A Twitter user (Doug_DragoX) posted images of the awaited game console, Xbox Series X, and by looking at the pictures one might think Microsoft will follow a different strategy with the new gadget.
The pictures show the console’s ports, where we see two USB-A ports on the back, one on the front, a single HDMI output, an optical audio port, an Ethernet port and the power connection. There is also unidentified rectangular port, which is assumed will be for diagnostics.
Although the images have not received official confirmation, it is possible to somehow confirm that through the Microsoft website. When you enter the serial number from the leak to the website, it accepts the code and shows it as a non-specific device, which should be normal before an official launch. With this, the images earn some credibility or whatsoever.
When we compare the new device’s ports to the Xbox One X, there is one HDMI port missing with its accompanion IR port, which is used as pass-through to TV sets and control the TV remote with Xbox controller, and also the Kinect port is missing, which was gone for a while, on the last two iterations of the game console, Xbox One X and Xbox One S.
So it will not be possible to use the new Xbox for viewing TV content or check listings or record any of it. Using Kinect for certain old games will not be possible as well.
Microsoft’s new strategy for Xbox Series X might be a focus on core gaming
What should we think of these? This is not a hardware limitation removal, as the device is more than capable of handling these ports or the functions attached to them, but it shows that Microsoft is certainly after a new strategy. The company has been giving out signals of focusing on gaming more than entertainment for a while.
The console has been a favourite media center long before Apple TV or Netflix came into our life, and remember how XBMC (Xbox Media Center) turned into Kodi and runs in lots of home on Android TVs and other sorts of devices around the world as a strong, extendible media center app. Remember how Microsoft pushed OneGuide with Xbox One X. But now, Microsoft is taking a turn away from one feature that has a big part in making it a popular console.
And the Kinect support not being included, even though it’s gone for the last two versions of Xbox One, it is also a sign of Microsoft moving forward. So we think, that when we combine these two factors, we should confidently say that the Xbox Series X will focus more on gaming and new games predominantly. And the recent investments on Project xCloud could also be a forward-runner with possible competition to Google Stadia.
Xbox Game Pass and Project xCloud. But can the former hold momentum and – perhaps more importantly – can the latter, Microsoft’s impressive push into cloud-gaming, be seamlessly integrated with the new next-generation Xbox ecosystem? X
On the other hand, even if these photos are real, it is clear that we are facing a prototype, and the arrangement and quantity of the ports may change at the end of the year or on some term.
