Takahashi: Microsoft portable coming halfway through 360's lifespan [update 1]
by Ross Miller 
{ May 8th 2006 at 11:50AM }
According to Dean Takahashi's new book, The Xbox 360 Uncloaked, the Xbox 360's hardware team have been divided in two: half to work on reducing production costs for the Xbox 360, and the other half is at work on making a portable console (we've blogged about this before). The portable, we've learned, is meant to launch halfway through the life span of the Xbox 360, when sales usually start to decline due to announcements about next-generation home consoles (Xbox 720?).Will we see any announcements at E3? Highly doubtful, but we would suspect an unveiling at E3 2007.
[update 1: fixed typo, time]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anand @ May 8th 2006 11:59AM
VERY NICE. Hopefully it will be able to connect to Xbox Live which will be a good enough reason for me to buy it.
James @ May 8th 2006 12:01PM
This will be highly interesting to watch, from an impartial perspective.
Ignore the respective fanboys for a moment.
The handheld console race has always been between two contenders, occasionally with a 3rd-man who tries to "do something" but finds themselves either to be far-inferior (Gizmondo, Tiger, etc), or greater but just out-classed (Neo Geo Pocket).
Two things could really happen. One of the "Top 2" gets knocked off (Sony or Nintendo, Sony previously "knocking off" Sega), or it will just flounder into obscurity.
My personal hope is that it remains a two-man race. Why? Look at the market now with consoles and the PC. You have 4 "systems" with several unique games only attributed to their respective systems. In order to play each system's "great" games, you would have to own each of the four... which is really expensive.
I love competition as much as the next person, but too much it still too much.
Dan @ May 8th 2006 12:05PM
You know, as someone who follows the home console harware scene fairly closely, I must say I am not entirely suprised by this. I love the fact that Sony, Nintendo and MS are competing so hard for the market share because it really means we all benefit with innovative and powerful harware and lots of great games. With both Sony and Nintendo in the handheld scene, it'll be nice with a portable Xbox...and coming from MS we know it will probably sport a whole host of great multi-media tech (MP3, wireless connectivity, etc.)
I am anxious to see the specs which are likely not to be released for a LONG time. It'd be cool if it sported a modified Pentium M at it's heart and a discrete GPU.
JAS @ May 8th 2006 12:06PM
Half way through 360's life span ? , well the portable will be out before this christmas then !
funkonaut @ May 8th 2006 12:08PM
If it runs any version of Windows, fuggetaboutit. It'll be way too buggy. PocketPC is one of the most unstable operating systems ever developed. And we all know how buggy MS hardware is.
devi8i @ May 8th 2006 12:13PM
Can the market really support ANOTHER handheld? Does microsoft expect to be able to compete against the Nintendo handhelds? This would appear to be yet another money loser for Microsoft. Their gaming division has yet to turn a profit ever.
Sense @ May 8th 2006 12:16PM
James,
Handheld consoles a 2-man race? What? The only time a handheld has held its own against Gameboy is the PSP, before that it was Gameboy or nothing. And when did a Sony handheld "knock off" a SEGA handheld? SEGA has only made two handhelds, the Game Gear and the Nomad, and neither of them had any Sony competition. Sony most certainly did kill SEGA's home console efforts though.
Sorry to argue, but the handheld console wars have only really started since Sony released the PSP. Before that it was all Nintendo.
Seriously, I'm not trying to be rude, just my $0.02.
Pretty Obvious @ May 8th 2006 12:18PM
Really? Cause as far as consoles go Microsoft has the best OS under the 360. I would imagine a portable with multimedia capabilities would really benefit from Microsoft treatment. Imagine if the PSP had Windows Media Player and you should get the point.
BTW we cant really consider the PC market as the 4th contender, they are really niche. Not that many people are gonna drop a couple hundred a year to keep their PC's on par with upcoming games.
The1 @ May 8th 2006 12:19PM
I hope they do launch a portable gaming system. I think it is good for MS and the industry to keep Nintendo, SONY and others on their toes. Go for it MS.
daniel @ May 8th 2006 12:19PM
sony didnt kill segas home consoles sega did it themselves with such money wasters as the megadrive cd and 32x
Moogle @ May 8th 2006 12:22PM
Dammit JAS!
Don't make me laugh so hard, my coworkers are looking at me funny.
If nothing else, I'm really curious what MS's hardware will look like. Lord knows they're going to try and out-sexy the PSP. Any bets on whether they'll try a touchscreen? My money's on dual-analog.
Ali @ May 8th 2006 12:27PM
Yeah go for it, make another, over-sized, retina damagingly ugly, palm meltingly hot, ear drum piercingly loud system with repatative, but nice looking, games which are only any fun multiplayer and only then if you hit your genitals with a hammer for some excitement after 20mins.
