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Microsoft Unveiling Next-Gen Xbox on May 21
Microsoft will unveil its next-generation Xbox gaming console on May 21 at its Redmond headquarters.
"Tune in for the live reveal, May 21 at 10 AM PDT on http://xbox.com, @Xbox Live, and Spike TV. #XboxReveal," the @Xbox account tweeted this afternoon.
Microsoft also invited reporters to attend the launch event. That invite tips "A New Generation Revealed," and promises a presentation from Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, and the Xbox team.
Microsoft rival Sony unveiled its next-gen console, the PS4, in late February. But the two hour+ New York City presentation focused heavily on games and specs and didn't actually include a glimpse of the actual PS4 hardware. Will Microsoft do the same?
Larry Hyrb, director of programming for the Xbox Live network, said in a blog post that the May 21 event will "mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment."
"On that day, we'll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future," he wrote. "Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we'll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games."
Rumors about a new Xbox have been swirling for months, but really got going in January when Microsoft posted a countdown to the E3 gaming conference on its blog, which many interpreted as a countdown to the next version of the Xbox.
Microsoft Sells Mediaroom to Focus on Xbox
Microsoft today finalized a deal to turn its IPTV business, Mediaroom, over to Ericsson.
Mediaroom, which employs more than 400 global workers, will make Ericsson the largest provider of IPTV technology, with more than 25 percent of the market. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.
The move will allow Microsoft "to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox," Redmond said in a blog post.
Ultimately, Microsoft wants the Xbox to be the "premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet."
That, however, will require partnerships with content creators, studios, labels, networks, content aggregators, operators and distributors. "We believe the future of home entertainment is one where TV becomes more simple, tailored and intelligent. We believe the best is yet to come for this industry," Microsoft said.
Microsoft will reportedly unveil its next-gen Xbox at the E3 gaming conference in June, though a recent report tipped a May 21 event. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
Xbox Leaks Tip Always-On, Always-Connected Console
Microsoft is expected to unveil its next-gen Xbox console at June's E3 gaming conference. But screen shots of the new device's development kit have emerged online, suggesting that Redmond will be embracing the always-on, always-connected approach with the new Xbox.
VGLeaks.com posted several screen shots of the SDK for the new system, codenamed Durango. Most interesting is the "Durango Hardware Overview" shot, which provides a glimpse of what users will experience on the new Xbox, referred to by some as Xbox 720.
"Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use," it reads. "The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that software console and games are always current. With this 'Always On, Always Connected' design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates."
Microsoft recently tackled superfast startup times with Windows 8.
The document also said each new Xbox will come with a "high-fidelity Kinect sensor, which will be required for the system to operate."
Will Next-Gen Xbox Ship Without Blu-Ray? Color Us Dubious
If you pay attention to gossip about Microsoft's next-generation game console, you've probably noticed a trend—in any given rumor to emerge, there's usually a lot of rehashed material surrounding one or two genuinely original bits of "news."
The latest from gaming blog Gaming Capacity, citing an unnamed source who's had "hands-on time with the new Xbox console prototype," follows that pattern. Tech specs we've more or less seen from other sites before? Check. Vague hints that the next-gen Xbox will make a big splash at E3 and even vaguer hints about a "holiday 2013" launch? Double check.
But squeezed between that ho-hum material is a bombshell. Microsoft, the source tells Gaming Capacity, will not use a Blu-ray player in its next game console, often referenced by its internal code name, Durango.
To put it mildly, that would be a bizarre decision by Microsoft, as Tech Radar and sister site Games Radar noted Tuesday.
Microsoft opted not to support Blu-ray with the Xbox 360. That's proven to be one of the major drawbacks for an otherwise wildly successful product, hampering Redmond's efforts to pitch its current gaming console as a general-purpose entertainment system.
GamesRadar GamesRadar managing editor Tom Magrino went so far as to say that "there is a zero percent chance that the next Xbox will ship without a Blu-ray player," which he described as "the future of physical media."
Rumor: Microsoft to Raise Curtain on Next-Gen Xbox in April
Supposedly caught flat-footed by Sony's PlayStation 4 curtain-raiser earlier this week, Microsoft is now rumored to be planned to unveil its own next-generation Xbox as early as April.
Microsoft has been teasing a big product reveal at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. Most industry watchers have assumed the software giant with introduce the successor to the Xbox 360 at the big Los Angeles gaming show, though Microsoft has been diligently tight-lipped about anything to do with its next-gen console as it tries to squeeze out more sales of its current one.
But on Friday, CVG UK reported that "a growing number of developers and other industry professionals" are saying Microsoft has moved up its debut party for the next Xbox to the start of the second quarter. The software giant is also expected to broach the topic of its next-gen console, internally code named Durango, at next month's Game Developer Conference, according to the gaming site .
"It is said that Microsoft will now showcase its console at a one-off media event in early April," CVG UK said, adding that its sources included some Sony employees.
One unnamed "senior Sony official" told the site that Microsoft was "caught ... off-guard" by Sony's New York PlayStation 4 event. "We definitely ruffled some feathers," CVG UK quoted the source as saying.
Of course, Sony wound up showing the world everything but the actual future-generation PlayStation itself at its event. Perhaps Microsoft plans to one-up its console-making rival by serving up an actual Durango-class Xbox for the crowd at its rumored April event.
