Microsoft is developing a portable gaming/video/music machine to compete with PSP and iPOD.

Good luck - you' re going to need a lot of it and then some more.

Check some comments from Moore on IGN.

Yeah i just seen it too...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/683/683783p1.aspx

It could be good y' know, but...Xboy? C' mon they have got to think up a better name than that!

If it' s small enough (unlike Gizmondo), looks nice, has a HD (min 4GB), has music/video playback, internet access, a decent battery lifespan and is powerful to boot, ...it' ll sell.

Portable Halo? Mmmmmmmmm!

honestly from nongamers perspective - Microsoft will never win with Apple when it comes to " normal people" - those guys want a chic ,intuitive device that won' t separate them from the experience , and instead connect them with it.

They want to get a piece of itunes market so bad - they act like they are really desperate.Loosing money on Xbox , trying to come up with some new online services for media (that noone cares about) while Apple controls 85% of music industry (that much content is being bought through itunes - the rest are: CD' s and some other services)

They Can' t win with Nintendo here , and it will be hard to fight with Sony as well.

I just hope those Windows fuckers never get to dominate GAMING+OS+MUSIC+MOVIES.

I' d rather live under Sony' s monopoly than MS' s

It would be foolish if microsoft <b>didn' t</b> try this.
As great as the ipod is, it also leaves much to be desired.
Same goes for the psp, there is so much more people are interested in doing while being portable.

I think microsoft is more interested in bringing the windows functionality to handhelds, this is what they' ve already tried a few times.
But the problem with windows mobil is it stinks for games.
The blackberry is also not the greatest gaming machine.

But the xbox is a great gaming machine, now if you use what you' ve learned from the xbox to make a console it might work out really well.

All they need to do is take the 360 pad, make it slightly wider but not bulkier, give it a screen as big as PSP' s and use mini-dvd' s for the game medium. Make it more powerful that PSP and give it a hard-drive.

Ofcourse they won' t do that though because it won' t be just a gaming machine, it' ll be shaped similar to the PSP no doubt. Still, it would' ve been nice!

A Microsoft handheld? An Xblox? Very interesting indeed! The only thing troubling me is that it would be another system to buy...

Everyone here know that MS owns the rights to the iPod correct? They make money off everyone sold I believe. It was some big screw up for Apple with turning in their patents late. They really don' t need to compete with the iTunes market that much since they are already making money off Apple.

ORIGINAL: Rampage99

Everyone here know that MS owns the rights to the iPod correct? They make money off everyone sold I believe. It was some big screw up for Apple with turning in their patents late. They really don' t need to compete with the iTunes market that much since they are already making money off Apple.

That is partially true. Microsoft filed for the patent on the scroll wheel five months before Apple did, BUT, they can' t collect any royalties YET. Apple filed a declaration stating that it invented the wheel before Microsoft filed for the patent. Since the Ipod was on the market BEFORE Microsoft' s patent application they stand a pretty good chance of winning this one.

This is the info that I got, anyways. I heard this a while ago, though, and I don' t know if there have been any more developments since then.

Hehe, I asked the question " why isn' t MS releasing a portable" in another thread like a week ago (or more) and now it seems they do have plans for one
I hope they take the name I played with " Microsoft XP" (Xbox Portable) which might get confused with Windows XP.
Someone said that MS are too smart to release a portable because they wouldn' t stand a chance against Nintendo. Well, obviously they think they do stand a chance.
But how big are their chances anyway?

Depend entirely on Nintendo' s proper sucessor to the GBA. DS is their " 3rd pillar" , and not a continuation of the Gameboy line. If Nintendo get the next Gameboy right then both PSP and whatever Microsoft dub their own handheld, ...are screwed sales wise. Nintendo knows handhelds better than anyone!

sucessor to GBA is DS - get used to it - if DS didn' t sell so good , you would have a GBA succesor in other form.

MS chances?
Depends on what they design (what kind of hardware) , but looking at their previous work I think they shpuld stay out of this.

MS and iPod Thing - I heard that to , but it went quiet after that so who knows.

DS is NOT, i repeat NOT the successor to the GBA!!! Nintendo said before DS launched that it wasn' t and they' ve said after that it isn' t.

Nintendo are, and have been working on ' Gameboy Evolution' for quite some time. Games are said to be disc based and slightly better than Dreamcast, which would put it in direct competition with PSP. Expect an announcement this year sometime.

Anyway Gangsta, how' s your DS game coming?

DS is NOT, i repeat NOT the successor to the GBA!!! Nintendo said before DS launched that it wasn' t and they' ve said after that it isn' t.

