wraggster
November 22nd, 2012, 23:08
Rumours of a low-spec TV set-top box style Xbox have returned.
The Verge (http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/21/3674802/xbox-tv-set-top-box-casual-gaming-streaming-2013) reckons that “multiple sources familiar with Redmond's plans” have revealed that Microsoft is indeed intent on launching two versions of the Xbox 720.
One is the fully-fledged meat and two veg console powerhouse that you’d expect while the other is a cheaper unit that is designed as a living-room access point for the wider casual market into the Xbox world.
It will be based on Windows 8 and won’t run large-scale triple-A titles but will instead focus on downloadable content. From a broader perspective the new box is yet another example of Microsoft attempting to make its new software environments easily scalable and easily embedded into a broad range of devices.
More speculative rumouring adds that “the company could opt to combine its core system for the next Xbox with a phone stack to deliver a phone capable of running a full version of Microsoft's Xbox Live services”.
Both machines will apparently be revealed in 2013 and arrive before Christmas next year.
Talk of a twin-SKU Xbox 720 strategy has been around for over a year (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/next-xbox-skips-optical-drive-goes-digital-only/087710), with November 2011 bringing word of a disc-less digital-only console. This was backed up in March of this year when MCV revealed that Microsoft is hatching a disc-less strategy of sorts (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/exclusive-no-disc-drive-for-next-xbox/092534) for Xbox 720.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/talk-of-the-xbox-720-set-top-box-re-emerges/0106852
The Verge (http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/21/3674802/xbox-tv-set-top-box-casual-gaming-streaming-2013) reckons that “multiple sources familiar with Redmond's plans” have revealed that Microsoft is indeed intent on launching two versions of the Xbox 720.
One is the fully-fledged meat and two veg console powerhouse that you’d expect while the other is a cheaper unit that is designed as a living-room access point for the wider casual market into the Xbox world.
It will be based on Windows 8 and won’t run large-scale triple-A titles but will instead focus on downloadable content. From a broader perspective the new box is yet another example of Microsoft attempting to make its new software environments easily scalable and easily embedded into a broad range of devices.
More speculative rumouring adds that “the company could opt to combine its core system for the next Xbox with a phone stack to deliver a phone capable of running a full version of Microsoft's Xbox Live services”.
Both machines will apparently be revealed in 2013 and arrive before Christmas next year.
Talk of a twin-SKU Xbox 720 strategy has been around for over a year (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/next-xbox-skips-optical-drive-goes-digital-only/087710), with November 2011 bringing word of a disc-less digital-only console. This was backed up in March of this year when MCV revealed that Microsoft is hatching a disc-less strategy of sorts (http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/exclusive-no-disc-drive-for-next-xbox/092534) for Xbox 720.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/talk-of-the-xbox-720-set-top-box-re-emerges/0106852