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Two rather large new rumours have popped out concerning Microsoft’s next-gen home console. The first concerns the machine’s name, which is apparently going to be just “Xbox” — akin to Apple’s “new iPad” naming move. The other rumour is significantly more bonkers, suggesting a standalone gaming tablet known as X-Surface will accompany the home console.
These supposed facts, from Pocket-Lint’s sources, claim Microsoft’s long-rumoured 7″ games portable will not be a Windows 8 or RT device, but will instead run its own Xbox OS dedicated solely to playing games and downloading all the media Microsoft currently shovels out through Xbox Live.
In terms of power, the site’s source claims it saw Unreal Engine 3 tech demos running at a solid 60fps on this mysterious tablet, so it ought to be perfectly capable of running endless tedious FPS titles set in and around the second world war. And there may be other hardware, with Microsoft said to be planning a range of X-devices that use the lounge machine as one big hub.
It still seems a little bit of an odd thing for Microsoft to do. It has Xbox. The next-gen machine will be very powerful indeed, so how would an Xbox-branded gaming tablet be seen as anything other than a less-powerful, scaled-down version of that? It won’t be able to play the same games as the home machine, so it’d suffer from the same sort of perception issues that Sony’s PSP and Vita suffered from, surely? [Pocket-Lint]
Updated: So, it turns out that the “rumour” is just that, and Pocket-Lint’s ‘sources’ consist of nothing but one hacked-off blogger with a Gmail account and the ability to create a semi-plausible rumour. Well trolled, sir.
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You can get an Unreal Engine 3 tech demo to run at 60 fps on just about anything these days. It all depends on what’s being rendered, not necessarily the engine.
i was thinking that.
disable shadows, AA, AF etc etc.
i still think not giving things a version number is retarded.
If Microsoft somehow manage to wrangle the guts of the new Xbox/Xbox 720/Xbox into the X-Surface/Xbox Surface, while at the same time allowing it to run Windows 8 RT or (preferably) Windows 8 Pro, then I see no reason why they wouldn’t be able to hardwire some emulator software to allow gamers to play their Xbox 720 (or whatever) games on the move, or in a different room, without needing to use the television. Cloud game save storage could mean that the progress within games in kept synchronised, and would open up a whole new revenue stream for full-retail games sales. Couple this gaming ability with the face that it would be a fully-fledged tablet computer, and I know I’d buy one.
Your living in a dream world my friend. The surface pro, which is about to be released, has no where near the supposed specs of the XBOX 720 and it will cost almost £800 at least for the 128gb version.
How do you think they will be able to get an extra 4gb ram and a HUGE graphics card in the same amount of space, let alone for a price that gamers will pay?
Oh I know it’s not likely, in fact it’s teetering on the edge of impossibility, but to beg to the desires of the fanciful, it’d still be pretty great. When I say “somehow manage to wrangle the guts” I’m alluding to what you’re saying, the sort of hardware we’re expecting in the Xbox 720 is going to take some major persuading. I’d happily settle for the Xbox Surface to have an exclusive Stream-From-Xbox feature which allowed it to be used as a portable screen, like the Wii U Gamepad and NSMBU, except with controller and accessory compatibility.
A streaming feature would be pretty awesome and also highly likely to happen.
All I think when I read is Xbox equivalent of a Wii U GamePad that has been taken out of context as a Gaming Tablet.
Tonight, we have more tablet news on tablets for your tablets so you can tablet while you tablet. MS seems really keen on these tablets being marketed with other products in order to make them sell.
Yo dawg…
… I heard you like tablets…
i used to in the 90s
Ah, good times. Good stuff.
The alphabet ‘X’ in the front of the same boring Surface should, by common sense, revolutionize the gaming industry.
“The next-gen machine will be very powerful indeed, so how would an Xbox-branded gaming tablet be seen as anything other than a less-powerful, scaled-down version of that?”
That’s not the point Gary, it’s how they link together that will be important. Casual – XB Arcade games may be playable but the tablet may also offer a second screen for the Xbox experience. Be it an alternative control method with the touch controls, a second screen to display information relating to a game or movie. Maybe even a way to video chat to friends while playing a game.
