Game developers reportedly confirm Microsoft will release two Xbox consoles next year

[Cal Jeffrey]

Rumor mill: Although Microsoft continues to deny it has two versions of the next Xbox planned, rumors of a low-end console to be released with its main offering persist. Now a small group of game developers have come forward to say there is indeed two consoles coming out next year, but still nothing official from Redmond.

Last year, rumors surfaced that Microsoft’s Project Scarlett had two next-gen consoles in the works — the standard, high-end version codenamed Anaconda, and a stripped-down model called Lockhart. However, Xbox gaming head Phill Spencer denied those rumors last June.

On Wednesday, four anonymous game developers briefed on the matter, confirmed the plan with Kotaku, and said the consoles are set to launch during the holiday season of 2020. Anaconda will be the direct successor to the Xbox One X, while Lockhart will be a digital-only (no optical drive) console analogous to the Xbox One S.

Lockhart will reportedly be less potent than its sister console, although Microsoft has yet to disclose hardware specs on anything under the Project Scarlett umbrella, other than passing on some performance goals.

That said, the sources indicate that Lockhart will still be about as powerful as the PlayStation 4 Pro with around 4 TFLOPs of graphical computing power. It will also have a more substantial CPU than any current console on the market.

Microsoft is pushing developers to deliver gameplay at 60fps in 1440p for Lockhart. The company has previously stated that for Project Scarlett (Anaconda), it is shooting for 60fps in 4K.

Kotaku speculates that Lockhart will be heavily marketed and perhaps even bundled with Microsoft’s xCloud gaming service or Xbox Game Pass. This reasoning makes sense for a digital-only console.

When asked for comment, Microsoft issued its usual, “We do not comment on rumors or speculation.” So take the scuttlebutt for what it is worth until Redmond decides to remove the gag.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83034-game-developers-reportedly-confirm-microsoft-release-two-xbox.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I purchased the original Xbox instead of a PS2 and got hooked. Then purchased the Xbox 360 - which was easily the best of the bunch. Then purchased Xbox One: Day One Edition and was marginally disappointed.

#1 Too many Xbox One games were sequels while most of Xbox and Xbox 360's games were originals.

#2 The system itself was a complete letdown. I hate external HDD and Sony did the smart thing by allowing you to pop in your own HDD of whatever size you wanted - or an SSD when prices dropped.

500GB was nowhere near enough to make this thing "the center of my home entertainment center".

I should have been able to record live TV with the push of a button.

I personally loved the voice control of Kinect although I may have used Kinect games for less than 1% of the system's life.


#3 I'm very disappointed by the controller's build quality. I've had to replace my XboxO controllers several times. Xbox 360's were better.


I just hope they'll do the smart thing: put the OS on an SSD and allow you to buy your own HDD or SSD since prices are steadily dropping on SSD and HDD can easily be had in high capacities for cheap.

I also hope that online streaming or sharing will be easier.


Otherwise: I'm better off just gaming on my 2080ti PC.

 

[m4a4]

I purchased the original Xbox instead of a PS2 and got hooked. Then purchased the Xbox 360 - which was easily the best of the bunch. Then purchased Xbox One: Day One Edition and was marginally disappointed.

#1 Too many Xbox One games were sequels while most of Xbox and Xbox 360's games were originals.

#2 The system itself was a complete letdown. I hate external HDD and Sony did the smart thing by allowing you to pop in your own HDD of whatever size you wanted - or an SSD when prices dropped.

500GB was nowhere near enough to make this thing "the center of my home entertainment center".

I should have been able to record live TV with the push of a button.

I personally loved the voice control of Kinect although I may have used Kinect games for less than 1% of the system's life.


#3 I'm very disappointed by the controller's build quality. I've had to replace my XboxO controllers several times. Xbox 360's were better.


I just hope they'll do the smart thing: put the OS on an SSD and allow you to buy your own HDD or SSD since prices are steadily dropping on SSD and HDD can easily be had in high capacities for cheap.

I also hope that online streaming or sharing will be easier.


Otherwise: I'm better off just gaming on my 2080ti PC.

SSD's are pretty much guaranteed at this point (or it wouldn't be able to compete with what Sony has announced).
Now, about the size of the SSD, who knows if they'll try to push 1TB for the base model (which should be the bare minimum if there's no great way to expand storage).

 

[KingAlistair]

I purchased the original Xbox instead of a PS2 and got hooked. Then purchased the Xbox 360 - which was easily the best of the bunch. Then purchased Xbox One: Day One Edition and was marginally disappointed.