Rumor: Next Xbox Tied at the Hip to New, Improved Kinect
Very specific information about the next-generation Xbox code named Durango has gone from a few leaks to a full-fledged gusher with the latest bit of so-called intelligence coming from a Kotaku source called SuperDaE.
The big news, if SuperDaE is to be believed—the next-gen Xbox will ship with a vastly improved Kinect motion sensor that "will always be watching you," according to Kotaku. In fact, the so-called Xbox 720 won't work unless the next-gen Kinect is plugged in, the source said.
Microsoft, of course, is remaining mum on all such leaks about the next Xbox. Nintendo released its eight-generation game console, the Wii U, at the end of 2012. As expected, Microsoft and Sony held out on making theirs available until this year—most industry watchers figure the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation will hit shelves sometime just before the end-of-year holiday season, but it could be sooner.
SuperDaE, who claimed to have two Durango development kits, gave the gaming site an earful about what to expect from the successor to Microsoft's current Xbox 360 , most it apparently gleaned from informational materials sent to game developers being courted by Redmond to create titles for the coming console.
GameStop: Next Xbox Will Be DOA Without Used Game Rights
A fresh wave of rumors positing that Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will reject used video games had GameStop—the video game retailer that earns a hefty chunk of it profits from used video game sales—playing some defense this week.
GameStop spokesman Matt Hodges told Bloomberg Thursday that the company's internal polling suggested that many of its customers would simply boycott any new console that restricted the use of pre-owned games.
The spokesman's comments, confirmed by GameStop in an email to PCMag, came in reaction to a story published by tech site The Edge this week. The site claimed unnamed sources had confirmed certain long-standing rumors about Microsoft's secretive plans for the successor to the Xbox 360 , including the year-old rumor that the new console would have some form of game activation control process to prevent used games from being played on it.
"We know the desire to purchase a next-generation console would be significantly diminished if new consoles were to prohibit playing pre-owned games, limit portability, or not play new physical games," Hodges told Bloomberg, adding that GameStop had polled the "21 million U.S. members of its PowerUp Rewards loyalty program" to determine just how unpopular such a theoretical console would be.
New Xbox Rumors Same as the Old Rumors
You'd think that after last month's fake Xbox rumor caught fact-checkers napping at several tech sites, we'd have learned our lesson.
Nope—there's a bunch of new rumors about Microsoft's next-gen game console making the rounds, as well as some old, familiar ones—like the persistent thing about the so-called Xbox 720 sporting secret software that causes it to spit out used games.
That's a rumor that first cropped up more than a year ago, but when the Edge reported the used-game-rejection tidbit again this week, video game retailer GameSpot's stock actually took a fairly big hit.
The Edge, as it did last week with a bunch of anonymously sourced info about Sony's next-gen PlayStation, kicked off this latest round of Xbox speculation with a story citing unnamed "sources with firsthand experience of Microsoft's next-generation console."
None of this has any official backing from Redmond, of course, but here's the gist of what the tech site reported:
- The next Xbox will require an Internet connection to function and a "new iteration of Xbox Live will be an integral part of Microsoft's next console, while improved Kinect hardware will also ship alongside the unit."
- Despite what sounds like a push towards a streaming model, physical copies of game— "50GB-capacity Blu-ray discs," to be precise—will still be a big part of the platform.
- But the game discs will "ship with activation codes" that make it impossible to resell them, or it sounds like, even lend them out.
Xbox 720 Chips Now in Production?
Microsoft got gamers excited this week with an E3 countdown that prompted rumors about the next Xbox. But are they already in production? One tech site seems to think so.
On Wednesday, Microsoft posted a countdown to the E3 gaming conference on its blog, which many have interpreted as a countdown to the successor of the Xbox 360 , sometimes referenced as the "Xbox 720." A post on the Major Nelson blog says simply "And it's on ..." with an animated countdown clock to E3, which is now at 157 days and dropping.
The post offered no other details, but commenters immediately speculated that it meant the arrival of a new gaming console. "New Xbox yesssss," the first commenter said.
That brings us to SemiAccurate's Charlie Demerjian, who for months has been reporting unconfirmed news about the silicon that's going into the next Xbox. This week, he reported that the target date for firing up production of next-gen Xbox chips came and went on Dec. 31 —meaning by Demerjian's lights, those chips have been taped out, debugged, approved, and are currently being manufactured.
If that hasn't happened yet and if there are delays of "more than a few weeks," the SemiAccurate reporter thinks that "will mean no new console in 2013, there just won't be enough time to make them."
Microsoft Hints at New Xbox Console With E3 Countdown
Microsoft has posted a countdown to the E3 gaming conference on its blog, which many have interpreted as a countdown to the next version of the Xbox.
A Wednesday post on the Major Nelson blog says simply "And it's on ..." with an animated countdown clock to E3, which is now at 158 days.
The post offered no other details, but commenters immediately speculated that it meant the arrival of a new gaming console. "New Xbox yesssss," the first commenter said.
Others suggested that Microsoft needs to "win back the gamers" with its next Xbox, including exclusive games. Several people, meanwhile, criticized the Kinect sensor.
"I'm ready! Been ready for a new Xbox since 2010. But please please please don't launch crap hardware because you decided to pack in Kinect," wrote Jdrm03. "I want some awesome hardware, not a crap gimmick. Seriously, I would gladly pay $600+ for an awesome console that has some huevos under the hood."
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