Project Helix: Xbox One Slim And More Powerful Xbox One Units To Come In E3 2016

The gaming scene is tight. Xbox One is continuously pouring out its efforts to improve its latest-gen console while PlayStation 4 is doing the same — we don’t know what Nintendo is doing with the Wii U but the Nintendo NX looks like a pretty decent competition to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

And with the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016, the biggest gaming conference, almost among us, we are left to wonder what new explosive thing Microsoft and Sony will reveal for their Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Having fun getting ready for @e3 with @XboxP3 & @majornelson what is everyone excited to see?! pic.twitter.com/zCZV28R1hb

— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) May 27, 2016

Sources close to Microsoft’s Xbox One talks to The Verge about some of the plans cooking up inside the Xbox One lab. One of which is the rumored Xbox One Slim, a “refreshed Xbox One that will be 40 percent smaller than the current model, and will likely include 4K video support.”

The Xbox One Slim will, obviously, be a slimmer and more compact version of the current Xbox One. Although it is smaller, it is believed to be badder and better, with support for 4K resolution gaming, very much like the rumored PlayStation 4.5. Reports believe that although the new Xbox One Slim will be featuring all of these exciting new features, it will still be able to afford itself at a cheaper price than the current Xbox One units. This may be possible because of the cut down in resources and materials needed to create the body, and much less power is needed to cool down a smaller device.

In addition to a smaller outfit, the Xbox One Slim will also come with a redesigned controller (although we hope it’s not going to be smaller because that will not sit well on our huge, grimy gamer hands).

The Xbox One Slim is rumored to release this year, around August, before an ever cooler Xbox One will be available to the market.

Codenamed the Xbox One Scorpio, this new Xbox One will be even more powerful than the rumored PlayStation Neo and is set to release by late 2017. This late 2017 release for the Xbox One Scorpio could be sitting very well since the latest report from Ars Technica reveals that at least one major game developer is planning to release a virtual reality title also in 2017, with plans to show the game at E3 this coming June.

We have just shelled out hundreds of bucks for the Xbox One. Are we ready for a console upgrade so soon? Well, if you really want to get your hands on virtual reality titles, it seems there is no other choice now than start saving up for the upcoming Xbox One Scorpio. Xbox One Scorpio is said to be the Xbox One unit that will be supporting virtual reality titles and virtual reality gear like the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift.

The Xbox One Scorpio specs according to Polygon:

“[The Xbox One] Scorpio represents an evolution of console generations, one that straddles the line somewhat between an entirely new installment of the Xbox platform and a continuation of the existing Xbox One.

“…per documents secured by Giant Bomb’s Austin Walker—and corroborated by our sources—the PlayStation 4 Neo is likely to have a peak performance number of 4.14 teraflops. The current performance target for Microsoft’s Scorpio is approximately 6 teraflops.”

We are expecting these new Xbox One products to be revealed by E3 2016 this coming June, which are all under what’s described as the Project Helix. Project Helix, according to Kotaku‘s sources, is an initiative by Microsoft to converge Xbox One and Windows gaming. Microsoft has already been hard at work at creating this Microsoft ecosystem by releasing titles that are cross-playable on both Microsoft platforms, and sources believe that Xbox One Scorpio will finally bring Project Helix to fruition.

Let’s see which of these new Xbox One SKUs will really come into reality by E3 2016.

[Featured photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]