OXMUK
One more news story before you sign off for the week. Those long-dead rumours about Microsoft's plans for Xbox handheld gaming? Consider them revived, though not perhaps in the form you're expecting.
A new patent - filed October 2011, last updated 4th April this year - reveals that the manufacturer is looking into the idea of implementing a virtual Xbox 360 control scheme on tablet devices. The patent's a rather long and tiring read, so here's a summary of the highlights: virtual "shoulder bumpers" and "triggers", dual analogue "sticks", motion-sensitive functionality, head-tracking via a built-in camera.
Presumably, the idea would be to port over fully functional Xbox 360 titles to handheld at minimal expense, via digital storefronts such as, I don't know, that Xbox Live thing everybody keeps banging on about. Go on, feast your jaded eyes on the diagrams (hit the image to start the gallery). Can you think of any games that would work well with this?
Fun fact: Microsoft's old corporate VP Shane Kim once declared that a portable Xbox is a matter of "when".
