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Xbox One revealed [Update: Launches later this year]
Microsoft's new Xbox has been officially unveiled at the company's Redmond campus in a big, giant tent in the middle of the complex (so much for the console sharing its birth story with friends as a teenager). For a sense of symmetry with our PlayStation 4 reveal post, the announcement of the new Xbox console comes seven years and six months (2,737 days) after the launch of the Xbox 360, marking one of the longest distances of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff between one console and its next regeneration. The distance in time between this console and the last certainly makes up for the original Xbox's lifespan, which was one of the shortest, at a mere four years and one day. Update: The Xbox One will launch "later this year," Microsoft President of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick said near the end of today's conference.
Report: Internal Microsoft memo outlines 'always-on' connectivity for next Xbox
An internal Microsoft memo regarding the "always-on" connectivity of the next-generation Xbox reveals the hardware manufacturer's plans for modern connectivity issues, Ars Technica reports. Microsoft's primary focus: specific console functions will "just work" regardless of connection status. "There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game." The memo also adds that Durango – the code name for Microsoft's next-gen console – is "designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet." Though the supposed memo does much to assuage fears the next Xbox system will be useless when in an offline environment, it still does not detail the depths of the console's offline functionality. Rumors of the console's always-on connectivity have persisted, leading one Microsoft employee to express his personal opinion on the matter before leaving the company after a public statement from Microsoft, which distanced itself from the comments. Microsoft's next Xbox is scheduled to be revealed on May 21 at an event in Redmond, Washington. Joystiq has contacted Microsoft for comment regarding the supposed memo, but has yet to hear back at the time of publishing.
Microsoft IllumiRoom projects its vision for next-gen Xbox
IllumiRoom, Microsoft's game-expanding projector technology, is envisioned ideally for the next-generation Xbox, which is set to be revealed next month. Microsoft's Redmond-based Research group says its vision is for an "ultra-wide field of view device sitting on the user's coffee table, projecting over a large area surrounding the television. The device would be connected wirelessly to a next generation gaming console as a secondary display."Microsoft is showcasing the proof-of-concept technology, first unveiled at CES earlier this year, at this week's CHI 2013 conference in Paris. In a paper published for the conference, Microsoft Research detailed how Illumiroom could be "developed into a next generation game console with game content designed from the ground up, or it could be an 'addon' for existing consoles with gamers writing scripts to mod their favorite games."The paper adds, "Ideally, IllumiRoom would be directly integrated into a next generation console and new games would be designed for IllumiRoom from the ground up."A new five-minute video expands upon the brief preview published earlier this year. It shows how IllumiRoom, which incorporates Kinect, projects images to alter the appearance of the room surrounding the TV, including a number of lighting and particle effects, as well as extended field of view. We should hear more about Illumiroom later this week at CHI 2013, and possibly at Microsoft's May 21 event, when the next Xbox is expected to debut.
Microsoft to reveal next generation Xbox May 21
Microsoft will reveal the next Xbox on May 21.The event will have a global stream on Xbox.com, Xbox Live and Spike TV (US and Canada). No word yet if the Xbox 360 Pizza Hut app will also stream the event."On that day, we'll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. 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," said Xbox's community guru Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb.The event is titled "A New Generation Revealed" and will occur at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus on Tuesday, May 21 at 1PM Eastern (10AM Pacific, 6PM UK).
Rumor: Next generation Kinect specs leak
Alleged specs for the next iteration of Microsoft's Kinect sensor have popped up on VGLeaks. The new Kinect will be included with the next Xbox, according to the report, and it seems to outperform its predecessor in nearly every way. It packs a much larger field of view (70 degrees horizontal by 60 degrees vertical, versus the current 57.5 x 43.5) and a dramatically higher resolution (1920x1080 versus 640x480). The unit also features significantly lower latency (60ms versus 90ms), conceivably giving it a much faster reaction time.It will apparently ditch the tilt motor seen in the current Kinect, as the larger field of view should accommodate most play spaces. For example, the new Kinect should be able to detect a 6' tall person at just over five feet from the television. As previous reports have suggested, it will also be able to recognize more minute details, such as whether a hand is open or closed.For what it's worth, in the absence of verification, the tech wizards at Digital Foundry find the leak plausible, though it may not be the most current information. Furthermore, the information does seem to match up with previous reports, specifically the sensor's improved resolution and its ability to detect much finer details.
