Rumor: Leaked Design Doc Outs Next-Gen Xbox

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Rumor: Leaked Design Doc Outs Next-Gen Xbox


The word on the street says the next Xbox will feature backwards-compatibility, cloud gaming capabilities and a $299 price tag.

Take it for what it's worth, but a leaked internal Microsoft document from 2010 lays out some pretty interesting design choices for the Xbox 720. And yes, "Xbox 720" is how it's described, although it's a good bet that the Microsoft folks, like everyone else, use it as a term of convenience that's slightly less irritating than "NextBox."

The console is intended to be a "true all-in-one home entertainment box," with a pay-TV service called XTV, as well as support for Netflix, LastFM and other media applications, native 3D support and permanent internet connectivity, although whether that's an option or a requirement isn't clear. It will have 4GB of DDR memory and either six or eight CPU cores that will give it six times the power of the current Xbox 360, plus another three cores supporting backwards compatibility. Multitasking will be possible through the use of overlays, while the upgraded Kinect hardware will offer greater accuracy, better speech recognition and support for up to four players at once.

The document said that cloud streaming was expected to be available by 2015, and that cloud gaming service OnLive might be a possible target for takeover. Multi-screen technology akin to SmartGlass is also a possibility. It even mentioned a price and a release window, albeit a very vague one: $299 in 2013.

So is it legit? That's the obvious question, and the answer is that nobody knows, although shortly after it was posted to Scribd [http://www.scribd.com/word/removal/92821757] it was pulled at the request of Covington & Burling LLP, a corporate law firm which has worked with Microsoft in the past. That does lend a little bit of real-deal cred to the whole thing and Edge said that if it is a fake, it's an awfully good one, calling it "a 52-page roadmap for the future of Xbox which seems consistent with Microsoft's strategy over the past two years." There's obviously no doubt that Microsoft is working on something, and that it will be coming sooner rather than later. Could this be it?

Yes. It could be.

Source: Edge [http://www.edge-online.com/news/next-gen-xbox-plans-leaked]


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Waaghpowa

Needs more Dakka
Apr 13, 2010
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I'm a skeptic, so I'm going to say it's fake until proven otherwise.

I'm also a cynic, so I'm going to assume that someone made these up just to get the Xbox fanboys riled up until proven otherwise.
 

Kargathia

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Jul 16, 2009
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DVS BSTrD said:
Six times the processing power, how long before they blow it all on rendering?
Eight seconds - including rendering.

j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
An 8 core CPU, another 3 core CPU for backwards compatibility, 4 GB of RAM, and updated Kinect hardware, retailing for $299?

Yeah, colour me cynical. If Microsoft are going for a 2013 release date, why did they not mention anything about this at E3? According to this document, they've got a year to drum up hype for the new console, and they didn't show it off at the world's biggest gameshow?

I dunno, maybe it's legit. But it seems strange that they'd be going for a release date one year from now, yet release no information about the console to the public.
If I read this correctly it's a 2010 document. If it's genuine - and I'm not entirely convinced - then it's not a big stretch to assume they've merely pushed back the release date.
 

OldNewNewOld

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Mar 2, 2011
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And how is this rumor worth a news article?
Seriously? Did the author even THINK about it before writing?
8 cores, 3 cores, 4 GB ram, updated Kinect released in 2013 for 299$? Named xBox 720? Creativeness level "below Sony"? Are you fucking kidding me? This is some of the most obvious fake rumors I've ever read.

Oh, while you guys write obvious shit like this, I saw the next PS, it will have 61.5 cores, 11.75 TB ram and will be backwards compatible with every console ever created including Nintendo and xbox console.
And it will cost only 19.99$.

Fast, write an article!!!
 

JokerboyJordan

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Sep 6, 2009
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BiH-Kira said:
And how is this rumor worth a news article?
Seriously? Did the author even THINK about it before writing?
8 cores, 3 cores, 4 GB ram, updated Kinect released in 2013 for 299$? Named xBox 720? Creativeness level "below Sony"? Are you fucking kidding me? This is some of the most obvious fake rumors I've ever read.

Oh, while you guys write obvious shit like this, I saw the next PS, it will have 61.5 cores, 11.75 TB ram and will be backwards compatible with every console ever created including Nintendo and xbox console.
And it will cost only 19.99$.

Fast, write an article!!!
I agree with the unoriginality, and also with the fact that rumours shouldn't always be treated as news.
But this is a gaming website, and all other console rumours and tech news gets reported, why not this?

