As a bit of a last hurrah for Xbox World, the UK gaming magazine that's set to ride off into the sunset after its December 12 issue, its editors have pulled together all of their secrets and sources to spoil plenty of information about Microsoft's new rumored Xbox gaming console well in advance of its (likely) first appearance in early-to-mid 2013.
Spoiler: It might even just be called, "Xbox," as opposed to the "Xbox 720" or any of the other flashy names thrown around rumor reports as of late.
"Xbox World has been at the cutting edge of Durango coverage for over 12 months. Unless something really dramatic changes, everything we reveal in our penultimate issue will be revealed long before E3 in June," said editor-in-chief Dan Dawkins in an interview with CVG.
Some of these details include the long-awaited suggestion that the new Xbox will finally be able to support Blu-ray playback, a rumor that's been making the waves for the better part of a year now. The new Xbox will also allegedly support a brand-new version of Microsoft's Kinect motion-tracking device that, according to earlier rumors, might even include a dedicated CPU for enhanced detection capabilities.
Xbox World's other tidbits about Microsoft's next-generation gaming console include the suggestions that it'll feature both TV output and input – if only it had set-top functionality, too – as well as directional audio, an "innovative controller," and support for augmented reality glasses at some point in the future. That sound you just heard was a team of Google engineers collectively patting themselves on the back.
As for the raw specs of the new Xbox, the "Durango" developer kit that's currently out and about sports a 16-core processor (four hardware cores times four logical cores apiece) and eight gigabytes of RAM, according to Xbox World's expose.
And for those wondering about the credibility of the magazine's suggestions – which does, at first glance, appear as if the publication's trying to drum up any and all interest it can for its swan song – there is the fact that Xbox World was the first to the scene in January of this year with details that Microsoft's new console would feature "augmented reality, directional sound, and a four-player, finger-tracking Kinect." These tidbits were later confirmed by an alleged Microsoft planning document that leaked out in June.
As for when Microsoft's console might first see the light of day, current signs point to the 2013 E3 convention; CES was previously thrown out as a possibility until Microsoft announced that the 2012 CES was going to be its last big appearance.
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