Yes people, you read that correctly! According to a new report, Microsoft’s Next generation console (codename: Durango) will not feature a disc drive! This means goodbye DVD, Blu-Ray, and all of the classic physical copies of your favorite gaming titles. This must be a tough blow to hardcore gamers with an extensive collection of past Xbox titles, but I cant say that they should be shocked. The future of all of our media seems to be going digital and to be enjoyed through the cloud to give us the consumer more devices and accessibility to enjoy our media wherever we are.
Apparently the new console is to employ “interchangeable solid-state card storage,” but it is yet to be knows weather this is going to be some sort of standard format, such as SD or CF. You must be asking yourself how we all got a sneak peek into this great information, well it seems one of Microsoft’s developmental partners is squealing all of the inside information (guess he was just so excited he could not wait for E3). He also gave us an insight of when to be expecting this new disc-less entertainment console, which according to the report is “100%” confirmed for a 2013 release! ha yea like we did not see that one coming.
Microsoft wasn’t going to sit back and read these claims without commenting and they did as such with this official response:
“Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Pretty heavy! Other claims say Microsoft will actually release two! yes two, versions of the new console! One is rumored to be a download driven set model whilst the other to be a more traditional “core gamer” system. This “core” system should support physical copies of games and also Blu-ray! so we have one console that would be “streaming only” and the other to cater to our more traditional experiences with physical media and enhancing it with Blu-Ray technology.
Until the next Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 we wont know for sure and all of these “rumors” will be just that…rumors.
