The Xbox One was the star of Microsoft’s show, but the nearly decade-old Xbox 360 wasn’t ignored during the presentation. After a bombastic trailer for Konami’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain showed the horsepower of the new machine, Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi came out to announce a brand new redesign of the Xbox 360 itself.
This will be the third redesign of the box since it debuted in November 2005, and Microsoft has already begun shipping the new Xbox 360 to retailers. Like the third revision of the PlayStation 3 that Sony released in 2012, the new Xbox 360 appears slightly smaller than the current version and is likely a reflection of lowered production costs.
Microsoft also confirmed changes to its Xbox Live Gold premium subscription, giving away free games like Assassin’s Creed 2 in a PlayStation Plus-style service. Unlike Sony’s subscription service, where users lose the games if they cancel their memberships, Microsoft promises Xbox Live Gold players can keep these games even if they do not renew subscriptions.
In addition to previously announced Xbox 360 games due later this year like Grand Theft Auto V, Dark Souls II, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Microsoft also announced some brand new games for the old man of the console industry. Wargaming.net will release a new console version of its hugely popular World of Tanks. There was also a new kids property called Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, a charming 2D platformer.
Stay tuned for more news from E3 2013.
