Because M$ is scared and doesnt know how can they deliver a device to fight against Nintendo, Sony, the tablets, the phones; facebook, gaming in web browsers etc. because it looks like having "mature" games in a handheld device doesnt guarantee sales (¬_¬ VITA in japan, but hopefully in USA will sell better).

I imagine people saying: Ugh...... he is playing "Gears of War: Damnation" instead of playing farmville is his I pad, how can he be so stupid....OR......Ugh how can he play that game that is so gory, I prefer playing Mario or nintendogs with my family reunited in the living room; he sucks.

It sounds funny but it is where the portable business is going. M$ doesnt want to make another Zune.

I am loosing Hope in mankind :(
lol XD

I agree with pretty much all that was said inthis thread. MS has nothing to gain from this venture.... although I will say that there is a void for a "hardcore" hand held in North America that may or may not be filled by the Vita (and I say this as an American who loves his 3DS and has no interest in buying a Vita.)

Wasn't there some ridiculous Halo on DS rumor a few years ago? If any current handheld (that has buttons) got a portable Halo they would automatically have the "cool kid" demo in America.

Too bad that will never happen.

Maybe they are not going to sell a device, but maybe a "platform". Phones are getting really strong so they maybe make Windows 8mobile, and they could buy some exclusives for they platform just like they with xbox before. I think that, that is the future for portable gaming devices. Like what Sony is making with their PS certifcate and PS SUITE, but taken even further. Sony is doing this because I think that deep inside they now portable gaming devices will disappear.

The big problem here is, that the market right now is saturated with Android and IOs, so it is really hard to make a new OS for telephones if you dont have the Billions M$ has.

Devices with one exclusive purpose are fading away. Even the mighty Ipod is useless now because you can do even more things with your Iphone/Android phone.

I wanted to believe the escenario would be different, but looks like the future is creepy. Smartphones are really massive sadly. (I dont have one, and seriously; I dont give a damn about them).

I even think that Sony is doing the PS SUITE available for all Android phones, so that the application can become popular with all the games they have. And then, they can eventually begin charge for the APP 10 bucks; because it has become a necessity. Also by doing that, the prices of the games will be cheaper because of the massive amount of people that will buy them.

If that is the case I will buy a Sony tablet that has connectivity with a PS3 dualshock controller and with a fussion of the PSN of the smarthphones with the PSN of the PS3/VITA. Hopefully Sony will still be making amazing first party games by then.

Both Sony and M$ are thinking about the same future, but are taking different paths because one has LOTS of money and the other doesnt :(.

IMAGINE THE TV ADDS: 

PLAYSTATION SUITE EXCLUSIVE FOR ANDROID SYSTEM

for 9.99

beep

Playstation

Sony (make. believe)

(With some awesome trailers made by Google and Sony in partnership)

MS never releases their own numbers because it's always high, Sony releases numbers for thier failrate all the time. Also I've been down this road before even if I did prove you'd  just ignore it like everyone did with the 360 until MS was getting their ass kicked in court and came out with the extended warrentee to improve their legal position.

You would only read that. 

you talk out of your ass...

all you say is "microsoft has to have a bad failure rate for their hardware products because they don't release numbers"

all you mean is "i'm a little fanboy who has to say this because i'm a fanboy, i can't prove it so i talk out of my ass"

i started respond to you after you said "1. Actually the zune and xbox original both have higher then average failrates though not as horrible as the 360 and I do admit I exaggurated"

so prove it or stfu. yeaH you exaggerated but still where is the prove that zune had a higher failure rate than the average devices with the same functions from other companies?

No it means MS is good at covering their tracks. You're the only one who's a fanboy here.

stfu then....

you have nothing to prove talk out of your ass and that's it. i'm a fanboy? yeah sure i love microsoft so much haha man i will be never a fanboy of a company i think this is one of the most idiotic attitudes to be a fanboy of a company.

and i say this because i hate sony right? that's why i have a last of us signature because i hate games for playstation^^ man they even laugh about the master chief in the corner of my sig why should they laugh about him when i'm a microsoft fan? i would never make this kind of sig then.

Then why are you so ravagely defending them? I can't get any sources on the failrate of zune because I keep getting articles on every zune of a certain model breaking at a specific day.