Oh and dont forget to add $150 for the Euro release
Ethan Thomas @ May 8th 2006 12:36PM
All I can say is: It's about time. It will be very interesting to see how this shapes up. And I think it will benefit everyone to have an MS handheld on the market, as maybe now Sony will get off their butt and start actually making games for the PSP. Although, it wouldn't really surprise me if Sony pulled out of the handheld market after the PS3 launches and concentrated once more on console gaming. Guess we'll see.
BPM? @ May 8th 2006 12:39PM
"Imagine if the PSP had Windows Media Player and you should get the point."
If it did, it'd be the worst media player around, hogging all of the system resources to display the flashy interface and visualization... Resulting in movies and music playing slowly...
Oh, and it'd only support a few file types...
Pretty Obvious @ May 8th 2006 12:57PM
"If it did, it'd be the worst media player around, hogging all of the system resources to display the flashy interface and visualization... Resulting in movies and music playing slowly...
Oh, and it'd only support a few file types..."
Im guessing you dont own a PSP.........
Repsode @ May 8th 2006 1:00PM
A little risky on MS's part. I don't know whether this would be a good idea or not. On the one hand it's good to keep Sony and Nintendo on their toes(though Nintendo are already on their toes and doing quite well for it too. Sony's PSP forced Ninty's innovation hand and voila, the DS instead on another GB). On the other, can MS afford to be distracted from the 360? They really should focus their efforts on ensuring the 360's success. And it depends on the type of product they want to make. As has been shown, the uber- powerful media device doesn't seem to ensure dominance. The PSP is floundering in Japan, and just barely keeping up with the DS elsewhere.
If MS wants to be a success in the handheld market it really can't put out a PSP clone. It needs to think clearly about this.
Geist @ May 8th 2006 1:05PM
I spend about 300 bucks every three or four years to upgrade my PC to some sweet specs.
Just remember you spend this much, if not more, on consoles every time they come out in order to play games on them. PC is no more expensive, always more powerful, and is in no way niche.
Lestrade @ May 8th 2006 1:07PM
I thinking the market is getting over-saturated. Will people want a third (fourth?) portable choice? I have a DS and a GBA, but as I'm considering a PSP purchase in the near future. That means three portables -- suddenly things aren't so portable after all. Why would I want a fourth option?*
I think it's an unnecessary stop on Microsoft's part, if they choose to follow through. Besides, they should be worrying about their current console, which faring much better than the last...
* While the DS can play GBA games, it's not ideal for certain tiles (such as Mario games) because of it's different button-mapping.
Pretty Obvious @ May 8th 2006 1:13PM
If you spend 300 bucks every 3 or 4 years then your PC is def not always more powerful or up to date for that matter. Your PC is average at best and still niche when compared to consoles because consoles are more accessible.
devi8i @ May 8th 2006 2:05PM
Adding yet another "console" to the mix may hurt gamers more than help the industry. In my opinion we are already starting to see dilution in the market place. The shining difference between consoles used to be exclusive titles. It is becoming harder and harder for studios to produce exclusives and still remain profitiable and or produce quality products. Indie Built folded under last week in what appears to be directly related to trying to produce exclusive titles for a system that doesnt have enough market share to support profitablity by independent studios writing exclusive content. Top Spin and Amped are both decent games but they were only marginal updates to a mediocre franchise. Adding yet another console, be it a portable or not will force developers to spend even more resources to try and support it. Unless you are EA then you have to go with where the money is and the money is definetly in producing games for systems with a very high installed user base. Something MS definetly will not have at launch of a new portable.
Another aspect to look at is wallet share of consumers. I know few gamers who have only one console and most also include a PC in their arsenal. At some point gamers walet share will not support the purchase of one more console and the supporting games.
And, MS has never been "kid" orientated so I would assume that their portable would be geared more towards the age range that Sony is trying to appeal to. 21-35 year old males are the earliest adopters of new technology but we are also quickly become parents, establishing careers and buying the dreadful auto/life/health/home insurance, contributing to retirement plans and taking vacations. My alloted gaming time per week has taken a dramatic downturn requiring me to be more selective in the consoles and games I purchase. I simply do not have the time to devote to gaming that I did 5-6 years ago.
MS will have a very hard battle ahead of them to try and capture any profitable market share with a new portable console.
Ethan Thomas @ May 8th 2006 2:06PM
The console Vs. PC debate will never die. I'll choose not to give my thoughts on it, as it will only serve to fan the fires already burning bright. Why can't we all just play games and enjoy them?
TRICKASSP @ May 8th 2006 2:08PM
I have never understood Microsoft's lack of business sense when it comes to loosing money on consoles. Sure they have the money to loose but just around the time this X-Box portable comes out it will be head to head with the New Game Boy. Good luck Microsoft, I sure hope you sell a hell of alot of Windows software.
