Microsoft Gaming CEO: “I think we should have a handheld, too”

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• HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  SteamOS is probably the biggest risk to the Windows monopoly right now, so that tracks.

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  • scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    And it’s absolutely Microsoft’s cycle. New game changer product comes on the market, they rush a half ass version out with the promise of a really good one later, half ass one flops, they scrap the whole idea because no one wants the half ass version, they fade into obscurity.

    Tablets, VR, video chat, phones

    Anyone remember this?

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    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Is that the table?

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    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I loved windows phone, the UI was so clear (I still use square home on android to this day), the camera app was superb and it was a very efficient operating system for low end hardware.

      It didn’t have a ton of apps but honestly I don’t know, sometimes that doesn’t feel like a bad thing for a thing I am always trying to make more into a tool than an addiction….

      Sure windows phone wasn’t going to grow rapidly for years, but it was well situated to take advantage of an opportunity in the future when apple or google stumbled and created an opening. I think for a company as large as Microsoft just abandoning it entirely was a massively stupid move. Now Microsoft has a gigantic blind spot in mobile, and they are stuck in that position.

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• hperrin@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I would never buy an Xbox handheld. Why would you want a handheld that is locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem even more than a Windows handheld? You’ll get maybe ten to fifteen years out of it, then it will become a brick that Microsoft has abandoned. You will never have fond memories of playing on the Xbox handheld that you can recreate with physical hardware. You’ll never get to show your kids what gaming was like on the thing, because the authentication servers were shut off years ago, and now it is a worthless paperweight.

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  • smeg@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You’ll get maybe ten to fifteen years out of it

    That’s way longer than most consoles last before the servers get turned off

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    • hperrin@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Microsoft is at least good about supporting their gaming hardware for quite a while. But better than other consoles still isn’t good enough. I’ve got a computer from ~1990 that still works and can play contemporary PC games. You can bet the Steam Deck will still work in 2060.

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  • w2tpmf@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Microsoft could just drop a Windows handheld that can play Xbox games natively.

    The Xbox already runs on a custom VM based on Windows 10/11. Microsoft themselves are the only ones keeping the two who systems separated by artificial software limitations.

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    • hperrin@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      They could, but they won’t.

      They could also release a handheld gaming PC that runs Windows under their Surface brand, if they wanted to go that route.

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    • xavier666@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Microsoft : “When we added all the extra ‘features’ of Win11 into our Xbox OS, we saw a severe drop in performance. So we have kept them separate.” Customers : “So you do agree the features in Win11 are detrimental to the user experience?” Microsoft : “Fuck no, those features are essential for a user. Btw, have you upgraded to Win11?”

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  • westyvw@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Way ahead of you. I would never buy an Xbox. Or anything microsoft for that matter. It’s just been better this way.

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  • GenosseFlosse@lemmy.nz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    No, it would use the same Microsoft auth it already uses for xbox, outlook, windows etc.

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• Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  “Hey boss we have the tech from Surface Division to form factor the new Xbox and portable the same. People could just buy one device.”

  *Out the Windows boardroom guy meme*

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  • jjlinux@lemmy.ml ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Exactly my thoughs.

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• mlg@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’m assuming it’s gonna be a lame attempt to capitalize on the steam deck’s success with hope that popular DRM game exclusives will drive sales.

  Although I’m pretty sure the MSI Claw already proved that won’t work. Even if it had been good in hardware, the addition of only a few select games didn’t justify the cost or performance of windows on a handheld.

  Unless they put some actual development and research behind it, which they won’t, it’ll probably last only a few years before they have to cancel due to sunk cost and lack of game sales.

  They’d need to properly place DirectX with a clean NT kernel on some good hardware, and make a completely new (and usable) UI like Xbox without sacrificing battery power, which even the deck struggled to accomplish.

  Considering how cruddy windows 11 has been, Xbox nuking teams left & right, and MSFT throwing all their budget at AI, I just don’t see it happening.

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  • TheDorkfromYork@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I consider this comment naive. Microsoft selling a powerful arm based handheld might be extremely successful and totally viable. They have already done the rnd for x86 backwards compatibility on arm and have a close relationship with Qualcomm.

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    • BaroqBard@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      On top of this, I doubt many of the Steam Deck’s current competitors could have sold at a loss like Valve did (IIRC, they sold at a loss or at least pretty close to it). Microsoft, however, definitely has the spare money as a larger corp if they decided to really back the XBox/Gaming division. Price-wise, they could compete. If they’re in the same pricing ballpark, manage a reasonable quality handheld, and can promise perfect windows compatibility with games, that might be something.

