Microsoft Considering a Portable Xbox

Not only will it go after Sony and Nintendo, the new machine would try to bring down Apple too. Juicy speculation inside.

Could you soon be getting in line for an Xboy? Microsoft is kicking around the idea of releasing an iPod-killer that will not only support all sorts of media types, it'll also be a games system, Business Week is reporting.

Halo would be a dead cert on an MS portable

It's too early to call this an announcement though. Microsoft has put together a group that will see whether this is something the company should try. In a company the size of Microsoft, there are always ideas brewing, most of which go nowhere. But should this one go somewhere, you can bet that games will be a big part of the package.

"It can't just be our version of the iPod," said Microsoft's Peter Moore, who said that games would come into play in a Microsoft media player. There's debate about whether the product - which, to remind you, does not officially exist - would be tied into the Xbox name.

Some say it would be good, considering the inroads Microsoft has made into games with Xbox and now Xbox 360 while others retort that the geeky image associated with games could scare off non-gamers.

It's still up in the air whether Microsoft will try something like this, though the recent move of Robbie Bach, previously in charge of Xbox, to the Entertainment & Devices division means that some big players in the company are already in place. Watch this space.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games