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Microsoft has unveiled what looks to be an official countdown to the announcement of its next-gen console which we'll calling the Xbox 720 for now. You can find the countdown on the official Major Nelson blog and it points to this year's E3 event on June 11th.


With the announcement date now all-but confirmed, a 2013 release date looks likely for the Xbox 720. The current Xbox and the original model both launched in the US in November and based on that alone our money would be on a repeat performance; for those of us in Europe we'd expect a near-simultaneous release.

For most of the English-speaking world then you should have a shiny next-gen console in time for Christmas, presuming of course that Microsoft can manufacture enough to meet demand and that demand is going to be huge. As for rumours to support this date, there's admittedly nothing particularly persuasive, but logic and history tells us November this year and we're sticking with it.

Current rumours confirm what we've said and seem to point to the PS4 launching in October, one month ahead of the Xbox 720. The information comes from Colin Sebastian, at Baird Equity Research, who spoke to a lot of companies at CES 2013 involved in games development and distribution. Following the event, Sebastian put together a note for investors, printed on GamesIndustry International, which outlined the company's beliefs on the next-generation consoles.

First up was that Baird also believes Sony and Microsoft will announce and demonstrate their new consoles at the E3 show.

"Given the fragile state of the console game market, we expect the E3 trade show in June will take on added significance, most likely providing the industry with the first public opportunity to examine next-generation hardware", he wrote. He also pegged the Xbox 720 launch for November.


As with the PS4, the Xbox 720 looks certain to use AMD graphics hardware. VG247 reports that multiple sources have confirmed to it that the console will use two GPUs in tandem, it goes on to say that these won't be used in the usual 'CrossFire' configuration seen in PCs. We're not sure about all this as complex hardware architectures have been the failing of many consoles in the past, as a simple architecture is easier for developers to get to grips with quickly.

Other rumours have also spoken of dual graphics chips, though these may be referring to a powerful separate GPU and a smaller one integrated into the processor much like many modern laptops. This would allow for greater power efficiency (and less noise) during media playback, with the main GPU only kicking in for games.

And new console must be capable of producing 1080p and 60fps and handle the processing overheads required for 3D as well. Rumours of a 7000-series AMD GPU would certainly live up to this, and also place the Xbox 720 and PS4 on a very close footing in terms of graphical oomph - something that publishers and developers will appreciate.

AMD recently revealed the Radeon HD 7790 graphics card, which is highly likely to form the basis of the next Xbox's GPU. It uses a redesigned chip architecture, something AMD would never normally roll out for a mid-range card half way through its life cycle, and matches many of the leaked specifications mentioned by the Durango development kit documentation.

It seems likely now that the production name for the new chip is Oban. Original rumours had this being developed by IBM, using PowerPC cores, but it now seems as though AMD has stepped in and will be using x86 architecture. Sebastien has also stated that the Xbox 720 will use x86 hardware.

"Our checks suggest that next-generation console hardware will be largely built from 'off the shelf' high-end PC components", he wrote.

Using off-the-shelf components should help increase output and keep the cost down. Sebastian also believes that by using standard PC architecture, Microsoft will cut down the learning curve for software developers, allowing games to be released faster. He also pointed out that for Microsoft, it should allow better integration with Windows 8.

Indeed, Microsoft has already confirmed its integration plans for PC, tablets and games consoles with Microsoft Play. Designed to extend the appeal of Xbox Live Arcade titles, Microsoft Play provides - as this demo shows - currently lets you access the games on Xbox 360, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. This multi-format support will naturally extend to the Xbox 720 when it finally launches later this year.

What we do know is that if a new console is due to be launched this year, then Microsoft would have needed to confirm the final silicon production wafers for the console by December 31st 2012. According to a report by SemiAccurate, that deadline was fixed if the company was to make its deadlines work for this year.


After supporting the losing HD-DVD camp in the HD disc format war, it was surprising how little damage it did to the Xbox 360 over its lifespan. The expensive Blu-ray drive hampered adoption of the PS3 and let Microsoft lead on price. Now Blu-ray is widely used, and it has the capacity to deal with next-gen games, so it's a cert for inclusion on the new Xbox 720. We will suffer when it comes to loading times, so expect to install more games to a built-in hard disk.

Recent information would seem to confirm this, with unnamed sources speaking to specialist site The Next Xbox, stating that the next-generation Xbox 360 will include a Blu-ray drive. However, it could be that the drive is just for games only and won't be able to play Blu-ray films. The same sources suggested that the drive is just for storage and not for films, as Microsoft hopes to push people to its online Xbox Video streaming service instead.

