Rumor: New Xbox May Be Announced Next Month
By Jared Newman | Friday, May 6, 2011 at 10:04 am
Nintendo might not be the only company showing off a new game console at E3 in June. An anonymous source told Develop that Microsoft could announce a new Xbox console at the trade show.
The source supposedly spotted a very early build of the Xbox 360 successor at Electronic Arts’ offices, stored inside a PC shell.
“Quite often when new consoles come around they’re packaged into a PC shell, but actually what’s inside is an entirely new console,” said the source, who Develop described as “a senior, trusted, well-placed” individual who is not employed at Microsoft or EA.
(Props to Develop, by the way, for qualifying its anonymous source with a bit of detail for readers — a rarity in games and tech journalism.)
Details on Microsoft’s next game console are practically non-existent. Develop expects that it’ll have “enhanced support for Kinect with just a couple of alterations,” and the source expects an E3 announcement followed by a 2012 launch, but it’s hard to tell from the report where inside information ends and speculation begins.
Yes, it would make sense for Microsoft to steal Nintendo’s thunder with its own console announcement, but only if Microsoft has something substantial to show. From what we’ve heard so far about the Wii’s successor, both in rumors and official information, Nintendo’s reveal won’t just be smoke and mirrors. Meanwhile, we’ve heard very little about new Xbox hardware, except that Microsoft was hiring engineers in March.
But I’m almost certain that more unofficial information will bubble up as E3 gets closer. Rumors tend to beget more rumors where games and tech are concerned.
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May 7th, 2011 at 9:29 am
Hahaha!
I remember, a couple of years ago, I got into an argument with a friend when I said that Sony and Microsoft’s blather about a ten-year system cycle was total nonsense, and if anyone tried that, competitors would leap to the opportunity to produce something in the void. Now, here we are, conveniently five years after the launch of the Wii… with a new system.
No matter what Sony and Microsoft said, I’m sure that they had SOMETHING kinda’-sorta’ ready just in case the new cycle was started by someone else.
Actually, I take that back. Sony has proven to be startlingly stupid in the past, they might actually have nothing ready.
May 7th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
They need to start making it easier to access your computer’s media without the need or hassle of third party apps. People needed to mod the original xbox to achieve this, which was one of the best all around media players in my opinion.
July 7th, 2011 at 7:22 am
There is no way that the new xbox will be out in 2012. We would have heard something more substantial than the questionable rumors we've heard up to date if that were a reality.