Portable Xbox may be released soon
There have been lots of deliberations of its arrival and at last, it has been learnt, that the release of portable Xbox is round the corner. However, the date of final release is not confirmed and the uncertainty remains yet. Even Shane Kim, the Microsoft corporate VP, in the interview posted today by gaming site Kikizo, confirmed long-lasting rumors that the company's popular console will finally be getting a handheld counterpart.
What did Kim state in the interview? Shane Kim said, "For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when'," "because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like instant-on 1080p HD, Facebook, Twitter, Project Natal ... And so we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... extend to other platforms. No question about it."
But this is not all. Kim didn’t fail to add that Xbox Live, as far as a portable system is concerned, would be the "connective tissue." He also stated that plenty of questions do remain, including whether such a device would also function as a phone (via Windows Mobile) a la the iPhone.The Xbox happens to be a sixth-generation video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first venture into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube. The integrated Xbox Live service allows players to compete online.
The device was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe. It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. It was discontinued in late 2006, although the final Xbox game (Madden NFL 09) was released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2, 2009, although in-warranty repairs will still be done.
