Xbox One S spotted before E3 showcase

Console gamers are getting all twitchy right now as Microsoft gears up to showcase a new Xbox One at E3 later today.

Rumors of a slimmer, cheaper Xbox One have been spreading around the interwebs for a while now and, thanks to NeoGAF forums leaking a pair of images and a small description of the new console, you can see what it might look like – so here’s the (possibly) Xbox One S.

True to form, as far as we know, the Xbox One S is 40% slimmer than its predecessor and comes loaded with a 2TB hard drive, complete with Blu-ray player.

But there are also so suprise additions – the Xbox One S is compatible with 4K TVs and supports High Dynamic Range. Don’t expect to play games at a 4K resolution as the console isn’t ay more powerful than the existing Xbox One. What this does mean is that videos will look incredible, providing you have a TV or monitor capable of supporting both 4K and HDR.

The new Xbox is now white and can be stood up on a vertical stand if that’s your thing.

The 2TB storage that was mentioned earlier is unlikely to the fast part SSD, part hard-disk hybrid drive found in the Elite model but, rather, a standard spinning thing. However, as long as this console has at least one one USB 3.1 or 3.0 port, you should be able to hook up your own external solid state drive and configure it to act as a hybrid drive of sorts – or you might be able to upgrade it yourself, as you can with the current Xbox One.

NeoGAF user Ekim also says that the power brick is built into the Xbox One (like the PlayStation 4 – still waiting for NEO though) so that could make the overall package much smaller.

Interestingly, the pre-order page leak also says that the controller has been “streamlined – this is where my ‘fake render’ senses start tingling as, from the pictures above, I can’t spot any difference between the one shown and the existing Xbox One controller, except that it’s white.

Microsoft already released an updated Xbox One controller with a built-in microphone jack port, as well as the Xbox One Elite controller.

Rumor has it that Microsoft is also working on a much more powerful Xbox One, but the company plans to release this all-new model next year so it makes sense that they give the current model a little spit and polish.

That aside, all seems probable to me.

We’ll have to wait 9:30 AM Los Angeles time for the E3 conference with the official announcement with a release date and a price.

Xbox One S – Microsoft press conference times

Starting time: San Francisco: 9:30AM / New York: 12:30PM / London: 5:30PM / Moscow: 7:30PM  / Beijing: 12:30AM (June 14) / Tokyo: 1:30AM (June 14) / Sydney: 2:30AM (June 14)

Live streaming: Watch Microsoft’s live stream on the Xbox Twitch channel.