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Microsoft Xboy?



Talk of a handheld gaming system from Microsoft is in the spotlight once again. Are 151 "Micromons" in gamers' future?



Rumors of Microsoft entering the portable gaming market have been reported in abundance for the past six months. However, when a globally respected news source such as MSNBC reports on such rumors, there's sure to be some substantial evidence to support them.

According to a report by MSNBC, Microsoft has progressed far enough along in discussions concerning the possibility of the company entering the portable gaming market (the fastest growing sector of the industry), that it has given the project a codename in "Xboy".

The article suggests that if all goes well with Xbox, Microsoft could enter the portable gaming market in 2002 or 2003, bringing to the table significant technological advances (read: 3D visuals) over Nintendo's upcoming Game Boy Advance, which is scheduled to appear in the US this summer.

The article is quick to point out, though, that Microsoft's main focus at this point and for the foreseeable future is Xbox. The company understands that it must establish a name for itself in the industry before attempting to enter multiple sectors of the market, and to do so, must make Xbox the system by which all others are judged.

Chief Xbox Officer, Robbie Bach, told MSNBC, "I'm focused on one thing and one thing only. If I take my eye off the Xbox mission for two seconds, I'll lose. I can think about [portable games] when I have time to think about those things."

Microsoft's competition in the handheld market, namely Nintendo, could be substantially more difficult to defeat than its main competition for Xbox, Sony. Nintendo owns 97% of the portable gaming market and has seen the sector grow from $216 million in 1998 to $618 million in 1999 thanks to the introduction of Pokemon. Figures for 2000 should be even more impressive.

That kind of increase is one any company would be foolish to ignore, and Microsoft, while focused on Xbox, is surely paying at least a shrapnel of attention to the portable gaming market. It will take more than superior technology to draw the masses to a new handheld, though. We just hope that that "more" isn't comparable to 151 colorful monsters.

Josh White
The pround owner of 0 colorful monsters.

copied from http://xbox.gamerweb.com/news/0101/040.asp