Yah.. Let us start guessing some names for the new problems coming along the new handheld console from Microsoft

omg

now handheld devs have to face the strain of multi-plat development

this will flop- the DS has the kids and uber-casuals covered and the PSP has the more serious gamers and media buffs covered

or maybe it will follow the same path as the console- first one will flop hard, then the second one comes out early and does significantly better

i would like to see M$ make a handheld, would be quite interesting to see what kind of new features they can bring to the handheld world- Live on a handheld? they would almost certainly do that- with a mini Halo game to go along with it- would be pretty cool

i smell something RRODing...

I'm really tired of Microsoft because they jump on every business.

I suggest Microsoft to make porn movies. they make more money than this

Sony started making electronics but Microsoft started making softwares.

There is a difference. and Microsoft doesn't really have Sony's experiences.

3 Red Rings of Death proves my comment

LOL...Red Screen Of Death coming to a Microsoft handheld near you.

it is more complicated than just puting all that stuff you mentioned together.

If they include all that than I imagine that the handheld RROD will literally burn your hands off.

apart from that I think they would do fine, just not as good as some people expect.

just give me a handheld with 2 analog sticks.

sony, nintendo, ms, whoever.... thats what i want. :)

One would think that these xbox 360 haters (Sony @#$boys) wouldn't have the gutz to keep flaming the xbox 360 due to RROD after Sony history of hardware issues PS1, PS2 (Disc Drive), PSP(dead pixels)... at least microsoft is covering the cost unlike Sony did with all their hardware problems which cause even a recall. Not to mention other console related recalls... http://playstation.about.co...

ohh wow... can you name one company in the game industry that never had a hardware issue with any of their game devices? None... even Nintendo and their are known to make their hardware durable.

Anyways... this would be a great Idea.... xbox live arcade and XNA to give anyone the ability to make games for hardhelds brings lots of benefits... this devices would have hundreds of xbox arcade games on day 1... Just make sure it comes with 2 analog sticks...

I think microsoft got the idea on how to improve their hardware... instead of relying on companies that will try to kill them with royalties (intel... reason why xbox 360 didnt do hardware emulation)... or even worst... have cheap companies building their hardware and a million other things... they should buy companies that will focus only on making their hardware..

This is Something that Sony and Nintendo do... Microsoft probably had to consult with other companies for every component... unlike some people in this site believe that bill gates designed the xbox 360.

If microsoft is hoping to have a future in the game industry they will have to have more control over the creation of their hardware... and what better way than to be done inhouse.

What would be awesome is if they build a handheld that plays all the OG Xbox games. If they wanna hit hard out the door I would say try to make a good chunk of must have OG Xbox titles ready to launch with it on Day 1. In fact if you get Halo 1 ready to go on day one, that would sell huge. With MS support Ill bet it will be able to support Flash PLayer better then the PSP.

Imagine being able to play Halo, KOTOR, and Splinter Cell on a portable.

You think it'll be called the XPocket?

k, lets see what MS has to offer to take you money... you'll end up buying 5 by the end of its gen. each one will break a day after the warranty..

Think this is something they be better off waiting till there next system is out or about to come out. They should copy what sega started with the dreamcast and its vmu and then slap it into a cellphone (something like the iphone) Think about having a iphone type portable game system that plugs in to your x box. Allowing you to download anything off market place on to it and allowing developer to build mini games into their games. That you could download into it (like with the vmu)

theres a image already in the net from the xbox handheld ( psp is doommed )

They call it the xp360. And they have remote play to play all your arcade games from your 360 web browser and be a media player. Hmm actaully that sounds just like the psp nvm.

Epic Fail

Who bought the 7th one!?

I don't see much of a problem with it, honestly, I think it may be good. IF they take their time and actually triple check and work out as many bugs as possible before release.

Microsoft is already beating the PS3 with the 360 so why not enter the handheld market and destroy the PSP as well? Makes sense from a business perspective.

Microsoft's handheld would make the PSP look like a gameboy.

This could be really good for gamers out there if Microsoft went ahead and made a handheld. There are a lot of neat things they could do with it if they immediately, from the get go, combine it with their Live service. Imagine, combine a MP3/video player (Zune), game machine, MSN, Live and maybe some VOIP to boot.

