Panasonic Jungle gets some public testing

Public testing has started on the Panasonic Jungle gaming device in the US.

A select group of the great unwashed have been asked to try out the handheld console that's looking to take on the might of the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.

The Panasonic Jungle is an interesting beast in the handheld market. It's a console that's primed for online gaming and, in particular, MMOs.

The Jungle houses a QWERTY keyboard, runs Flash and has all the normal gaming buttons you would expect.

It's a Jungle out there

It's not a device that the lucrative MMO market has embraced just yet, however. While there's a trickle of titles announced for the Panasonic Jungle, including a BattleStar Galactica game, they have been thin on the ground.

Lucky, then, that the Jungle is also targeting the Machinima market, with something called Online Underground.

This isn't Panasonic's first stab at a console. The company also launched the 3DO way back in 1994.

Considering the 3DO didn't exactly set the gaming world alight, Panasonic will be hoping that it has more success with its Jungle jaunt.