Remember when it seemed like Nintendo owned the mobile gaming space? Not anymore. Though the Nintendo DS is still a top-seller, competition is heating up from Apple (via the increasingly popular iPhone apps) and Sony (which will introduce its follow-up to the PSP, the PSPgo, this October).
Now add Microsoft to the mix. In a story on Kikizo, Shane Kim of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment and Devices says, "for us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when'" a mobile unit will come out. At the moment, the company is focusing on its Live service, which is building a system through which gamers can seamlessly compete and socialize over a variety of platforms. Kim also suggest a possible iPhone killer on the horizon. "How do we enter into that market?" he said, "Do we do our own device, do we create our own phone--that's a question for the company itself--do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path, which is the path that we're on today."
David Kushner is the author of many books, including Masters of Doom, Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids, Levittown, The Bones of Marianna, and Alligator Candy. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has written for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.
