Microsoft Australia
When the Xbox One “Independent Developers Pack” appeared on my RSS feeds this morning, I nearly had a heart attack. Was this it? Was this finally the time when Microsoft’s long-promised plan to allow anyone to turn their Xbox One into a developer’s console (you know, dating back to 2013) happened? Quitting my job, self-publishing my own Xbox games, enjoying the champagne-powered, private jet ride, partying all night in the indie development… it was all there right in front of me.
Unfortunately, what turned out to be the Xbox One Independent Developers Pack is a leaked AU$499 limited edition bundle of the console with some indie games, and that similarly leaked a new controller with 3.5mm headphone jack.
That’s fine. I’m not sad, not at all.
The leak comes courtesy of the Microsoft Store in Australia, where the listing (still live at time of publishing) shows the bundle including download tokens for five ID@Xbox games: hand of fate, Threes!, #IDARB, The Jackbox Party PackAnd Never aloneplus DLC add-ons for Warframeand the To beat beta. Aside from the bundled games and upgraded controller (although that 3.5mm jack should have been there from the start), the console is otherwise identical to the current, Kinect-free version, equipped with a 500GB hard drive.
Usually, Microsoft doesn’t comment on the leak, instead providing a standard PR response: “As with many products, bundle offers vary from country to country. We have nothing new to share at this time.”
That probably means we’ll see something at E3, although judging by the number of leaks circulating lately, we’re not sure what else Microsoft will show us on June 15. not the only one suffering from the pre-E3 leak blues: Sony’s PlayStation 4 has just appeared in an FCC filing with a 1TB hard drive, which is a whole 500GB more than is currently shipping.
That’s right folks, the pre-E3 excitement, the never stops.