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Handhelds Microsoft Portables (Games) XBox (Games) Hardware

Microsoft Game Studios to Port Games to Gizmondo 24

Posted by Zonk from the what-in-the-world-is-a-gizmondo dept.
GamesIndustry.biz has the story that Microsoft Game Studios will be porting games to the Gizmondo handheld device. The "handheld console" is set to recieve some of the Microsoft greats, such as Age of Empires and Mechwarrior. From the article: "The system runs Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, which may explain in part the software giant's willingness to support it."
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Microsoft Game Studios to Port Games to Gizmondo More

Microsoft Game Studios to Port Games to Gizmondo

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  • Tiger electronics (Score:3, Funny)

    by stanmann ( 602645 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @01:51PM (#10756983) Journal
    Great, a handheld device from the masters of handheld electronics, running Windows CE, the ultimate in Operating systems

    well at least it will be cheap coming from tiger.

  • Warning!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 08, 2004 @01:53PM (#10757002)
    Do not feed this device after midnight or spill water on it!!! This is a Mexican version of a creature that killed many people in the 80's in amusing humorous ways on Christmas Eve.

  • Nice specs, but! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @02:15PM (#10757219) Journal
    Mp3, WMA/WMF, Mpeg4, Bluetooth, GPS, Triband GSM/GPRS, 400mhz CPU, 64 Bit GFX Acceleration, 240x320 GFX, MMC/SD Card, Camera, Poly Ringtones.

    But WTF, 4 buttons! This thing needs an attachable thumb board!
  • receive [reference.com]

    Now, about that spell check feature that needs to be added to slashdot...

    • Now, about that spell check feature that needs to be added to slashdot...

      That spell check feature should be on your own machine.

      Use konqueror and [iah]spell. Set it up in the KDE control center under KDE Components->Spell Checker. Every textarea on every website spellchecked as you type.

  • What does this mean for their GameBoy work? IIRC, they (Rare, specifically) were still making games for the Gameboy, and stated that they were free to do so because they did not have a competing system. Now that they have one (sort of), will they keep releasing GBA games?
    • Microsoft is merely porting existing games over to the Gizmondo. It's kind of like how Links 2001 was ported over to PocketPC.

      The Gizmondo is not a Microsoft device, even though it's running a Microsoft OS. Now, if Microsoft purchases one of these handheld companies, then you might have something to worry about.
      • Is there really such a large leap between licensing a microsoft OS and being owned by them? Pocket PCs are pretty much the same thing between brands, give or take the odd button and clock frequency, so how much control is there of the Gizmondo that is out of microsofts little hands? If the thing catches on and has better performance than the PSP I wouldn't be surprised if it gets rebranded as the xbox portable.

        • Re:no more conker on the gameboy? (Score:4, Informative)

          by RomSteady ( 533144 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @05:29PM (#10760186) Homepage Journal
          For Windows CE, there is a pretty large leap. We're not talking about the PocketPC, where there is a reference architecture and compatibility suites you have to pass to use the moniker. We're talking about a componentized version of Windows. PocketPC is a specifically designed subset of Windows CE.

          For Windows CE, all Microsoft does is provide the software. The manufacturers are free to select any hardware/software combination that they want. There are about 3,000 seperate modules for Windows CE. If you aren't going to be using the .NET Compact Framework, for example, one click and it's gone from what gets pushed out. Not using a display? Click-gone. Not using a keyboard? Click-gone. Not using networking? Click-gone.

          In addition, the latest licensing terms allow OEM's to make some pretty major modifications to the Windows CE software in order to make it a better fit for their products.

          So in short, aside from labelling and licensing requirements, Microsoft has no control over Gizmondo. Microsoft probably chose the Gizmondo because of the comparative ease of porting from Win32 to WinCE.

  • Good luck Gizmondo ( Learn from Sega) (Score:3, Funny)

    by zulux ( 112259 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @03:31PM (#10758451) Homepage Journal
    Microsoft supported Windows CE on the SEGA Dreamcast. Then they stabbed SEGA's back with the XBOX.

    Microsoft support's Windows CE on the Gizmondo.... XBOX Portable must be just around the corner.

  • Hmm, Gizmondo == Xbox Portable (Score:4, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @10:11PM (#10762531) Homepage Journal
    OMG! This Gizmondo _is_ an Xbox Portable, if not in name, at least in spirit. Here we have essentially a Pocket PC device running the Pocket PC OS (yeah yeah, Windows CE) built for gaming. Games were being written for Pocket PCs anyway, now developers can probably port many of those games to the Gizmondo with relative ease. This is an analogous situation to the N-Gage with respect to cell phone gaming, but without the side-talking!

    Will it be successful? Hmm, now that Microsoft has entered the fray, that lends Gizmondo some serious street cred with the development community. And MS gets a chance to test the portable market place a bit without the nasty losses console makers have to take on hardware sales. Heck, they even get royalties since the Gizmondo uses a Windows OS. This should be interesting.
  • It's got tri-band GSM and yet it's intended not to operate as a cellular telephone. Their site doesn't seem to explicitly say this in any way though they will tell you that it does GPRS and Tri-band GSM. Does this make sense to anyone? With a headset, especially of the bluetooth type, this thing would be an ideal single device to cart around if you wanted to be able to play games on it. The GPS is very nice to have as well. It would even be ideal for use in the car - but in order for it to be useful for all

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