If rumours are to be believed, Microsoft is prepping to release a cheap, basic version of the Xbox, built for “Arcade-style” games and media, sometime next year. This isn’t the next-gen Xbox, mind you, but something in between.
The rumour comes via Microsoft leaker MS Nerd, who told all in a Reddit Q&A last week.
“My understanding is that we’ll see a Xbox device in late 2013 which does Arcade-style games & all the current & future media apps with Kinect (with near-mode). It will be an ARM-based platform price-competitive with the Apple TV (if you own a Kinect already),” he said.
“At some point after that, we’ll see a Xbox Next, a true successor to the 360. Details about it are very hazy, except that, like the 360, it will do games for core-audiences & the same media apps as the other device, also with Kinect.
“Somewhat later, Kinect itself will likely receive a camera update for the video camera first. Around 2015-ish I expect a generational update, to add a better depth camera, processor & inter-connect.”
It’s not the first time MS Nerd has made this claim, either. In November last year, he described a “Zune HD-like hardware platform—a ‘main’ processor with multiple dedicated assistive cores for graphics, AI, physics, sound, networking, encryption and sensors”, codenamed “Xbox Loop”.
“It will be cheaper than the 360, further enabling Kinect adoption,” he wrote at the time. “And it will be far smaller than the 360. It will also demonstrate how Windows Phone could possible [sic] implement Win9’s dev platform on the lower end.”
MS Nerd is not a Microsoft employee, nor officially affiliated with the company in any way, but says he does what he does because “I like following this company & its competitors as well as other CE & health technology news” and “I’m running a ‘social experiment’ of sorts.”
So, yeah. Filed under “Maaaaaaaaaaaybe”.
Source: Reddit, MS Nerd (via CVG)
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