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MS Portable Not A Game Player?
Though Microsoft's 'Argo' (now known to be bearing the name 'Zune') is most assuredly a shot at the iPod, it may not be going after the handheld gaming market. Gamespot explores rumours stating that the 'Zune' is simply a first step on Microsoft's road into that particular sector of the games industry. From the article: "The Zune could also just be the first step towards something bigger. People are already speculating about Xbox 360 integration with the device, beginning with streaming audio, like the iPod currently does. But add a few buttons, a thumbstick, and a little more horsepower, and the Zune could soon be singing gamers' tunes." I'd imagine we'll see some simple Xbox Live Arcade style games, which will impact your Xbox gamertag via Live Anywhere. With Vista pushed out to January, they've got to have something to show this Christmas.
They have spare engineers for this, but they can not finish Vista?
"Zune"? That zoundz even worze than "Wii".
I can zee zat Microsoft iz actually tryink to push zis player out ze door. Just look at ze new name.
Coming zune iz ze new Zune!
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
Probably would also require some ergonomic reworking of its case and such.
So in other words, if you completely change the Zune, it would be perfect for video games! Woohoo! PSP and DS killer, HERE WE COME!
..Why would they?? Makes more sense to sell two things.
i believe this gets article gets filed under "d" for "Duh"
30 days hath September, Argo, Zune, and November.
All the rest might be released sometime in the next century.
(Except for DNForever, which will never make it).
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
Dear Microsoft:
Make an MP3 player with a slick interface that plays Xbox Live Arcade games and has public development kits for homebrew. I'll buy 2.
Microsoft has decided to take on the PDA market, after it had died a peaceful death in the mid 90s. No comment from the Redmond based software developer on their plans to also tackle the Digital Pet market.
Weren't we all amazingly shocked that Origami wasn't a portable game player, even tho they never said it was? Now we're all shocked that this thing isn't a game player, even though they never said it was? Are we really waiting for their first game player -that- -much- that we keep jumping the gun on it?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
They also seem to be embracing Nintendo for this generation, but not just the Wii, but the DS as well. They're letting Rare develop games for the system, which would be unheard of if they were planning their own system.
Still, I don't see how they plan on offering a "better iPod." The iPod succeeds due to simplicity, and having a system that "will always work" with iTunes. Not supporting dozens of different configurations and media organization tools. I wish the iPod would support more formats both for video and audio, but at least the target formats are relatively simple and straightforward for most people to understand -- not "set VBR off and max resolution to less than 480x352 with trellis quantization turned on for best results" or other lingo-riddled instructions. Quicktime has an option "Save for iPod" that works, and even I'm pleased with the results.
The five billion dollar Xbox fiasco.
The ongoing Xbox 360 trainwreck.
The dead before it hit the ground Oragami stuff.
Microsoft is acting like an open source project where it is more fun to go work on new stuff rather than fix currently broken stuff.
MS could make a great portable media player that incidentally plays games if they gave the device a touch screen.
microsoft has this problem, see. too much hard cash laying around, not enough to do with it. so they invent ways to blow it. except they don't invent at all - they merely copy what everyone else is doing, only throw a huge budget at it the first and often the 2nd generation, just to play catch-up with the originators.
this poses the problem of market saturation - too many devices from too many companies. consumer dollars are spread too thin, and even the originators have a tough time justifying throwing money at surprising and untried ideas. result of course is a slower rate of innovation. the technology improves, but the application of it doesn't keep pace. i'm sure there are a wealth of new devices or integrated multifunctions that could come about if companies felt less concern that they would simply be copied and the market flooded, vastly reducing the returns on the creator's original product.
then again, isn't that the point of capitalism? to balance the economic power of companies by discouraging monopoly, and fostering competition? and in the process, building a social meritocracy, where the most deserving and useful members of society are aptly rewarded. as a firm capitalist, i find it almost amusing that microsoft was prosecuted for monopoly abuse, but is a company which most firmly represents the capitalist ideal of active competitiveness, and proper incentive provided to the employee.
i must qualify the above statements by saying that i work in an all-windows noc with a vpn that spans north america, india, and soon asia and north africa. and surprisingly, most things work decently. we do have 9 sun machines and the 5 linux phone switches (eOns n such), but am not personally a microsoft user.
makes me hate it
First the Oragami is going to be a video game system. Then it's not...
