Will Zune gaming be any good?

[Fraser]

It is coming apparently but is there any reason to get excited?

Xbox Live Arcade possibilities notwithstanding, will there even be enough Zune users out there to encourage a healthy throughput of games on the device?

And what about those controls? Are they better suited to gaming than the iPod's controls? Is this the long rumoured handheld Xbox that everyone has assumed will arrive at some point?

Over to you, you lovely lovely people!

[danskmacabre]

I'll be honest and say I know very little about the Zune.
I thought it was an Ipod like device by Microsoft.

Here in the UK I don't know anyone who has one, I haven't even seen them advertised.

I would of thought it would need a lot more exposure/user base here for it to be a success.

Still if there was some really decent games for it I might be interested.
Having a really nice media player that doubled as a GOOD gaming platform could be nice I suppose.

[Mandark]

Hard to say. A tie up between the Zune and the Xbox 360 would probably help but the Zune still seems pretty much a mystery to me. I couldn't even tell you if there are any games for it without googling!

[Accelorata Jengold]

I know that the Zune isn't terribly popular and in spite of whatever Microsoft chooses to do with it from a gaming point of view, I doubt it ever will be, it's just too late to the party on a brand level.

Which is a shame as the potential is massive. If Microsoft was to release a portable console that was 100% compatible with Xbox Live Arcade I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Though the XBLA back catalogue is a great success on the 360, its natural home is really on a portable device where you want something fun/unique/nostalgic, but not necessarily deep and involving.

If Microsoft was to chuck in support for Xbox Originals too and ramp up what's available on the Marketplace I think it would have the perfect recipe for pocket gaming gold.

[SetsFireToPoshHammer]

That would be pretty cool, but even if Microsoft did have sense enough to release such a device, it would hardly be able to remain within the Zune family would it.

I really don't understand what Microsoft is trying to do here. So the company has a gaming brand, and a portable digital media player brand both of which are taken care of by the same division. Will adding games to the Zune (some of which may have some sort of interoperability with XBLA) not just baffle the consumer?

Why didn't Microsoft just hold off on their digital media player and release an Xbox branded device capable of what Accelorata suggests but with plenty of added media support for things like music, video and the internet too? Kind of like a PSP done right.

Though some of the games will probably be pretty decent, I really don't think Microsoft has thought this one through.