Disc-Less Xbox One
For literally months now, there has been speculation that Microsoft was gearing up for the release of a disc-less Xboxconsole. While it wasn’t necessarily guaranteed, it did seem to entirely fall within the remit of recent comments made by the company stating how they would be interested in a ‘streaming‘ system.
Well, in a report via Eurogamer, we no longer have to speculate. Microsoft has formally confirmed the existence of its disc-less Xbox One consoleas well as a number of other key details!
What do we Know?
Well, as the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition does not have a disc drive, there is clearly the fact that this console will be entirely digitally based. In other words, to play games on it you will either need an Xbox Live Gold subscription or purchase them directly from the store. With the huge library of games on offer by the Xbox Gold service, however, the service alone represents some great value.
How Much Will it Cost?
With a retail price of £199/$249 on the surface, the system might reflect some excellent value. Particularly if you’ve been giving it a few mildly envious glances from camp PS4. Personally, however, I’m not sold on that price. I think it’s about £50 too expensive considering that the system will be entirely dependant on the Xbox Gold package which in itself costs around £40/$50 a year.
Call me crazy, but for spending that kind of money, you’re not too far out of the remit for just buying a console with a disc drive. I thought something about £160 was the value and I’m sticking with it. You might love the idea of this system, and so do I. It’s just a bit too expensive for what it really represents for my liking.
When is it Out?
The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will release on May 7th! So if you are on the fence, you have 3 weeks (ish) to figure it out! What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
There are several disappointing aspects here. First, the price, considering that the Xbox One S is selling for under £200 already. Sure, there are some bundled games, but that doesn’t make the new version seem worth the money. Hopefully the street price will be low enough to be worth it.
Secondly, the name. Rolls off the tongue. I can just see myself going to the store and asking for a Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, or discussing that online. Surely AMD marketing could have come up with something better.
And lastly, the size. I’ve have expected cutting out the Blu-ray drive to have a real effect on the console’s size. Surely a slimmer or smaller console is more attractive. Keeping is the same size feels rather lazy, especially when the Blu-ray drive takes so much space in the normal One S. (See here: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/2k2ZOFC4OCYEwZVJ.huge)
It’s only value to me if they bundle in a years subscription to Xbox Gold live. Otherwise, pointless.
‘AMD marketing’? I’m thinking too much about AMD.