Ben Gonshaw: Digital Media Theorist & Game Design Consultant
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CROWDED POCKETS

1st March 2006

Microsoft seems to be entering the handheld games market on the sly. It's had none of the gaming press's attention so far, but ORIGAMI as it is known, seems to be a jack-of-all-trades. It offers, games, movies and MP3s on the go, and I rather suspect that it's trying to square up to the iPod and Blackberry much more than it is to the PSP.   Reports right now are mixed. It looks like a PocketPC Phone device, or like a small tablet PC, but beyond that no-one knows. Even the picture on the left may be way out. Right now It seems unlikely that it will be marketed as a games machine, especially given the 'lifestyle' video linked below, which does contain about 8 seconds of mocked up gameplaying. There is very little info on the device so far beyond a cryptic website, so watch this space for more...   UPDATE 08/03/06   It seems that the device is a UMPC as they're calling it. According to Intel's site:   "An Ultra Mobile PC is a new category of mobile devices optimized for specific usage models such as Internet-to-go, Entertainment-to-go, and Education-to-go, while providing full PC capability and versatility"

So there you have it. In the meantime here is Intel's take on the device, which seems to be like a large pocket PC that runs XP for tablets and has a rotating/sliding keyboard: video link Also in their video they show possible GPS capability and an alternative model to the one shown below that has a larger keyboard (below, far right)   The device will be unveiled in full at CeBit tomorrow. . .

LINKS: Official Site Promotional Video

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