As with any gathering of this magnitude, the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (which wraps up today) is becoming a hotbed for gaming rumors and the like.  We’ve seen impressive Q&A sessions with Miyamoto, Cliffy B, and Peter Molyneux.  Heck, there’s even been the announcement of a new Nintendo Wii Mii channel.  However, some of the most interesting news may be coming this morning, with word that AMD has announced a package of tools capable of bringing the Xbox 360’s technology to a handheld platform – maybe even the Microsoft Zune.

For those who missed the rumors, it wasn’t much more than a year ago that MS ruined a few Xbox fanboy dreams by announcing that the “Xboy” was instead the Zune, a portable device directed at a handheld music audience, and not gamers.  Although digital audio fans steadily grew excited over the Wi-Fi enabled Zune, many believed Microsoft had missed its chance to take a piece of a market owned by Nintendo (and rather neglected by Sony).

Today, processor manufacturer AMD – primary competitor to Intel – is announcing a suite that includes Rendermonkey 1.7, which will open the door to the same Unified Shader Architecture used by ATI in the Xbox 360.  The announcement is largely connected to AMD’s recently unveiled Imageon processor line, GPU tech capable of 3D graphics for mobile devices.

When asked by Ars Technica if this technology is planned for future integration with a player like the Zune, AMD answered “In short, yes.  Our goal is to enable high-quality gaming in all handheld devices”.

Given that the technology comes from Microsoft’s own backyard, so begins rumors of an expanded Zune gaming player, or perhaps even a resurrection of the “Xboy”.