The most recent Durango development kit documentation leak all but confirmed the presence of a hard disk included as standard - something the cheaper Xbox 360 models lack - and emphasised that games would be distributed on Blu-ray disc media.

As for that hard disk, we're hoping for a reasonably sized SSD both quieter and faster which would be big enough to take installs of games, but not for storing large amounts of media files. Price could be a problem here, so different options may be offered. This is all pure speculation though with no rumours either way to support the presence of an SSD. An alternative to a removable/replaceable drive, would be memory chips soldered to the board, this would provide a basic amount of storage for every owner and be a lot cheaper than adding the interface and bay space for a removable drive.


It's very hard to put a price on a console as the manufacturers often sell them at a loss, especially to early adopters, in order to get the ball rolling. The Xbox 720 has been rumoured as having a $299 price, but that sounds too low to us and we'd expect it to cost around 299. Of course the final price will be affected by the completion, when and for how much the PS4 launches will be a key factor in Microsoft's thinking on this.

With recent information arriving that both consoles will ship for $400 (around 250 excluding taxes), our initial guess of 299 seems to be spot on for the time being. However, analysts have predicted that both Sony and Microsoft will charge more for their games to recoup the added development costs of working with next-generation hardware. Michael Pachter suggested retail pricing for games will increase by around $10 from its current level of $60 in the US - which, in UK terms, could mean a jump from 49.99 to 59.99 on top-priced new-release games.


There's nothing wrong with the Xbox 360 controller and so we're hoping that Microsoft continues to support the current model. With Smartglass being released, Microsoft seems to set on using Apple and Android devices as additional screens, so we don't expect to see a Wii U-style tablet controller. An updated version of Kinect is also rumoured, though we can't say we're too bothered by further experiments into motion-controlled gaming.
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Microsoft bought Skype, the best-known VoIP provider, so it would make sense if the company was to use this technology in its Xbox 720. Sure enough, CVG reports that an anonymous source claims that the Xbox 720 will launch with Skype as its default communications platform in place of the standard Xbox Live chat system and Messenger
service.


Alien Rage
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Below
Call of Duty: Ghost
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
The Crew
Crimson Dragon
Cyberpunk 2077
Dead Rising 3
Destiny
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dying Light
D4
The Elder Scrolls: Online
The Evil Within
Fantasia: Music Evolved
FIFA 14
Final Fantasy XV
Forza Motorsport 5
Halo (Not a Confirmed Name yet)
Just Dance 2014
Killer Instinct
Kinect Sport Rivals
Kingdom Hearts III
LocoCycle
Lords of the Fallen
Madden NFL 25
Mad Max
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Minecraft: Xbox One Edition
Mirrors Edge 2
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 14
Need for Speed: Rivals
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
Powerstar Golf
Project Spark
Quantum Break
Ryse: Son of Rome
Skylanders: Swap Force
Sniper Elite 3
Sunset Overdrive
Thief
Titanfall
Tom Clancy's The Division
Trials Fusion
UFC
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
Watch Dogs
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Fitness: World Party


Optical Drive-Blu-Ray/DVD
Game DVR-Yes
RAM-8GB DDR3
CPU-8 Core Microsoft custom CPU
Storage-500 GB Hard Drive
Second Screen-SmartGlass
Cloud Storage-Yes
Mandatory Game Installs-Yes
Required Internet Connection-No
Used Game Fee-No
Backwards Compatibility-None
Cross Game Chat-Skype
Motion Control-Kinect 2
Voice Commands-Yes
Subscription Service-Xbox Live
USB-USB 3.0
Live Streaming-Yes
Reputation Preservation-Achievements will be ported
Web Connection-Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi
BlueTooth-Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)
A/V Hookups-HDMI input and output (4K support), Optical output

The Xbox One is a powerful piece of hardware with 8GB RAM, 64-bit processors and plenty more muscle. But as time passes this hardware will age. As Xbox One Director of development Boyd Multerer pointed out, "You'll still have a limited number of transistors in your house; in your box."

Not much is known about the Xbox One GPU, but a Microsoft representative has told IGN "AMD is our primary partner for the custom silicon that makes up our GPU/CPU SOC that is the heart of Xbox One."

But the Xbox One is built to communicate with servers in the cloud to increase the computational potential of the system. Boyd continued "[As a developer] I can start doing things like shifting latency insensitive things to the cloud. You may have a limited number of transistors in your house, but you have an unlimited number of transistors in the cloud"

As bandwidth improves, there is potential for actual game computations to be off-loaded to servers in the cloud, essentially allowing the Xbox One to become more powerful over time as more and more transistors are connected to Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.