Yesterday’s Xbox Games Showcase was packed full of excellent game trailers, including enticing footage from the likes of upcoming heavy-hitters such as Gears of War: E-Day, Halo: Campaign Evolved and Fable, which has been delayed to February 2027 in order to dodge the behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto 6.
A brand new Spyro game, called Spyro: A Realm Beyond, was also revealed for multiple platforms, which I found particularly exciting. My old PS1 habits die hard, it appears. Magicians: The Devil’s Deal came out of left field and is now one of my most anticipated experiences.
But it wasn’t just a whole flood of new games shown. To the contrary, a fresh Xbox Series X variant was additionally trotted out, which seemed quite appropriate, given how Xbox is leaning back into console exclusivity with certain first-party titles (E-Day comes to mind).
Dubbed the X25, the limited edition system commemorates a whopping 25 years of Xbox. Fittingly, it boasts a see-through iconic green shell and a green-glowing Xbox power button, harkening back to the brand’s edgy millennium tech roots. Plus, there’s a matching translucent green controller, to boot. The latter will apparently be solid separately if you don’t want to indulge in the pricey paired machine.
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There’s also some nods on the special controller to the original Duke gamepad, which gave all of us ‘90s kids hand cramps for days but we’re nostalgic for it anyway. Otherwise, the allure of this hardware set is purely aesthetic, as the Series X itself contains all the same aging specs of the current iteration. It’s got 1TB of storage and a disc-drive, though no word on exact pricing or availability just yet, other than a vague ‘November’.
It’s hard to believe that the original Xbox launched way back on November 15, 2001. I was in high school and I distinctly remember the hype leading up to release day. I knew several kids who got an Xbox on launch day, and while I was rather jealous at the time, I was still pretty content with my trusty Dreamcast.
I wouldn’t get an Xbox until the following year, with games like Halo: Combat Evolved and Blood Wake, and I recall marveling at how I could rip my music CDs to the console’s internal hard drive and listen to Dave Matthews Band and U2 while I raced through Project Gotham. Once Xbox Live hit, I was all in.
If yesterday’s showcase is any indication, I think Xbox may be in the process of crafting some kind of legitimate redemption arc. With the recent Game Pass price reduction, and a slew of interesting software enroute, I’m looking forward to what the brand has in-store. Granted, I do wish this new green Xbox Series X had better specs, because paying ever more for outdated gaming components (and this isn’t just aimed at Microsoft, mind you) is getting a bit tiresome.
Project Helix can’t arrive soon enough. In the meantime, there’s always PC, although even that option is becoming financially outrageous.