Rumor: New Xbox has natural speech detection, speech-to-text
Microsoft's next Xbox, AKA Durango, will have much better speech detection, according to sources at the Verge. That includes natural language detection, which will allow the Xbox to process normal speech patterns, similar to Apple's Siri. So, for example, instead of saying "Xbox, play 3," you might simply say, "Xbox, where can I watch The X-Files?"Furthermore, users may be able to turn the new Xbox on using only voice. Speech-to-text is also a possibility, which would allow users to, say, compose Xbox Live messages using only voice. The Verge also mentions a possible function that would allow the Kinect to detect the number of people in a room and suggest suitable multiplayer games (hopefully not used games).An improved Kinect, possibly bundled with or built into the next Xbox, has been expected for quite some time now. As such, it's not much of a stretch to assume the upgraded device would feature improved voice recognition in addition to improved physical recognition.
Rumor: Next Xbox always online, uses Blu-ray
Rumors on details about the next Xboxen are beginning to fly fast and furious, with an always-on Internet connection and Blu-ray drive being the latest. Edge cites sources with "first-hand experience" who rehash previously noted tech specs, but also mention the next Xbox will have an improved Kinect and an always-on internet connection to cut out the second-hand game market from the platform. The use of high-capacity Blu-ray discs seems a natural assumption since ... well, HD-DVD is no longer with us.UK site VG247 (Microsoft UK must be a sieve) noted similar details to what Edge is putting out there last April.Microsoft has not made any official announcement on its next Xbox, nor do we have any concrete idea of when the company plans to announce the product. Sony, on the other hand, is expected to announce the PlayStation 4 on February 20.
Rumor: Next Xbox 'Durango' specs leak
As E3 and the expected announcements of new consoles from Sony and Microsoft draw ever closer, website VGleaks has posted what it claims are specs for the next Xbox. Codenamed Durango, Microsoft's new console will contain an AMD-provided CPU with 8 cores running at 1.6GHz apiece alongside 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The machine will also use a GPU running at 800MHz, and feature a built-in hard drive. The structure reportedly draws from AMD's cost- and power-efficient "Jaguar" designs aimed at the laptop and tablet market.Durango will also include a "high-fidelity" natural user interface (NUI) sensor. This would suggest that the console has some kind of built-in Kinect functionality, though the inclusion of a dedicated Kinect port seems to indicate that Kinect peripherals will still be available. Also of interest is the capacity for HDMI input, which Digital Foundry speculates could be used for recording or importing video from external sources like cable boxes and personal cameras.DF offers up some more context for the leak as well, noting that there could be a significant performance gap between the new Xbox and Sony's next PlayStation, specifically with regards to its graphics processor. That's based on the blueprints and specs, mind you - we won't be convinced until we see competing real-time demos of that ballroom dancing scene from Final Fantasy VIII.
Rumor: Next-gen Xbox details spilled in penultimate issue of Xbox World
Xbox World will stop revolving come December, but it plans on going out with a bang. Specifically, the UK publication's second-to-last issue claims to have all the inside deets on Microsoft's next console.The new console's name, for instance, will be simply "Xbox," with no numerical modifiers to speak of, according to the magazine. It'll supposedly ship with a quad-core processor and eight gigs of ram, run Blu-Ray discs and will eventually support some form of head-mounted augmented reality device, in addition to a next-generation Kinect."Xbox World has been at the cutting edge of Durango coverage for over 12 months," Xbox World EIC Dan Dawkins told CVG. "Unless something really dramatic changes, everything we reveal in our penultimate issue will be revealed long before E3 in June."
Rumor: Image from next-generation Kinect sensor leaked
The above image represents the body-tracking capabilities of the next generation of Kinect technology, according to purported Durango devkit owner DaE. Eurogamer declined to comment on the veracity of the image, but claims the owner is known to have a devkit for the next Xbox console.The image shows a more accurate outline of two tracked bodies than the current Kinect can, including the ability to see fingers against clothing. The existence of this image suggests not just that new Kinect technology is being tested – it suggests that new Kinect technology will be bundled with, or sold alongside, the next Xbox. That squares with the leaked "Xbox 720" doc recently unearthed – and with common sense, given Kinect sales.
