Even though it was released a few weeks ago at with Windows 8, Australians haven’t seen a lot of Microsoft’s Surface, the first touchscreen slate from a company known for only one other computer, the Xbox video game system. Rumours, however, are suggesting we’ll see a combination of the two soon enough.
As it stands right now, Microsoft doesn’t have a player in the mobile gaming space, outside of its Windows Phone platform, which itself doesn’t exactly lead, despite the Xbox branding it carries.
Sony and Nintendo are currently battling it out with mobile devices from Apple – the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and iPad Mini – as well as Android smartphones and tablets, with Apple and Android really beginning to show some dominance here.
Part of this comes down to less expensive titles, with the $1-10 price range on smartphones and tablets killing the $30-60 per game price on Nintendo’s and Sony’s answer to portable gaming.
With the release of Microsoft’s first official tablet, however, we might see a revised edition designed for mobile gaming, finally allowing Xbox 360 gamers to take their titles with them on the go in a 7 inch tablet form-factor.
Rumours are currently running hot that Microsoft is considering adapting its 7 inch Surface tablet to include more memory, a new processor, and a cut down version of Windows that would not only work well with Windows applications, but could work with Xbox titles. It’s unlikely that this tablet would have a DVD or optical drive, with games downloaded over the internet through the cloud.
Microsoft hasn’t confirmed any of these rumours yet, as expected, but hopefully we’ll find more about this soon, and long before next year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo.
