Some how I fell upon this letter that I wrote to MS back in 2004. I designed a non functioning prototype hand held gaming device, with 2 analogue sticks, physical Xbox buttons with a touch interface design and specifically remember using Halo in all the screens that I used to show the product.

Dear Sir or Madam:
My name is Vivek , I am 17 years of age and am currently doing my A levels at *School Name*, UK. I am a graphics product student and for my year 13 project I have chosen to produce a hand held multimedia gaming device. I have chosen Microsoft as the company to produce the product for, as you do not currently have merchandise of this type out on the market.
I am looking to produce a product that will rival Nintendo’s Gameboy series and Sony’s new PSP. The ideas I have complied so far is to have a product that plays games, stores music, can be used for communication (perhaps via MSN Video Messaging) and has windows OS on it. This would mean endless capabilities and the product would cover a wide market area.
For the design of the product I am looking to produce something that is as sleek as an iPod, practical as a PDA and powerful as the Xbox.
At the moment though I am researching my product and I would be especially grateful if you could send me some material which could help me with my project. I have also placed my telephone number and address above so that you can contact me if you feel it is necessary.
Sincerely,
Vivek
Student

I will try and dig up the designs and 3D models I built and might even have the plastic prototype I build somewhere. So what if MS did release a Zune/Windows/Xbox device that you could take anywhere with you? I was a naive kid back in those days and dreamed a little too much. Do you thin MS could have cracked it?

Now of days I daydream about designing every wall in a house being a touch screen LCD that looks normal, but is interactive meaning you could walk through your house and watch a TV show or QL on any surface. Or if you are in the kitchen the recipe appears on the wall in front of you, perhaps accompanied by a video.

This letter reminded me of where I first started my passion for design and I wanted to share it. For anyone who is wondering, Microsoft did get in touch with me and sent me a free Xbox with a bunch of swag.

Sounds like a good way to get a free Xbox. And please, dear god, If you ever make that house with touch screen LCD walls, let me know. I'd pay out the ass for that feature in my house

@Masin said:

Sounds like a good way to get a free Xbox. And please, dear god, If you ever make that house with touch screen LCD walls, let me know. I'd pay out the ass for that feature in my house

@Vivek said:

Now of days I daydream about designing every wall in a house being a touch screen LCD that looks normal, but is interactive meaning you could walk through your house and watch a TV show or QL on any surface. Or if you are in the kitchen the recipe appears on the wall in front of you, perhaps accompanied by a video.

Isn't that what Bill Gates wanted to do to his house, but his wife nixed the idea?

I'd like the entire outside of my house to be made with (well protected) LCD screens of some sort.

New paintjob err'day. Broadcast porn to anybody walking past. Show your junk to pretty ladies.

Glorious.

i think we all thought about something awesome and made a letter to them. be pretty cool for microsoft to join in the handheld war. i don't think it would be good though.

Nah, I'll keep all my walls normal, thank you very much. I'd rather have a holographic wristwatch that displays a perfect image in front of me and allows me to move everything around it. It would essentially show my computer remotely and allow me to do anything with it.

Well, if you're going to dream, dream big damn it!

Anyway, I don't really think I want a portable Xbox at this point. The PS Vita can do pretty much everything at a somewhat OK price point. The iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad isn't so great at gaming but for pick-up-and-play it's perfect (it has Peggle, what the fuck else do you need?), and I hear tell it does music pretty well too.

Putting your DVD movies on any kind of portable device is a pain in the ass, though.

I would love to work at an RND facility and build and LCD touch screen wall. Imagine having a monitor anywhere, as large as the wall. In fact I think that it is probably happening in the military somewhere as we speak.

i dream of designing a car i could fold up and put in my wallet so i could save money on parking fee's.