Topic: Xbox handheld

[please let me in, please]

I read in a handheld magazine that they had reports of microsoft working on a handheld since 2002. It was supposed to be released earlier, but something went wrong and they are working on it as we speak. They say it is supposed to come out in 2007, along with a halo game for it. I was wondering if anyone else heard about this.

[capamerica]

Its Total BS and Its not going to happen.

The product they are most likely calling MS's handheld is the Origami, Which is NOT a handheld but more of a cross between a PacketPC and a Tablet PC. It was rumored a while back that this was going to me MS's handheld and in a investors video it showed Halo being played. That video was never inteded for the public to see but was some how leaked out. But early this year when MS showed it to the public for the first time they stated that the system is NOT a gaming handheld and it would Not be powerful enough to run a game like Halo.

I don't get why everyone is so obsess with the idea of MS entering the handheld market. Just because they have a Home console doesn't mean they need to have a handheld too.

Hell MS has even stated many times that they have no interest in entering the handheld market. The closest thing you'll ever see to a portable version of Halo is if you load it up on to a Laptop.  

[please let me in, please]

I know, halos not that great. I was just seeing if it was fact or fiction. I already own enough handhelds.

[slacker]

MS entering the handheld gaming market is a natural progression of its sucess in the home console market here in the US. They are in a position now to leverage their brand and home console successes to contest Nintendo in this sphere. From a market share stand point, its all upside if they have a capable portable gaming device. The risk are there, but if it manages to get 15%-25%, that is a lot of cash.  In my opinion, Nintendo is more vulnerable now in the portable arena than they have ever been. That's primarily because Nintendo has not been the dominant force in the home console market for a while now.  If MS does not enter the portable gaming arena in the next 2-5 years, then chances are high that they have failed in the home console arena and have exited the stage.

[TrueNerd]

Remember when everyone predicted that the PSP would be the most popular handheld ever and Nintendo was teh doomed? LOL

[capamerica]

wow slacker that statement has so much BS in it I think it broke my BS detector.
Where the hell is it writen that you have to enter the portable gaming market because you were successful.

Hell give me an example of this even being a true statement.

You don't enter the portable gaming market because your sucessful, You enter it because the company is stupid and wants to waste money and die by the hands of Nintendo.

[couchmonkey]

Actually, I read some excerpts from Dean Takahashi's The Xbox 360 Uncloaked that said Microsoft has considered a handheld, but decided to focus on the home console market first.  Handhelds still haven't been permanently ruled out, though.

Nintendo isn't invincible.  People rag on PSP because DS is outselling it in Japan, but PSP has "shipped" 17 million units.  I'll be skeptical and say they've only sold 7 million of those (which is the least amount it could have sold if you read Wikipedia's PSP entry).  What has DS sold?  As of the beginning of 06, Nintendo was saying 10 million.  Let's be generous and assume they've doubled that in six months.

20 + 7 = 27
7/27 = .26

So a fairly conservative estimate says that Sony has taken 26% of the market, and the figure could be as high as 40%.  I wouldn't call that dying by the hands of Nintendo.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
Actually, I read some excerpts from Dean Takahashi's The Xbox 360 Uncloaked  isn't invincible.  People rag on PSP because DS is outselling it in Japan, but PSP has "shipped" 17 million units.  I'll be skeptical and say they've only sold 7 million of those (which is the least amount it could have sold if you read Wikipedia's PSP entry).  What has DS sold?  As of the beginning of 06, Nintendo was saying 10 million.  Let's be generous and assume they've doubled that in six months.

20 + 7 = 27
7/27 = .26

So a fairly conservative estimate says that Sony has taken 26% of the market, and the figure could be as high as 40%.  I wouldn't call that dying by the hands of Nintendo.

While I agree that Nintendo isn't invincible, I think the Sony numbers are BS.

The software sales don't match up with the hardware sales, which leads me to believe that Sony has in fact LIED about the amount of PSPs they've shipped.

If you think about it, it would be incredibly easy to do this. The only company who truly knows how many units have come out of their factories are the Sony higher ups, and they know that it's in the console's best interest to make it appear as though the console has a huge userbase so that more developers will create games for it.

But games are being ported off the PSP to recoup losses. I find it hard to believe that 7 million people bought a PSP with the intention of dumping movies onto memory sticks and watching them on it when portable DVD players are as low as $70 compared to the PSP's $249 and never bought a game for the blasted thing.

