And you thought Microsoft would wait until E3 to pull back the covers! As predicted (you know, after everyone got the first prediction about an April reveal wrong), Microsoft’s taking the lid off its next-gen Xbox on May 21. That’s a few weeks prior to E3, which if you’re into the whole timing-of-press-releases thing, means the company may have a bigger bounce heading into the show than Sony, which unveiled its PlayStation 4 back in February.
That’s the only new info out today. Earlier this month Microsoft know-it-all Paul Thurrott fingered May 21 as new Xbox day, adding that the premium version will cost $500, possibly joined by a $300 scaled back version and/or subsidized with a subscription, smartphone-style. Thurrott also said Microsoft is planning a cheaper $100 Xbox 360 to keep that end of the business lively a bit longer, and he confirmed rumors that the new Xbox, as he put it (citing his notes) “must be Internet-connected to use.”
We’ll find out in roughly a month.