MS and Transmeta: Xboy??

[Shifty Geezer]

If you look at 360, it has functionality to work with Windows Xp and future versions but all this is still in the same household. With a portable gaming device, you could expand the "Windows work area" even further. Maybe that a portable gaming device has the same functionality as 360, meaning that you could access your PC at home anytime you want (of course, this means that the PC has to be on all the time).

This sounds just like Sony's vision, and if MS are thinking along these lines they've approached it too late without designing such portable/base connectivitiy from the offset. PS3 will interface directly with PSP, with MemSticks and WiFi, and even the possibility of accessing the PS3 systems over the internet based on talk of Cell Storage of HDIP cameras. Both PS3 and PSP are set to access the same content through the same gateway. PSP seems set from the original design of PS3 to be a portable gateway to that base system.

XB360 dosn't have a memory card reader for whatever SD or CF media XBoy would use, and neither does it have WiFi as standard. You'd need extras to interface with the portable, or need a MC PC to hadnle all that, so the XBoy would be like a portable MCE. The result would be a more expensive solution to something Sony offer. Plus though they have Live! as a delivery platform they don't have the content.

There's no need for MS to provide their own hardware solution to a portable MS OS as there's other manufacturers out there already doing that are there not? And competing head to head with Sony they'll be very much on the back foot. That said, MS have got where they've got by beating their competitors at their own game, taking their ideas and making a success of them one way or another. If they could see a profitability in it that I can't they may consider a portable.

 

[Brimstone]

I'm guessing a portable could help to give MS one more bargining chip when negotiating with third parties. For example, develop for 360 and we'll also cut you a sweet deal for all the portable games you make for our X-Boy. More influence with retailers.

 

[mckmas8808]

I'm guessing a portable could help to give MS one more bargining chip when negotiating with third parties. For example, develop for 360 and we'll also cut you a sweet deal for all the portable games you make for our X-Boy. More influence with retailers.

Not smart if you ask me. And shouldn't MS have to prove to it's higher up execs that the console gaming world is a good business move. I mean the Xbox sold well if you compare it to Nintendo's offering, yet Nintendo can always state that they made one hell of a profit. MS can't say that.

Shouldn't they prove themselves finiancially with their consoles before they come out with a handheld?

 

[a688]

Not smart if you ask me. And shouldn't MS have to prove to it's higher up execs that the console gaming world is a good business move. I mean the Xbox sold well if you compare it to Nintendo's offering, yet Nintendo can always state that they made one hell of a profit. MS can't say that.

Shouldn't they prove themselves finiancially with their consoles before they come out with a handheld?

Didn't Nintendo make most of their profit from handhelds?

 

[mckmas8808]

Didn't Nintendo make most of their profit from handhelds?

Not sure but they have been in the handheld business for over 15 years now and they had a stable console market status before they came out with the Gameboy.

 

[London Geezer]

Didn't Nintendo make most of their profit from handhelds?

Yep. Worst case scenario it's 50-50. But i'm pretty sure they made most of their profits from handhelds. And Pokemon.

 

[Acert93]

I think a MS portable "game" platform of some type would not be a bad move for 2 reasons.

1. Sony. The PSP continues to broaden its featureset, and in doing so is slowly nibling away at the PDA market. Basically Sony is moving in on MS's turf. I think in the long run, if unechecked, a $200 portable game device that did most of the same stuff as a PDA would undercut the market substantially.

2. MS is already involved in portable devices. We can ponder "will they or wont they" but the fact is MS is already there. While a PDA is not a "game first" device, many Pocket PC owners do play games on their device. And as seen with the new Axim series 3D chips are beginning to hit the market. Pocket PCs already surf the net, check email, watch movies, take pictures, and so forth. The next logical evolution is to expand their abilities to the mainstream market--and the easiest way to attact a LOT of people is GAMES.

I cannot say if MS is headed this direction or not, but I think MS would be stupid not to consider it (as I am sure they are and have).

With "Handtop" devices around the corner, which plan to be not much bigger than a PDA (so PSP size) we may see a MS strategy to 1. solidify the struggling PDA market and fend off some of the PSP defections and 2. broading the scope and interest in their own platform.

Just as an aside, I am a PDA user. If the PSP had 1. a touch sensative screen and 2. an open software development platform (like Palm) I would have been sold on it from day 1. I don't do enough portable game (none actually) to justify $250 for a portable game machine.

But a portable device that can email, surf the web, watch movies, play music, run my favorite apps, work on a Word document AND play games?!

Well, that would be a little miracle of a device... especially with a large sexy screen like the PSP has. All I would need then would be a thumb pad keyboard accessory!

 

[MoeStooge]

I'm not really sure the PSP is nibbling away at the PDA market that much. PDAPhones are what are really killing the plain old PDA.

My dream pocket pal = Mobile Phone + Gaming Device + PDA with VGA, powerful processor, and no usability issues.