Microsoft Announces Xbox One S, Project Scorpio Gaming Consoles (engadget.com) 144
Details of Microsoft's rumored new console have dropped ahead of the company's conference at E3 tradeshow Monday. It appears the long-anticipated smaller and more powerful variant of company's current console is real. According to a leaked press render, Microsoft will be announcing the Xbox One S (where S stands for Slim) at the gaming event. The Xbox One S will be 40 percent smaller than the Xbox One, and pack in more powerful processing and graphics muscle. According to the render, the Xbox One S will come with a 2TB hard drive, and feature support for 4K video playback and High Dynamic Range. According to separate reports, the Xbox One S is likely to be priced at $399 for the 2TB variant. Update: 06/13 16:58 GMT by M : Microsoft has officially taken the wraps off the product. It will be available for purchase starting August. AnandTech has more details.Also at its event, Microsoft announced Xbox Play Anywhere. The Verge reports: It lets you buy participating cross-platform games once, and own them on both platforms. If you buy a game on Xbox One it will simply appear in your Windows 10 library, and vice versa, and your saved games, achievements, and other information will carry over between the two versions.Microsoft also unveiled "Project Scorpio", a high-powered Xbox One launching next year that is capable of supporting 4K content as well as virtual reality headsets. "We are creating more choice in your gaming experience than ever before," said Xbox chief Phil Spencer to open Microsoft's E3 conference. No word on its pricing yet.
not enough (Score:3, Insightful)
they should make it 100% smaller and stop polluting slashdot
Volume or Each dimension? (Score:3)
40% smaller in volume translates to 16% smaller in each dimension. Whoo hoo!! that's so exciting.
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40% smaller in volume translates to 16% smaller in each dimension. Whoo hoo!! that's so exciting.
TFA is sadly lacking in details; however, the 'S' in the model name stands for 'Slim', implying that the reduction is in one dimension, presumably height. Personally, I think they should have left the measurements alone and put in a higher-capacity battery. Oh wait, that comment is for smart phones. Never mind.
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People do still buy BluRay discs, you know. Not everybody has drunk the streaming Kool-Aid. Some people still like to own a physical copy of media they buy.
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I have drunk the streaming Kool-Aid as has the rest of my family. Actually handling physical discs is rubbish, especially with young children.
However it's our "own" streaming Kool-Aid and as such we need physical CD's, DVD's and BluRay's to rip from. A good VDSL2 internet connection with lots of upload means we all share the same server despite being located all over the UK.
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Actually handling physical discs is rubbish
Only if you don't care about image quality, and if you don't care about image qualit, wtf do you worry about 4K or even HD for? Streaming HD quality is marginally better than SD. If you have a 40-45* TV and sit ten feet away, you can not really see the difference between streaming HD and SD. Streaming 4K content today is of lower at times significantly so, quality than 1080p. Watching 4K content on Neflix is terrible. The footage is sharpened to the unwatchable. But hey, if you don't care about image qualit
Re:Optical Drive....? (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft originally intended to embed a unique serial # into each disc so that it became bound to the first account that played the game. A bit like a product code. Turns out people really hated that idea. It was partly this and the Kinect debacle that gave the PS4 an early lead.
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The xbox one *does* do that, but I have never seen a game that wasn't horribly unplayable until it was fully installed. And most games have a huge (mandatory) day-1 update, so owning the physical copy doesn't help much either.
Seattle Director's Rule (Score:4, Interesting)
If your machine lacks an optical drive, and the best home Internet connection in your area is satellite or cellular with a cap on the order of 5 to 15 GB/mo, good luck carrying your console and a monitor into town every time you want to install a game, even if you aren't using online multiplayer. Many rural users are in this situation due to the DSL distance limit. And in Seattle, Washington, the Director's Rule [geekwire.com] requires a supermajority of nearby landowners to approve any construction, where failure to respond counts as a no vote, and vacant properties also count as a no vote.
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Seattle has 1Gbps available from multiple providers.
Throughout Seattle, or only in small parts? Last time I heard, the Director's Rule kept said 1 Gbps service from covering the whole city. If this changed, when did this change?