Trends Microsoft should keep in mind for the next Xbox console
In this editorial, regular Joystiq contributor Kat Bailey examines the trends Microsoft should consider for its next generation console. Want to know something amazing? The Xbox 360 has been around nearly twice as long as the original Xbox, and we've yet to hear a hint from Microsoft about its next console. Instead, the hardware manufacturer is happy to keep moving along for another year with Halo 4, Gears of War: Judgment, and even more Kinect games, secure in the knowledge that the Xbox 360 is among the company's most successful products.To be sure, Microsoft is in a much better place now than seven years ago. After four years of running an unprofitable second to Sony, Microsoft was more than ready to move on from what the company had openly described as a test bed. In fact, Microsoft was so desperate to get its console to market that the company was willing to ignore technical problems that would go on to cost them more than a billion dollars. And much as that hurt, Microsoft (if not its customers) would probably still say that the headstart was worth it.%Gallery-95126%
Rumor: Microsoft considered OnLive acquisition, thinks the next PlayStation will be a GoogleTV box
Details continue to spew forth from the supposed leaked 52-page "Xbox 720" presentation that came to light a few hours ago. Buried deep within the bowels of the slideshow's fifth seventh slide, an examination of the next Xbox's potential competition potentially reveals some interesting tidbits about Microsoft's thinking back in 2010 (the slideshow dates back to August 2010).Most notably, the document not only lists OnLive's MicroConsole as competition (along with the AppleTV and GoogleTV platforms, among others), but it also notes OnLive itself as a "potential acquisition target" – which makes sense considering frequent mentions of cloud gaming in the rest of the document.The presentation also makes several assumptions about the Wii U (dubbed "Wii2" in the piece, showing its age) and Sony's eventual next console, specifically claiming that the Wii U will cost around $249, and that the "PS4" will be some kind of GoogleTV device, on top of being a Sony console.
Alleged Xbox 720 document leak resurfaces, stirs rumors of Kinect 2, native 3D, AR glasses
A document passing itself off as an internal Microsoft presentation about the future of Xbox has surfaced, and is stirring internet chatter with its possible hints at the future of the console. Despite turning up online over a month ago and potentially dating back to 2010, a few things mentioned that have since come to fruition -- like SmartGlass -- are earning it more attention. The proposed developments include cloud-based entertainment, native 3D, augmented reality "Fortaleza Glasses," scalable hardware -- all by 2015. If that's too long to wait, however, the time line also indicates we'd be seeing the next generation hardware in 2013 for $299 (more precise and four-player ready Kinect 2 included). The Xbox 720 package described includes such pie-in-the-sky bullet points as Blu-ray and whole-home DVR features, all from a low-power always-on box built on a "Yukon" ARM hardware platform. Of course, even if this is legit and not just some business student's exercise, all the talk of value propositions, OEM licensing and developer profitability are proposals that could have changed. Need more reasons to be skeptical? Digital Foundry points out the extremely optimistic wattages listed and previous appearances of the illustrations included. Ponder over the full 56-page document for yourself -- taking into account the bored minds on the internet that are capable of cranking out this kind of stuff, like that infamous Nintendo Revolution video -- after the break. Update: The document has been pulled from Scribd, apparently at the request of a Covington & Burling, LLP. [Thanks, Leonard]
Rumor: 'Xbox 720' doc spills details on Kinect 2, 2013 launch, AR glasses
A lengthy business document purportedly sourced back to Microsoft showed up on Scribd yesterday. In it, alleged details about an "Xbox 720." For starters, the 56-page document claims the next-generation Xbox will launch in 2013 for $299, alongside the "Kinect V2." The doc also claims it'll come packed with Blu-ray functionality and be able to play game that are "4x - 6x" better looking than Xbox 360. If only it could promise the game themselves would be 4x - 6x better!Beyond the stuff you'd expect, the document also claims Microsoft has Augmented Reality glasses in the works named "Fortaleza" (presumably built at Brazil-based Innovation Center Fortaleza) – the document says we won't see through MS' AR until some time in 2014, post-console launch. Additionally, it claims the "Xbox 720" will have some form of "always on" functionality, as well as the ability to run apps at the same time (read: multitasking).Now before you go getting all excited, you should probably know that this document surfaced in some form back in early May on Nukezilla. Moreover, even if it's totally legit, the document itself appears to be rather old – dating back to August 2010 at least. That said, some of the info detailed in the document has since been announced by Microsoft (most notably Smart Glass). We've seen some pretty thorough fakes in our time, but this would be the most thorough if it were.We've reached out to Microsoft for comment, but, well, you know.Update: The document was removed from Scribd due to copyright infringement, at the request of a law firm named Covington and Burling. The firm worked with Microsoft as recently as this past April, when it advised Microsoft in its patent settlement case with Facebook. Microsoft still hasn't responded to request for comment.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Remedy hiring for next-gen project
Remember back in October when it was rumored that Alan Wake 2 was in production for the next Xbox? While we still can't confirm Alan Wake 2, we now know that Remedy is indeed hiring for the next generation of consoles. The developer has posted the hiring notice in the Alan Wake community site, stating that Remedy is "looking for world-class talent to work on an unannounced project targeted at future generation consoles."The fact that the notice was posted on the Alan Wake site could be a hint as to what the next project will be, though it's important to note that the site also hosts forums for Remedy's other games, including American Nightmare, Death Rally and the first two Max Payne games. Still, Remedy has made it quite clear that there will be more Alan Wake, so a next gen entry to the series is definitely a possibility.Speaking of Alan Wake, you know Joystiq has exclusive, never-before-seen episodes of Night Springs, right?
