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 computer 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 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, as Langley knew that the SH-3 processor with DSP is efficient in terms of memory and performance. Other prototypes of the console include a version with a Hitachi SH2 processor and another version with an ARM7TDMI processor. Near the end of 1999, 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

 * Length: approximately 15 cm (5.90 in).
 * Width: approximately 3 cm (1.18 in).
 * Height: approximately 10.92 cm (4.3 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 100,000 untextured/50,000 textured
 * Memory: 4MB DRAM/2MB VRAM
 * 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 that were developed and released for the Exousia were distributed via cartridge. Each game costs from $15 to $30. Over 500 games were developed for this console. Notable launch titles include:
 * Gunstrikers
 * Secret of The Sword
 * Colin McRae Rally 2.0
 * Max Payne
 * Serious Sam
 * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
 * FIFA Football 2002
 * Puyo Pop

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, and reset the console.