Microsoft
The Electronic Entertainment Expo is still roughly a week away, but that hasn’t stopped the countless stream of exciting reveals. From “Fallout 4” to “Lego Worlds,” it begs the question, “What exactly is left to reveal at E3 this year?” Well, that question just became even more difficult to answer. Early this morning, on June 9, Major Nelson revealed that Microsoft has a new console, new controller, and new wireless adapter coming later this year.
First off is the new console. With fans begging for more storage space to be included inside the Xbox One, Microsoft finally listened. Coming June 16, the Xbox One will begin shipping to retailers with a 1TB internal hard drive. This edition of the Xbox One has a new matte finish for the console and will include “The Master Chief Collection” for a limited time. Beginning immediately, all 500GB models will receive a permanent price drop to $349 in preparation for the 1TB model to launch at a $399 price point. That means, for only $50 more, you can get twice the storage space, a $60 game, a unique console, and the brand new Xbox One controller as well.
While the new controller looks almost identical to the original incarnation, it actually has a slew of updates coming. The only visible one comes in the form of a 3.5mm stereo jack. This will allow users to directly plug headsets into the controller. It will also allow users to custom mix the headset volume, mic monitoring, and voice and game audio balance through the Xbox One settings menu. From a gaming standpoint, the bumpers on the controller have been fine-tuned. Most exciting of all, the new controllers will be able to wirelessly receive firmware updates, eliminating the painstaking process of manually connecting each controller via USB cable to receive an update. The new controller will be available for $64.99 in traditional black and a silver and black version of the Xbox One Special Edition Covert Forces wireless controller.
For those who enjoy the Xbox One controller but want to migrate some of their gaming experience to the PC, Microsoft has news for you too. Beginning this Fall, the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows will launch, allowing users to wirelessly connect their Xbox One Controller to any Windows 10 PC, laptop, or tablet. While this may sound limiting, keep in mind everyone with a copy of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 will be receiving a free upgrade to Windows 10 when it launches July 29 (even those with unlicensed copies!). The Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows will launch at a standalone $24.99 price point and will be bundled with an Xbox One Wireless Controller for $79.95, saving you about $10 if you purchase them together.
Will all of this being announced now, this should hopefully mean Microsoft has something very exciting up their sleeves for E3 next week.
Via Xbox Wire