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Two gaming handhelds—one shipping in the United States and the other not available anywhere—are being touted this week by their respective manufacturers for consumption by the British public.

In one corner you've got the veteran, TapWave's Zodiac (see Review: TapWave Zodiac is a Mobile Gamer's Paradise), a Palm-based device that turns the PDA into a terrific platform for games. For sale online to American consumers since last fall, Zodiac has only been available at retail stores like CompUSA since June of this year.

"Right out of the gate, European interest in the Zodiac has been strong, from consumers and media to distributors and developers," commented Byron Connell, co-founder of Tapwave. "The company is now ready to unveil our multimedia console in other markets, starting in the U.K. and then expanding from there. We are looking forward to starting a relationship with consumers and distributors worldwide."

In the other corner sits upstart Tiger Telematics' Gizmondo (see Gaming Handheld Knows Where You Are and top image), an as of yet unreleased gaming handheld that integrates a GPS chip so developers can incorporate a player's physical location into their games. It also features GPRS, the data side of GSM, as a means to connect people around the world when playing games

"The Gizmondo represents something revolutionary, something completely new in the world of consoles and something next level in terms of gaming," claimed Carl Freer, Managing Director of Gizmondo Europe. "In addition to the whole range of entertainment features, its unique GPS and GPRS technologies extend the reach of gamers to a new, virtual level never experienced before."

The British public are getting their first taste of these devices this week at the 2004 European Games Network trade show, better known as EGNExpo—the U.K.'s premier show for computer/video games suppliers, publishers, developers, distributors and the gaming industry as a whole.

This trade show is as close as British consumers will likely get to these handhelds for sometime. Both Zodiac and Gizmondo aren't slated to ship in that country until the end of the year.