Wee Hours Consoling

Rumors that Microsoft is developing a portable Xbox-branded gaming device have been doggedly persistent since late last year. It is rare for more than a couple months to go by without more speculation on the matter surfacing. Recently, evidence of such a project headed up by oddly absent Xbox maestro J Allard came from noted Xbox-exposing journalist Dean Takahashi. In his recent book The Xbox 360 Uncloaked, Takahashi stated that development on the project had ceased.

So, despite the authoritative sounding title of this latest speculation, "Microsoft to Enter Portable Gaming Market in Late 2007/Early 2008" from consultants at The Diffusion Group, it is most definitely no more than speculation. TDG's report presents only projections based on current market trends rather than any actual evidence of Microsoft planning an entrance into the portable gaming hardware arena. "With global PGC revenues expected to reach $3 billion annually by 2008, and with only Sony and Nintendo active in the PGC space, Microsoft has before it an incredible opportunity," reads the report, noting that Microsoft's current presence in the home console market would be sufficient for the company to make significant inroads into portable gaming.

Despite the shelving of one particular hardware project, and the lack of hard evidence for TDG's analysis, it does indeed seem quite likely that Microsoft will eventually make a concerted effort to launch a handheld gaming device. With the amount of money the company has already invested into home console gaming, it seems like the next logical step. Of course, Microsoft will have plenty on its plate with Xbox 360 once its two main competitors launch consoles later this year, so any other portable projects are likely on the back burner for now.

Reports across the internets, seemingly originating from Cheap Ass Gamer, indicate that gamers have been able to purchase DS Lite units in North America well in advance of the planned June 11th release date. So far, the consoles have been scored from various branches of Target and Wal-Mart. If the date breaking extends to many Target and Wal-Mart locations, it is likely to spread to other retail chains.

Nintendo today announced its North American first party publishing lineup across its three current systems for the period of June to October 2006. Not surprisingly, Nintendo DS has the lion's share of the releases, with dates announced for titles such as Star Fox Command (Aug. 28), Square Enix's Children of Mana (Oct. 30), Big Brain Academy (June 5), Magnetica (June 5), and several others.

GameCube has only two titles in the pipeline from Nintendo in the next several months, including Monolith's RPG prequel Baten Kaitos Origins (Sep. 25). What is likely to be the most anticipated game on the whole list, the quietly announced Super Paper Mario, will be arriving October 9.

Game Boy Advance has but one title from Nintendo this fall, and--you didn't see this coming--it's a Pokemon game. Entitled Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, it hits Sep. 18.

Nintendo of America also took the opportunity to announce that its Touch Generations brand will be used in the West. Long a part of the Nintendo DS' image in Japan, Touch Generations refers to casual DS games that are appropriate for those with little to no previous video game experience. Upcoming titles to use the branding include Big Brain Academy, Magnetica, and Sudoku Gridmaster.

In the last podcast by Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Xbox group marketing manager Aaron Greenberg spoke on the upcoming Xbox 360 dashboard update, and also revealed the release date for the long promised Xbox 360 camera. Dubbed Xbox Live Vision, the camera will be available September 19, 2006. Compatibility with the camera is being included in the upcoming dasboard update, which will be available long before the camera itself.

Xbox Live Vision will allow gamers to integrate their faces into multiplayer gaming for various games, as well as providing various other features as developers decide to support the peripheral.

Various sites have been reporting that Bungie's classic first person shooter series Marathon may be coming to Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. Sadly, when the news is actually traced back to its origin in the latest Bungie Weekly Update, it seems that is not the case after all. A reader asked if it is "at all possible" for Marathon to come to Live Arcade, to which Bungie's Frank O'Connor replied, "Of course it's possible, it's just not on any current agenda. If it's any consolation, many, many people think it's a good idea." We may see such a project some day (fingers crossed), but it isn't in the works right now. (Please do this, Microsoft.)