On Topic: This is indeed a very convincing rumour to say the least, everything mentioned seems in line with what would be expected from a next gen Xbox, especially with regards to the direction that microsoft seem to be heading. Although, yet again, I could have guessed and wrote all of this, it's not particularly challenging.

And of course, it's obviously not coming out next year
 

Tradjus

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Apr 25, 2011
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Did anyone bother to save this document before it got taken down? I'm having trouble finding it. Seems like someone must have had the forethought, this was -bound- to get taken down.
 

The Hungry Samurai

Hungry for Truth
Apr 1, 2004
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What this doesn't seem to mention is the document also talks about another project for 2014 that is similar to google glasses, designed to add some VR/AR like functionality which seemed really nifty. The concept art showed someone wearing the glasses seeing a virtual enemy in front of him while Kinect 2 tracked his movements to battle it.

Real or not I would very much like this.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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BiH-Kira said:
And how is this rumor worth a news article?
Seriously? Did the author even THINK about it before writing?
8 cores, 3 cores, 4 GB ram, updated Kinect released in 2013 for 299$? Named xBox 720? Creativeness level "below Sony"? Are you fucking kidding me? This is some of the most obvious fake rumors I've ever read.

Oh, while you guys write obvious shit like this, I saw the next PS, it will have 61.5 cores, 11.75 TB ram and will be backwards compatible with every console ever created including Nintendo and xbox console.
And it will cost only 19.99$.

Fast, write an article!!!
Well, this rumour actually got specs that make to possible that it's true. Your specs are in fact impossible so there's no merit at all to them. The name lacks creativity, but I am guessing it's a project title if this is real. You're also expecting creativity from the company that made Windows 7 then Windows 8.

If you had read the article you would have seen that the article writer questions both the name and if the document is real or not, so he probably thought more about his article than you thought about your post.
 

Zeriah

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Mar 26, 2009
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That price tag makes this just impossible. I know they will be willing to sell them at a loss but my god, that has to be what, $700-900+ worth of hardware right?

I'll believe it when I see it.
 

Uber Waddles

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May 13, 2010
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Its a fake. They said they wanted Bluray technology. Which means with every disk and console release, Microsoft would have to pay royalties to Sony, its major competitor.

Thats good business right there.

Seriously. Sony owns BluRay. Why would Microsoft then impliment it if it requires them to pay extra? They already lose money on console sales...
 

Scrustle

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Apr 30, 2011
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Seems like it's real to me. Maybe not everything in it will be in the final product but most of it seems very likely. But I really hope "720" is just a running title. Why can't they just call it the Xbox 3 or something that's at least less retarded than anything else that's been speculated so far?
 

Spygon

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May 16, 2009
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Seems possible but a 2010 document anything could have changed in two years.Also the price does not seem to make sence but i guess prices are numbers that can be easily changed.
 

Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
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Uber Waddles said:
Its a fake. They said they wanted Bluray technology. Which means with every disk and console release, Microsoft would have to pay royalties to Sony, its major competitor.

Thats good business right there.

Seriously. Sony owns BluRay. Why would Microsoft then impliment it if it requires them to pay extra? They already lose money on console sales...
Sony doesn't own Blu-ray, it's just one of the many companies that make up the Blu-ray Disc Association.

If Microsoft used Blu-ray, then only a fraction of the licensing costs would find it's way into Sony's coffers, much in the same way that a fraction of the royalties from every Blu-ray sold could make it's way back to Microsoft due to the codecs used... which is unlike the much larger royalties that Sony pays to Microsoft for every Sony laptop that ships with Windows as an operating system.

It's funny, the whole 'Sony vs. Microsoft, exclusive competitors in the console war' thing only really exists in Gamer's heads.

Both companies make other things apart from their consoles and both companies aren't too stubborn not to license each other's products.

In fact it would be bad business sense for Microsoft not to use the best software or hardware for their needs, especially for reasons as stupid as using Blu-ray would be 'transferring funds to the enemy' and seen as a 'sign of weakness' in the 'console war'.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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I don't think they will be able to release the system at that price point if you look at what the rumors are about what the hardware will be. But if they do, that's awesome. First day buy for me if it offers more than just FPS's.
 

Mr.Mattress

Level 2 Lumberjack
Jul 17, 2009
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Now, when I read the title, I thought it was actually going to show how the console looks. Instead, I am treated to talk of "8 Cores here, 3 Cores there, 4 Gigabytes of Ram, and all for the low low cost of 299 Dollars!". If this is true, then it must also mean they're going to release a New Microsoft Office Package, because something like that would sell at such a huge loss that it could pretty much bankrupt Microsofts Gaming department.