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• Telorand@reddthat.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I could only see this working if it came with 6 free months of GamePass, or if it was some kind of loss leader to sell games on their store.

  Unless it’s as easy to install games from the other stores, why would you otherwise pay to live in a tiny, walled garden?

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I would expect it to be a loss leader. The cheap price combined with brand recognition, advertising, and a streamlined experience could make it a successful product I think.

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    • xavier666@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The SteamDeck itself is in loss leader territory.

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  • w2tpmf@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Even the ROG Ally comes with a free month of GamePass Ultimate, and a new Xbox comes with 90 days. I don’t see why a MS first party handheld wouldn’t come with some.

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  • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Their competition is the Deck and other handhelds that run full versions of Windows, there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t give it the same kind of capacities (i.e. a real handheld PC) in which case it’s the Deck that will feel like a walled garden considering that not all games are compatible and not all launchers work on it.

    I say that as a Deck owner that plays with it pretty much once a day.

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    • Telorand@reddthat.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’ve heard from some others that there was a version of Windows (I’m blanking on which one) that worked great on tiny computers, so if they were to revive the project, it could be a really viable competitor.

      The other handhelds that run Windows suffer from it being too much of a traditional PC first and not having enough “console” in them, from what I hear. Can’t say from first hand experience, though, since I also own a Deck.

      Either way, time will tell what eventually comes out of that brief sentiment.

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• Arkaelus@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  “Quick, fresh bubble, flood the market!”

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• 3aqn5k6ryk@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Yeah. Not interested with anything that made by microsoft.

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  • GenosseFlosse@lemmy.nz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Well the mouse and keyboards are actually pretty good…

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    • soulsource@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      And their gamepads for Xbox were pretty good too. Past tense, because those of the Xbox Series X suck (including the “Elite”).

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  • secret300@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Can’t lie I love my surface pro… I mean I do have Linux installed on it but still

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• xep@fedia.io ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Can we also have a Windows Phone next? You can call it an Xbox Phone if you like.

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• Damage@feddit.it ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Do these other handhelds sell enough to justify all these different devices?

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  • ganksy@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I think everyone is looking at Steamdecks success and wanting a piece of that pie.

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    • Wooki@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Lol “steam deck”.

      Try; switch.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Must be, there were at least 3 new handheld PCs announced last week.

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  • thingsiplay@beehaw.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Sometimes its not just about selling enough to justify creation of new device. Sometimes its the potential that they have in mind. The prices are quite high, so they probably make some bucks out of it while it is hot. Soon the market on PC gaming handhelds will be saturated. Then they need to innovate and create something outstanding in whatever way. At least this is what the optimist in me thinks.

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    • AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Then they need to innovate and create something outstanding…

      There’s the snag. Anything they innovate or create that’s outstanding will 100% be anti-consumer. That, or their version of innovation will be forcing an update to your system that pretty much brick it to ensure you buy a newer model (at least for countries that don’t have strong pro-consumer laws). I can count the number of companies on a single hand that I would trust not to do that.

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• Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If they can’t pull this off as an ARM device and recompile all the games to run on it, then don’t bother.

  There’s nothing they can really bring to this that the Steam Deck hasn’t already done better.

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• QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If Microsoft stuck with what it already does, it would be better. They already have cloud streaming technology which makes playing games on their ecosystem possible. Having a separate handheld console would complicate things. I just don’t see the appeal.

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  • warmaster@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    They are risking Linux becoming a thing in the desktop space.

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    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I said this earlier in the thread but I am very confident at this point that Microsoft already lost this battle to Linux in the longterm. Particularly because Linux operating system devs don’t care about AI and Microsoft is obsessed with it like all other dumb massive tech companies and honestly it is going to lead nowhere in terms of providing a useful basis for an operating system especially if the foundation you are working from sucks (glares at Microsoft and Windows). So volunteer Linux devs actually have a huge lead here even though Microsoft has wayyyyy more resources and money because Microsoft is firehosing it all at the stupidest shit while they fire core team members left and right destroying their longterm capability to create quality products.

      The shift just hasn’t happened yet like a dead tree limb hanging on until that gust of wind comes along and the whole limb comes crashing down abruptly weeks after the storm that weakened it.

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    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Roflmao at Linux winning the desktop space.

