Xbox Series X
MS
With E3 cancelled, it’s anyone guess when all those announcements will be scattered throughout the year, but rumors surrounding Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox Series X indicate that new info may be coming sooner rather than later.
Windows Central has a lengthy round-up of recent Microsoft rumors, with a few big items of note.
The first is the idea that Microsoft will not wait until June to show off more from Xbox Series X, and that they may be planning a games showcase in May instead. The rumors don’t go into specifics of what games would be shown. We have only seen very short teasers for Halo Infinite and Hellblade 2, and Microsoft has not even admitted they’re working on a full Fable sequel yet, which has been in the works for some time. So May could be the first time we really see a large list of Xbox Series X launch games, which could be first party or from other publishers Microsoft gets on board for their presentation.
Xbox Series X
MS
The second part of this is even more interesting, and deals with an issue I touched on yesterday, that Microsoft hasn’t said a single word about the rumored, lower spec Xbox Lockhart yet.
The Windows Central report cites rumblings that the console does exist and may be a 4 teraflop “entry point” into the next generation, able of playing next-game games at a lower spec, but still offering next-gen style advantages like faster load times through the SSD. I will say that the 4 teraflop number caught me off guard. Even if this console serves as a replacement for the current Xbox models, remember that the Xbox One X had 6 teraflops of GPU power. Hell, even the PS4 Pro had 4.2 teraflops. So is Microsoft really going to debut a console that comes in lower than both of those in terms of power output? And if so, how much will it cost? $400 now seems way, way too steep for a unit like that so what, $300? How would that change the console landscape when it’s launching next to a 12 teraflop Series X at possibly $500-600? I have a lot of questions about this entire concept, but perhaps this next-gen showcase is when we get some answers about Microsoft’s plans for the Lockhart at last.
As for PS5? No rumors yet. Sony was never going to go to E3 and likely had formulated its own plans for its external reveal already. All that’s probably changed there is a venue without a live audience, if I had to guess. Sony has revealed even fewer next-games yet, and has also not revealed the actual PS5 box yet, only the controller. The price also remains a mystery, though recent rumors suggest it’s been pushed up to $500-550. Sony is not attempting any sort of secondary console like Microsoft appears to be, it’s going to be PS5 or nothing, which honestly, may be the right call, but we’ll have to see how this fall unfolds with Microsoft’s dual console plans.
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