Damn! I was hoping Sony would do what Nintendo did with their controllers. Turn the DualShock 4 into the DualShock 4.5, the same way Nintendo turned the Wiimote into the Wiimote Plus - same controller, just rebranded so they can defraud people of their hard earned money.
@smokerob79: Microsoft wants to compete with Steam, Origin, and the other PC game platforms because selling games through the Windows Store via the UWP means that those titles have cross-buy/cross-play capabilities on all Windows 10 devices. Ergo, providing more incentive for customers to purchase additional Microsoft products to best leverage the advantages offered by UWP. For example, if I buy Diablo 3 through the Windows Store I would be able to play it on the go with my Surface Pro, or in my office on my desktop PC, or in my living room on my Xbox. That's a much more appealing prospect than buying the title once on PC, and once more on the Xbox for the same game.
Also, the first Xbox wasn't a PC. It might have had an x86 microprocessor architecture, but that didn't make it a general purpose reprogrammable device running on a full-privileged user operating system.
I don't see a modular upgradable Xbox console hitting the market unless MS goes all-in with their Universal Windows Platform initiative. The Xbox would become a PC at that point, but I suppose that could be a good thing since it means more competition against Origin, Steam, UPlay, and Blizzard.
"Upgraded components you'd use to improve performance of a PC gaming rig" could be something as simple as a solid-state drive. It would be nice if it was a substantial upgrade, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm anticipating X1 Slim with an SSD and no optical drive, along with some very aggressive pricing strategies to challenge Sony for the upcoming holiday season. A $199 Xbox One Slim w/Halo, and Gears of War bundle and a 2-year Gold subscription would bring the console back into contention.
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