While I haven’t been paying as close attention as one would think to the upcoming release of new Xbox and PlayStation hardware (blame work and the toxic nature of the online community for that one) I had been active enough to notice people discussing a product mentioned on Xbox gift cards and the like described as the “Xbox Series S.”
Anyone with any understanding of the Xbox family branding knows that S has traditionally been used for major revisions to hardware; the Xbox controllers made for the Japanese market (where the original “Duke” controllers were just too large) were known as “Xbox Controller S” models. The Xbox 360’s 2010 redesign was Xbox 360 S, and the same with the Xbox One – its redesign (with a slight upgrade to boot) is the Xbox One S. Following that a top-tier version of the system was made called the Xbox One X. It’s at least a unique name for the unit and fits with the theme. Odd, but I liked it.
(On a side note, contrary to very popular slang, there is no such thing as a “slim” Xbox – that’s a mostly fan made common name for PlayStation redesigns. It’s just “S” and nothing more.)
With the “Xbox Series X” announced a few months ago things got interesting, as this alluded to the Xbox One X, almost like it was begging to be identified as a top tier product. I figured this was simply because it was going to be that, but be that on its own – stand alone in the Xbox lineup, just as the original model Xbox One did in 2013. Yep, in one of those funny moments where I didn’t pick up on the clues I failed to consider that the name obviously meant this was the more powerful unit of a duo to be released in November! That’s right, for as many things as I am damn good on “predicting” in such topics, that’s one I didn’t even begin to think about until I saw posts about a “Series S” unit, and rumors started circulating.
Given there was actual freaking evidence this time around, as opposed to every other gaming rumor you see out there with absolutely zero reason behind believing it (coughPS5PLAYINGEVERYGAMEcough.) This one had the various cards and little references, all being verified by multiple sources, to warrant considering it and this morning in a very strange coincidence I woke up just after the Xbox account shared a tweet confirming the Xbox One S and, more importantly, the price: $299. This means Microsoft is the first this time around to give you the bottom line in how much it will cost you to get into the upcoming gaming ecosystem. Not bad. Not bad at all.
I won’t go into that further – both the pricing and the statistics of the hardware I want to save for future articles, but for now I’m rather excited, if only just to see come November, December, and then through early 2021 just how sales look – people often tend to buy what’s cheapest, which means the outlook seems pretty good for the Xbox Series S and thus the Xbox brand on a whole going forward, as well things should be.
Now, let’s just hope there aren’t any crippling defects with these things.