GameInformer

Honestly, the ps Vita looks pretty awesome. I've always considered myself an xbox fan (bought both systems on their respective launch dates), but I'm starting to think that today, in 2012, sony has better gaming products than microsoft. The Vita is going to have the same functionality as the Wii u, plus will be be able to stream games from the ps3 to the vita. Instead of saying Sony sucks, us xbox fans should demand that microsoft release a portable. How awesome would it be to play gears of war, halo, and viva piñata on the go (I ran out of ideas for xbox exclusives, even mass effect is no longer ours). I love the xbox controller and xbox live, but playstation outdoes us on hardware, the blueray player, and having a portable that does it justice. I'm saving up for a ps3, and may be, sadly, switching my loyalties. 

As much as I enjoy seeing new hardware and advancements in technology, it's unfortunately not that easy for Microsoft to jump on-board with the handheld market. Microsoft has almost no history with making portable products. As a company, they've pretty much exclusively created home computers, and in the last decade, video game consoles. Having released the Windows Phone as a competitor with smart phones and being met with only mild success (as say that as someone who doesn't know a single person who owns one) I think it's fair to say Microsoft doesn't have much ambition going into the handheld market, at least not immediately.

This is not to say I would rule out the possibility completely. It seems the companies plans are to release their next gen console in 2013 and it could be quite possible they release a handheld alongside it. The question is could it compete with the Vita given at least a year head-start? Microsoft would need to launch a handheld with plenty of exclusive, must-have titles with unique features at a cost that isn't ludicrous in comparison to the Vita.

I would love to be owning some noobs on Halo or hooking up with my friends for co-op campaign on Gears with a portable but the likelihood of it happening isn't exactly promising.

i have played with the vita and love it. i am a loyal xbox fan and hate the ps3 but man that vita is something else i might buy it.

No.  I don't think Xbox needs a portable system.  I'm still sketchy about the Vita as it is, I think an Xboxx portable system would get drowned out in an already crowded market (if you can call two systems crowded...).

It would just fail hard here.

I owned a PSP and got bored with it pretty quickly, so I was down on the Vita.  This was until I heard that for games like MLB 12, you'll be able to save games to the cloud and pick them up on either device.  This is worth having (and supposedly what the Wii U does, but with last generations games...).  As a parent, if I could move my games between an xbox console and a handheld so that I could play regardless of where my parenting duties take me, I'd buy right away. Mobile Halo deathmatch, yes please.

I would probably go for one. I have been a fan of the NDS series and I have a 3DS now. I have had a PSP1000 & 3000 in the past but never held onto them...

There are a few existing nonofficial ones. Ben Heck's heavy old X360 "laptop" works pretty well.

It would be great but they have no history and I could only get it if it didnt have the ridiculous price tag like the vita...consoles are expensive enough

I dislike portables.. True Gamer's use PC's and consoles.

There's a strong level of competition in the portable gaming market at the moment with the uprising of the iOS game market at the moment. Not to forget the 3DS with it's upcoming big title games on the horizon and it's intergration with it's big brother console the WiiU further down the line.

From what I've heard from one of the designers for Microsoft that there's a strong focus on their new console and working on the synergy and bridging the gap between console and PC gaming. The groundwork is already there ~ and who wouldn't want more people to play against and with? Plus, the growth to PC gaming and Xbox gaming will be boosted through this as well.

But I digress ~ I strongly believe handheld gaming is a rather strong area at the moment to introduce a new system into. Though, from what news reports are saying at the moment and hinting towards, it is all going to happen when the new generation of consoles are announced.

I agree. I think that microsoft should hold off releasing another console so early and focus on make a handheld Xbox. Heck call it the Xbox 180. I think it would be epic.

In my opinion, no, Microsoft does not need a handheld Xbox. Windows Phone works fine as a portable/handheld platform at the moment. That's an actual thing right now, so they should probably focus on that a little, not introduce another platform.