Gamers rejoice: Two new handhelds on their way?

News Type: Other — Tue May 30, 2006 11:19 AM EDT

entertainment, apple, microsoft, ipod, psp, speculation, handhelds, portable-gaming, gpod, xplayer, scene-teen, sceneteeen

AdolChristin

Supposedly, two more handhelds are on their way to the gaming industry.

They aren't the Gizmondo, Tapwave, or some super-high tech cellphone. Apparently, Microsoft and Apple are making handhelds.

A handheld gaming system is a small unit that plays video games. For example, the old GameBoy that played the classic Tetris game.

Over the years, many companies have attempted to compete with Nintendo's GameBoys, such as Sega Game Gear, Turbo Express, Atari Lynx and so on.

Since then, Nintendo has pretty much dominated the handheld gaming industry with the GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Advance SP, and the current Nintendo DS. Sony joined back in 2005 with the unit known as the PlayStation Portable.

Now there's speculation Apple and Microsoft will be joining in.

PORTABLE GAMING ON RISE

The latest known name for Apple's handheld will be the gPod, which looks quite like the PlayStation Portable -- except without the joystick. It'll have all the same media players as the PSP including pictures, music, videos and a probable browser.

The various iPod models have been dominating the media player industry and now there's already an iPod Video out and all it needs is a game player.

Portable gaming is on the rise -- so why not try to join in?

When Microsoft decided to join the gaming industry, everything changed.

At the time, it was only Sony PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube. Then Microsoft joined in with the unit known as the Xbox, which has now advanced to the Xbox 360.

Time passed and the Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) and the PlayStation Portable have been competing. The consoles are set, and Microsoft has yet to attempt to join in with the handheld industry -- until now.

There is no known release information about it yet, but it's obvious they'll be joining in soon. There's talk the Microsoft's handheld may be called the "Xplayer" and there are no known images of it, either.

With one company dominating the media industry and the other one having everything but a handheld in their product line, a venture into handhelds seems obvious.

Ryan Inman
May 30, 2006

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{"commentId":140514,"authorDomain":"faruk"}

Faruk Ates

The latest known name for Apple's handheld will be the gPod, which looks quite like the PlayStation Portable -- except without the joystick. It'll have all the same media players as the PSP including pictures, music, videos and a probable browser.

Where did you get any of this information from? I see no evidence for any of this. There's the fact that Apple has been hiring programmers with a gaming background, but that's it. No information on what they'll be doing, no name, no models...

It seems to me like you're speculating extremely wildly here, but trying to make it look factual. If you have any evidence at all, please link it. If not, let it show that you're speculating, not reading off a list of "facts".

Either way can be very interesting: reliable information, or interesting but unbased speculation. Unbased information, however, doesn't hold much value (to me), but the topic is a very interesting one so I'd be very curious about a speculative article :-) (or a reliable piece of information!)

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2 votes

#1 - Tue May 30, 2006 4:54 PM EDT

{"commentId":140918,"authorDomain":"stevencwatts"}

Steve Watts

I'm not sure how further splintering of the already divisive handheld market would be reason for rejoice.

But assuming it would be, you should probably note somewhere in this article that it's speculation. The "XBoy" rumor has been going around for years, and even the most enthusiastic of X-Box fans admit that Microsoft probably has no plans to roll out one (as they've stated repeatedly). If they do develop one, we won't even see it announced until next E3 at the absolute earliest, and even that is doubtful. While Nintendo already had handheld domination and Sony's absolute arrogance convinced them they would have a crushing victory, Microsoft has no such motivation to enter the market. They're not anxious to fight a war on two fronts right now.

As for Apple, the job posting that's leading to your speculation was asking for people familiar with C++ and the iTunes interface. Not exactly what I'd call the makings of the next great handheld.

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#2 - Tue May 30, 2006 10:09 PM EDT

{"commentId":141130,"authorDomain":"MissDev"}

Miss Dev

I'm good with my Game Gear, thankyouverymuch.

Although, I would like Echo The Dolphin for it...

{"commentId":141130,"threadId":"18683","contentId":"234741","authorDomain":"MissDev"}

#3 - Wed May 31, 2006 1:37 AM EDT

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Gamers rejoice: Two new handhelds on their way?

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