Xbox handheld coming...eventually - Microsoft

[antonkan]

Shane Kim says mobile plans for its gaming division still coming, but have taken a backseat to other pursuits such as Project Natal.

Shortly before the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, rumors surfaced that Microsoft was on the verge of announcing the ZuneX. The ZuneX was purported to be a gaming handheld that integrated with Xbox Live Arcade and "ZuneX originals" and featured mobile-phone capabilities. That's a marked contrast from the current generation, which offers only a half-dozen games despite promises of titles that would be transferable from the Xbox 360.

With that rumor quickly marginalized as a phony by many industry watchers, Microsoft has now once again signaled that its portable gaming ambitions may extend beyond the struggling Zune. In an interview with gaming site Kikizo, Microsoft executive Shane Kim said that the Xbox brand is destined for the mobile platform.

For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when,'" said Kim, who transitioned from his role as head of Microsoft Game Studios to a strategic development position within the Interactive Entertainment and Devices division last year.

As for what's been holding up that "when," Kim said that the division has been focused on fleshing out the core Xbox 360 and Xbox Live experiences.

"If we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like instant-on 1080p HD, Facebook, Twitter, Project Natal," he said. "And so we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will...will extend to other platforms." [Emphasis in original.]

One other question facing the company is what form a mobile gaming device would take. "How do we enter into that market," pondered Kim. "Do we do our own device, do we create our own phone--that's a question for the company itself--do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path, which is the path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera."

Kim concluded by reemphasizing Microsoft's desire to be a player on all relevant platforms, whether that be consoles, desktops, or mobile devices.

Source: Gamespot

EDIT: Oops! I forget the link of the source! Sorry!

 

[DSGamer64]

Well if it's anything like the PSP, I already call fail. Sony failed because of UMD and the pricepoint being more expensive then the DS, not to mention the low software development support because of UMD. The only way Microsoft could ever come up with something to compete with Nintendo is that they would have to use internal storage plus a normal memory expansion slot instead of the ripoff ones that Sony has created, basically SD or microSD would be the way to go. The issue though is digital distribution has it's risks, not everyone is going to want to buy games online, not everyone has a credit card and games will get bigger over the life of a console, especially with handhelds usually lasting a couple of years longer then consoles.

 

[m3rox]

Well if it's anything like the PSP, I already call fail. Sony failed because of UMD and the pricepoint being more expensive then the DS, not to mention the low software development support because of UMD. The only way Microsoft could ever come up with something to compete with Nintendo is that they would have to use internal storage plus a normal memory expansion slot instead of the ripoff ones that Sony has created, basically SD or microSD would be the way to go. The issue though is digital distribution has it's risks, not everyone is going to want to buy games online, not everyone has a credit card and games will get bigger over the life of a console, especially with handhelds usually lasting a couple of years longer then consoles.

lol, this whole post is fail.

 

[benjaminlibl]

I'm not too excited about hearing this for some reason. It does not seem to be capable of epic. Hopefully, some screens will come soon. I especially hope they don't call it ZuneX. That is just fail.

 

[kalmis]

People sure like saying fail. How about some reasoning why?

Anyway I can't really see market for 3rd handheld, or 4th actually with iPhone and other mobile phones. If MS can come up with something more powerful and shinier than PSP that is cheaper then maybe, imo at least.

 

[hankchill]

People sure like saying fail. How about some reasoning why?

Fail.

Wait, what?

xD

In all honestly I cannot see something like a Microsoft portable console doing well -- not this late in the game. With everyone and their goldfish owning a DS, the PSP, millions of iPhone/iPod Touch owners, it's hard to see Microsoft being a success in the portable games market. I can't see myself getting one, already having an Xbox360, DSi, two PSP's and an iPhone. I barely pay enough attention to one handheld as it is

 

[TrolleyDave]

I wouldn't trust a MS made portable. They have enough trouble building reliable full size consoles.

 

[Hadrian]

Imagine the fucking battery pack! It'll be in a ruck sack or something.

 

[dinofan01]

If they do make a handheld I think they would go after the iphone market more so then the DS, PSP market. They already said the new zune would have xbox connectivity. I'm guessing download games similiar to what are on the iphone now for a more game centric zune. Lets be real. Micrsoft isn't a threat when it comes to handheld for Nintendo. Nintendo has been on the top of the handheld game market since they pretty much made the handheld market into more then portable football.

 

[Rock Raiyu]

I wouldn't trust a MS made portable. They have enough trouble building reliable full size consoles.

+1 As much I'd like a new handheld to mess around with (if its a good one), if they can't even handle consoles then they shouldn't do go into the handheld business. Instead of RROD, it would explode in your hand.

 

[TrolleyDave]

I wouldn't trust a MS made portable. They have enough trouble building reliable full size consoles.

+1 As much I'd like a new handheld to mess around with (if its a good one), if they can't even handle consoles then they shouldn't do go into the handheld business. Instead of RROD, it would explode in your hand.

They would create a new phenomenon known as RHOD, the Red Hand of Death.

 

[kobykaan]

They would create a new phenomenon known as RHOD, the Red Hand of Death.

You know Dave ....some users on here prolly get that already without a console mate!

 

[Maz7006]

They would create a new phenomenon known as RHOD, the Red Hand of Death.

Just imagine if that happened...

i'd seriously laugh, laugh really hard.

on topic, best handhelds ever made are by Nintendo, Sony and MS, just go back to consoles.

this is jsut gonna be really crap...

 

[Hillsy_]

I wouldn't trust a MS made portable. They have enough trouble building reliable full size consoles.

Agreed.

 

[DSGamer64]

People sure like saying fail. How about some reasoning why?

