy Color. He conceptualized a handheld video game console that could do real-time 3D graphics similar to the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Langley and his team started development on the Exousia in March 1999.

Because real-time 3D on a handheld device wasn't a possibility at that time, Langley and his team had to research on how real-time 3D graphics work on a handheld device. Langley and his team bought a SH-3 based handheld PC, a NEC VR4121 and VR4122 handheld PC and a Windows CE SDK. After weeks and months of experimentation and optimization, they made three to five texture-mapped 3D games and tech demos for the Windows CE handheld PC platform.

During its early stages of development, the console would originally have a 64-bit NEC VR4121 or VR4122 processor (something that would perform on par with the Nintendo 64) with 4MB of system RAM, a 220x176 display, and a custom 3D graphics chip. However, the processor was later changed to a 100MHz 32-bit Hitachi SH3 7729 processor. Other prototypes of the console include a version with a Hitachi SH2 processor and another version with an ARM7TDMI processor.

According to an IGN interview with Joel Langley, he stated that why they chose the 100MHz SH-3 processor with DSP instead of either a Hitachi SH2 or an ARM7TDMI processor was because he wanted to experiment with the fastest embedded processor for a handheld that was commercially available at the time. He also stated that the performance of the ARM7TDMI and Hitachi SH2 processors are considered to be weak when it comes to rendering real-time 3D graphics.

Near the end of 1999, the hardware and software design for the console was already finished.

On January 7, 2000, the console was unveiled at the Winter CES 2000 in Las Vegas. The hardware was revealed to the public. Critics and reviewers were praised about its ambitious hardware and its selection of games. Then at E3 2000, pricing and release date for the console was announced. It was priced at $199.99 and it was scheduled for release on October 8, 2001.

Technical specifications
Main article: Microtek Exousia technical specifications


 * Length: approximately 15 cm (5.90 in).
 * Width: approximately 3 cm (1.18 in).
 * Height: approximately 10.92 cm (4.5 in).
 * Mass: approximately 7.05 oz (200 g).
 * Screen: 4.3 inch reflective thin-film transistor (TFT) color LCD.
 * Power: Lithium-ion battery.
 * Battery Life: approximately 3-5 hours when playing.
 * CPU: 100MHz 32-bit Hitachi/Renesas SH-3 with DSP.
 * GPU: Custom "Leonard" 2D/3D graphics chip.
 * Maximum Sprites On Screen: Up to 4,096 sprites on screen.
 * Maximum Polygons Per Second: Up to 150,000 untextured/75,000 textured
 * Memory: 4MB DRAM/2MB VRAM (the system memory could be expanded up to 16MB via cartridge)
 * Display Size: 4.3"
 * Resolution: 220x176 at 32,768 colors
 * Color Support: 15-bit RGB (5 bits depth per channel)
 * Sound: Custom ADPCM-based sound chip with additional processing by the SH-3 DSP.

Games
Games for the Exousia are distributed in a cartridge format, with sizes ranging from 4MB to 64MB. The system's library includes of action games, racing games, platformers, sports games, and other games. While the Game Boy Advance is aimed at an demographic of children and early teenagers, the Exousia is aimed at an older demographic of teenagers and early adults. Over 450 games were released for the system.

System software
The Exousia uses a custom, proprietary operating system named "ExOS." The operating system has three functions (Cartridge, Calendar and System Settings). The Cartridge function executes the software from the cartridge immediately after selecting the function, while the Calendar shows the current day, month and year. The System Settings allows users to change the language, time and date, enable the option to start from cartridge after boot, and reset the console.