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Re:Seattle Director's Rule (Score:5, Interesting)
Why don't they partner with game shops (and walmart and other retailers) to put a computer in their store where you can load games onto a hard drive. Bring in a USB hard drive, enter your xbox live ID or scan a barcode that corresponds to your account. An encrypted copy of the game is put on the hard disk. You bring the hard disk home, and the game is copied onto the console and decrypted by the fact that it's connected to your account. You could probably even set up a system where-by digital games could be shared/sold between different accounts by deactivating the game on one person's account, and activating it on another person's account. That way you could just bring a hard disk full of games over to your friend's house, instead of having to cart around a bunch of discs.
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There are other formats besides MO disc.
Look at the ubiquity of SDcard. Now, medidate on what the S in SDcard stands for, and why.
SDCard spec supports hardware DRM and encryption. These days there are 256gb SDCards. (course, they cost a pretty penny... but more reasonable sized cards are just a few bucks.) They lack physical seek time, have baked in protections against duplication, are surprisingly durable... the only downside is their small size makes them easy to lose or misplace.
Give it time. The choice
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Why does anything need an optical drive in 2016?
There are no bandwidth caps on delivery through Amazon Prime. 4K Blu-ray quality HDR video with theatrical sound? Not a problem. Exclusive streaming-media deals? Not a problem if you pre-order the disk.
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Why does anything need an optical drive in 2016?
There are no bandwidth caps on delivery through Amazon Prime. 4K Blu-ray quality HDR video with theatrical sound? Not a problem. Exclusive streaming-media deals? Not a problem if you pre-order the disk.
I have Comcast Internet. If Comcast puts a cap out then it doesn't matter what Amazon does.
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Why does anything need an optical drive in 2016?
There are no bandwidth caps on delivery through Amazon Prime. 4K Blu-ray quality HDR video with theatrical sound? Not a problem. Exclusive streaming-media deals? Not a problem if you pre-order the disk.
I have Comcast Internet. If Comcast puts a cap out then it doesn't matter what Amazon does.
I think what they are alluding to is Amazon Prime shipping a physical disk for an optical drive. Do not underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of hard drives speeding down the highway, nor a delivery truck bringing blue-ray disks.
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Doesnt the red title mean it was recently greenlit?
Re: with 2x the spyware? (Score:1)
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* cheaper to manufacture (less materials);
* cheaper to ship.
* less heat generated.
* cheaper to manufacture - silicon die shrinks.
--> More processing units (CPUs|GPUs) from the same silcon wafer.
What's not to understand?
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Exactly, and sell 2x the $pyware. Twice.
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Because you really want both.
You want a smaller phone to carry around easier, but you want a bigger screen to see and interact with.
What people want is like the Tony Stark Cell phone with a 3D projected display. However to make it truly useful and not just impressive for hollywood it will need to project back so it can block out what is behind it and only have it display for the people who wants to see it.
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You want a bigger pocket. Duh.
Carpenters/painter pants have a great cell phone pocket.
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Starting with with the 360 Slim they started using big heat sinks and fans venting the hot air via slits directly above the CPU/GPU, so heat dissipation hasn't been an issue for quite some time now. I picked up a Slim shortly after they launched and its been fine so far too, the quality jump between it and the original 360 was pretty
Me too, much? (Score:4, Insightful)
So Sony announced a 4K PS4 and Surprise! There's now going to be a 4K Xbox one. Well who didn't see that coming. Of course now they effectively both destroyed the console lifecycle I expect we'll soon see the law of diminishing returns kick in as people stop buying consoles because they're worried they might out of date in a few years rather than the usual 5 or more.
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I'm just waiting for the Nintendo Wii U 2K.
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The next console by Nintendo is currently codenamed "NX" and according to reports, it will be capable of 4K video. It will be released in fall 2017.
Xbox360 generations (Score:1)
Even the old XB360 had various generations though. The early ones had component video out,while later generations added HDMI (and supposedly more reliable motherboards)
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they effectively both destroyed the console lifecycle I expect we'll soon see the law of diminishing returns kick in as people stop buying consoles because they're worried they might out of date in a few years rather than the usual 5 or more.
Exactly the opposite. Now you can buy an older generation console for less if you don't need the latest features but still play the latest games with your friends who do rush out to buy the latest and greatest. More importantly you'll be able to play your games in higher quality later when the latest and greatest drops in price.
