MSFT Dubs Handheld Console Market 'Red Ocean'

no I wouldn't

well since MS cannot design a console that lasts more than a year out the door i think its a smart move by them

Agreed, they should focus on Windows Phone since arguably phones/ipods/etc. will eventually replace portable gaming devices anyway.

The games on WP7 are enough portable fun for me. At least WP7 (and other mobile platform) games can be made from freelancer programmers, removing the monopoly of material available from the big boys (within reason).

No because mobile consoles are stupid. Why would I want to carry a portable console in the smartphone era?

Microsoft sucks so I don't want to see a MS handheld.

I think SONY has the right idea with their PlayStation module being implemented into certain Android phones. This will eventually expand just as PC gaming expanded on the windows platform and could get them a lot of revenue. Providing a PlayStation module makes it easier for developers to create the software for the phone resulting in what I believe will be a better experience than the standard Android or iOS games.

This too brings the developers we know (and love) such as Naughty Dog and Insomniac over to the smartphone arena where they wouldn't have already.

Don't forget the Playstation Vita is almost a smartphone already. It has music, movie, GPS, internet connectivity via 3G already! I'm certain that there is still a market out there where the buyer just wants a small smartphone like the HTC wildfire which they have in their pocket and they keep the PS Vita in their bag so their pants don't fall down! I bet with the size of the screen they'll stick on the iPhone 5 25% of the population will be going around with their pants around their ankles.

If Microsoft didn't have a console they'd be saying the same thing about the console gaming market

sony's on-the-go concept where you can continue your home console game on the road with a portable console is a very good idea. this might really change how we play computer games.
Dedicated portable games console will never go away if the companies never stop innovating.

I think the mobile console market is saturated as is. We really only need two major players in here; besides, Microsoft should focus on bringing WP7 as an alternative to the Apple and Google dominated world.

no one said anything about consoles, but lets go there.
imagine the next i/android device is a quad core that deliver 360 quality graphics at a near if not 720p resolution.

well now imagine that they sell it for 200-300$ people will buy it, its a portable media device, and if you go cell phone with it, its also a phone you most likely payed next to noting for (up front)

so now that its out and its proliferated, they come out with a dock. it hooks up to the tv, has room for 2 - 4 sd cards, or usb devices, possibly a hard drive. now, you also got a controller in your hand...

you portable phone/mp3 player is now your home console too.

if this happens, there is a good chance of it taking off.

Microsoft needs to focus on not screwing up Windows 8. 'Nuff said.

I think it is a sad day when a market with only 2-3 players is considered "Saturated" - It barely beats a monopoly for competition. However, The competition I care more about is between games producers in this area - the lower cost of entry into the smartphone gaming market has been great for small indie developers.

Now if we can kindly have some phones that can play high-quality games all day without draining too much battery then we could be onto a winner.

or a viable option to extend battery life. either one would be nice. o... and analog conteolls. none of that touch screen only crap for games like a fps.

Proper gaming needs a 24" screen at the very least.

I would say my main reason is the controls. Having a dedicated D-pad or analog stick with buttons that are designed for gaming is something no smart phone has achieved.
Take a game like Street Fighter 4, if this game was on the smart phones and was able to play
with those on the 3DS do you honestly ever expect the player one the smart phone to win?

The fact is smart phones cannot give mobile gaming performance to anything but casual gamers with small simple games. The few titles that dare try to do otherwise never live up
to expectations mostly due to controls.

Hmm will it come with RRoD like my 360 had?

No, I have never cared about portable gaming devices, I can't understand why anyone would want to focus their attention to a small screen with so low res for any amount of time.

All of them, they have to be very bad for your eyes in the long run.

All it would take is someone making a "dock that you slide the phone into that has these devices on them the d pad ect. if Nintendo or sony was smart they would be trying to figure out how to create a dock that a phone would slide into and would have there came cart or disk drive on it that would make the phone into an old gameboy/sega game gear/ psp ect.

Ok, so... Knowing MS's track record on PR then we'll have a portable XBox in like a year or two xD

Cheers!

Companies that suck don't become multi-billion dollar companies. As for the experia play I would much rather have a keyboard instead of the controller thing. I could play Quake 3 perfectly fine on my Droid 1 without a gaming keyboard thingy

Not true at all. Microsoft sucks, has always sucked, and most predict, always will suck. They became a multi-billion dollar company because their competitor didn't like IBM (or really his wife), so Microsoft became the standard for a machine that sold well. After that, they abused their monopoly to squeeze competition out and remain the only real entity in these markets. People didn't buy Microsoft stuff because they liked it better, they did because it was cheaper (or free in the case of browsers), and Microsoft could afford to sell at lower prices because of they were making money in other areas. Once they destroyed the competition, they would jack up prices.

You'll notice they fail wherever they can't leverage their monopoly. Zune worked well, huh? Great job getting their OS on phones so far, huh? Microsoft Bob was a real winner? Windows has really taken off on tablets? Is there a single month IE doesn't lose more market share? Guess their search engine isn't on top, despite being favored by their own OS. The list goes on and on.

Also, what's with the weird metaphors? Red ocean? Wood behind it? Sounds like this ass-clown has had too much wood behind him. Who talks like that?

I hate to say it but, stand alone mobile gaming is dead now that phones can game. Sort of like how PDAs were killed by phones. I certainly think there is a market for gaming oriented phones though (like the Xperia PLAY). Either way, I can barely bring myself down (off my high horse) to play consoles, let alone portable consoles. Lone live the PC.

Then how come all multi-billion dollar companies suck? ;-)

In my opinion, Microsoft should stay away from creating a dedicated handheld. This is a dieing market that will become dominated by smartphones, which I see as a good thing. If Nintendo came out with a mobile phone built into the 3DS then they could easily have justified the $300 price tag or more. People would rather buy a $1 game forty times over on their iphone/android that they already own, and already take everywhere, than pay $300 for a dedicated handheld and $40/game. As for replacing a console, gaming on a mobile phone is actually pretty good, especially on phones with HDMI output. All you need is a Wii controller and an emulator to convert your smartphone into an old school gaming console.

It is true that multi-billion dollar companies "suck". They suck the dollars right out of the consumers by producing something they need or want or at least think they do.

So Microsoft is playing it safe by not entering into this market in the first place.

im going to get a 3ds when 5 games i want come out for it. so far there are 2, and with pc announcement of street fighter 4, its back down to 1.

im also getting a psv when uncharted comes out for it.

i personally despise those 1$ games and would rather pay 10-15$ for a good game (think the live arcade titles) or 40$ for a full retail game.




you have a point but its poor.
i hate microsoft because of there fud against opengl when it was taking off better than dx. open gl always worked better than dx for me, and i still use it in games that let me.
asside from that, did microsoft have any notable compediters?

i mean look at everything they do right, and than look at its competition, they cant REALLY keep up. open office is great for home use but not business.

ie, well, they really stopped caring about that one for a long time, now its a viable option again.

what else. phones. their phone os is ok, but everyone wants a droid or an iphone to look cool, they don't get that with a windows phone. and when as gen 1 anything been great?

windows 8 will be the os for everything, and i hate that about it on the desktop, but on a tablet or a phone, i think it can really work.

i really doubt phone gaming is going to be any better than handheld console gaming ever. The xperia play is a good idea, but its just not good enough. playing games with a touch screen SUCKS!