Then the Argo is going to be a video game system. Then it's not...
There is some kind of meta-vaporware at work here.
It seems incredibly clear to me that while they don't have any interest in entering the handheld video game system market, Microsoft very intently wants consumers to think they're just on the verge of entering the handheld video game system market, any minute now. I wonder why they are doing this.
From the fires of Mount Doom, are you telling me that's this is not the one gadget to rule all gadgets?! No wonder everyone wants to throw it back in.
What we're looking at is the beginning of a new product line. We all know how Microsoft does things -- piece by piece.
This round it's more likely than not that we'll get a very high profile, seriously marketed, media player with a few minor games and the potential for expandability within their overall product line and future focus.
Microsoft really wants focus to be on the 360 this year. They have a major battle to win, and diluting their own market would be a serious mistake. I expect it will be mid-way through this console generation that we'll see them making serious portable gaming moves.
Many of us drew the same conclusions as this article, days ago.
it's a computer!
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If you have "Less Efficiency" on both sides of the equation, that beg's the question, "less than what?" The way it often works after a certain point is, the more people you add, the less the efficiency you get. Therefore we have Brooks' Law (which as the wikipedia article itself admits is rather generalized.)
makes me hate it i really don't feel that way, but simple prejudices don't need to be discussed.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
"The five billion dollar Xbox fiasco.
The ongoing Xbox 360 trainwreck."
Both of which will come to fruition when the PS3 flops.
I'll still use my old trusty Tapwave Zodiac II for my combo music/gaming handheld. Even if there aren't going to be any new games for it anymore, it still plays music great, I can surf the web with it, IM, play games, and whatever else I feel like doing with it without having to hack the crap out of it to do so.
there is only Zune?
Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
Should be looking at a gp2x. Don't reply with 'but does it run Linux?' cos the answer is YES. It is a fully open-source linux-based media and entertainment player, with nearly every good linux emulator and good game project already ported over, and a thriving community at www.gp32x.com . Currently emulated (allowing playback of a massive retro library) is Atari 2600, 8-bit and 16 bit computers, Sega Master System, Genesis/Megadrive and Gamegear, Neo-Geo, MAME arcade (based on the .36b romset) TG-16/PC Engine, and near 100% SNES, as well as a working and growing daily PSX emulator. This on top of support for DivX/Xvid, MPEG3, MP3, WMA(I think) and OGG formats with automatic video scaling and tv-output it's the best $200 I ever spent.
www.gp2x.com
Devil bunnies! I snort the nose! Lucifer! Banana! Banana!
is if MS brought out a higher priced Live Platinum service and provided an all you can eat music subscription service.
Use the 360 to choose what music you want, construct playlists, have the music playing as you play your games, play through your stereo and then just wifi it to your Zune.
As long as they provided it cheaply enough to get people hooked it would boost live sales, boost zune sales and tie peoples music and gaming to MS equipment forever.
In fact if you were trying to convince yourself to reach deep and buy yourself a 360, a few dollars extra on the live charge wouldn't be noticed, but free music for a year would be a saving.
In fact you'd bundle a few months free music with each 360. Ideally (probably essentially due to the size of the 360 disk) the whole thing would link to an MSTunes service on your PC.
The control scheme for the popular games in the Street Fighter series is not the only possible control scheme for a karate video game. Think outside the box.
The XBox360 connects with your PC, your phone, your MP3 player, even that new laundry machine.
Handheld games linking with consoles sounds like a great idea but, so far, I haven't seen any killer-app that makes the effort worthwhile. Right now it is a solution in search of a problem.
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
Then they're not the market. Some enterprising developer will reinvent the fighting game and sell it to fans of the whole karate genre, not to fanboys of Capcom® brand STREET FIGHTER® brand games. For instance, Nintendo successfully ported platformers to a PDA style pen control in Kirby: Canvas Curse for Nintendo DS. Likewise, a touch-screen based fighting game would eschew keypress sequences, such as Down-Forward-Punch for a fireball or Forward-Down-Forward-Punch for a jumping uppercut, in favor of pen gestures a la Graffiti/Black and White. Here, the strength of the move depends on the size of the gesture rather than which punch button was used.
Woah, watch out for those zandworms! Seriously, they should keep these goofy codenames internal... If they're going to publicize every single one maybe they should get marketing involved...
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