EVO Smart Console

Lore & Background

Envizions first announced the system as EVO: Phase One in July 2006, with a planned release date of October 20, 2006, and a suggested retail price of $679.95. The original design was described as a conventional PC built into a console-style enclosure, featuring an AMD Athlon 64 3200 processor, a Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro graphics card, an 80 GB hard drive, and liquid cooling. The company promoted it as more than a game machine, advertising DVD playback, digital video recording, and access to the Akimbo video-on-demand service. Contemporary coverage compared it to the then-unreleased Phantom project from Infinium Labs.

By 2008, Envizions presented a revised machine under the name EVO Smart Console, targeting developers, enthusiasts, and early adopters. The hardware differed substantially from the 2006 prototype, using a 64-bit AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, 2 GB of RAM, and a 120 GB hard drive. The software ran Envizions' own Mirrors Evolution platform, based on Fedora 8, and supported high-definition output at 1080i and 1080p. The system was offered in both Linux and Windows configurations, with the Linux version priced lower. In April 2009, local reporting indicated that only a small number of the initial 100 machines had been sold.

In 2011, Envizions announced a second-generation system, the EVO 2, as an Android-based home game console with a 1.2 GHz Samsung processor and 512 MB of RAM, priced at $249. The company promoted it as an open platform with cloud game storage and social features, but the release was postponed and no general retail release corresponding to the 2011 announcements is documented. Envizions also promoted an EVO 2 DX gaming PC and an EVO 2 Pocket DX handheld, but detailed specifications for the DX models were not independently verified.

Reader's Guide

The EVO Smart Console represents an ambitious but ultimately niche attempt to merge PC gaming with the living-room console experience during the seventh generation of video game consoles. Its significance lies in its early adoption of Linux as a console operating system and its use of off-the-shelf PC components, a model that would later be echoed by other hybrid systems. However, the platform never achieved mass-market success; contemporary coverage treated it as a small manufacturer's effort to compete against established players like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. The small production run and limited sales reported in 2009 indicate that the EVO remained a niche product. The later EVO 2, with its Android-based open platform and modest hardware, similarly attracted attention but did not reach consumers in the form originally announced. The EVO line is thus remembered as a footnote in console history, illustrating the challenges faced by small companies attempting to enter a market dominated by major corporations.

Did You Know?

• The original EVO: Phase One was announced in July 2006 with a suggested retail price of $679.95.
• The 2008 EVO Smart Console used Envizions' own Mirrors Evolution platform, based on Fedora 8.
• Only 100 machines were produced in the initial batch as of April 2009.
• The EVO 2 was announced in 2011 as an Android-based console with a 1.2 GHz Samsung processor and 512 MB of RAM.

From Circuit Boards to Cartridges: The Birth of Home Gaming

The story of home video game consoles begins in 1972 with the Magnavox Odyssey, a device conceived by a team under Ralph H. Baer that represented the very first commercial unit of its kind. Just three years later, Atari brought the beloved arcade experience of Pong into living rooms, and the nascent market quickly attracted a wave of imitators. That flood of clones ultimately triggered a modest industry recession in 1977. A genuine turning point arrived in 1976 with the Fairchild Channel F, the first console to employ swappable game cartridges rather than fixed circuitry. This innovation sparked a second wave of growth across the United States and internationally. During this period, Atari passed into the hands of Warner Communications, and a group of its programmers departed to establish Activision, recognized as the industry's first third-party developer. Their success unleashed a torrent of unlicensed game production, setting the stage for the turbulence that would follow.

The 1983 Crash and Nintendo's Cautious Revival

The combination of an oversaturated game library, the rising appeal of personal computers, and the economic downturn of the early 1980s converged to produce the devastating video game crash of 1983 in the American market. From the ashes of that collapse, Nintendo emerged with a carefully calibrated strategy. The company had already launched its Family Computer in Japan that same year, but before introducing the system to North America, it implemented strict licensing controls that restricted game production to approved titles only. Rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System, the hardware debuted in the United States in 1985 and proved instrumental in resurrecting consumer confidence in home consoles. The NES went on to grant Nintendo a commanding position throughout the latter half of the 1980s, establishing a business model of curated quality that would influence the industry for decades to come.

Console Wars, Optical Discs, and the Rise of New Entrants

By the early 1990s, the competitive landscape had shifted dramatically. Sega leveraged the post-NES growth in the United States to pit its Genesis directly against the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a rivalry popularly dubbed the console wars, during which the company leaned heavily on marketing the raw number of bits as a consumer-facing selling point. A broader technological shift followed in the mid-1990s as optical discs gained mainstream acceptance for their superior storage capacity, prompting manufacturers to abandon cartridges in favor of CD-ROMs and eventually DVDs. Sony's PlayStation franchise capitalized on this transition, introducing features that gave it a distinct competitive edge. The PlayStation 2, launched in 2000, stands as the best-selling home console in history with more than 155 million units sold. Microsoft, alarmed that the PS2 might erode the personal computer's competitive advantage, entered the console arena in 2001 with its Xbox line, reshaping the competitive triad.

Design Philosophy, Generations, and the Modern Triopoly

Home consoles have always occupied a unique niche between dedicated gaming hardware and general-purpose computers. While their internal architecture has increasingly mirrored that of personal computers—adopting similar chip designs and system layouts—they remain fixed, non-upgradeable systems. Manufacturers optimize component choices to maximize performance within tight power and space constraints, often reducing storage and memory to keep costs down. In the modern era, the hardware race has consolidated around three dominant players: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, colloquially the big three. Most other former manufacturers have exited hardware production, retaining roles in development and licensing. Nintendo distinguishes itself through a blue-ocean approach, championing novel concepts like the Wii's motion controls and the Switch's hybrid form factor. Since the 1970s, the industry has cycled through nine generations, with a new wave arriving roughly every five years, and over a thousand distinct consoles have been documented, the overwhelming majority belonging to that very first generation.