"Xbox will be built to be affordable, personal, and open. We will offer flexible pricing so it’s easy to get started and keep playing."

Excuse me?

XBOX IS FUCKING BACK.

LET'S GOOOOOO

Xbox just sounds much better than Microsoft Gaming....

Microsoft Gaming was a terrible brand name. 

I do think Xbox needs two consoles next generation, but have the weaker one still decently powered. So the cheaper one is say $500 or $600 and have the ultra powerful one cost $1,000 or whatever makes sense given the specs.

Why do I say the cheaper one should be $500 or $600? The Series S is underpowered and that was $300 at launch and sold at a decent loss. At the higher price it will be more inline of having a Series X and a Series X Pro, rather than a Series S and Series X. If that makes sense. 

Yeah, they probably should release a weaker system. If the rumors about the main Project Helix system being a $1000+ system turn out to be true, that just isn't a mass marker product, that is a system for high-end gamers only. All signs point to gaming spend slowing in recent years, now just isn't the right time to be releasing a $1000+ model as your only option on the market.

Release a 2nd system at something like $600, with specs like 30-40% below the high-end Helix model. Based on the PS6 specs (20-30% below Helix) that have leaked for a reported $700-800, at $600 Xbox should be able to come in only slightly below the PS6 specs on a lower end system with a lower price tag than PS6. Just make sure there is nothing limiting the ability to port to it, have the same CPU in both consoles just like on Series S and X, but this time have the same amount of RAM on the lower-end model to make porting easier, same amount but slower clock speed on RAM, same CPU but lower clock speed, and a weaker GPU. The high end Helix model seems to be designed to run games with ray tracing or path tracing, with a huge leap in RT performance over Series X, make the lower end model focused on running games at mostly the same graphics setting as the high end model, but with RT off.

Smh. If this turns out to be true, Halo Studios just don't know what the heck they are doing with the franchise. There are tons of Battle Royale and Extraction shooters on the market, just tossing a Halo themed game in either genre onto the market is not going to do anything to turn around Halo's fortunes.

Focus on making good traditional Halo multiplayer. That is unique, nothing else like it on the market, every shooter that is big these days is either twitch shooters with fast TTK (CoD), Battle Royale (Fortnite, Apex, etc.), extraction shooter (R6 Siege, Arc Raiders), or hero shooter (Overwatch, Valorant). Be Halo, be unique. Some people like a slow TTK tactical shooter where the person who shoots 2nd can still turn the encounter around. And don't turn off the OG Halo fans with cat ear and unicorn helmets this time.

Halo really is a mess. I don't know of any other Xbox studio with these kinds consistent leadership issues. Feels like the Halo IP is cursed. Hopefully the Halo remake is good. 

I do wonder how more much powerful than the Xbox Series X a console at $600 would be considering the Series X is already $600. But the plus side would be dropping the Series S for development. 

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/467634/report-new-xbox-game-pass-starter-edition-to-come-bundled-with-discord-nitro/

Report: New Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition to Come Bundled With Discord Nitro

Microsoft and Discord started to tease a partnership this week and a new leak has revealed what is coming. A new Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition will come bundled with Discord Nitro.

The Starter Edition will reportedly include "50+ games like Stardew Valley & Fallout 4," along with 10 hours of cloud gaming each month, the ability to play select games from your Xbox library with cloud gaming, and earn Xbox Rewards by playing games.

Better xCloud developer redphx on social media discovered Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition will include third-party games and not just first-party titles.

There was a report earlier this year that Microsoft was looking for new ways to bundle Xbox Game Pass with third-party services. The Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition appears to be the result of this. There are talks between Netflix and Xbox going on for a partnership as well.

Thanks, The Verge.