Whatever you are you are the kind of person that ignored the 360 failrate for a year atleast.

well because
1- sony is already having a hard time with the nintendo line of handhelds of any given name --just look at them
the psp didnt even surpass gb numbers of 82 , somthing million the ds sold 150 million+ so far
the 3ds is already crossing 12 million in less then a year on the market! -besting dses first year by a good 2 million plus !

2 considering how unreliable the xbox 360 was at launch and still is for original models prior to slim , , i don't think any ones ready for a ms handheld that could possible have the same issues

3-- lets look at the xbox fan base it is a mear 50 million out of a possible 200 mill plus gamers-mostly held by nintendo with the ds family, as already discussed plus 93 million nintendo wiis out in the wild
microsoft and sony have to get thier act together especally ms they have never been the top seller of any kind

people say xbox is great against the play station but what about the nintendo no body ever aknowledges the fact microsoft isnt in no shape or form to compete against it , , whos going to i mean look at the sales ---93. million vs 59 million

and then 150 dses and 12 million 3dses , add all this together, and this is one of many reasons why microsoft is not entering the handheld market

nintendo is the main reason but there are more out there

such as
what can microsoft possibly do differently then nintendo and sony have already done it seams everything nintendo does they do it right the first time, ,
meanwhile sony tried everything and still came up short

look at vita right now it has a touchscreen and


everything else that 3ds has and a 2nd analog stick to boot but still , the 3ds must be doing somthing else differently maybe its the battery life price and games ya i think its the later because no body wants to play them hd titles on a small screen isnt that why sd went out because hd was the new thing well you put those game on a handheld you lose HD!



no body wants to play first person shooters well not 100 of them on handhelds and japan is big on handhelds ---a place where xbox 360 is nearly dead! so there is no room for a third handheld period i dont even know how psp got some foot hold, i think its going to lose its foothold it has pretty soon as sony is being aragant trying to compete against the phone market at the same time as 3dses !

big mistake because that is one pill that will be hard to swallow you see the problem with sony is they dont take their time in the market to know it,

they rush power and price gouge everything in between for example starting with psp they wanted to push ps2 visuals on a handheld at a time where it wasnt reason able, lets look at gb vs game gear sony should have look back at it , they did not
so what makes you think microsoft is going to , point is

nintendo dominates for a reason
and for any one to even get their foot in the door now! they have to best out sony to ! and sony is the lowest wrung ! of the ladder lets be honest here

microsoft can barely hang on in to the console market --- for 2 streight gens their hanging on by a thread

had sony not screwed up with ps3 i can bet microsoft would be the third in the race this gen , nintendo has already got its game back on and there wont be stoping that train any time soon

so keep these 3 key factors in mind as why ms wont make one
1-nintendo dominates! the handheld market in the world not just japan where portables are bigger
2- microsoft is hanging on by string in the home console market if nintendo succeeds at taking third party with wii u which i think is possible microsoft may be in a big deal of trouble next gen which means you can say good bye to them even so much as trying any way

3 even if 2 dont happen they still have to compete with androids and ipads as crazy as it seams, nintendo dont even need to worry about that market because well nintendo is a known name in the handheld industry , it dont matter what competes with it ,,

nintendos games are the main reasons for their success , people like mario and zelda more then any thing else and pokemon1 cant for get that if you look at 3ds before mariokart the sales were slow , after mariokart and mario land! and pokemon of course -- they have been selling so good!
so this is the indication

no one can ignore that
there is also not many first party xbox games to begin with out side kenict now their practicly near dead
i can count the big sellers on 2 hands at least they are
1halo
2 gears
3 forza
4 banjo(i dont even see a new entry in that one yet)
5 perfect dark
6 fable
and 7 crackdown
compared to nintendo and sony this is weak sauce but the problem with sony is most of theirs are not selling as good as nintendos or microsofts ,, so they off set eachother which is why the xbox and ps3 are so tight close in the race nintendo stands out because well they have a thing called brand recognition and once they get on the right track believe me they will exploit it just look at the wiis line up for one , and compare it to gamecube , ,nintendo has gained ,, big time but sony has been the biggest loser this gen they gave half their audeince to microsoft nintendo took the whole ps2 fanbase almost they all swapped , well ms is still 2nd same spot they finished last gen so


nope no handheld from ms will ever succeed cause they cant even out do either nintendo or sony on two attempts in the console industry going into the handheld market with that 0 and 2 record is going to be like sega in fact i wouldnt be suprised if microsoft ended up like sega in a few gens time

Yeah, a handheld in USA with halo, forza, gears and fable at launch would be huge.