XBox Portable = New Zune + Game Sleeve
[2007-07-19]
Some recent speculations about the “Zune Sleeve” revolved around the upcoming Zune 2GO flash player. Well, we have it on good authority that “sleeve” may not be just Zune 2GO related! It's also mentioned as a new gaming add-on to be released shortly after the new wide-screen, touch-control Zune, sometimes late this year. This Zune/sleeve combination could be the rumored XBox Portable.
This will be Microsoft's first entry in the portable gaming arena, now ruled by the Nintendo's DS and to some degree, Sony's PSP. Instead of the completely new device, XBox Portable will be just wide-screen Zune plus this new sleeve add-on containing a game-pad and some additional game-play enhancing components. This makes perfect sense as Zune will already have a nice wide-screen display and plenty of storage so why release another device with the overlapping functionality?
While we did not review or see the actual device (apparently it's just getting close to the prototype stage), we were able to look at some schematics, mock-ups and the early marketing materials. Based on the schematics, Zune Game Sleeve will have the width of the new Zune (~11cm). Bottom part will contain game-pad and two rails will protrude on both sides of the sleeve. Zune will just slide down the rails until firmly connected with the game-pad part. This combo will result in a device very similar to the DS Lite when opened (although a bit slimmer and with only one large screen).
The sleeve will also contain the additional RAM required for a smooth game play. On the other hand, the upcoming Zune is expected to have good-enough embeded graphics controller to satisfy all portable 3D gaming requirements. Based on the schematics, there is no additional storage mechanism anywhere on the Zune Game Sleeve. Does it mean that games will only be downloadable to the Zune and run from the Zune disk? While such approach would eliminate the retail distribution channel and could result in a huge cost savings, we still think it's unlikely Microsoft will go that way. Games are often an impulse purchase and not having a boxed versions would be almost like a death-wish. We hope for a final version to incorporate some physical media interface, similar to the DS flash-card or PSP's UMD.
The schematics also show a component named “Rythmo” inside the sleeve. We have no idea if that's dedicated gaming CPU or something else. It makes sense to have an additional and more powerful CPU for gaming as one in the new Zune, while sufficient for the media playback duty, is probably under-powered to support the true gaming experience.
As for the final product name, we got a conflicting information from the documents we obtained. In many places, gaming part is referred to as a “Zune Game Sleeve” add-on with no mention of the XBox name. In a few places, it's even called “Z-Play”. In some other documents, however, name XBox Portable is being used and whole system is described as one device with 2 parts. We think that marketing this as 2 components (Zune + the sleeve add-on) makes more sense. However, finding a way to incorporate the word “XBox” somewhere is a must. The XBox name has a much better world-wide market recognition (compared to Zune's name) and would definitely help Microsoft establish a foothold in the fierce portable gaming market.
Of course, pricing remains a big concern. If Microsoft is indeed able to release this combo device and price it bellow $250, Sony should definitely be worried. This will be a direct competitor of the PSP and could probably take a significant chunk of the potential PSP customer base.