If they make sure every xbox owner has a tablet then that gives a reason for the developers to develop for “Smart Glass”.
Smart glass looks like a good idea, but with only a hand full of xbox owners using it developers wont care.
http://x-surface.tumblr.com/
So apparently this is actually just a massive troll on tech journalists.
Hi Hyperspacey, thanks for your comment. I’m just going to copy and paste a response to another commenter here, so it saves me from writing it out again…
We never actually delete posts, as think that’s disingenuous. Instead, we post retractions, if it turns out the rumour or news is false (as it quite often is, when you’re a site which routinely covers both sides of the product cycle.)
We don’t always get it right, as this example shows, but we always use our heads when looking at rumours and leaks, and in this case, I’m confident that we hedged enough in our post about it that I can live with myself and not lose any sleep.
I’m sorry if you feel disappointed at our “lost integrity,” so as ever, please feel free to move on to another site, if you feel Gizmodo UK isn’t for you.
As usual Gizmodo gizmodo’s non-existant credibility shows its ugly face. http://x-surface.tumblr.com/post/41282771026/x-surface-dont-believe-everything-you-read/
Stop posting nonsense rumours!
In fairness to Giz, they did heavily season the article with doubt. Unlike several major news outlets who implied it came from a far more reliable source than it was.
Hi Bob, thanks for your comment. I’m just going to copy and paste a response to another commenter here, so it saves me from writing it out again…
We never actually delete posts, as think that’s disingenuous. Instead, we post retractions, if it turns out the rumour or news is false (as it quite often is, when you’re a site which routinely covers both sides of the product cycle.)
We don’t always get it right, as this example shows, but we always use our heads when looking at rumours and leaks, and in this case, I’m confident that we hedged enough in our post about it that I can live with myself and not lose any sleep.
I’m sorry if you feel disappointed at our “lost integrity,” so as ever, please feel free to move on to another site, if you feel Gizmodo UK isn’t for you.
you do realize that this email is a hoax made by a user in a imageboard to prove how you post ‘news’ without factchecking or anything.
just an FYI feel free to delete this and enjoy your lost integrity.
Hi Salyangoz,
We never actually delete posts, as think that’s disingenuous. Instead, we post retractions, if it turns out the rumour or news is false (as it quite often is, when you’re a site which routinely covers both sides of the product cycle.)
We don’t always get it right, as this example shows, but we always use our heads when looking at rumours and leaks, and in this case, I’m confident that we hedged enough in our post about it that I can live with myself and not lose any sleep.
I’m sorry if you feel disappointed at our “lost integrity,” so as ever, please feel free to move on to another site, if you feel Gizmodo UK isn’t for you.
“So, it turns out that the “rumour” is just that, and Pocket-Lint’s ‘sources’ consist of nothing but one hacked-off blogger with a Gmail account and the ability to create a semi-plausible rumour. Well trolled, sir.”
While Pocket-Lint is partially responsible for taking this seriously, don’t try to pass the buck on them. You as a journalist should have looked for a reliable source before posting this article.
That’s right, let’s just ignore the fact that the article empahasized the dubious nature of the rumour. Tell me, exactly how should this have been verified? It’s a tip-off. It wasn’t reported as fact, it was reported as a tip-off. I’m Mr Cutlack’s got an address book full of MS just dying to spill the beans on upcoming MS products.
How about not posting an article at all until you verify the story? By, say, cross-referencing with a known employee of Microsoft.
Then you don’t have to look stupid when a hoaxer pulls the rug from underneath you.
You know, proper journalism and all that.
What’s more disappointing about this is how easy it is to dupe so-called ‘major’ tech news sites with an easy yarn. It’s like no-one even bothered to make a cursory check.
Again, you really think that journos have rolodexes full of Microsoft employees who would a) be in a position to know the truth and b) willing to tell aforementioned journos about it?
They weren’t ‘duped’, they reported something as rumour and speculation, and it turned out to be. Pocket-lint are really the only ones who got duped here.
Reporting something as ‘rumour’ and ‘speculation’ isn’t an excuse. I will give Gizmodo at least some credit for taking a far greater pinch of salt with this than many of the others that reported on it.
