New Xbox coming next year with Natal?

360 Rumour | Microsoft to relaunch Natal-upgraded Xbox, while still supporting original 360?

There have been stories and gossip floating around regarding an updated Xbox 360 relaunch since early last year. However, with Microsoft coming out of E3 heavily pushing its new motion control concept, Natal, there are people starting to believe there could be some truth to the rumours.

1UP reports that not only could Natal become a standard add-on for the 360, but also speculates it will evolve to become the next generation Xbox.

On the other hand, there is also talk that the new console might only be a minor upgrade to the current 360 hardware, with publishers having to support both the new model as well as the current system. All existing Xbox 360 games could be played, but future games would take advantage of the rumoured upgrade. Games would look or perform better on the advanced Xbox, but it may not be a generational leap like that of the original Xbox to the 360.

From what we can gather at this moment, it sounds similar to how Nintendo relaunched the DSi, evolving older technology into something new. With Microsoft’s Shane Kim reinforcing the company's commitment to a long life-cycle for the 360, perhaps Natal will be more than a simple add-on.

1UP says its sources point to next year's Game Developer's Conference as the announcement date, so for now we will have to wait to see if further information is revealed to strengthen the rumour.

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23 Comments

Lord Haart

2 years ago

Highly doubt it. Unless it's just a bundle. No point combining Natal & the Xbox into a single hardware unit unless the xbox suddenly shrinks to a tenth of it's size and weight.

They might "upgrade" the hardware with more reliable/quiet/power efficient parts (if it's cheaper for them to produce it that way), but I very much doubt they would split the developer base, would be an extremely bad move.

The next xbox will be an entirely new creation - it might be backwards compatible, but I don't think that it will only be a slight upgrade.

Slashee the Cow

2 years ago

Or knowing how much MS likes your $, it'll be the only way to get Natal.

Timewarp

2 years ago

I think it is possible and I would go out for an updated Xbox 360 if it was reasonable price.

If the hardware update was along the lines of a better processor, Ram and graphic card. It would be better as it make me want to play older games to see them run better. So many games suffer from frame rate issues and other technical issues but if they are fixed, I believe that more people will have less to complain about.

bluejay

2 years ago

seeing as how my 360 has already red ringed and will be out of warranty in about 8 months, I will probably be looking to pick up one of the new models anyway, if the price is right I'll be happy to grab this

worst case scenario I'll be able to pick up a nice cheap non-natal 360

Nietzsche

2 years ago

That just sounds stupid. Would anyone buy a console for motion controls?

Matteh

2 years ago

Nietzsche wrote

That just sounds stupid. Would anyone buy a console for motion controls?

The wii? lol

Puddingfork

2 years ago

Maybe the upgraded console will be able to do games like halo gears etc (basically any current gen 3D game) in 1080p rather than just 720p

This is a visual upgrade for those with it, but doesn't split any developer bases or whatever or bother the owners of current 360's too much. It's also possible it will go for higher frame rates or add AA to games.

EDIT: Yeh these things wouldn't surprise me, consoles are slowly trying to become PC's, this is just another step. In a generation or two I think consoles with have upgradeable hardware.

Lord Haart

2 years ago

Matteh wrote

Nietzsche wrote

That just sounds stupid. Would anyone buy a console for motion controls?

The wii? lol

Hehehe owned!

(I'll give Nietzsche the benefit of the doubt though and assume the original comment was sarcastic)

Sin Ogaris

2 years ago

I'm guessing there'll be a Natal bundle, it won't be console specific, expecially seeing as the technology is based off a camera, you wouldn't need interior hardware to get that to work. Merely a spare USB plug.

Phreakuency

2 years ago

Well considering Natal games are probably 12 months away, it would then be silly of MS to launch such a device with a console that was that old.

Very silly in fact.

Cyph

2 years ago

Interesting. I doubt it will be next year, as I said in another thread, probably 2011.

renegadesx

2 years ago

Microsoft said in their press conference very clearly that Natal will work on every 360 ever purchased. Natal will likely come in a bundle and sold separately.

What your going to see over the next few years is new SKU's for both Sony and M$ consoles but will still be the same consoles. After it being revealed they managed to port the CryEngine3 to them show these boxes have alot of life left in them.

GooberMan

2 years ago

Can has more eDRAM on the graphics processor plz? If you're looking for a minor upgrade that will make new games look better, all you need to do is double the amount of embedded RAM from 10mb to 20mb.

begbie

2 years ago

Let's just wait and see if this thing is any good first, it could very well be the 360s power glove.

Lord Haart

2 years ago

Phreakuency wrote

Well considering Natal games are probably 12 months away, it would then be silly of MS to launch such a device with a console that was that old.

Very silly in fact.

Actually, the FACT is that it's going to work with all xbox 360s. That's from the head of Xbox division, at E3.

Naturally, that does not preclude it from working with future Xboxes. It's revision-agnostic.

And many many sources have said that 2011 is the earliest we will hear (hear!) of new consoles. They might come out in 2013 if you're lucky (though tbh, I think we're lucky if this generation continues - no matter what console you own, developers need time to learn how to get the most out of the console).

realitybites

2 years ago

Can't see MS bringing out a new next gen console as such.

Slimline 360 that is more reliable and includes the motion sensing that I could see. Reduces costs in terms of support and manufacturer.

Skiller

2 years ago

GooberMan wrote

2nded, though 1gb of shared memory instead of 512mb would also make me happy.

Lord Haart

2 years ago

^Yes and no. Would basically mean that games require DOUBLE the testing. Hardware variations can completely change how a game plays, having an optional HDD is bad enough.

Anyhow, streaming does a pretty good job, at the end of the day the #1 limiting factor is actually the read speed of the DVD. That's why the sequencing of files on disk is so critical.

IMO, bring games out on 8GB flash drives would probably help with performance more. Reading from HDD is also not all that fast, so SSDs would assist as well. More RAM would mean you need to load less often, but would not actually decrease loading times.

Jellyfish

2 years ago

Double the embedded RAM and double the L1/2 cache while adding in out of order execution too for the CPU. I'm hoping expanded cache wouldn't mess around with the programming memory management in the games and out of order execution improves speed not decreasing it.

GooberMan

2 years ago

nikack wrote

adding in out of order execution too for the CPU.

Can you say "major hardware revision"?

All I want is to get rid of tiling. Why did you need to make tiling a part of the Xbox instead of just increasing the eDRAM size Microsoft? Why why why?

*sigh*

waz79

2 years ago

Well it makes sense to launch new controllers with a new system and maybe the DSi like partial upgrade is the best option.

The Wii should have sold 70-75 mill. by this time next yr so good luck tapping into the ever decreasing mainstream / casual market.

BloodApathy

2 years ago

I am not sure how the recent xboxes have been, but do they currently come with the new xbox experience on them already? or is that something that needs to still be downloaded? I mean, obviously there would be some fairly major updates in firmware regarding natal and other things, maybe this "re release" will be more like that, all the tools for the new technology? A quieter drive, amongst other things?

G3ck0

2 years ago

BloodApathy wrote

I am note sure how the recent xboxes have been, but do they currently come with the new xbox experience on them already already? or is that something that needs to still be downloaded? I mean, obviously there would be some fairly major updates in firmware regarding natal and other things, maybe this "re release" will be more like that, all the tools for the new technology? A quieter drive, amongst other things?

I had to download NXE.

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