Zune HD..........Microsoft Handheld?

Like the Iphone, the Zune HD seems to have game capabilities.

Do you think it'll be direct DS/PSP competition or be a MP3 player first and foremost?

It would have to have connectivity with the Xbox 360 to be a serious contender in the handheld market.

It's not a phone so it wouldn't compete well with the iPhone. It doesn't have game controlls so it wouldn't be a direct competitor with the DS and PSP.

It really only be competing with the iPod Touch.

But if you could keep track and chat on Xbox Live from anywhere and download games from Xbox Live Arcade and play exclusive mini versions of games like Halo and Gears I'd say it could be huge.

Make a Zune Phone with a layout of the iPhone w/ slideout controls like the PSP Go.

Probably going to have good grafics considering it has a "NVidia Grafics Chip" mayby play some good games on it

They just said it's going to have a PGR and Audiosurf game as well as others, plus it's going to have connectivity to the Xbox 360. As soon as that stuff happens I'm buying one. Can't wait.

Here's the article: http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5194

343_Guilty_Spark wrote:

It's not a phone so it wouldn't compete well with the iPhone. It doesn't have game controlls so it wouldn't be a direct competitor with the DS and PSP.

It really only be competing with the iPod Touch.

It will be competing with iPhone too since it have same hardware, remember Phone is just a feature it won't effect any other features, same as PSP could have phone feature still it could run PSP games in same way. Besides, sales are count as iPhone OS devices, because both iPhone nad iPod touch users are possible consumers for apps available on AppStore. iPhone/IPoT might compete with consoles, DS shows that you can make games that not need to use any buttons at all, but still there a isuess:

-iPhone/IPoT already got more powerful guts then PSP, only issue is battery that limits of full use of this hardware
-Developers still scary to make some real console games for iPhone/IPoT because phone/MP3 player stereotype. But hey, GTA:Chinatown Wars wars been announce for AppStore, so theres a light.
-Apple not keeping solid hardware specification:
1.iPhone 2G/3G and iPod Touch 1G is first hardware specification.
2.iPod touch 2G got faster CPU, but still fully comatible with 1G (apps for 2G work slower on 1G)
3.IPhone 3GS and iPoT 3G (only 16GB and 32GB model) have newest hardware 50% faster CPU then first one and GPU compatible with OpenGL ES 2.0 that made huge gap in compatibility with between newest 3GS app and old apps. 3GS apps will not look the same on older devices.
-...this modifications are not healthy for platform that suppose to be gaming device

Anyway, thanks to that Apple made it's own market between handhold gameing console and mobile phone gameing. AppStore become big hit for developers because it's easy to join up (You need only Mac, any iPhone OS device and pay 99$/year to join iPhone developer program) that it's not that expensive as real consoles) and it's easy to make money there.... way too easy:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/09/indie-developer/

It effected both gaming market and mobile market, mobile phones OS developers start to make marketplaces same that mimics AppStore (Microsoft already plan to open one for Windows Mobile and Zune HD). Game developers started to make teams specially for iPhone development and both Sony (Minis) and Nintendo (iDSWare). Including the fact that Apple is bigger and oldest competitor for Microsoft then Sony and Nintendo, also look of Zune HD it's look like MS will try to hit iPhone/iPoT insted of direct hitting PSP and DS using the devloper support gained from xbox, also MS got XNA that may work same as iPhone developer program. It will good for market space that Apple made, it will force them to move more to handhold consoles. There was rummors about AppStore premium games, also Apple patented some gameing related stuff for some reason, like stat tracking systems shortly before AppStore opened. So this ill be more interesting then stationery console wars

Quote :

Probably going to have good grafics considering it has a "NVidia Grafics Chip" mayby play some good games on it

Still it's a handhold GPU, not that much powerful as stationery ones. PowerVR (GPU family that was also in Dreamcast) that inside iPhone/iPoT is also strong player here. ATI is not exist in this market i think, at least not so much as nVidia or PowerVR.

i gotta get a Zune HD... it would be a big plus for them to make a phone version of it and compete with the iphone... i love the zune... i've had my 4gb for a while now and its pretty amazing

I'll probably get a Zune HD since I don't have a media player and I hate Apple and refuse to support any of their products.

iPod touch & Zune HD I dontk think they have the controls to be going head to head with psp/DSi

I smell arcade games on the go possibly to compete with the psp mini games concept. only the zune HD is freaking capable of 1080p(BTW doesn't need blu-ray for true HD). It would be a must have device for people if microsoft integrated achievements that build on your main gamerscore they could move a lot of units. Plus i heard they are having a hard time keeping this bad boy in stock.
MICROSOFT FTW!

I was thinking about it even more and the potential is pretty big. The accelerometer in the Zune HD is fast like a game controller imagine if microsoft used it as a wifi based touchscreen controller for arcade games on the 360?

acctually it can play 3d games like pgr and some other games i think its capable of beating the psp and dsi

soon enough it will have lots of games on it and alot of apps 2

xjosh360s wrote:

soon enough it will have lots of games on it and alot of apps 2

for sure


thats the thing i kinda hate... people bash the ZUNE HD now cause it has "no apps" well no shit


it just came out.. it took a while for apps to come for the itouch and iphone... fuckin retarted people out there

no a little unlikely

The Zune HD does look better than the iPod touch, and i think it can possibly compete with the ds and psp, if it as a lot of apps.....

Oh finally MLD you make a Zune HD topic. Ok so the Zune HD looks awesome... I totally would get one. But I will wait for a 64GB model (or higher capacity), and it should have external speakers. As well as more apps (games). I think it could become a competitor in the gaming space, if Microsoft adds those stuff (which I hope they will) I will purchase one about next year. Cant wait. It looks so awesome... totally want one.

I would hope so. But I still want there to be internal speakers and a 64GB model. Maybe more. Then I will buy one... cause music and TV shows on a handheld is like he best thing ever... along with games.