However, rumour is not news, and unless there’s a hint of credibility to it there’s absolutely no value in running it as a story.
Well you can’t have it both ways. Either, they report rumours and speculation (marking them as such), or they only talk about products they have unwavering concrete proof for. I’m sure you’d like the latter — but see, most people like me like reading about the latest rumours surrounding a product.
And this hasn’t destroyed their credibility or whatever crap people are claiming. All this has confirmed is “stuff which Giz reports as speculation and rumour isn’t necessarily true, or even likely to be true” — and I don’t think anyone disputed that before!
The only speculation/rumour stories with value are those based on truth that the writer of the article (or, more commonly, an ‘analyst’) then goes to wildly speculate about. Rather than picking up any old random crap from an anonymous poster and running with that with little input.
As I said in my last reply, Giz saved themselves a fair bit better than the other sites that latched onto this story, but if you’re going to speculate about something, do it on the foundation of something you can verify to be true first.
Hi Topperfalkon,
Kat here, editor of Gizmodo UK. While it’s regrettable that we fell for this hoax, by way of Pocket-lint, as you can read in my response to another commenter above, I feel confident we hedged enough in our post that we weren’t reporting it as fact. We’re always pretty careful to report rumours and leaks as just that — rumours and leaks.
As for cross-referencing with a known employee of Microsoft, do you have any idea just how few employees actually even bother to reply to phonecalls or emails about speculation? If a response is ever garnered, it’s a simple “we don’t comment on rumour and speculation.”
Thanks for the response Kat.
Herein lies the issue though, if you can’t cross-reference any of the rumours with a known Microsoft employee, surely that should ring enough alarm bells about it’s validity?
If you can’t validate a rumour, there’s no real value in it as a story, regardless of how much you hedge it. The only thing it’s really good for is driving more site traffic, but then people will start avoiding your stories if it turns out that every other story results in yet another hoax.
We’re not purporting to be the BBC; we’re a blog. Blogs aggregate, blogs comment on rumour and speculation, and blogs offer a lot of opinion. We fact-check and cross-reference if we can, but 99 per cent of rumours are never commented on by companies (I’ve been doing this seven years, so please trust me on this), and while I obviously wish that weren’t the case, as our readers enjoy reading rumours, and keeping up to date with potential products, we will continue posting the odd rumour.
We actually ignore most rumours, and tips that come our way, but I suppose you’re only interested in shitting on what we do.
Actually, no, I don’t shit on what you do. You’re far less up Apple’s backside than your American cousins, which I appreciate. But by and large I’m no fan of rumour, but don’t mind the occasional bit of speculation.
Clearly the blogger that conducted this experiment was equally unappreciative of unsubstantiated rumour-milling. I often go out of my way to avoid rumour posts that clearly haven’t had their validity checked, because it’s often a waste of time to read them, especially at times like this when we’re reaching the end of the current generation console lifecycle and therefore it’s open season for anyone to make up any crap they like about what’s coming.
Ok, great stuff. Thanks for your response.
Hi Nilithius,
Kat here, editor of Gizmodo UK. I’m just going to copy and paste my response to another commenter here, to save me writing it out again…
While it’s regrettable that we fell for this hoax, by way of Pocket-lint, as you can read in my response to another commenter above, I feel confident we hedged enough in our post that we weren’t reporting it as fact. We’re always pretty careful to report rumours and leaks as just that — rumours and leaks.
As for cross-referencing with a known employee of Microsoft, do you have any idea just how few employees actually even bother to reply to phonecalls or emails about speculation? If a response is ever garnered, it’s a simple “we don’t comment on rumour and speculation.”
You ever think of contacting Pocket-lint to find out some more information about the person who leaked it? Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you never try.
“one hacked-off blogger with a Gmail account and the ability to create a semi-plausible rumour. Well trolled, sir.”
@Gary Cutlack: Either you didn’t read his blog post or you completely missed the point. He deliberately created the rumour to show how gaming “journalists” never fact-check a single rumour. This isn’t acceptable in any other sphere of journalism, so why is it acceptable here just because you say “Oh it might not be true”. Imagine if the BBC reported that China had invaded Taiwan because “some guy on the street told us”.