Project Lockheart was a damn cool name to give an unreleased console. Like, that’s just a name that sparks awe, amazement and wonder in the hopeful hearts of consumers and investors alike. While we’ve known Microsoft has been hard at work developing Project Lockheart and that it was definitely some kind of alternate version of the Xbox Series X, what kind of form it would take has been, obviously, unknown. Yet we now know exactly what Lockheart is: The Xbox Series S, a smaller and cheaper version of the Series X and it looks real weird but also cool!
A series of (very accurate looking) leaks came out this morning that Microsoft was on the verge of announcing this new model of Xbox and a few hours later, all the rumours were confirmed. Initially brought into the public eye by a report published by trusted journalist Brad Sams and then confirmed by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, the Xbox Series S has had it’s appearance broadcast across Twitter alongside a handful of information about the smaller next-gen console.
The Series S is smaller than the Series X, doesn’t contain a disc drive (making it entirely digital) and what looks like a big-ass fan on the side to keep those internals cool. It certainly looks different to the base Xbox Series X but I don’t think it looks terrible. More like a speaker for a stereo system than an actual video game console but I’m paying so much less for it, so I can’t complain.
👀 Let’s make it official!
Xbox Series S | Next-gen performance in the ˢᵐᵃˡˡᵉˢᵗ Xbox ever. $299 (ERP).
Looking forward to sharing more! Soon. Promise. pic.twitter.com/8wIEpLPVEq
— Xbox (@Xbox) September 8, 2020
What about pricing though? We’ve mentioned that the Series S will be cheaper than its bigger sibling but what’s the actual cost on this bad boy? Well, Sams’ report indicates that the Series X will cost a disgusting $499 ($8 383,65 at the time of writing) and the Series S will come in at $299 (R5024,07 at the time of writing). I should note that those are just direct conversions that don’t factor in import costs so I’m willing to bet they’ll be a touch more expensive than that when they launch on 22 November, something that was also mentioned in Sams’ report.
It should be noted that Microsoft did tweet out at the leaks were accurate and confirmed the price of the Series S but said nothing else on a release date. Given how basically everything else was confirmed I think it’s safe to say that the release date is also accurate but things could still change. It’s been a weird year, folks.
(Source: The Verge)