#1 Too many Xbox One games were sequels while most of Xbox and Xbox 360's games were originals.

#2 The system itself was a complete letdown. I hate external HDD and Sony did the smart thing by allowing you to pop in your own HDD of whatever size you wanted - or an SSD when prices dropped.

500GB was nowhere near enough to make this thing "the center of my home entertainment center".

I should have been able to record live TV with the push of a button.

I personally loved the voice control of Kinect although I may have used Kinect games for less than 1% of the system's life.


#3 I'm very disappointed by the controller's build quality. I've had to replace my XboxO controllers several times. Xbox 360's were better.


I just hope they'll do the smart thing: put the OS on an SSD and allow you to buy your own HDD or SSD since prices are steadily dropping on SSD and HDD can easily be had in high capacities for cheap.

I also hope that online streaming or sharing will be easier.


Otherwise: I'm better off just gaming on my 2080ti PC.

If you own a 2080 ti you are not the target market for console gaming. That GPU is a huge waste of money.

 

[Adi6293]

I'm skipping next gen most likely, if I want to play on my 65" TV I will just get a long HDMI cable and plug it to my PC

 

[QuantumPhysics]

If you own a 2080 ti you are not the target market for console gaming. That GPU is a huge waste of money.

No it isn't.

Neither is the RTX Titan.

For whoever buys them, it's exactly perfect for their demands.

 

[Evernessince]

SSD's are pretty much guaranteed at this point (or it wouldn't be able to compete with what Sony has announced).
Now, about the size of the SSD, who knows if they'll try to push 1TB for the base model (which should be the bare minimum if there's no great way to expand storage).

SSD cache + HDD is also possible. 1TB SSDs are still $100 for cheap models, which is a large cost just for storage on a console. For comparison, previous consoles had storage worth about $35 - 40.

No it isn't.

Neither is the RTX Titan.

For whoever buys them, it's exactly perfect for their demands.View attachment 85867

Given that last gen Titan was $1,200 and last gen 1080 Ti was $700, it doesn't matter who's buying them. They are comparatively bad value. You can argue that it might be useful for an extremely small niche of the market but ultimately for the vast majority of people you are getting ripped off.

You own one of those expensive cards, so it's expected that you'd protect your position.

 

[m4a4]

SSD cache + HDD is also possible. 1TB SSDs are still $100 for cheap models, which is a large cost just for storage on a console. For comparison, previous consoles had storage worth about $35 - 40.

If they want to do something fancy when loading the game from HDD, maybe. But those hybrids aren't nearly as fast as pure SSD's when it comes to loading a large amount of infrequently accessed files (like video games will demand).

 

[QuantumPhysics]

SSD cache + HDD is also possible. 1TB SSDs are still $100 for cheap models, which is a large cost just for storage on a console. For comparison, previous consoles had storage worth about $35 - 40.



Given that last gen Titan was $1,200 and last gen 1080 Ti was $700, it doesn't matter who's buying them. They are comparatively bad value. You can argue that it might be useful for an extremely small niche of the market but ultimately for the vast majority of people you are getting ripped off.

You own one of those expensive cards, so it's expected that you'd protect your position.

I heard the same nonsense from people when I bought a Titan X and then heard it again when I bought a Titan XP.

Even the dude in the store was trying to convince me to buy a lower end card.

Fortunately, I don't need to compromise.

Youtube money is very good to me.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Youtube money is very good to me.

No one is denying it's a powerful card, but that still doesn't make the MSRP the appropriate value.
You're making the logical equivalent of holding an umbrella over your head, then saying it's not raining because you can't feel rain.

 

[Evernessince]

I heard the same nonsense from people when I bought a Titan X and then heard it again when I bought a Titan XP.

Even the dude in the store was trying to convince me to buy a lower end card.

Fortunately, I don't need to compromise.

Youtube money is very good to me.

Nothing wrong with spending your money. Just don't claim a card is good value if it isn't. I love collecting fountain pens but I'm not going to call my Pilot Metal Falcon good value. I'm paying $200 more for what is a slightly better writer then $60 fountain pens.

 

[m3tavision]

I don't think anyone has to hint, since Microsoft themselves already admitted to having a tiered console for the next generation.

 

[Puiu]

I heard the same nonsense from people when I bought a Titan X and then heard it again when I bought a Titan XP.

Even the dude in the store was trying to convince me to buy a lower end card.

Fortunately, I don't need to compromise.

Youtube money is very good to me.