I'm betting that Sony is lying about the number shipped, as no one can debunk that without access to official records. It's the only explanation regarding why Sony is claiming they've shipped 17 million units and yet games which are alleged "killer apps" are being ported OFF of the PSP to recoup losses.

Does not add up.

[nickmitch]

Couchmonkey also forgets to factor in GBA sales. That's something important to consider. The handheld market is still in transition, kinda. GBA/SP/Micro sales are something to consider, especially since you're counting overall DS and PSP sales.
You don't need to factor in those totals, but at least that of since DS launch.

[couchmonkey]

I ignored GBA sales because, as you said, the market is in transition.  If you factor in the GBA, then Nintendo probably has like 95% of the market, but the point is that as GBA is phased out, that share is going to drop dramatically.  And it is going to be phased out, it's already as good as dead in Japan.

Sony isn't saying that 7 million units were sold, Mercury News is.  PSP sales numbers on Wikipedia are according to Mercury News and are echoed in a Joystiq article, suggesting that the Wiki hasn't been tampered with.  And although the May NPD numbers don't include PSP, DS was outsold by everything but Xbox and GameCube.  Not great sales, I'd say.  Edit: In fact it's really frustrating.  Right now I believe DS has by far the best (new) game lineup of any system out there, so I think it deserves to sell better.

Of course, there's also the problem that nobody seems to be buying any games on their PSPs.  The same NPD numbers contained two DS games and no PSP games.  Even so, I hardly think the PSP is dying...yet.  If Sony keeps losing in Japan, and if the games keep being a bunch of ports, Sony will eventually wear down.  

[Requiem of Darcness]

I disagree with you Couchmonkey. You are seeing the PSP vs DS battle through the eyes of a US gamer. The PSP is losing handily in Japan and in Europe. It is only here that it is putting up a fight at all. The PSP reminds me of the Sega Game Gear. The Game Gear started off with a bang and everyone was sure that it would unseat the Gameboy. The Game Gear slowly faded away, like the PSP will. In fact, I would bet that the Game Gear had a better tie-ratio at this point. The one advantage that the Game Gear had over the PSP was that is was purely a games machine and the Sega of that era was a top notch developer.

[JonLeung]

Since so many Xbox games are by Western developers, and those who don't know the meaning of exclusivity, they often show up on the PC, including Microsoft's own.  Even Halo 2 is coming to Windows Vista.  So if the Origami has a version of Windows compatible with software meant for desktops, it wouldn't be that hard to mistake a handheld PC as a handheld Xbox.

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkeyNintendo isn't invincible.  People rag on PSP because DS is outselling it in Japan, but PSP has "shipped" 17 million units.  I'll be skeptical and say they've only sold 7 million of those (which is the least amount it could have sold if you read Wikipedia's PSP entry).  What has DS sold?  As of the beginning of 06, Nintendo was saying 10 million.  Let's be generous and assume they've doubled that in six months.

20 + 7 = 27
7/27 = .26

So a fairly conservative estimate says that Sony has taken 26% of the market, and the figure could be as high as 40%.  I wouldn't call that dying by the hands of Nintendo.

Software sales dictate marketshare, not hardware.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Garnee]

If Microsoft made a handheld console "like" the PSP, they'd have to do it right.  I'm talking about joysticks like the Tapwave Zodiac, NO defects, fast loading (maybe with a UMD like system...but please don't use UMDs themselves.) and a long battery life.  And then price it competitevly.  That'd be a bigass money loss.

[SixthAngel]

Do any non-japanese companies make handheld games that are any good?  I can hardly think of a single non-japanese handheld game much less a good one.  Why would MS go into a market that they are guarenteed to get little developer support?

[couchmonkey]

Tony Hawk was supposed to be pretty good. That's just about it...although Nintendo's NST has done a decent job too.

[IceCold]

Yeah, the only North American third party that makes games actually worth anything on the DS is Vicarious Visions. And even they are stuck making licensed games - I'd like to see a new IP from them..

[couchmonkey]

I think there were also pretty good reviews for the most recent Sims game, and Microsoft has a strategy title out that got good reviews, it's a popular series, but I can't remember the name right now for some reason.

[ThePerm]

age of empires