Is Polium One The Worst Console Idea Ever?

Answering The Question No One Asked

Have you ever found yourself craving a play-to-earn cryptocurrency video game but that pesky lack of PC hardware to do so got in your way? New startup Polium is hoping to solve this dilemma via the Polium One - a brand new console designed to be “the world’s first multi-chain gaming console for Web3”.

What's Web3 you wonder?  Well, we're only at Web2 at present but this new platform isn't expected to hit shelves until Q3 of 2024 so the team involved is looking to the future.

Web2 is the idea that the internet is controlled primarily by companies that provide services in exchange for personal data.  In short, one where your identity is the ultimate currency. Web3, by comparison, is a continuation of this idea; a network built of decentralized apps that run on a digitally distributed, public ledger that exists across a network.

If all of this means nothing to you - the idea is that your online ID will essentially contain a wallet full of a crypto from a bunch of different currencies and that will, in the future, be how all online transactions are handled rather than this foolish credit card/ cash thing we have going on now.

Whether or not this will prove correct is beside the point - Polium thinks it will and, apparently, is betting that gamers are going to want a piece of this NFT/ Web3 interactive experience.

The Polium One will allow console players the opportunity to experience Web3 games across a multitude of blockchains and without needing to manage multiple crypto wallets.  In essence, you would set up your ID once, then game away across a library of NFT reward-based play-to-earn games on the big screen, assured in the fact that no matter what type of NFT or crypto the given game pays out for your loyalty, it will be tallying to your single account.

As you might imagine, the game community at large is less than excited to hear about a company trying to tout the future of gaming centering on a crypto/ NFT trading platform built around what amounts to fairly simple browser-based PC games in the living room.  A quick google search of "Polium One" reveals enough criticism, skepticism and cynicism to make even the most diehard business tycoon shudder.

As if all of the naysaying of the technology itself weren't enough, Polium finds itself under additional scrutiny by the gaming industry for developing a logo, that, to the eyes of many, comes dangerously close to Nintendo's own Gamecube branding.

Their website also states that because the console will require top-tier identity protection (after all, your profile in the system will also be your crypto wallet), it will come standard with fingerprint identification scanning - a technology they are calling "TouchID".

The trouble here is "TouchID" is a copyrighted Apple technology.  Lastly, one need only glance at their controller design to realize it is a copy/paste job of the Sony DualShock 4.  In short, we suspect Polium will need to do a lot of design alteration between now and release just to avoid a slew of copyright infringement trouble.

- Some game to remember, some game to forget.

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