What a difference a consonant makes. Gizmodo is reporting that Gizmondo Europe (notice the “n”) has turned belly up after their handheld video game machine failed miserably. It comes as no surprise really, considering that it put itself in direct competition with the hugely popular Sony PSP and the innovative Nintendo DS – both of those companies are already established giants in the industry.

The Gizmondo handheld never really had anything going for it: the business plan was bunk, the actual machine “felt as cheaply-built as it looks”, and there was virtually no software support. No one wanted any of the games offered on the system, and one of the supposedly big selling points of the thing was its GPS capability. It might have been interesting to have games that made use of that, but instead the company promoted the ability of parents to track down their gaming children. Yes, that’s exactly what every kid wants.

Parent company Tiger Telematics is said to be in the process of buying Gizmondo’s assets, so who knows, maybe some good can come of this. Then again, maybe not.