Rumor: Stripped down Xbox planned for 2013
Rumors of a new Xbox have been swirling for quite some time now, though they are now taking a slightly different shape. The next Xbox hardware won't actually be a generational leap, according to anonymous blogger MS Nerd, posting on Reddit. Instead, the console will actually be a stripped down version of the current Xbox, which will concentrate on "Arcade-style games" and Kinect apps. This is apparently the same ARM-powered console that MS Nerd first discussed in November of last year. The device will be "price-competitive" with Apple TV and is apparently slated for a late 2013 launch.Meanwhile, the "true successor" will launch sometime after with the same media apps and support for more core game experiences. Furthermore, the next generation of Kinect will supposedly launch sometime around 2015. At this point, keeping track of the next Xbox is becoming something of a chore, with estimates for a new launch ranging from late this year all the way out to 2014. For Microsoft's part, the company says there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at this year's E3.
Microsoft says there will be 'no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon'
Sony has already confirmed that we won't be seeing a next-generation PlayStation at this year's E3 trade show, and now Microsoft has also come out and dampened any expectations about a new Xbox possibly making its debut. In a statement published by Kotaku (following a report on Twitter from Bloomberg's Dina Bass), a Microsoft spokesperson says flatly that "while we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon." The statement goes on to say that "2012 is all about Xbox 360," before rattling off a list of milestones and some of the big titles planned for release this year. That leaves Nintendo with the stage to itself hardware-wise, which will presumably be showing off more of its next-generation console, the Wii U.
Debunk: Xbox720.com, Playstation4.com aren't owned by Microsoft, Sony
We'll wait while you click these links -- Xbox720.com and PlayStation4.com -- to see that they do indeed redirect to random technology-news pages. We'll even wait a little longer as you open a new tab, type both of those addresses in and see that we weren't lying, and they really do redirect to unofficial sites. Now we'll take a few seconds to get over the fact that you didn't trust us. Without trust there is no love; remember that.Yesterday Xbox720.com redirected to the US PlayStation website, but it appears the domain owner has used the attention gained from that to open his own blog, Fusible reports. Xbox720.com now redirects to a tech-news aggregation site and was previously monetized via Google's Adsense program; before that it hosted random sites dating back to 2006 at least. In November 2011, the site was registered to Jeremiah Germany, but that information is now protected through Whois Privacy.PlayStation4.com redirects to a PlayStation news and cheat site.It appears the redirections aren't as vindictive as the ModernWarfare3.com debacle, in which a Battlefield fan used the domain to convert Call of Duty players to his shooter of choice. We don't even know what the next Xbox will be called -- considering the first Xbox wasn't called "180," it's not set in stone that the third iteration will follow in the 360's footsteps. However, Microsoft's Xbox360.com redirects to the main Xbox site, and Sony's PlayStation3.com heads to the US PlayStation page, so it follows that they would want similar sites to do the same. [Image credit: Joseph Dumary]
Report: Next-gen Xbox to launch October/November 2013 with this GPU
The next-gen Xbox's GPU will derive from 2011's AMD 6000 series, similar to the Radeon HD 6670, which supports DirectX11, 1080p HD, multi-display output and 3D, IGN reports, citing sources close to the project. Mass production of its GPU will begin at the end of 2012, IGN says, with a full-console launch scheduled in October or November 2013.With these specs, the next Xbox will have six times the processing power of the Xbox 360 and is expected to support performance 20 percent greater than Nintendo's Wii U, which is using the R770, a chip that is competitively stronger than the GPUs of both the Xbox 360 and PS3.Previously uncovered Microsoft resumes listed gesture and voice input, which suggests some form of Kinect integration will be present in the coming Xbox model.
Next Xbox console to be six times more powerful, headed for fall 2013 release?
Xbox 720, Xbox Loop -- whatever Microsoft ends up calling it, that hot rod of a console looks to be on deck for a late fall 2013 release. According to IGN's sources, this successor to the Redmond gaming throne is purported to pack a GPU based on AMD's 6000 series of chips and will boast silicon circuitry that catapults its performance past Nintendo's upcoming Wii U by 20 percent. If you're looking for a more apples to green X's comparison, this next-gen console's graphical capabilities are also reportedly six times greater than its 360 progenitor. While MS is likely holding back its monstrous new platform for a big E3 reveal, it appears the company's still whittling down its spec list, with dev kits to be issued later this August. No mention was made of its rumored Kinect 2 integration, but we're more than certain that famous hacking tech will be front and center.[Image credit: Joseph Dumary]