N said that DS is a trial - if it sells 50 000 it means it is succes.It sold much more and you should realize that the next big thing from N is either the DS succesor or a new system based on GB and DS trademarks.

That game is still not mine - I need to send them my work on monday and they will decide wether they want me or not.

I' ll tell you one thing though - it sucks , it' s just like work - designing those fuckin levels and every single opponent and the time he attacks and the way he acts ...

It is as boring as every other job :)

Dude, if GBA was the successor to GB then the successor to GBA would be based on GB trademarks anyway... *lost*

It definately won' t be a DS successor. DS Lite debuts in March in Japan and then everywhere else later, much like the GBA:SP did. Then towards the end of the year (hopefully at E3 actually) an announcement will be made about the Gameboy' s next incarnation (for seriously harcore gamers!!!).

See, i remember hearing of an unofficial meeting back during E3 2004 about a new Sega handheld, but supposedly the announcement was pulled at short notice because of PSP. Sega' s rumoured handheld was supposedly underpowered and underfeatured when compared to the PSP. Now when i first heard about it, it made sense, but then when i thought about it properly i didn' t believe it. But, ...rumors have continued and Sega just put out a cellphone in Japan, and it' s actually possible that they could come up with something (but that' s speculation on my part).

Still, imagine a GB Next vs PSP vs MS-XP (Xbox Portable, ...genius!) vs Sega Whatever...

Considering the success of the DS I wouldn' t expect a GBA successor in the next two years. The new portable would compete directly with the DS even though they would be different with how you control the games.
I doubt Nintendo would be stupid enough to do such a thing. There will be lots of confusion with two handhelds from the same company and sales would probably decrease giving Sony the upper hand since they only have one handheld. Also, not many would want to buy two machines for simple reasons: Money and space. It' s convinient to only have one portable with you. And you don' t want to have to choose between two everytime you' re going out. It would be a nightmare for the Nintendo fans and the N-fans are Nintendos most important audience.
So I say that NDS is the successor of GBA and GB Evolution, which we won' t see for quite a while, will be the DS successor.

exactly and who really cares for GB evolution with DC graphics? I' m having way too much fun with my DS as it is.

You really believe that after getting to all those mainstream people (old and female nongamers) N would say " Fuck you , now we' re getting back to GB" - that is so naive.

Have you heard about a thing called revolution? would you say that after that N is going to make a true GameCube succesor with really great HD graphics?

No, but Nintendo do keep talking about ' choice' . I mean, they' e not even stopping production of the original DS once Lite launches, and GBA is still on the market (and for a time there were 2 versions of that co-existing). GBA co-existed with GBC, ...etc.

Anyway, we' ll see. They need to do something because PSP will take over sales wise this year and Nintendo will lose it' s position as the leading handheld manufacturer and in turn much profit. And if MS is going handheld too then that' s even more competetion!

Nintendos previous handhelds could co-exist since Nintendo had a monopoly.
It' s different now when there are successfull rival handhelds.
If Nintendo would release a GB Evo. they would also appear to be abandoning their image of " gameplay over graphics" as well as those who bought the DS.
And if the GB Evo has DC graphics it would be inferior to PSP and MS-XP which would make it completely useless.
The only thing Nintendo can do is to put everything the' ve got on the DS. I hope they make sure to make lots of games on the Rev that has some connectivity with the DS.
I' m not sure the PSP will take over the sales this year just because some analyst says that. Especially not in Japan.

Firstly PSP although capable of more, isn' t currently outputting DC quality visuals.

Secondly, Nitendo;d image was never about gameplay over graphics, it was about how games are played, how they can be played differently, and how to get people who don' t usually play games..playing.

Thirdly, although Nintendo came out of 2005 slightly ahead in terms of handheld sales figures, DS also had a very large lead in all territories, so PSP has covered an awful lot of ground to catch up so quickly. It isn' t hard to see how PSP will overtake DS this year at all.

Forthly, this; http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/16/so-whatever-happened-to-the-next-game-boy/ is about it (kind of), and although pure speculation (mostly), it does have a few notable points.

And bear in mind that GBA and GCN were launched exceedingly close together.

http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/nintendogameboyevolution/

There was a lot of really stupid speculation in that joystick article. Some things almost made me laugh.
When consoledatabase.com says that the GBE will use mini-discs as media, I hope they mean discs in miniature size and not Sonys mini-discs (see the problem?).
Just another stupid speculation.
If we see a GBE this year, I promise you, I will print my words on this subject on a paper and eat it. I will use ketchup though, but I will eat it. And the text size will be at least 12.