MS Portable Not A Game Player? 81
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.
Something wrong with the priorities (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
More People + Less Efficiency > Less People + Less Efficiency
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:3, Funny)
Brooks' Law (Score:2)
Re:Brooks' Law (Score:1)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
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:1)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
I think the best way to make yourself obsolete, is to throw a lot of effor other than your core business. Fine, do it if you can do it early, to build a market, but in that market M$ is not even second.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
As for MS being late to the market - MS has enough cash on hand to simply buy both Sony and Nintendo. It doesn't matter if they're late to market. They can afford to sit back and learn from everyone elses mistakes, which is what they generally do.
When it comes to long-term bidness strategy, I think it's a safe bet that MS knows what they're doing.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
So no, they can't afford it. If they screw up with Vista, their shareprice will fall, and then they will kill those adventures.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
I was shocked too.
Not that it'd ever be a good idea - they can defeat Sony much more cost-effectively. I'm just sayin'.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
When the iPod was first released making music players wasn't Apple's core business either, it seems to have worked out for them. Sometimes diversification works.. now, diversification into a saturated market may be more difficult.
I do suspect MS'll find a spin on this so it appears 'more' than the iPod.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
Sony, they had once the walkmans. Where are the walkmans now? IBM actually made this thing we call PC, they are now a consulting company, mostly working on billing more hours to their customers. Should everyone at Google work on search? They are the ones really trying hard to diversify, but they are not nearly as successful with the other projects. Anyway search is in there in every piece of their projects.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:2)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
Re:Something wrong with the priorities (Score:1)
Re:Okay, zeriouzly... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Okay, zeriouzly... (Score:2)
Re:Okay, zeriouzly... (Score:2)
How nice iz zat? (Score:3, Funny)
Coming zune iz ze new Zune!
Re:How nice iz zat? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, right (Score:5, Insightful)
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!
Re:Yeah, right (Score:2)
Re:Yeah, right (Score:1)
Re:Yeah, right (Score:2)
With one simple and affordable surgery, you, yes you, can have Microsoft's new Zune handheld permantely attached to your hand for easy access and ergonomic glory!
Re:Yeah, right (Score:2)
Re:Yeah, right (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yeah, right (Score:1)
Little rhyme to keep them straight (Score:5, Funny)
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)
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.
Re:Give me this (Score:2)
All wrong, heres the dealio (Score:1, Funny)
Didn't we do this already? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it or isn't it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is it or isn't it? (Score:4, Interesting)
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
Re:Is it or isn't it? (Score:2)
At least, this shows that there is potential for connectivity with games.
Re:Is it or isn't it? (Score:2)
Re:Is it or isn't it? (Score:2)
I don't think the Pocketstation was released outside of Japan, and my impressions were that the Dreamcast never really achieved a high market penetration (and the VMU even lower).
I still believe that the N64 and GBA were the first pair of systems with wide spread adoption to be able to achive such "crossover play", with the current and next generations continuing the trend.
Still, you are right that it is a feature that relatively few games have exploited as anythi
XBox 360 connects with Vista (Score:2)
The XBox360 connects with your PC, your phone, your MP3 player, even that new laundry machine [slashdot.org].
Handheld games linking with consoles sounds like a great idea but, so far, I haven't seen any killer-app that makes the effort worthwhile. Right now it is a solution in search of a problem.
Given their ambivalence towards Nintendo (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Games don't need fnacy buttons\joysticks (Score:2)
Re:Games don't need fnacy buttons\joysticks (Score:2)
Think outside the (x) box (Score:1)
The control scheme for the popular games in the Street Fighter series is not the only possible control scheme for a karate video game. Think outside the box.
Re:Think outside the (x) box (Score:2)
In the case of SF2, accuracy to the arcade experience comes straight to the controls. Timing and responsiveness are paramount for a game such
Market to players who think outside the box (Score:2)
Then they're not the market. Some enterprising developer will reinvent the fighting game and sell it to fans of the whole karate genre, not to fanboys of Capcom® brand STREET FIGHTER® brand games. For instance, Nintendo successfully ported platformers to a PDA style pen control in Kirby: Canvas Curse for Nintendo DS. Likewise, a touch-screen based fighting game would eschew keypress sequences, s
Re:Games don't need fnacy buttons\joysticks (Score:2)
Re:Games don't need fnacy buttons\joysticks (Score:1)
Besides, the DS is great and all... but how many of the games use ONLY the touch screen?
Re:Games don't need fnacy buttons\joysticks (Score:2)
competitiveness (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Re:competitiveness (Score:1)
Re:competitiveness (Score:1)
Copy (steal?) idea....sometimes not even as good as the original
Market it like crazy
Sell to everyone
Bully competition
Move on to the next idea
The other option is to buy the idea (Visio comes to mind) and then proceed through the rest of the steps. MS is not an innovation company but a very good marketing company.
Layne
Just hearing the name Zune (Score:1)
Re:Just hearing the name Wii (Score:1)
WTF! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:WTF! (Score:1)
Surprised it took so long (Score:4, Interesting)
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)
Ehhh (Score:2, Interesting)
There is no iPod... (Score:1)
Re:There is no iPod... (Score:2)
Re:There is no iPod... (Score:1)
It's not that original either. Somewhere on mozilla.org (or related) there is the saying "there is no netscape, there is only XUL".
Anyone looking for a media + game player (Score:1)
What would be really good (Score:2)
Use the 360 to choose what music you want, construct playlists, have the music playing as you play your games, play through your stereo and then just wifi it to your Zune.
As long as they provided it cheaply enough to get people hooked it would boost live sales, boost zune sales and tie peoples music and gaming to MS equipment forever.
In fact if you were trying to convince yourself to reac
"Zune"?!?! (Score:2)