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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Saturday, May 01, 2004

Microsoft's misguided mobile gaming strategy

According to a story at Brighthand, Microsoft will eschew a dedicated portable gaming device and instead encourage developers to create game titles for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

"To make this easier, the company is going to build a new group of gaming APIs into the next version of Windows Mobile. Mark Spain, director of Microsoft's mobile devices division, told The Star Online that his company will add Direct 3D Mobile (D3DM) to its mobile operating system. This is a version of Microsoft's Direct X for handhelds and smart phones ... D3DM will be built into the next major revision of Microsoft's mobile operating system, expected to be called Windows Mobile 2005."

This strategy is doomed to fail. Virtually every single PDA I've ever tried, and every single Smartphone on the market, has a button layout that makes gaming impossible or, at best, difficult. Unless Microsoft knows about a partner that is creating a portable game player based on Windows Mobile, this is the stupidest thing I've heard of in a while. If Microsoft had followed this strategy for the Xbox, there would be no Xbox, and Microsoft would be touting the benefits of $1000 PCs over $150 video game consoles instead. Silly.

[ Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink ]