XBOX 720 specs, release timeline, and more "Leaked"
XBOX 720 specs, release timeline, and more "Leaked"
Take this for what it is, just an article in PC Mag, but it seems to have some trustworthy info. Here is a link to the full article where they have much more info: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405922,00.asp
Excerpt of the important stuff:
Mother-of-All-Microsoft-Leaks Details Xbox 720 Tech, Roll-Out Plans
By Damon Poeter
- June 16, 2012 03:19pm EST
- 0 Comments
Microsoft has named its next-generation game console the Xbox 720, is stuffing it with major hardware and software upgrades, and will release it ahead of the 2013 holiday season, according to a leaked document that's turned up on document-sharing site Scribd.
If legit, the 56-page document titled "XBox 720-9-24 Checkpoint Draft 1" reveals a host of details about the technology being rolled out with the next-gen Xbox and Microsoft's thinking about the competition in not just the rarified console market but also from Apple and Google.
And whoever prepared the presentation thinks Microsoft should price the Xbox 720 at $299 bundled with a second-generation Kinect sensor. The product life cycle of the next-gen game console? Ten years, according to the leaked document. And here's the suggested marketing tagline for the Xbox 720: "All Your Entertainment. One Box."
Microsoft has been very clear that it will not unveil a new Xbox until after 2012, so it's not a shock to learn that yes, 2013 is the target for the Xbox 720. There is something in store for Xbox 360 owners before the year is out, however—the document indicates that Microsoft plans to release XTV service and apps for the 360 in time for the holidays.
What's also interesting is the look-in we get on the software giant's internal discussion about rollout timing and the life expectancy of its current console on the market.
In a slide asking, "Why do we need a next gen Xbox in 2013?" Microsoft posits that its Xbox 360 business will decline beginning next year, while Gen 8 gaming platforms from rivals Sony and Nintendo raise the bar and "new threats from Apple (AppleTV) and Google (Google TV)" emerge to challenge the leading game console maker.
The document also points to "Xbox 360 Limitations," which according to Microsoft include:
- No full fidelity AAA Games + Kinect V1 sensor
- Will not support full range of XTV platform scenarios (e.g. 1080p video + Video Chat +HTML5 Apps)
- Lacking modern entertainment capabilities (e.g. Blu-ray, Native 3D output, 2x1080p in/out)
- Can't run "always on"/low power states
- Can't run multiplexed or concurrent applications and service
Microsoft plans to remedy most or all of those deficiencies with the Xbox 720, however. According to the document, the next-gen console will support Blu-ray, native 3D, video acceleration, and five distinct power states ranging from "full power" to "standby."
For "competitive differentiation," the Xbox 720 will support "next-gen AAA games" that Microsoft promises will be four times to six times more awesome than titles currently available for the Xbox 360. A second-generation Kinect accessory referred to as Kinect V2 will provide "closer, wider, deeper" 3D play space, improved voice recognition, four-player tracking, dedicated processing, and an improved HD RGB camera, according to the document.
There will be a new dashboard for Xbox Live and "next-gen service experiences" that are exclusive to the Xbox 720. Core titles like Halo, Fable, and Gears of War will be available for the console, as well as new Kinect-tailored games, linear TV service, HD and 3D movies available in the video marketplace, and XTV applications in a TV App Store for the console.
Shennanigans.
MS wouldn't refer to it as the 720, even internally.
The huge price tag was what hurt the ps3. I don't think m$ will do the same. I'm guessing as low as $300 but no greater than $500. I'm wondering if they will have two models again, the cheaper one with a smaller hdd.
Yeah, thinkin they'll go with something like the Arcade / Premium models they had in the beginning. A base model for $300, higher end for somewhere around or between $400 - $500, something like that.
I don't see them doing that. HD's are so cheap these days they couldn't justify it to the public. Plus all games need a HD nowadays. They will offer one model and then you can buy a larger HD if you want.
Yeah the 720 name may just be a placeholder for whatever they eventually do name it
I would like to see M$ do something to allow XBL customers to play MMO titles on their consoles. FFXI and PSU don't cut it.
I'm sure it's going to end up over priced and use two generations in the past PC quality hardware. I'll probably still buy it unless some one else comes out with something better. All my site points went bye bye.
i can spot you a few.
if that's the actual design, i'm gonna need a new place to game. it looks awesome, but my wife will have a different opinion. she'll shit if i drop a big silver and neon green "X" in the middle of the living room. lol
I know someone who did a small marketing job for M$ a little over a year ago and he said (now that this info is out there) that the material they showed them looked very much like this. He also said he's 90% sure that some of those sketches are from a storyboard video they produced for M$
My guess will be 499 on the high end super duper version and 299 for a scaled down (less storage and some other minus's) version.
2013 sounds like the right release date. I cannot imaging having they wait unitl xmas 2014 to release a new box. E3 was basically a end of life fest for Sony and MS and I would be freaking blown away if it did not come out in 2013.
According to the other rumors and sources the "next" Xbox has been mocked up and is just waiting on some hardward pieces to be modeled/made for it.
LOL..
I love these articles, so funny. Internally, no they do not call it the 720, btw, MS doesnt design it anyway. Thats all I can say.
What is to come next will be pretty awesome I can say that. If you are a current Xbox gammer I'm pretty sure you'll buy the next one.
One part of the document said th e720 would launch at 299. But I can't see them having just one SKU unless the HDD is going to be optional on all models.
One document said BluRay support which meh..... i was hoping for solid state personally. Also shocked that they would crawl into bed with Sony and license BluRay. Digital download exclusive won't work yet so really i thought we'd see some high speed SD card based solution. I' sure retailers would love it too, games would take up at least 1/4 the shelf space.
Unless the Kinect comes bundled in, i can't see me upgrading. I havne't done shit with my Kinect except talk to Netflix and 150 bucks seems expensive for a Mic.
4 to 6 times better graphics .... i dunno is that just because it's being upped to support 1080p or 3D? Is it really goign to translate into that much better graphics?
Kind of interested in what i read on another part, their'e going to launch Augmented Reality type glasses for the system a year after launch. That could be interesting.
If it wasn't for the Bluray in a PS3, it would have died not long out of the gate. The Wii would have killed the PS3 just because of the price point. The new xbox almost has to come with bluray even though more of the focus is on digital downloads and streaming.
I read in one of the Game Informers that adding Blu-Ray wouldn't cost them much if they wanted to do it for the next-gen. I forget what issue it was, but it was from sometime this year. The expert, they had, addressing different rumours, said it'd be easy to do and probably cost them more to not have it than to just pay whatever they need to in order to include it. Seeing Blu-Ray as an option doesn't surprise me.
It could be that the HDD is totally optional in the next system and they just essentially sell the system as an arcade sku and you add the HDD if you want it. Although isn't bluray thruput pretty slow or as it caught up to DVD9? I was under the impression at least at some point that bluray games needed to be installed to compensate for how slow they were. I imagine that problem isn't a problem anymore.
Could they jump to cloud saves with DLC and backups, to keep memory to a minimum?
Next I think $299 is a reasonable price point, but they could be looking at using the subsidizing method to reach this price or lower. $299.00 with 2 year contract to xbox live with small monthly payments that could be $10 a month. This drops the entry price into the price point of most people and commits them to two years of XBL, which is basically cost them nothing with the amount of advertisiing they have on XBL. They then would pull roughly $539.00 on each xbox over a two year period, giving away XBL as a throw in but giving it an ad value of $60 per year to make it palatable to standard consumers.
I'm thinking like Tank. With the Cloud now up and running, they'll probably sell a system without an HDD (cheaper) and one with it (more expensive)
I'm hoping they set it up like a PS3 or PC and allow people to put in their own HD, instead of that BS overpriced HD they offered.
Xbox 720 (aka: diablo I think at first) has got to be a code word,according to all the sites that I have veiwed these past months