With Xbox One sales lagging woefully behind Sony's PlayStation 4, Microsoft is desperate to leave this year's E3 with a sense that it might be back on level ground with its bitter rival.
How to achieve such lofty ambitions? Announce two consoles in one conference.
Slimmer, sleeker, at 40 per cent smaller than the old One console, the new 'S' console serves to illustrate how much of a bloated box the original Xbox One really was. In addition to sticking the power transformer brick inside the smaller case (trick the PlayStation 4 already nailed), it supports 4K HDR gaming, has new, textured controllers - which you can design yourself at the new Xbox design lab - and… it’s available in white! Which probably means they'll re-release it in black in a year.
Due in August, it will effectively replace the current One, with a price of £249 (or £299 for 1TB hard drive). It's a clear message of Microsoft's intent to move gamers still clinging to their old Xbox 360 to an impressive 4K console without having to break their bank balance to do so - and it'll play all the current Xbox One games.
If, however, you've already got an Xbox One but want something a little bit better, you'll have to wait until December 2017 and the arrival of Project Scorpio.
Rumours have been rattling for a while that Xbox was working on a new, more powerful console to help patch up relationships with developers left disappointed by the Xbox One - but rather than giving a wink and a nudge, Microsoft showed its hand.
All the stats announced so far point to the new console getting the lofty title of 'the most powerful video game console ever made'. It will pack "6 teraflops of GPU delivering a premier console... including true 4K gaming and high-fidelity virtual reality." It'll be compatible with all current Xbox One games and controllers - Microsoft has learnt the hard way that you don't start telling gamers which games they can and can't play on their new console.
In short, it's going to make games that look really, really good.