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• morgan_423@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Why would anyone buy this? You can already do this streaming through the Deck or any of the other handhelds, if Game Pass is your thing.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    A big part of the Deck outselling the competition is price. An Xbox handheld could be sold at a loss (like the deck) with the plan of making the money back on Microsoft store/Xbox store sales.

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  • TheDorkfromYork@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Arm based platform with modern games over cell connection.

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• wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  “if only we had a way to like, take a desktop pc and make it, like, not tethered to a power outlet. and made the mouse and keyboard a part of the case. and added a screen and speakers too. too bad we have no idea how to do that.” -Microsoft, as they shove the 10,000 laptops off of the desk. “guess we will have to do it ourselves.”

  (yeah yeah a laptop “isn’t a handheld” but you get the stupidity all the same, surely. MS abandoned their platform just to make a different, more constrained platform, and charge people for multi-player. and they want to act like they couldn’t do that 25 years ago for free. fuck off MS.)

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    To be fair, gaming laptops kinda suck (at least they did when I owned one). I would probably recommend a steam deck + a desktop over a gaming laptop.

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    • semperverus@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Same. Every gaming laptop i have ever had the displeasure of using has been absolute garbage.

      The steam deck on the other hand? Pure kino.

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    • rikudou@lemmings.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I have only positive experience with them. The only downside is it gets hot like hell, but other than that it works spectacularly.

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• Bezier@suppo.fi ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If they make a device that doesn’t suck, will people not just install Steam on it?

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  • MolochAlter@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    For my money? It won’t allow that without jailbreaking.

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    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I doubt even Microsoft are stupid enough to think they could release a PC-based gaming handheld without Steam support and not fail spectacularly.

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    • Bezier@suppo.fi ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      For sure, but regardless of that.

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  • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    And all other launchers and any PC game that doesn’t run on Linux…

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• Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Called it months ago, they’ll develop a handheld version of Windows and have their own handheld!

  If the controller feels as good as my Elite 2 then I’m sold

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  • Toribor@corndog.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Windows is already the handheld version of Windows but it’s kind of terrible at it.

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    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      They haven’t done anything to adapt it to handheld controls and a small screen

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• kakes@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Always in favour of healthy competition.

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  • snooggums@midwest.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This is microsoft, so I expect unhealthy competition.

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    • HornyOnMain@fedia.io ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I'll expect unhealthy, if I'm wrong I'm pleasantly surprised. That probably won't happen though

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    • Icalasari@fedia.io ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Still healthier than Nintendo owning the handheld gaming market

      Mind, a VERY low bar to clear

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    • stardust@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Like trying to push the stupid recall AI that takes screen shots every few seconds.

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    • kakes@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      You absolutely aren’t wrong there.

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• The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Real Xbox Kinect vibes…

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• njm1314@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Oh, I was wondering how it was going to happen. So many of these games look fantastic and like a good strong future ahead for Xbox. So I was wondering how they were going to screw this up.

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• jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Xbox Remote Play already works on the Steam Deck and Android devices. Not sure on iOS, I haven’t tried that, but I’ve personally run it on my Android tablet and Steam Deck.

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• Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  No they shouldn’t

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  • dom@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Eh. I wouldn’t buy it, but i would support more competition in the market. Maybe Microsoft could make a version of windows specfic to handheld that Lenovo and asus could use.

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• ms_lane@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Phil Spencer holding a steamdeck and looking over at a switch: After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I have a handheld system.

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• Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I would absolutely buy one of these and I’ve been wishing for something like this for years. I do most of my gaming on Xbox these days, and it would be great to be able to play in bed. I don’t even care if it runs Windows or just an Xbox OS.

  I do have a Steam Deck, but some games are too much effort to setup and troubleshoot. I want to hit one button and have a guarantee that the game will work, like the Switch.

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• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

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  Speaking on stage as part of an IGN Live interview, Spencer said directly that “I think we should have a handheld, too.”

  The comment stops just short of an official announcement that Microsoft is actively working on portable gaming hardware for the first time.

  “The future for us in hardware is pretty awesome,” Spencer continued during the IGN presentation.

  Comments like these are a big change from internal Microsoft documents that leaked last September, which listed an Xbox portable as a “current gap in FY23” that is “not in scope for 1st party” (alongside potential products like a mobile controller, earbuds, and a media remote).

  But Spencer was quick to call that leak “outdated” at the time, so it might not be the last word on Microsoft’s portable gaming plans.

  That feels like ancient history, though, in a world where everyone and their corporate subsidiary is looking to draft off the market success of the Steam Deck.

  ---

  The original article contains 386 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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• Moah@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I hope they call it XBox Zune

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