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Microsoft Origami To Play Halo

Posted by Zonk on Mon Feb 27, 2006 03:53 PM
from the now-that's-a-tablet dept.
Microsoft Entertainment Games
Gamasutra reports on elements of the Microsoft project code-named Origami, which has been revealed through some snooping to be a tablet PC. The device is shown playing Halo indicating there is likely to be some gaming aspect to the product. From the article: "Previous to the appearance of the DigitalKitchen video, Bill Gates had discussed a mobile PC concept at a conference in Seattle last year, where a non-working device called the Ultra Mobile 2007 was shown. At the time, Gates indicated that the device should have an 'all-day' battery life, weigh less than a pound and cost between $500 and $800. Microsoft has indicated it will unveil more details of the Origami Project 'in the coming weeks'."
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[+] Hardware: What is Microsoft's Origami Project? 243 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Rumors are running around the web about a new Microsoft gadget codenamed Origami that will be unveiled on March 2nd. Speculation can be found on Designtastesgood, Scobleizer, and Thatedeguy, and WindowsForDevices has a description and photos of a prototype Origami device built by National Semiconductor 2001. Anybody out there know more about this new device?"
Offsite: Portable 'Halo,' and other 'Origami' concepts
[+] Origami Not A Gaming Machine 69 comments
Gamespot reports that despite earlier reports, Microsoft's Origami isn't intended as a portable Xbox. From the article: "As shown in the leaked video, Origami machines will feature a touch-sensitive screen a la Microsoft's tablet PC line, will run Windows XP, and will be priced lower than most full-size laptops, running from around $500 to $1,000. If that price tag seems too low for a mobile PC with a high-end graphics chip--which would be necessary to run the Halo footage shown in the leaked concept video--that's because it is. The AP article says flat-out that the Origami is 'not a portable version of Microsoft's Xbox videogame console,' nor is it 'a music player designed to take on Apple Computer Inc.'s mega-popular iPod.'"
[+] Hardware: Microsoft Origami Unfolds 469 comments
College Student writes "Microsoft has officially unveiled 'Origami', a paperback-book sized portable hybrid (laptop & PDA). From article: 'The new machines will connect wirelessly to the Internet and carry full-sized hard drives, but they are not intended to replace current PCs....The new PCs are expected to sell for between $599 to $999, but Microsoft said it is possible to sell one for $500 if the manufacturer selects components carefully.'" More details at the official Microsoft site, and via Channel 9 a look at the system with the UMPC general manager.
[+] Xbox Author Discusses Microsoft Handheld 65 comments
Dean Takahashi wrote an authoritative book on Microsoft's original console, called 'Opening the Xbox'. We're fortunate enough to be able to read a similar work on their next-gen console, a book entitled The Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Takahashi did an interview recently with Kyle Orland, of Videogame Media Watch. There he lays out the challenges of reporting on the industry, and getting publishers to understand the subject matter. Eurogamer reports that part of the book discusses a Microsoft handheld gaming system. From that article: "Takahashi claims the team was split in two following the launch of the Xbox 360, leaving the other half to work solely on reducing production costs for Microsoft's next-gen console. According to the writer, the portable is planned to be released halfway into Xbox 360's lifespan, a strategy to assuage the crippling costs of moving through hardware cycles. A Microsoft gaming handheld has been long-rumoured, the latest occurrence adding fuel to this particular fire being the release of a movie for the company's Origami project. A promotional video for the handheld PC showed Halo 2 running on its screen."
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Microsoft Origami To Play Halo 25 Comments More /

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  • Is it wise calling a tablet... (Score:4, Funny)

    by tehshen (794722) <tehshen@gmail.com> on Monday February 27 2006, @03:56PM (#14811073)
    ...after something that you're supposed to fold?

    Do you think it'll play Snap too?
    • I just hope it doesn't just play stuff that is popular and tries to cram it in a small form factor. That's the biggest reason I don't like most PSP games, but love some DS games like Mario Kart DS and Nintendogs.

      Now, if instead of trying to play Halo, the thing had a souped-up version of Windows Journal from the Tablet PC Edition and motion sensors to act like an Etch-a-Sketch (like the Powerbooks, but without having to weigh 4 lbs.), that would be innovative. Imagine using a tablet to show ideas at work,
      • A fragile tablet PC with the "feature" of Etch-A-Sketch-style erasing? Sounds novel, but I can just imagine the tech support nightmare it would cause. What happens when it slips from the user's hands and the LCD cracks?
  • Maximizing cross-product synergies by thinking outside the box and using the new web2.0 paradigm :D

    Besides giving the marketing deparment a stiffy is there any use for all products to do all things?
    • Maximizing cross-product synergies by thinking outside the box and using the new web2.0 paradigm

      I'm not sure what you're selling, but I'll take 10,000.

