Despite Microsoft’s best efforts and a lot of hard work, the Zune has never really lived up to the expectations the company had for the product. Now, we hear that it just might live to get another chance, but this time as something a little different.

Sources tell us that deep within the development labs at Microsoft the company just might be looking very seriously at the possibility of molding the Zune platform into the first Xbox portable gaming platform. When you first hear this, normally your reaction is likely to be… “What are they thinking?” – but after some additional reflection, it might make a lot of sense if you think about it.

The latest Zune HD uses the Nvidia Tegra, and now with Nvidia releasing the Tegra 2 platform it could be reworked to support the latest platform; this would give it much more punch and performance that could put the device on the map if the company elected to use the Xbox branding to market such a portable gaming platform.

With all of the current push behind Windows Phone 7, it is hard to think that Microsoft would want to bring out their own portable platform, but with Sony playing in both the portable and smartphone market space and Nintendo getting ready to drop the 3DS, Microsoft having a portable of its own might not be as far fetched as one might think.

Our sources claim that nothing has been decided yet and Microsoft is still more in an exploratory mode than anything else; but it could be a heck of a way to get some mileage out of all of the development and money they dumped into the Zune.