If you're budget conscious this is a great change for consoles. Let's compare:
Before:
You buy the Xbox 360 for $199 when the Xbox One came out at $499. You don't need 1080p, you d
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Sony didn't announce squat. They confirmed something. In the meantime, the One S, supporting 4k video playback, will be for sale in a month. Neo? In development, with no information provided whatsoever.
Sorry, I'm a Sony fan myself, but.. Microsoft won this round.
Alleged to be one of two new models (Score:5, Insightful)
If credible reports are to be believed, the XB1-S is the first of two successors to the current XB1. There is a second machine, rumoured to have significantly upgraded internals, which is apparently due next year, to compete with the PS4 Neo. This might, of course, all be proven wrong within the next few hours following MS's E3 presentation.
But if the reports are correct, then things start to look very odd. The XB1-S described in TFA looks like a pretty normal mid-generation hardware refresh, similar to the 360-S or the PS3-slim from the last generation. It reduces the form-factor and apparently adds support for 4k Blu-Rays (the current XB1 can do 4k video output, but there is currently pretty much nothing that makes use of it), but doesn't do much else. So far, so sane. But then this is apparently only going to be given a few months on the market before a significantly more powerful "XB1.5" is released, which will offer a significantly bigger step up.
There's something not quite right with this current console generation. It's hard to put a finger on precisely what - the sales numbers (even for the XB1) are pretty great compared to the last generation - but there is definitely something that isn't quite gelling. Despite being over two and a half years old, the software libraries for the PS4 and XB1 remain fairly thin, being light on the major exclusives that have powered previous generations and heavy on "HD remasters" of old games. If, like me, you prefer to game on a PC, the reasons to own the new consoles look pretty thin (and I sort-of regret my own purchases).
I don't know whether there is something sinister emerging in the financials which the public can't see, but both Sony and MS seem to be spooked in a way that the numbers don't quite support (MS's position isn't what they wanted, but is also by no means bad). I still can't work out why, at a point in the cycle when they should be enjoying the huge third-party licensing fees that should be rolling in thanks to their large installed base, Sony are taking a massive gamble and splitting their user-base with the PS4 Neo. Slightly more understandable is why MS would feel the need to follow suit, but even that doesn't quite feel right. All the omens for Nintendo's NX look pretty dire, so I doubt it's that which has Sony or MS spooked.
As I say, hard to put my finger on it, but there is definitely something odd going on.
Re:Alleged to be one of two new models (Score:4, Interesting)
It seems more likely that they'll toss in 4K support for streaming services and leave it at that.
Re:Alleged to be one of two new models (Score:4)
Might be right.
One thing it certainly won't be is 4k gaming, despite some of the more excitable comments around this and the PS4 Neo. We know what practical 4k gaming requires on PC (even the new Nvidia 1080 paired with an i7 6700k isn't quite there in terms of consistently acceptable performance) and the PS4 Neo specs fall far short of that. I doubt there's a new iteration of the XB1 on the way that will be significantly more powerful than the PS4 Neo.
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I have a high-end PC (i7 6700k and 980ti) and a 4k monitor. Right now, unless you are willing to tolerate very shoddy levels of performance, most of the latest games are not really practical in 4k. 1440p remains the sweet-spot. There are exceptions - Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, Overwatch (if you're willing to drop detail a bit), but those are generally games with low polygon counts and few lighting effects.
Detail levels are not all that much lower in console games these days; Eurogamer's regular Di
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Just because it does 4K doesn't mean it will support Bluray UHD. Supporting 4K could just mean more VRAM and support for HEVC in hardware.
I hope the Xbox One GPU is more than enough to decode HEVC at 4k resolution...
Universal and Xfinity (Score:2)
other technical requirements which Microsoft might not feel so inclined to do when the main beneficiary is Sony.
And Disney, Fox, Paramount, Universal, and Warner. Universal is a big one for the following reason:
It seems more likely that they'll toss in 4K support for streaming services and leave it at that.
Any streaming service operated by Microsoft in the United States has to overcome peering policies of an ISP owned by Universal's parent company.
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:As I say, hard to put my finger on it, but there is definitely something odd going on.
Most likely, the S version was already in development, and as soon as MS heard the rumors that Sony was developing the 4K, they decided to imitate, therefore starting development on a beefier version
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Yes, that's the most plausible explanation, isn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if the XB1-S also had lower manufacturing costs than the default XB1, so it's a way of keeping the lower-spec model in circulation at a lower price-point.
