Zune HD : Powered by Nvidia Tegra

[SunnyD]

Matt Akers - Software Developer for Microsoft confirms Tegra in the Zune HD.

We actually wanted to confirm something. There's been a lot of chatter going on right now about us possibly putting the Nvidia Tegra chipset in the Zune HD. Guess what we did. Ok, right now, we?re going to go ahead and confirm that. Yes, the Zune HD does have the Tegra chip in it, which is so sick. So much better battery life, graphics acceleration. I mean, this thing is like a mini laptop in your hand. It's so awesome.

What does this mean? Well, I'm assuming an ARM CPU with Nvidia Tegra which means the Zune HD is potentially going to be a pretty damn capable hand held "console".

 

[Rage187]

if I can play castle crashers on the go, then I am in for one.

 

[destrekor]

The goal is to try and steal the gaming thunder from the iPod Touch. Hopefully Microsoft implements a nice app store setup, and wonder what that kind of battery life claim is going to mean in the real world. Would love to see some sick battery life even after playing games.

Deal breaker, at least initially, is going to be the whole flash memory storage thing. I mean, that's awesome, but probably going to be limited to 32gb. If they offer 64gb I don't want to see it costing $400. Because I don't want to own a flash mp3 player unless I can have 64gb on it. I'm loving my Zune 120 and while its no where close to filled, I'm approaching 30gb and want to maintain that storage capability for video on the go and more music as I get it.

Probably will end up getting a Zune HD, especially due to the whole Tegra thing, but not at launch unless Microsoft surprises everyone with crazy low pricing compared to Apple. Wait for prices to drop over time, as I absolutely love Zune, and having a touch screen Zune, with Tegra, and the additional features... oooo would be very nice.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Rage187
if I can play castle crashers on the go, then I am in for one.

I wanted to thank you for the boner you just gave me from reading that.

 

[mugs]

Zune HD will be an inferior portable game console (for most genres) for the same reason that the iPod Touch is an inferior portable game console... lack of buttons.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: peritusONE

Originally posted by: Rage187
if I can play castle crashers on the go, then I am in for one.

I wanted to thank you for the boner you just gave me from reading that.

Holy shit, portable Castle Crashers would be awesome--but probably not on a touch screen.

 

[Q]

Man I really want a Zune HD but it's going to be out of my price range. Well not really but I can't justify dropping $300 on it or whatever it'll be.

 

[arod]

Originally posted by: mugs
Zune HD will be an inferior portable game console (for most genres) for the same reason that the iPod Touch is an inferior portable game console... lack of buttons.

Thats what worries me about the zune and its gaming aspects.... I was REALLY hoping they would just automatically do what all the rumors were saying. Where you buy something on your xbox and it automatically was playable on the zunehd. A true xbox portable and would have been a very different and better solution than the psp or iphone/ipod touch. But w/o buttons I dont see that happening.

I am still holding out a very slim hope that there is a controller addon for it to turn it into a ds like device because that xbox/zune rumor pre e3 was awesome.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: arod

Originally posted by: mugs
Zune HD will be an inferior portable game console (for most genres) for the same reason that the iPod Touch is an inferior portable game console... lack of buttons.

Thats what worries me about the zune and its gaming aspects.... I was REALLY hoping they would just automatically do what all the rumors were saying. Where you buy something on your xbox and it automatically was playable on the zunehd. A true xbox portable and would have been a very different and better solution than the psp or iphone/ipod touch. But w/o buttons I dont see that happening.

I am still holding out a very slim hope that there is a controller addon for it to turn it into a ds like device because that xbox/zune rumor pre e3 was awesome.

Microsoft as of yet does not want to get into the handheld console market like the DS and PSP. But they'll be more than happy to take on the iTouch/iPhone casual gaming market. All that buttons would change the form factor and make it the less ideal Zune solution, so if Microsoft wants to go that route they better not call it a Zune, and rather a Portable XBOX or something terrible like that. It can have Zune on it and that'd be neat, but Zune's need to be PMP devices. The PSP would be a great PMP, and the PSP Go seems aimed at that type of market who want a more portable PMP with serious gaming ability versus just touch-screen gaming, but still isn't what I want. The PSP has terrible batter life for a media player, although it would be a nice device if using a different form factor for mp3 and video playback. PSP Go comes closer for that usage.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: destrekor
Deal breaker, at least initially, is going to be the whole flash memory storage thing. I mean, that's awesome, but probably going to be limited to 32gb. If they offer 64gb I don't want to see it costing $400. Because I don't want to own a flash mp3 player unless I can have 64gb on it. I'm loving my Zune 120 and while its no where close to filled, I'm approaching 30gb and want to maintain that storage capability for video on the go and more music as I get it.

I agree with this. Seriously - how damn difficult is it to include s MiniSD slot on the thing? It's not like the real estate isn't there to do it. 3/4 of the new cell phones out there include it with minimal effort. I assume it's because it's an attack/hack vector that they want plugged?

Originally posted by: mugs
Zune HD will be an inferior portable game console (for most genres) for the same reason that the iPod Touch is an inferior portable game console... lack of buttons.

Honestly, it all depends on what you're playing. You want games that require fast responsive controls (shooters, fast-action games, fighters, etc) then yes, you are correct. But honestly, a large portion of games out there these days are click-to-move style games, and they're popular as all hell. Honestly, I've been playing EVE lately, and I've been wondering why we even use keyboards these days. Everything is mouse-based, and that in itself can easily be migrated to touchscreen with nearly no effort at all.