Anyway I can't really see market for 3rd handheld, or 4th actually with iPhone and other mobile phones. If MS can come up with something more powerful and shinier than PSP that is cheaper then maybe, imo at least.

Considering Microsoft has only had success with 1 device in any market and that has been the 360 which I doubt will ever measure up to the sales success of the PS2, they failed with the Zune at taking market share against the iPod and the Xbox was every bit as horrible as the Gamecube was for gaming. The only way Microsoft gets anywhere in the handheld market is if they make a product with games for hardcore players, and let's face it, Nintendo has constantly been giving gamers great titles on their handhelds for years for a reasonable price, whereas Sony has not been able to do either as the mediocre PSP with all it's power could never have even dreamed of beating out the DS. Yeah, Nintendo came out swinging with new ideas on the DS but even those can't be the core reason why people have invested so much into the DS, it's because of the games and developer support. So thus far Microsoft has yet to prove that they belong in the electronics gaming industry with only one successful console, at the end of the day they are facing the biggest handheld gaming giant in the world when trying to go up against Nintendo.

 

[Hop2089]

I wouldn't trust a MS made portable. They have enough trouble building reliable full size consoles.

You have a point, Xbox 360 had some really damaging issues such as overheating resulting in fires and the red ring of death which pretty much made it useless.

 

[Pimpmynintendo]

Considering Microsoft has only had success with 1 device in any market and that has been the 360 which I doubt will ever measure up to the sales success of the PS2, they failed with the Zune at taking market share against the iPod and the Xbox was every bit as horrible as the Gamecube was for gaming. The only way Microsoft gets anywhere in the handheld market is if they make a product with games for hardcore players, and let's face it, Nintendo has constantly been giving gamers great titles on their handhelds for years for a reasonable price, whereas Sony has not been able to do either as the mediocre PSP with all it's power could never have even dreamed of beating out the DS. Yeah, Nintendo came out swinging with new ideas on the DS but even those can't be the core reason why people have invested so much into the DS, it's because of the games and developer support. So thus far Microsoft has yet to prove that they belong in the electronics gaming industry with only one successful console, at the end of the day they are facing the biggest handheld gaming giant in the world when trying to go up against Nintendo.

IMHO Microsoft was very successful with the Xbox they not only established more of a foothold that they planned on they set up Xbox live which proved very successful. They lost money on the Xbox on purpose to gain a foothold and it worked very well and you make it sound as if the Gamecube and Xbox only had terrible games, while I admit they did not have as huge of a selection of the PS2 I would have to say that they had a lot of great games. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the PS2 sales were totally screwed up if it was even possible to limit how many households had a PS2 instead of reported sales I would be it would be drastically lower. And I notice you are generally always negative

 

[DSGamer64]

If they do make a handheld I think they would go after the iphone market more so then the DS, PSP market. They already said the new zune would have xbox connectivity. I'm guessing download games similiar to what are on the iphone now for a more game centric zune. Lets be real. Micrsoft isn't a threat when it comes to handheld for Nintendo. Nintendo has been on the top of the handheld game market since they pretty much made the handheld market into more then portable football.

The thing is that iPhone games are extremely primitive in terms of controls and don't really classify as real handheld games compared to what the DS and PSP have. What kicked Sony in the nuts with the PSP was UMD which was a terrible idea from the beginning, they are lucky Blu Ray weathered the storm against HD-DVD but no one wanted to adopt UMD because of their capacity and loading times, which make for poor battery life on a handheld not to mention moving parts can also be a drawback for durability reasons plus the PSP is fairly big in size compared to the DS. The only way Microsoft is going to get any support in the handheld gaming market is through direct download content instead of discs unless they can find a way to make cartridges that are at least 2GB's in size, imo the DS carts are quickly becoming limited in data size and could never fit good 3D games on a next generation handheld.

Not to mention the timing has to be right to release a new handheld and Microsoft has said they are working on other stuff before starting up a handheld, odds are that they won't even begin doing much development work for a couple of years yet, but I have a feeling that next generation handhelds will all feature large internal storage capability and some form of expandable memory, it would actually be convenient to be able to direct download games, that way I don't have to deal with taxes and the idiots at the stores to purchase them

So I am all for future handhelds being download based really and whoever brings out the product that has the best value for games and the price of the handheld gets my purchase.

 

[Neko]

I love how everyone in this thread basically says, "oh wow MS is so fail" even though the 360 sold alot.
MS only did 2 consoles ever, and the first one was bound to fail because it was released so late.
A MS handheld could own, if they get LIVE running on it somehow. Also better CPU and GPU than the PSP + about the same screen size = win. Just because the CPU alone could make games much better, because of more clever AI, better simulation (racing games) and the GPU could make games like GTA better too. (more cars on road, more people on road)
If they release a portable Handheld and put a Halo 3 port on it, most of you would be screaming like little fangirls. (I don't get why Halo is so popular though ... but that doesn't belong in here anyway)

 

[vmprsqd]

I love how everyone in this thread basically says, "oh wow MS is so fail" even though the 360 sold alot.
MS only did 2 consoles ever, and the first one was bound to fail because it was released so late.
A MS handheld could own, if they get LIVE running on it somehow. Also better CPU and GPU than the PSP + about the same screen size = win. Just because the CPU alone could make games much better, because of more clever AI, better simulation (racing games) and the GPU could make games like GTA better too. (more cars on road, more people on road)
If they release a portable Handheld and put a Halo 3 port on it, most of you would be screaming like little fangirls. (I don't get why Halo is so popular though ... but that doesn't belong in here anyway)

X360 hasn't sold a lot compared to the other consoles the wii outsold the ps3 and xbox360 combined. There absolutely no way microsoft could port 360 games to a handheld. Microsoft should branch away from the xbox altogether and create a new system for handhelds.