MS muses portable Xbox

It's no surprise Microsoft is flirting with the idea of jumping into the handheld market - while the company has found success with the Xbox 360, Microsoft has absolutely no portable presence, states CNET News.

With all this time outside of the market, Microsoft needs to identify what kind of portable system the company's handheld Xbox will be.

There have been rumours of a Zune-Xbox-cellphone hybrid, but such an ambitious device will be expensive and alienate those who just want a portable gaming system.

Raptr, a social network targeting gamers, is hoping to make it easier to see what friends are currently playing on a broad range of platforms such as the Xbox 360 and personal computers, says The Associated Press.

And if players want, they can join them in the action. Raptr has unveiled software that integrates various instant-messaging services, as well as Twitter and Facebook, and automatically updates users' status with the games they are currently playing.

It recognises about 32 000 games, including hardcore titles like Halo 3, music games like Guitar Hero, and social games such as Zynga's YoVille on Facebook.

There's the iPhone and then there's everything else - that's the widespread perception of the mobile games industry, but speakers at Casual Connect Seattle have stressed that there's money to be made in the still viable mobile games market, writes CasualGaming.biz.

“The business models on mobile are still better,” I-play's Mike Breslin explained. “You can still make more money than iPhone. It's still a stable platform.”

Indeed, in much the same way that the likes of Ngmoco and Chillingo has solidified their reputations by winning a popular following on the App Store, the door is still open for other to do the same on rival portals.