Report: Microsoft Working on Xbox/Zune Mashup
Portable Xbox? Much more than that.
Nintendo has the DS Lite and DSi. Sony has the PlayStation Portable. This leaves Microsoft sitting at the sidelines in the gaming handheld market – but according to an internet report, this won’t be for much longer.
TeamXbox has published an article that it had completed in January, but chose to hold back on it for various reasons. The information may be outdated, but it’s interesting to ponder nonetheless.
According to TeamXbox’s sources, Microsoft is working on some kind of mobile platform that meshes elements of the Xbox and Zune – earning the nickname some are calling it the “xYz.”
The Microsoft handheld is supposed to be “unlike anything on the market today … think of a mashup of the Sony Mylo, the PSP, and the iPhone… errr, the iPod Touch; [the MS handheld] doesn’t need access to a phone network.”
Zune phone? No, said the source. “Although the Microsoft handheld is definitely a converged device, this is not a Zune Phone.” The source added: “Microsoft won’t compete with its Windows Mobile customers.”
Apparently the device will make heavy use of Live Anywhere. “There will be a single online marketplace; the lines between the Zune, Xbox Live and Sky marketplaces will blur when the handheld launches.”
This could mean that one could purchase games and videos on Xbox Live Marketplace and later play and view those purchases on-the-go. Read the full story here.
It seems like a natural progression for Microsoft to try to break into the mobile sector with an all-powerful media device that’ll meld the Xbox and Zune online efforts. Perhaps we’ll find out more as E3 nears.
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Sorry but there are so many "portable" xbox jokes and how to survive in the wild using your xbox as a brick/raft/shelter etc.
Gee, this device sounds like it can do anything at this rate. What next, it can heal the sick, feed the poor, and create entire universes all at the same time as well?
Sounds far too good to be true.
Speaking of jokes, have you heard about this thing called the Apple TV?
Link to the article is dead
re: xYz
nice name...
Mobile gaming platform? Sorry, Microsoft isn't innovative enough to give people something they haven't seen before. Plus people don't seem to want one device that can do 100 different things poorly. They seem to want a device that can do one or two things really well. Probably why the PSP never really took-off like Sony hoped it would. I can't explain Apple's success, nor the near-infinite cash supplies of its fanbois.
Yeah I gotta say the odds that this is real and not just a fantasy wish list are slim. Though if this is fantasy island, Tatoo, my bags are over there.
Whoa, a device that does not work on new years eve, gets the ring of death in one! It's amazing what can be done with technology.
This device will later be names the 42 as it turns out to be the answer to life the universe and everything.
I am a bit sad knowing this as i always thought the device gaining this status would be running linux.
Speaking of jokes, have you heard about this thing called the Apple TV?
HDDVD, PLAY-FOR-SURE
[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]Mobile gaming platform? Sorry, Microsoft isn't innovative enough to give people something they haven't seen before.[citation]So you have PC gaming, mobile gaming and console gaming....what else is there that hasn't been done?!?
xbox live is the most overpriced marketplace I've ever seen in my life. Am I really expected to pay $3+ for 1, 2 minute video clip of a ufc match? $6 for an hd movie that came out in the 80's? $20 for an old xbox game that takes up half my HD? It's ridiculous! I've had an Xbox that's been on xbox live for almost 3 years now and I've spent $15 on 3 games. Unless they drop their prices to 10% of what they are now I'll keep sitting on my wallet.
Xbox marketplace is a joke. To get any real enjoyment out of it it's going to cost you hundreds of dollars a month.
@ hillarymakesmercy
I don't know how you do your math but I maybe spend $25 a month in the marketplace for DLC, arcade games, and occasionally a video (btw the Paley special on Family Guy is $2 and is a steal if you're a fan). For most video here's a hint, it's called Netflix.
Other than a few shows my Xbox has become my main media center and my HD cable box has been moved to the kids playroom.
You're willing to pay $2 for one 22 minute show? You must have more money than sense.
I'd rather watch it on hulu with 1 minute of commercials for FREE!
Family guy comes on TV every night for 2 hours on a local station near me. That's free too if you're willing to put up with 8 minutes of irritating advertisements. (I have an antenna).
HD movies should be $1 for a rental and non hd should be $.50.
Netflix is certainly the way to go if you're a movie buff.
Hmm mine was 47 minutes and isn't a rental, it's a full purchase so yeah I think it's a deal.
I don't usually rent movies or shows on the 360 but most of them are the same price as a onDemand movie so they're not out of wack price wise, but I stick with netflix mail in for new ones and use the streaming for older ones and shows. BTW there's some awesome IMAX HD ones out right now.
“Microsoft won’t compete with its Windows Mobile customers.”
What self-serving mealy-mouthed crap. MS had no problem suddenly competing with all its PlaysForSure (stupidest name in tech history!) partners by blindsiding them with the Zune (and orphaning the PFS authentication hardware.) Remember Stac?
They have (presumably) simply decided that the revenue from Mobile exceeds by a comfortable margin the expected revenue, including risk, from making their own handheld and sending their Mobile partners scurrying to an alternative like Android.
Microsoft greedy or WHAT ?
mylo, psp, and an itouch. wow...but what can a mylo do that an itouch can't? heck, what can a mylo do that a psp can't? weird comparison that doesn't tell me much about what's going on. apparently its something new to the market that's a mix between not only things we've already seen, but things that are very similar in function.