Microsoft Announces 1 TB Xbox One For $399, New Controller With 3.5mm Audio Jack
The Xbox One is getting bigger. Well, its internal storage is, at least.
Rumors of another version of Microsoft's latest gaming console were stirring in preparation for an announcement next week at E3, but it seems the company will have a lot more to show at its annual press conference. This week, Microsoft announced a new model of the Xbox One sporting 1 TB of storage and a brand new controller.
With games taking up more and more space, especially big titles like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, users could add to the base 500 GB storage by using a external hard drive. Although any hard drive with USB 3.0 support will do, Western Digital came out with a model two months ago for this exact purpose, featuring 2 TB of extra storage for $139.
The new Xbox One, on the other hand, will feature 1 TB for $399, $50 more than the original Xbox One at $349. The low price point, introduced last November as a promotion for holiday sales, is now a permanent fixture, with the 1 TB model hitting shelves on June 16.
More storage isn't the only thing that's new with the Xbox One. The 1 TB model also comes with a redesigned Xbox One controller, now featuring a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The jack was already implemented on the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller, but Xbox owners had to buy an adapter to work with specific headsets that used the 3.5 mm jack. This new controller removes that obstacle and should place it on par with its rival's peripheral.
Other updates to the controller include improvements in the audio quality, better performance on the bumper buttons, and wireless firmware updates to the controller so you don't have to connect it to the console via a microUSB cable.
Even with the focus on the Xbox console, Microsoft is also working on integrating it with Windows 10 next month. Part of the preparation involves new components to work between the two areas, so it's also releasing the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows. Instead of a wired connection to your PC, the adapter can be plugged into a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port and then linked to the controller wirelessly.
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It will be available as a standalone product for $24.99, or as a bundle with the new controller for $79.95. Customers will also be able to buy the new controller in standard black or with a new variant called the Xbox One Special Edition Covert Forces Wireless Controller, which features a silver patterned design.
At its original release, the Xbox One was priced at $500, $100 more than the PS4. The low price point was introduced last November just before the holiday season in an effort to sway customers into buying Microsoft's new console. However, sales reports from March showed that the PS4 sold 20.2 million units worldwide. The last time Microsoft released its sales numbers, last November, it reported 10 million units sold. Combine that with an extra five million units sold during the holiday quarter, and Microsoft still has a lot of catching up to do.
Bringing the base model down to a lower price point was a sound move, but making a new version to compete with the PS4's price with double the storage is even better. We'll have to wait and see if Sony has a response to the new model next week at E3.
Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
Rexly Peñaflorida is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware covering topics such as computer hardware, video games, and general technology news.
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ZeusGamer Finally, I've been waiting for a wireless solution to connect my controller to my gamnig computer. I bought the controller thinking that it would connect over my Xbox 360 Bluetooth dongle. But this... this is good news! I can't wait to buy this dongle.Reply -
dstarr3 A headphone jack on a controller is a brilliant idea. It's amazing it took this long for it to happen.Reply -
PaulBags If sony did it first, they should have patented the use of a 3.5mm jack in a gaming controller. Nokia did it with phones, I hated that they did but they didn't seem to cop much flak.Reply -
soldier44 Would have been more impressed if it came with 1Tb at launch. in 2015, you need a lot more space with games taking up more room. My PC has over 7 tb of storage plus a 1TB SSD for the OS.Reply -
SteelCity1981 so they aren't reducing the size of the xbox one they are just including a 1 tb hard drive and an updated controller now? if ms would have allowed people to upgrade their hard drive anyhow in a way where you didn't have to break open the console or migrate the os onto the new hard drive like a pain in the butt it is, then this wouldn't have been an issue, because people would have been able to freely upgrade their hard drives.Reply -
alextheblue Replyso they aren't reducing the size of the xbox one they are just including a 1 tb hard drive and an updated controller now? if ms would have allowed people to upgrade their hard drive anyhow in a way where you didn't have to break open the console or migrate the os onto the new hard drive like a pain in the butt it is, then this wouldn't have been an issue, because people would have been able to freely upgrade their hard drives.
Except that anyone (even non-geeks) can plug in a USB 3.0 drive to an Xbox One. Boom, instant storage upgrade and they don't have to open anything up. While I personally would have preferred upgradeable internal storage, this is actually better for the mass market. Having both as an option would have been better still, but it works well enough as-is.
Anyway, at only an extra $50 for double the storage and the new controller, it's an easy recommendation over the base model. -
alextheblue Also IIRC you can install full games on the external drive, take them over to a friend's house and just plug it into their console and start playing. No need for a massive install on their local system. You'd probably still need the game disc for anti-theft reasons, not certain, but it would still save you and them a lot of headache.Reply -
SteelCity1981 Replyso they aren't reducing the size of the xbox one they are just including a 1 tb hard drive and an updated controller now? if ms would have allowed people to upgrade their hard drive anyhow in a way where you didn't have to break open the console or migrate the os onto the new hard drive like a pain in the butt it is, then this wouldn't have been an issue, because people would have been able to freely upgrade their hard drives.
Except that anyone (even non-geeks) can plug in a USB 3.0 drive to an Xbox One. Boom, instant storage upgrade and they don't have to open anything up. While I personally would have preferred upgradeable internal storage, this is actually better for the mass market. Having both as an option would have been better still, but it works well enough as-is.
Anyway, at only an extra $50 for double the storage and the new controller, it's an easy recommendation over the base model.
yeah but that just adds more bulk to the already large xbox one where the ps4 is a simple slot that's pretty easy to install.