James @ May 8th 2006 2:19PM
Sense,
Perhaps I misphrased what I meant.
I didn't mean to say that a "Two-man race" entitled that the two were actually competitive against each other. Nintendo has always dominated the market. What I meant was that you would have two-handhelds that were "the focus of the industry."
Did Nintendo trounce Sega? Hell yes. But did Sega put up a fight unlike any other (up until Sony)? By all means.
Sony has had the most success of the "2nd man" in the 2-man race.
Matters @ May 8th 2006 3:41PM
Pretty Obvious: Really? Then how come my 360 crashes more than any console I have ever owned in my entire life (and I have owned just about all of them with the exception of some early atari's and the N64, 3D0, Neo Geo.)
I mean I like what the 360 can do. All of that is pretty sweet, but it's not even close to being stable.
elmer @ May 8th 2006 3:59PM
I said a few weeks ago that Microsoft was likely to announce a handheld by E3. I also predicted that it wouldn't suprise anyone. While I'm not saying success at E3 is necessarily an indicator of success at the market, MS is surely going to lose this E3, because they don't have enough presents in the closet. Nothing at their show is going to be a suprise. Nothing. WE ALL SAW IT COMING. Or at least we were expecting it. It's not as exciting. They never seem to be able to hold their wads. What the hell is a super secret presentation for if you don't have any secrets? That are actually secret?
crono141 @ May 8th 2006 4:14PM
Nintendo will win E3. There is too much hype for them NOT to.
And maybe this generation as well...
John Lucas @ May 8th 2006 6:00PM
There's no maybe about it crono141.
Nintendo will INDEED dominate the industry in ALL aspects come next generation.
A lot of people blinded by the hype forget that Nintendo is the true leader of the industry & has been since they arrived on the scene in the 1980's.
Everyone else is trying to outdo Nintendo, not the other way around.
This is how you end up with "loss leaders" & other nonsensical terms like that. They're overspending just to get an edge on Nintendo because Nintendo's just that good of a company: on the arts end & the business end. And because they are multi-faceted deep pocketed companies they can afford to "loss lead" for a sustained period of time.
Sony's nothing more than a paper tiger that survives off of the power of 3rd party entities. Without the 3rd party Sony would have never beaten Nintendo in the PS1/N64 era & carried that momentum into the PS2.
Luckily they've got the brand recognition to help keep their image afloat.
But if you compare how much marketshare Sony has to the profits it makes from its game division you'd find yourself disappointed wondering why it isn't more.
3rd party gives them the volume to allow a marketshare glut.
Meanwhile Nintendo surviving mostly off of its 1st & 2nd party profits powerfully hardly ever losing money on each thing it puts out. And unlike Microsoft & Sony all they ARE is a game division. They have nothing else to fall back on so their business model has to be more efficient.
People wonder why Nintendo seems to be so unstoppably dominant in the handheld realm, their sister business-sector. They forget...Nintendo STARTED OUT with the handhelds. Remember Game & Watch?
The Game & Watch influenced the design of the Famicom/NES controller which started Nintendo on its long path as the premier industry innovator & standard-maker.
Nintendo began running this business model where home console & handheld compliment each other since the 1980's and when the Game Boys came out we always saw how connected the two were. The handheld always being a few steps behind in tech than the console yet always perfectly complimenting it & covering each others potential losses.
Nintendo has such experience with this (26 years) that every other up & comer finds himself surprised when he tries to challenge Nintendo in their actual first realm. Game Boy with its monochrome non-backlit screen trounced much superior challengers like Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, & Sega Nomad. They basically kept that design for 9 years before finally updating it. And then they ruled again with each update.
PSP is the best challenger so far & even IT is having a hard time keeping up even WITH all of Sony's financial muscle.
Microsoft may strengthen their game division by going handheld but it is more likely that they will further implode by trying to horn in on a realm that will probably always be ruled by Nintendo.
Not just that but they have to go up against Sony as well which does at least have some representation.
I guess like in the home console front, Microsoft is looking to become the #2 replacing Sony to challenge Nintendo.
But with how things are going with X-Box 360 I think they'd better concentrate on that first before trying to get into the portables race.
Nintendo's power lies in more than just the interface & technology. They're products are genuinely just more fun. It's that 'Nintendo touch' that others have been trying to emulate forever.
John Lucas
Huey2k2 @ May 8th 2006 6:05PM
Yes.... because obviously some random author that writes books about console hardware knows everything about Microsofts console plans.
I am going to call BS on this, seeing as how MS has stated many times they have no interest in entering the handheld market.... Probably because Nintendo has such a firm grip on it.