Possibly, the hardware could be made somewhat similar to that of the 360 right now, but obviously scaled down, but enough for compatibility with some of the software. Place a large capacity hard drive built into the system, setup a Live account, and download software directly to the console. Now, since it is all running off of the same Live account, it might be possible to buy one game over Live and share it between your Xbox 360 AND you new portable xbox handheld. Programmers could easily go back and make every Live game compatible with this new handheld. Not only that, but this new system could drive the development of even more games for Live, which you could play on the console as well. It could work both ways. It might mean that two versions would have to be developed (scale the graphics back a little bit), but the user could have access to the games on both consoles.

Hell, we might start seeing more complicated games making there way onto Live this way. Not only that, might be possible (and give the a reason) to start porting old Xbox games onto this console. If the hardware were similar enough, the port job would work with the 360 as well.

My quick idea for the Xbox console

- Xenon derived CPU, 2-3 cores, but clocked down lots to save power (1 Ghz maybe)
- GPU compatible with Xenos but scaled way down
- 128-256 MB RAM (probably just over 128 my guess)
- Built in Wi-Fi and other wireless protocols
- Built in compatibility with proprietary Xbox wireless protocal (use your wireless headset or controller maybe?? Or communication directly to 360 for downloading/uploading content)
- Memory expansion (SD and SDHC probably)
- USB ports
- Video out (probably not to save costs)
- Control layout similar to 360, all buttons and analog sticks present
- large, single widescreen with touch capabilities
- Built in HDD, large size, expandable and replaceable
- Lithium-ion battery
- Stereo speakers with headphone jack (maybe compatible with Live headset... wouldn't that look silly in public)
- microphone
- [edit] camera/videocamera couldn't hurt either.
- etc....

Yeah, don't tell me you don't think that would be cool. Play a game at home, transfer you progress to the handheld, and pick up were you left off as you go. And games could be compatible with the touch screen on the hand held, and on the console use that new waggle wand thing they're working on.

I was also thinking, the CPU and GPU don't even have to be really based off those of the 360. As long as both versions (handheld and 360) are both compatible with each other (playing eachother over Live, new content, save games etc...), then it could work fine too. But that might fudge up getting Xbox originals on the system (if the CPU and GPU are similar to the 360, you might see some xbox originals being recoded and ported over, not just emulated). Time will tell.

I wish em luck if this idea sail in motion be interesting 2 see xbox handheld comericals! i hope the Handheld isn't going to be as big as the 1st xbox controller when it 1st came out!

Microsoft wants jump in a market that has 2 powerhouses, one(Nintendo) that's a legend in the game and THE market leader. The second(Sony) that's has proven itself as a huge powerhouse which was NO easy feat and taken a considerable chunk off of the legend.

All Microsoft has accomplished is two good years in the home console market. That's it, TWO!!! They haven't even won the home market and they wanna jump head into another? What can they possibly bring into the handheld market?? DLC?!?! Seriously who is gonna buy a XBox180 over a Nintendo DS2 or a PSPhone? If you chosed Xbox180.... you lose.

Sony is in the process of telling Microsoft a story right now. A classic story about a tortoise, a hare and a race... Microsoft should stick around for the ending of this before they jump head on into else.

It would be sweet to rock some halo on the go, however beyond that im at a loss.
hopefully it will play all xbox one games too, that would be awesome.

but as long as i can hack it, ie homebrew and such, i will buy it.
because thats all of the beauty of the psp.

if they make this i hope they make it a mobile phone, include windows mobile, best phone operating system by far, beats nokia cr@p, now their some unreliable phones.

DS is still the king of handheld though and it was a tough battle for Sony.

Play the downloadable xbox games, live arcade titles, and have these as launch games:

- Dead Rising
- Halo portable
- Call of Duty (by Infinity Ward)
- Forza portable
- Professor Layton and the bi-curious Village...

It would be awesome!

jeez 500mil i guess microsoft loves splashing their huge bank account all over the place. lets just hope its something decent and not a waste of time and money that they could have better spent elsewhere

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau