Will Microsoft be launching a slimmed-down skew of their Xbox 360 next year? Crazy speculations and more, after the jump.
Image of Xbox Lite courtesy of DigitalTrends
Surprise! Surprise! We all believed the only thing Microsoft had up its hardware sleeves was the eventual successor to their Xbox 360, a gaming machine that’s currently in the planning stages under the code name of Duragno, but not so according to one mysterious Internet source. Posted on Reddit, anonymous blogger MS Nerd shared news of another console in the works – what is being unofficially called the Xbox Lite.
Have faith dear readers that this surely won’t be the console’s true name, but rather a simple way of describing what MS Nerd detailed in his/her entry: namely, a no-frills DVD-drive-less version of the current Xbox that is centered around apps, and with the option to play Xbox Live/Kinect games. Hmm, a box that has no optical-drive, should stream content from the internet, and runs apps… Sounds rather Apple TV-ish, doesn’t it?
Indeed, it does. And that’s no conjecture on my part either. MS Nerd says him/herself that this “Xbox Lite” will be “price-competitive” with Apple TV when it hits the market in late 2013, a few months before Microsoft plans on debuting their next Xbox. Whoa, what a hoot that would be.
As for the Xbox 720 or whatever, MS Nerd didn’t have much say to in this regard. Only that it would launch afterwards with the same catalog of apps for both casual and hard-core audiences that this, supposed, Xbox Lite will bring with it. No clue as to what this means, but it does gives some relief – I said some, not a lot – that Microsoft’s next console isn’t kicking gaming enthusiasts to the curb.
In case you’ve been out of touch about the latest rumors over the Next Xbox (read, out of touch as having a life), so far we known that, a) it’s coming sometime between late this year (haha, no) to 2014, b) packs “James Cameron’s Avatar-level” graphics, and c) has a tablet-like controller with a touch-screen and standard dual-analog stick controls/buttons.
No doubt that with all the cash invested in it – and the many bags of moolah it’s made in return – Microsoft’s Kinect should certainly play a role in these future gaming rigs. To which MS Nerd told via Reddit, that the next generation of will be arriving sometime around 2015. I for one welcome our new Kinect overlords. Hail Kinect.
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