Xbox 360 Slim? How About Xbox 360 Natal?
By Jared Newman | Monday, August 24, 2009 at 4:04 pm
With the Playstation 3 looking slimmer and cheaper than ever, all eyes are on Microsoft to retaliate. Rather than speculate on its own, IndustryGamers polled some of gaming’s crystal ball-holding analysts to find out what they thought.
The question: Do you think Microsoft will release an Xbox 360 Slim?
The response was mixed, with a few strong “yays” and “nays” on each side. That’s to be expected, but what surprised me was how only one analyst, Broadpoint AmTech’s Ben Schachter, flat-out predicted a redesign to complement the upcoming “Project Natal” motion-sensing camera. I think that’s the most likely scenario of all.
Earlier this year, it was rumored that Microsoft would do this, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer goofed up and said as much. The PR backlash that followed left a lot of mixed messages — designed, I think, to squash the notion that Natal wouldn’t work on existing Xbox 360s — but ultimately a redesign wasn’t left off the table.
It doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to redesign its console in the near future, because it would smack of copying Sony. But it does make sense for Microsoft to reshape the Xbox 360 into something less hulky when Project Natal comes around. After all, the casual, non-gamer demographic is what Microsoft is going for with Project Natal, and a slimmer console would look less intimidating in the average living room.
I’ll admit that my opinion is tinged by the mock-ups that started floating around the Internet (pictured above) long before this story came to light. Sure, it’s totally fake just a rebranded PS2, but it kind of looks like the Wii, and I wouldn’t be surprised if “Wii-esque” is the strategy Microsoft adopts if it does plan an Xbox 360 Slim.
Then again, I don’t own a crystal ball.
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Xbox 360 Slim Gets a Big Fat Rumor Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 3:57 pm[…] aside idle speculation from analysts and, ahem, bloggers, this is not the first actual rumor of a slimmer Xbox 360. In 2008, TG Daily reported that after […]
August 24th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
No! They have 30% or so fail rate in the big box it sports now, if they put it in smaller one it’ll just melt itself right in front of your eyes as you play. The fake mock up is just XBox branded PS2.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Dang it L1A! Of course, it’s hard not to notice.
I seriously doubt that Microsoft would redesign the console, or even make it slimmer. That would require reducing the height of the heatsinks and either faster or larger fans (then what would be the point in slimming the console?). I’m sure all Microsoft would do is keep knocking down the price of the 360 when Sony changes the PS3, until the next Xbox comes out (we’re starting to see the limits of the 360 now, the hardcore gamers anyway).
August 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Hah, thanks for pointing that out, L1A. Noted.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
People don’t realize how quickly technology changes. If Sony can take that monolith of a gaming system and cram it down into a PS3 slim, I’m sure Mircrosoft can slim down the 360 by now. the design is what.. like 4 years old now? I for one owuld LOVE a 360 redesign that ran quieter and cooler.
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September 29th, 2010 at 3:44 am
Hey, this is a really great article…. Good work.
October 7th, 2010 at 12:22 am
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