  • It's about time... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ivan256 (17499) * on Monday February 27 2006, @04:13PM (#14811215)
    Gates indicated that the device should have an 'all-day' battery life, weigh less than a pound and cost between $500 and $800.

    It only took them three tries to see the obvious faults in their tablet designs. Bravo!

    If it does what they say, sign me up.
  • Last year on Channel 9 [msdn.com] we had the pleasure of seeing a brief interview with Bill Gates and during it hinted at a $500 tablet.

    See a clip of this comment and explanation here [msdn.com].
  • Just last week, I installed and churned my way through the PC version of Halo in a few days.

    My 5-button mouse made a world of difference compared to the Xbox controller. I could finally map the punch key somewhere convienent.

    Anyways, looking at the picture... how are you supposed to play Halo? Dock the tablet and use a keyboard?
    • Anyways, looking at the picture... how are you supposed to play Halo?

      With head-shot touchscreen-of-death goodness.
    • ### how are you supposed to play Halo?

      Judging from the video, available at:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1WGDW37c0&search= project%20origami [youtube.com]

      You hold it like a Gameboy and play with it like a Gameboy (no touch interface used in the vid for Halo), the problematic part is that it doesn't look very ergonomic and doesn't give you very many buttons to play with. Somebody else said it might have a tilt sensor, which would add another few axis to the system. In the end this doesn't look exactly to be designe
  • "Sensitive mercury switches inside the tablet allow you to clear the screen just by shaking it, while the core interface has been simplified down to two edge-positioned dials, using technologies licensed from Synaptics and Ohio Arts."

  • The device is clearly shown running a version of Halo...

    Now, I'm not someone who has experienced this "Halo" game firsthand, but why are they bragging about a product that looks (at least from the picture I see [gamasutra.com] in that article [gamasutra.com]) like a colorized version of a drawing that my 5 year old made on his etch-a-scketch just last week? If that honestly displays the graphical capabilities of of XBox and Halo, I'm glad I didn't waste my money.

    • Re:Halo? (Score:3, Informative)

      by amliebsch (724858)
      In that picture, the program being run is an existing tabletPC program called "ArtRage [ambientdesign.com]." It's actually a really cool app, which takes full advantage of the pressure sensitivity feature of the tablet digitizer.

      • In that picture, the program being run is an existing tabletPC program called "ArtRage [ambientdesign.com]." It's actually a really cool app, which takes full advantage of the pressure sensitivity feature of the tablet digitizer.

        Actually it is Alias Sketchbook Pro [slashdot.org]. It appears that this "ArtRage" has a very similar interface to Sketchbook though.

        Sketchbook Pro is amazing. It is the only computer based drawing/sketching program that my wife will use (she is a Costume Designer and does a lot of renderi

    • why are they bragging about a product that looks (at least from the picture I see in that article) like a colorized version of a drawing that my 5 year old made on his etch-a-scketch just last week?

      It's not intended to display the product's game graphics capability any more than a screenshot of Nintendo's PictoChat is intended to display that of the Nintendo DS.

  • Leaked product photo (Score:3, Funny)

    by shr3k (451065) on Monday February 27 2006, @04:38PM (#14811409) Homepage
    Many Bothans died to bring us this information...

    photo [tinman.org]

  • video on youtube (Score:4, Informative)

    by mzs (595629) on Monday February 27 2006, @04:41PM (#14811430)
    digitalkitchen took it down, but youtube [youtube.com] has a copy.
  • It seems the only hit that Microsoft has is Halo. No thanks, I already played it on the Xbox.
  • Gates indicated that the device should have an 'all-day' battery life, weigh less than a pound and cost between $500 and $800.

    Sure it should. But how about talking what it will have? Throwing up a list of "nice to have" features is so trivial, any /. troll can do it, we don't need Gates for that.
    • The radical thing with this looks to be the battery life. What I'd really love would be a tablet that is durable (ie I can drop it.. frequently), with long battery life, and possibly with IR so it can be a universal remote as well.. including home automation software would be a good idea too. Think of those old sci-fis where someone picked up a little tablet to operate their home.

    • First it was 15 inch monitors where actually 14-inches.

      This is true only of CRTs, but LCDs (such as the ones used in most Windows Mobile devices such as the device of The Article) are measured directly in visible image size.

      120GB hard-drives arn't actually close to an actual 120GB.

      First of all, hard disk drives are labeled as 120 GB as opposed to 120 GiB [wikipedia.org]. Unlike the situation with tons, a metric gigabyte is smaller. At least it's not as bad as it was in the 3.5" floppy era, where a "2.0 MB" high-d

      • The only reason anyone came up with GiBs and KiBs is because they couldn't stop the bastards from labelling a 111GB (119,185,342,464 bytes) drive as 120GB.

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