Warner Bros. Aquarius

The Aquarius is a home video game console released by TimeWarner and German manufacturer Iconic Logic on May 14, 1999, in Europe, December 1999, in North America, and March 2000, in Latin America. Aquarius has hardware by Iconic Logic and software development by TimeWarner. This console is a joint venture between the two companies and the first home console developed by TimeWarner, but also the first attempt to get TimeWarner into game marketing.
The controller of the Aquarius is connected to the console through a cable, although a detachable unit has been developed. Aquarius is supported by four major software developers in Europe (Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Infogrames) and the main game console has been ported to the Aquarius console. Iconic Logic and TimeWarner ultimately ceased Aquarius production in December 2008, making it the only home console to go out of production without a successor, until 2016 with Aquarius 2.
The commercial failure of the Aquarius in the late 2000s has been attributed to several layoffs of Iconic Logic employees, as well as Iconic Logic's decision to shut down its Aquarius-development arm. In retrospect, Iconic Logic blamed Aquarius's failure on its high price tag and lack of software releases.
== History ==
=== Background ===
In November 1998, the company Iconic Logic entered into a licensing agreement with TimeWarner to develop and market a home game console. In the agreement, Iconic Logic provided the hardware, while TimeWarner would develop the software. Initially, the console was to be known as the Warner System, but the trademark holder for the name Warner Bros. (Warner Communications, a subsidiary of TimeWarner) objected, so the console was renamed Aquarius. The name Aquarius is also known as a genus and species of starfish that live in the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans. On May 14, 1999, the Aquarius was officially released in Europe. 
=== Decline ===
In 2007, Aquarius sales suffer a decline to the following TimeWarner's debt to the German publisher of the Aquarius's software and hardware. Nevertheless, TimeWarner announced that it would release the Aquarius as a handheld console in 2008, before Iconic Logic announced in 2007 that it would no longer support Aquarius due to its declining sales. 
On September 12, 2008, TimeWarner officially halted production of the Aquarius. The excuse of the company is that it has "rethought its role in the console market" (it would seem to mean that TimeWarner would no longer try to get into the console market). After two years of no Aquarius releases (aside from a handful of Aquarius releases in 2008), the Aquarius was officially retired in December 2008. 
=== Aftermath ===
The closure of the Aquarius led to a drop in sales of Iconic Logic, which was forced to lay off many employees, even before it announced that it would no longer release Aquarius games. This was a sign that Iconic Logic was in financial trouble at the time and that it would not be able to continue its Aquarius consoles and games. 
== Design ==
The Aquarius is a black box. The unit is an integrated unit, consisting of a small white 160 MHz MIPS processor (designed and built by Iconic Logic) attached to the CPU unit. The unit is powered by a battery and contains a removable controller unit with a built-in power supply. The unit also contains two memory card slots, four ports for additional controllers and four joysticks for the four-player game Aquarius (a special version of Aquarius Tennis). In 1999, Iconic Logic released an accessory called the Aquarius Game Card Reader, which has four cartridge slots and a memory card slot. 
Aquarius is designed for game cartridges and memory cards, although its software can also be downloaded to CDs. It is also capable of playing CD-ROMs at 300x speed, while the CD-ROM unit is in an additional slot at the rear of the system. Aquarius is the first game console to play CD-ROMs at 300x speed. Aquarius is also the first home video game console to have four game cartridge ports. Aquarius is also the only home video game console to have memory cards that are also rewritable cartridges.
=== Hardware and software ===
The main hardware is a 16-bit MIPS processor and a RISC graphics processor. The RISC graphics processor was developed by Iconic Logic and is a specialized graphics processor (the first graphics processor in a video game console). The processor was specifically designed to work with all three graphics modes of the MIPS processor (2D and 3D graphics and video playback).
The graphics mode of the processor is called Aquarius 3D mode and is similar to Super NES and Super Famicom's Super 3D mode. The graphics processor works by generating and sending 3D polygons to the MIPS processor.
The RISC graphics processor contains a dedicated memory controller. In Aquarius 3D mode, the Aquarius's graphics processor sends its polygons to the MIPS processor at 50 frames per second, which the MIPS processor translates into the three-dimensional world of the console. The Aquarius graphics processor contains a dedicated 16-bit data bus and a dedicated 24-bit color bus. 
Software development was done by Iconic Logic and TimeWarner. Iconic Logic was responsible for creating all of the Aquarius software, including games and system software. 
The Aquarius also contains two Aquarius MIPS processors, one for audio processing and the other for Aquarius 3D mode. The first MIPS processor contains a 32-bit RISC graphics processor.
=== Game library ===
The Aquarius has a library of about 200 games. The first Aquarius game was a 3D simulation game, a game that was similar to the PlayStation's Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, but for the Aquarius console. Aquarius games were developed by several game studios and released by TimeWarner and Iconic Logic. Aquarius is supported by four major software developers in Europe (Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Infogrames) and the main game console has been ported to the Aquarius console. The Aquarius is the only home video game console to have memory cards that are also rewritable cartridges.
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Category:Sixth-generation video game consoles
Category:Warner Bros. Aquarius
Category:Products introduced in 1999
Category:Products and services discontinued in 2008