Will Microsoft introduce a slightly improved Xbox One at E3 this year or a simply a slimmed down version of the console? Insider Paul Thurrott is citing multiple sources that the console maker has a large hardware related announcement planned for the annual gaming convention.
A new Xbox One standard controller that ships with the console will be announced at E3, per Thurrott. Don’t expect a big change from the current design for the gamepad. It will probably be something on the level of the minor tweaks that added the 3.5mm headset jack last year. However, a different color scheme is likely.
Details are scarce at the moment, but Thurrott claims Microsoft will have a “much larger hardware related announcement” at E3. Rumors of an upgraded Xbox One.5 have run rampant lately alongside reports of the PS4.5 Neo.
Critics of the console would point out it is in need of additional power. However, a leaked document from a Chinese manufacture posted to NeoGAF suggest this also might be a slim version of the Xbox One.
It’s difficult to tell which of these rumors for an upgraded or slimmed down version of the Xbox One is the truest at this point. Microsoft surely has a hardware announcement of some sort planned for E3 along with additional news about integrating the console and Windows 10 device more closely together.
We’ll find out more when the Xbox E3 briefing takes place on Monday, June 13 at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT. It can be viewed through Xbox.com, the Xbox Twitch Channel, YouTube, SpikeTV, and the Xox LIVE events player on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.
