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MS Portable Not A Game Player?

Posted by Zonk on Thu Jul 13, 2006 03:19 PM
from the conflicting-reports dept.
Portables (Games) Media Media (Apple) Microsoft
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.
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[+] News: Microsoft Confirms New Music Player 415 comments
Udo Schmitz writes "It's official now. Reuters confirms the rumors that Microsoft wants to take on Apple's iPod and iTunes. From the article: 'Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it plans to release a new music and entertainment player and accompanying software under the "Zune" brand this year, in a belated attempt to challenge the dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player ... Microsoft sources said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, is working with J. Allard, vice president of its Xbox team, on the digital media player/software project.'"
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MS Portable Not A Game Player? 25 Comments More /

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  • Something wrong with the priorities (Score:4, Funny)

    by SchwarzeReiter (894411) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:25PM (#15714207)
    They have spare engineers for this, but they can not finish Vista?
    • More people != more efficiency.

    • Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Osty (16825) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:35PM (#15714266) Homepage

      They have spare engineers for this, but they can not finish Vista?

      Do you really think that everyone at Microsoft works on Windows? What would you expect a bunch of hardware guys to be able to do with a software project, anyway? This argument is silly. Adding more people to Vista won't necessarily make it ship any sooner (and more likely would cause even more delays), and that's assuming Microsoft would move the developers anyway. They have many projects in many markets, and they're not going to sacrifice that just because the bread-winner OS is struggling (there's still Office to bring in the cash).

      Should everybody at Sun work on Java? Should everybody at IBM work on WebSphere? Should everybody at Google work on search? Should everybody at Sony work on PS3? So why should everybody at Microsoft work on Windows?

    • Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hey! (33014) on Thursday July 13 2006, @04:44PM (#15714685) Homepage Journal
      As the old saying goes, hire one boy to mow they lawn, you get one boy. Hire two boys, and you get half a boy. Hire three boys and you get none.

      Why: because it's work dealing with colleagues. Or maybe play, but either way your get less productive time per person because of interaction overhead.

      Similarly, if ten engineers can finish a project in a year, it's almost certainly the case that 120 engineers won't be able to finish the project in a month. Some problems can't be cleanly decomposed, which means the limiting factor is going to be a sequence of such prblems that require a irreducible quantity of time on a lead engineer's brain. In fact, in a less than perfectly administered project, 120 engineers might take longer than a year, as your most experienced engineers find more and more of their time eaten up with supervisory issues and meetings. A perfectly managed project that could be done in a year by ten engineers, but had 120 at its disposal, might take a hundred of the surplus engineers and put them in a different building, occasionally sending them a problem to work on but not seeing them on a day to day basis. Or maybe it would break the 120 enginers up into six or more teams and let them work independently, and see who succeeds first.

  • How nice iz zat? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kesch (943326) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:26PM (#15714218)
    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!

  • Yeah, right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WedgeTalon (823522) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:28PM (#15714231)
    But add a few buttons, a thumbstick, and a little more horsepower, and the Zune could soon be singing gamers' tunes

    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!

  • Little rhyme to keep them straight (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kesch (943326) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:33PM (#15714261)
    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).

  • Give me this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by the computer guy nex (916959) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:34PM (#15714262)
    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.

  • Didn't we do this already? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by InfinityWpi (175421) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:38PM (#15714282)
    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?

  • Is it or isn't it? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by oahazmatt (868057) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:38PM (#15714285) Journal
    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.
    If Microsoft is not going after the handheld market, then how is it venturing into the portable game sector at all? Just because they'll make something portable? My cellphone is portable and has really cheesy games, but that does not mean the company will venture into the handheld game market.


    ...my phone's a Nokia.

    • Re:Is it or isn't it? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by powerlord (28156) on Thursday July 13 2006, @04:12PM (#15714495) Journal
      I think part of it might be the inherent connectivity between a Game System and a Handheld finally kicking in.

      Until now, the only popular Game Systems that could interact with a handheld came from Nintendo (yes there were others but Nintendo has dominated the handheld market for a while now).

      Fast forward to the 'new' generation.

      The Wii can connect with the DS (and/or GBA?).
      The PS3 can connect with the PSP.
      The XBox 360 can connect with the?

      I know a few Nintendo and Playstation titles have started exploring this in the generation thats ending (Gamecube/PS2), but this crossover play is something that really hasn't been explored much (although ironically, in Japan, cell phones are being hooked into the equation as well).

      If you are expecting to see this sort of thing as a "wave of the future" then of course [sarcasm] MS must be developing their own handheld, or else be ready to give up that advantage to their competitors [/sarcasm]

      I don't expect MS to tackle the handheld market just yet, competing with the iPod seems an easier target (the content already exists, you don't have to develop/publish it).

      It also seems a harder target (most people love their iPod more than their handheld, of course a good device that did both would ROCK :D )

  • Given their ambivalence towards Nintendo (Score:3, Informative)

    by EggyToast (858951) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:38PM (#15714292) Homepage
    It's not too surprising that they would be more interested in the portable music and media player rather than portable video games. There's more money in getting a format licensed and having other people support it, paying licensing fees, compared to maintaining and supporting a portable video game player and games.

    They also seem to be embracing Nintendo for this generation, but not just the Wii, but the DS as well [gamespot.com]. 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.

  • 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 throwi

  • WTF! (Score:3, Funny)

    by creimer (824291) on Thursday July 13 2006, @03:59PM (#15714423) Homepage
    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.

  • Surprised it took so long (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TaggartAleslayer (840739) on Thursday July 13 2006, @04:04PM (#15714453)
    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 [hrgamer.com], days ago.

  • Of course it's not a game player... (Score:3, Funny)

    by rsilvergun (571051) on Thursday July 13 2006, @04:06PM (#15714464)
    it's a computer!

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