Internet Leak reveals plans for Microsoft’s ‘Xbox 720’

56 pages of tantalising console goodness broke out onto the internet a few weeks ago revealing what looks to be Microsoft’s action plan for the release of their next gen console.

Indicating a launch for late 2013 the plans provide a host of the latest console features in line with Microsoft’s bid for world entertainment domination by making an Xbox the only box you will want in your living room. Features include the ability to play DVD, HD and Blu-ray, a much higher output in visual performance, 3D support, a sliding scale of power statuses, TV, movies and Windows integration, the incorporation of a Kinect 2 (promising better camera/ hardware features) and most interestingly “Fortaleza” glasses for augmented reality (to be released 2014).

Check out tech radar’s feature for more tech specific details on:
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/xbox-720-release-date-news-and-rumours-937167

It all looks to be pretty interesting stuff and not wholly unexpected in terms of what the next gen consoles will be aiming for in coming years. That said it was precisely for this reason that its breach on the internet led many to believe the possibility that it was a hoax. Certainly one detail that raises this critics eyebrow is the fact that the plan pitches the retail price at $299 making it roughly the equivalent of £190. For a next gen console that’s supposedly boasting the features that this one does it seems optimistically low (I think I bought my older Xbox on release at roughly £250). The document itself was dated in 2010 so it could just be early conceptions of the next gen business plan from way back (console concept art looks similar to the current Xbox’s shape and design) and as many others have pointed out a lot can change in two years.

It seems that rumour however has become truth and many now generally accept these plans as the real deal, more so for Microsoft’s very quick reaction to the leak who, through the law firm Covington and Burling LLP, sent take down requests to sites hosting the document under a statement of copyright infringement law. For this reason, unless you fancy spending copious amounts of time burying into the back recesses of the internet, the plans can no longer be easily found.

Still it’s generated a lot of hype and drawn attention back to the possibility of a next gen Xbox console coming soon, especially since we didn’t get to see it at E3 this year (a clever little marketing scheme from Microsoft perhaps??)

We’ve pretty much gone as far as we can with the power limits of the 360, so what will really be the clincher for this next consoles success will be the games themselves and the possibility of 3D immersion. FYI I’m copyrighting the name ‘Xbox Ultimate’.

Angelic Rogue