It would appear that Microsoft has been leaking this week. We’ve seen rumours of new games, including Halo 2 Anniversary Edition and Crackdown 3 and we’ve heard rumblings of a hardware revision for the Xbox One. Now VG247 sensationally claims to have confirmation from a trusted source that there is a new model coming and it’s coming this year.
The new version of the Xbox One has been rumoured to be without a disc drive and also to have a bluetooth adapter in it, although VG247’s source hasn’t confirmed those details. They do claim to know that it’ll be cheaper than the existing model though – a claim which could be very damaging to the Xbox One’s prospects at retail between now and the release of any hardware revision.
Original rumours suggested a bigger 1TB hard disk and a white casing too. There has also been word of the much-requested dashboard update being due in March. That’s supposed to fix many of the issues people have raised with the social aspects of the new console.
While we have no reason to doubt the veracity of VG247’s claims, we’d be reluctant to call this “confirmation” of anything just yet. Even without official word, we’d always want at least two (and preferably three) reliable sources who can independently confirm a story before we’d call it anything but a rumour or a potential leak. It appears that VG247 only has one source who is corroborating some of the details that first appeared on GAF and were lent weight by sources at The Verge.
Whatever way you think about the potential for these leaks to be true, someone at Microsoft is going to be furious. Hopefully we’ll see an official statement soon.
Source: VG247
Foxhound_Solid
Running scared perhaps? hahaha
boeboe
I’d sure be impressed with this news if I’d just shelled £430 on an X1! Hopefully they don’t sell a single X1 until this revision comes. God I hate that company.
Starman
You do all realise the kinect isn’t mandatory & the performance tied to it can be easily freed up via a fw update? X1 owners have nothing to worry about, you’re all totally blowing this out of proportion.
bunimomike
Thing is… even though we all know Kinect isn’t a must-have feature it means that Microsoft lied. Sure, all companies do, but, it’s a real stinker of a “well… it wasn’t really necessary and now here’s something shiny and new over there to bedazzle your peepers with!” sort-of-lie.
The sort that knocks a company’s reputation down a notch or two. Saying that, when EA was made out to be some sort of child-head stomping, slobbering chuckle-fu** people still bought their games. So, it looks like you can get away with anything! :-)
Starman
I think Major Nelson said well before release that kinect didn’t need to be plugged in at all, so don’t get how they lied?
double-o-dave
“I think Major Nelson said well before release that kinect didn’t need to be plugged in at all, so don’t get how they lied?”
Like this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCLizTg9nWo
bunimomike
Starman… oh, just in the sense that they all do (Sony, Microsoft, etc).
“Kinect is a must-have feature, etc.” All sales bullshit which we’re used to. Just that the community at large knows that Kinect added to the console’s price and if they ever went with a Kinect-less version then it would piss on their own initial marketing and compound the obvious fact that it’s most certainly not “must-have”.
Hell, don’t get me wrong. Sony are in my bad books over the Move controller but there we go. I’ve learnt my lesson. Prove to me that it’s worthwhile instead of promising high-quality elephants but, sadly, delivering peanuts. :-P
Starman
I think the term “must have” has been misunderstood. He simply meant must have as in “its such a good product you’ll really want it”. He should’ve used a clearer term.
Starman
Heres the quote from 12th August, 3 MONTHS BEFORE RELEASE!
“That said, like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn’t plugged in”
Again tell me where they lied?
bunimomike
Marketing lies, fella. All of them do it. The failed promises of countless companies over countless products. I wasn’t singling out Microsoft. I was trying to show how such a differentiator could be potentially dismissed if they ever do a Kinect-less version.
I realise it’s foolish to hold any company to what they promise or “big-up” to the point of things feeling like you’re missing out but the whole “false advertising” thing irks me as I’m an honest chap who prefers that from companies.
Bilbo_bobbins
Starman it was confirmed by Microsoft, then retracted when they realised they could lose half of their customers over it all. A massive fuck up basically.
Starman
I thought that was when they had all the other policies like always on etc that were all ditched. My point is it was BEFORE release so they didn’t deceive anyone who had bought one.
double-o-dave
I can see their new email campaign now…
“Ditch your XBone and get $100 store credit towards disc-less Xbox One”.
In fact now it makes sense why they wanted your PS3s. They’ve ran out of disc drives.
Bilbo_bobbins
Oh Microsoft, you have a traitor somewhere lol
Seriously though, you would have to be mad to buy digital only with them, plus this will seriously piss off a lot of current Xb1 owners.
MrBiron
I have read elsewhere that it will be a disc-less version.
MS can shove that right up their arse! There is no way I’d buy a console where I can only play digital games on it.
£59.99 for a game?! Not a chance.
Even now the cost of some games to download on the PS3 and 360 are utterly ridiculous. I simply wouldn’t trust publishers to price games at reasonable prices if we had digital only consoles.
ij_001
Sources are saying disc-less but really it’s Kinect-less that makes sense ..
An XboxOne at close to price parity with a PS4 could start to make the argument on performance and games. Despite the recent poor showing the Xbox One eSRAM seems to be an unknown quantity currently – though it still has to balance out lower bandwidth main memory .. it’s not an argument I’d expect Xbox to win, but it could be made.
MS seems determined to hurt themselves this generation, targetting only cash rich, information poor customers – it’s a valid strategy – but not one I’d recommend.
RedStarGlow
I think it is all marketing the “All New Xbox One!”