Also, not a comment about your post, but... aren't the AC fanboy horde out in unusual force today, by slashdot standards? Is there something in the water? Large parts of this comments section read more like Kotaku than slashdot.
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Your right, there is something amiss this time. This is the first time consoles are architecturally identical to a standard PC system. It is also the first time that none of the consoles attempted to push technology forward in any way (the chips in both consoles are nothing to write home about performance wise, even at the time of the console's launch.) At the same time, small form factor PCs like NUCs were getting popular. Combined with Steam, PC manufactures started building gaming systems that *directly
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I don't know whether there is something sinister emerging in the financials which the public can't see, but both Sony and MS seem to be spooked in a way that the numbers don't quite support
Well if there's any sinister in the financials, I'd suggest it is AMD begging/tricking them to make a new round of consoles so they can earn some more money. Maybe they've stealthily planted the idea that the other company was going to launch a half-gen console creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, maybe they offered a deal too good to refuse. It's no secret that AMD needs money to stay afloat....
Xbones? (Score:2)
Like you had an xbone, now you had to buy a second one, so you have two xbones.
Are they hoping for an old school "play dem xbones"? reference?
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Who knows with these names man. Microsoft called it the Xbox 360 because when you see it you turn 360 degrees and walk away.
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I think it actually got the nickname when it was going to be some dude that has to check every day online or it won't play your games. Microsoft scrapped that negafeature prelaunch, but the term stuck and subsequently lost all or most of its negative connotation. Some consoles get nicknames, it's just how it goes. Microsoft is probably glad that "xbone" sounds kinda cool and isn't hostile.
I'd heard that they actually chose the name "Xbox One" because the "Xbox 360" was called by most fans as 'the 360', a
Oculus Rift (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem with trying to stuff augmented reality and VR down our throats this early is that the screen door effect is still very prominent. The only way to get rid of the screen door effect is to provide a 5K resolution display per eye. AR and VR will fail because they tried to bring it out too early.
Kinetic only bundle? (Score:2)
No DVR, No sale (Score:2)
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Perhaps you should consider buying a DVR instead of a console if you're upset that DVR capability is not included.
Microsoft indicated at the onset that it was intended to be able to perform DVR functions...until they decided that they weren't.
Buying a DVR isn't much of a picnic anymore. If you're building one, you're stuck on Windows 7 or 8.1, because MS actively removed Media Center from Win10. To my knowledge, there's no such thing as a CableCard compliant tuner for OSX. Showshifter, BeyondTV, and a number of other software-based DVR applications have all gone pear-shaped. Mythbuntu is somewhat-viable, but it's reall
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They never claimed they were going to add coffee maker functionality in a future update. That is the difference here.
Comment (Score:1)
Xbox One S = Xbox Ones = Xbox Two, at least, right guys?
"Microsoft Announces the Xbox Two, Its Smallest Xbox Yet"
FTFY
Selling the console at a loss (Score:2)
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They couldn't pick something else besides "S"? (Score:2)
Only one way to read this (Score:2)
There's only one way to read this: OMG next quarter's loss will make the last one look like a profit, we need a distraction fast.
We know this story (Score:2)
Golden Goose, meet clever.
small PCIe addon card (Score:2)
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Then either your projector is terrible or you need glasses. Likely both.
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then either your eyes don't work or you've never actually seen a large 4K display before
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and I'd be pretty hard-pressed to see a difference between 1080P and 4K even at that size
How far from your "TV" are you sitting? 20 feet?
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Knowing what group of terrorists one is referring to is important. Were they Eco terrorists, anti-gov terrorists, radical Islamic terrorists, radical Christian terrorists or what?
Yes, if a Christian claims his faith made him do i'd call them radical Christian terrorists.
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If gay people in a Christian society had to tolerate being asked "1. I don't like what you're doing so I'm going to try to "fix" you." a few times a year then I think they'd be pissed, but over all no more put-out than being asked for change by the train station.
Do not under-sell the discrimination that the Christian church has extended towards gay people. Discrimination that affects you daily, limits your freedom, impairs you financially, and alters your self esteem.
There is nothing redeeming about the Chu