Not exactly news—we’ve all heard the rumors—but research and consulting firm Diffusion Group is forecasting that Microsoft will release a portable games console in late 2007 or early 2008. The report issued by the firm states that Microsoft has now achieved the brand recognition necessary to facilitate a handheld, which would no doubt use Xbox branding of some sort. It would also likely include multimedia functionality akin to the PSP. With handhelds making more and more money, it’s pretty much a no-brainer that Microsoft would want a piece of the action.
Personally, I’m excited by the idea. If the 360 is any indication, the multimedia functionality of the Xbox Handheld would be much more user friendly than the PSP. Let’s hope they learn from Sony’s mistakes and give it more comfortable controls and longer battery life. If Microsoft could strike the right balance of DS, iPod, and PDA, they might just get my money.
Then again, it’s not like it will be replacing my DS any time soon.
—via Gamasutra
Man, I keep trying to get your RSS feed but it keeps saying it won’t work! Maybe it’s just my yahoo mailbox having the problem.
Okay, nevermind, I figured it out. Sorry to leave two comments that are totally unrelated to your post.
Personally, I would like PSP functionality that didn’t suck. My PSP is more frustrating than useful. It seems to me that the only reason the PSP sells so well in America is that it is more of a status symbol than useful device. It looks cool…but once you have one…meh. Like an iPod.
I don’t care so much about iPod functionality, but I’ll take a PDA, video, and game functionality that works.
I’m glad you figured it out. I added an Add to My Yahoo button anyway. That should make it easier for other Yahoo users.