Creative Teases the Zii

Posted by thetonyweapon in Launch on Dec 26th, 2008 | Comments

Creative will be unveiling a new processing chip at CES 2009. The chip will be called the “Zii”, a name not unlike that of Nintendo’s console. The chip might have a simplistic name, but according to their teaser site, it’s going to change everything. The Zii will be using “Stemcell computing”, whatever that means. That term has been trademarked by Creative just a couple of weeks ago, and it may raise a few eyebrows. We don’t know exactly what Creative means by Stemcell computing, but we’re definitely curious.

The chip has been top secret at Creative’s headquarters for some time now, and it looks to be one of the biggest projects they’ve invested in. We can’t reveal too much more about the chip right now, and we don’t want to spoil it for Creative. Just know this is completely different from their X-Fi audio chip and it will be used in a variety of upcoming products.

From my blog post at Tech in Hiding:

Engadget obviously already hates it. Despite no actual product announcements, images, or demonstrations, they have proclaimed it the end of Creative. For the second time (see their brief on the Zen Moo), Creative apparently has “gone off the deep end”, and additionally ripped the Wii’s logo off. Apparently they feel as if rounding the two i’s is a complete ripoff. Not like their beloved fruity company completely stole the Zen UI or anything. Seriously Engadget? Go find an iPhone to lick or something.