According to this report, a drunk MS employee leaked that MS is working on a portable gaming device that would be released in late 2007: http://www.inpactvirtuel.com/news/Microsoft-Console-Portable-11207.htm Translation via Google Whether or not that is actually worth believing, a portable gaming device by Microsoft has been rumored for quite a while. According to Dean Takahashi, some of the 360 team have been working on the project since the launch of the 360: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16719 So it seems that something like this might materialize in the near-future: We might end up with 3 home consoles and 3 handhelds in a few years. Any thoughts?
I know some of the guys working on it, they are getting really serious. It is top secret, but nothing is ever truly secret. I would love to work on it, but want nothing to do with living in Seattle. DD
You can now expect Microsoft's Secret Service to show up at your door to kidnap you and your family. You need to go into Witness Protection.
I have been to both Seattle and Redmond many times and I would much rather live in either city over Houston. The only thing that trips me out about the city is Mt. st. helens and mt. rainer and all the paintings of seattle underwater.
I wouldn't be surprised if they ripped off the PSP and the Gameboy clam shell ideas and called it TH3 BEST HANDHELD EVAR!!
So I guess for those interested, what kind of things would you want from it? Should it be kind of like the PSP from a hardware perspective, or should it take some lessons from the DS? For example, maybe it could produce games with graphics almost on par with the 360, utilizing some new optical mini-disc format. Or maybe it could be roughly on par with the PSP (or better to a degree...like say Xbox-level), but use cartridges to minimize load time and maximize battery life. It might also be able to retail at $150-$200, as opposed to say $250 or so if it was more technologically advanced. Should it have 4 shoulder/trigger buttons and two analog sticks/nubs, or maybe that would promote too many ports (as if "portable Xbox" doesn't already)? Maybe a touch-screen interface would be better? Maybe both? What should the multimedia features be like? Should it use memory sticks like the PSP (CF, SD, USB, etc), or have a built-in hard drive for music, pictures, videos, and maybe even games (XBLA games)? How should it work with XBL and their new "Live Anywhere" push? Just throwing out some ideas, and I'm curious to see what you guys think. Depending on when they finally announce it, we may not have much time to guess how it might turn out.
An XBox portable may, indeed, be on it's way, but don't get too hyped about this picture quite yet: it's a fake. It was made by the guys at MobileMagazine. Link
Yeah it is old news, but I don't think we've ever really discussed it here. I usually wouldn't make a big deal out of what drunk MS employees say, but that gave me an opportunity to start a thread about this. I guess I didn't make it clear enough in the OP that it was a fake/concept.
Wow. We're getting closer and closer to having portable versions of home consoles coming out within the same generation. 1985-NES/1998-GBC - 13 year gap 1991-SNES/2001-GBA - 10 year gap 1996-N64/2004-DS - 8 year gap 2001-XBOX/2007-XBOX Portable - 6 year gap
Plus the PSP, which is a 5-6 year gap depending on if you consider it a portable Dreamcast or a portable PS2. Nintendo might stick to larger gaps, but I wouldn't doubt it if Microsoft and Sony had handheld versions of their next-gen consoles not that far into the future (assuming this is a portable Xbox and not a portable 360). No offense to Nintendo since they've done a lot in the handheld world (with a lot of success), but I'm glad Sony and Microsoft will be pushing the amount of technology you can find in handhelds.
Yeah, Nintendo has always held back pushing portable technology since the GameBoy was so profitable. By the time they put out what was basically a handheld NES (the GameBoy Color) Sega had already released a portable Genesis, and NEC had the Turbo Express.
More about the MS music device: http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/microsoft-planning-wifi-enabled-portable-media-player-working-o/ If the part about offering free downloads for music purchased through iTunes is true, it could eliminate a huge stumbling block for weary purchasers.