Those type of GPUs are not for the consumer market. They're for the extreme users, the edge cases. If you bought Titan cards just for gaming then I consider it a mistake. Wasted money. If you bought it because it works better in some professional application you are using then it's a smart purchase. One that helps you make money.

 

[dirtyferret]

60 FPS at 4k with a $499 console? Some of these games will look damn ugly unless they are downscaled like many console games are and then "upscaled" which still looks ugly...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

No one is denying it's a powerful card, but that still doesn't make the MSRP the appropriate value.
You're making the logical equivalent of holding an umbrella over your head, then saying it's not raining because you can't feel rain.

Those type of GPUs are not for the consumer market. They're for the extreme users, the edge cases. If you bought Titan cards just for gaming then I consider it a mistake. Wasted money. If you bought it because it works better in some professional application you are using then it's a smart purchase. One that helps you make money.

Nothing wrong with spending your money. Just don't claim a card is good value if it isn't. I love collecting fountain pens but I'm not going to call my Pilot Metal Falcon good value. I'm paying $200 more for what is a slightly better writer then $60 fountain pens.

#1 You make the mistake of thinking I still have them. I treat GPU just like iPhones. I keep all original packaging and resell them on Ebay as soon as the next big thing comes out. This way, I am pretty much assured there is good residual value and the difference between the old card and the upgrade is small.


#2 The Free Market is ALWAYS right.

There is no such thing as "appropriate value".

On the FREE MARKET the card will sell for what the market is willing to pay.

 

[kira setsu]

I don't mind this plan because they're announcing it BEFORE the launches, giving folks a choice on how much to spend isnt terrible, beats sonys weaka** move with the pro, still mad they dropped a more powerful(marginally)version way later then patted themselves on the back for it.

 

[dangh]

I don't mind this plan because they're announcing it BEFORE the launches, giving folks a choice on how much to spend isnt terrible, beats sonys weaka** move with the pro, still mad they dropped a more powerful(marginally)version way later then patted themselves on the back for it.

Exactly who is announcing anything right now?

Don't care. If there will be any interesting xbox only game next gen I will be able to play it on PC. For all other fun I will get ps5 & switch. Can't wait for next Guerrilla, ND and Santa Monica masterpieces.

 

[Puiu]

#1 You make the mistake of thinking I still have them. I treat GPU just like iPhones. I keep all original packaging and resell them on Ebay as soon as the next big thing comes out. This way, I am pretty much assured there is good residual value and the difference between the old card and the upgrade is small.


#2 The Free Market is ALWAYS right.

There is no such thing as "appropriate value".

On the FREE MARKET the card will sell for what the market is willing to pay.

You are missing the point entirely. It has nothing to do with the free market or how much someone is willing to pay for a certain product. But hey, you do you. If you don't want a discussion on the the topic then just say so.

At his point I'm sure you are doing these posts just to brag and don't actually care about actually teaching people who don't know the difference between product A and B, why they should buy one over the other.

If you think $1k+ GPUs are disposable tic tacs then more power to you dude. But don't push your warped view of value and money onto others.

Wasting money is not what I would teach my children or those I care about.

FYI as someone who has worked as a software developer for a long time I can afford to buy like you do every next gen GPU at launch (I'm after all an enthusiast). But I just don't see the benefits of doing something like that beyond bragging rights. Fortunately I left that childish side of me in high school.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

You are missing the point entirely. It has nothing to do with the free market or how much someone is willing to pay for a certain productt...

Incorrect

 

[neeyik]

Stick to thread topic, please folks.

 

[kira setsu]

Exactly who is announcing anything right now?

Don't care. If there will be any interesting xbox only game next gen I will be able to play it on PC. For all other fun I will get ps5 & switch. Can't wait for next Guerrilla, ND and Santa Monica masterpieces.

true they didnt announce it, but they are placing their cards on the table early.

I keep up with consoles as a pc main and especially xbox because now those games are gonna hit windows, strangely though as an owner of every playstation til this point the ps5 right now does nothing for me, sony now makes movies that let you dabble in their worlds, except for uncharted 4/lost legacy and H:ZD nothing on ps4 hit me like the previous gens, GoW was boring, tlou was boring(my opinion for both)but to me switch and xbox bring fun games, maybe this is sonys new niche with PS, boring games, cinematic boring games.

 

[Ravalo]

60 FPS at 4k with a $499 console? Some of these games will look damn ugly unless they are downscaled like many console games are and then "upscaled" which still looks ugly...

The Xbox one X could do native 4k 30fps in most games because it has a gpu as powerful as an rx 580 (which can do 4k 24-30 fps at low/very low settings)