All the buzz for the next Xbox has churned out a rumor that has some potential truth to it. Develop Online, a site prominent for their rumors for the gaming industry, releases some new information about what is to be the next Xbox. According to Develop, Microsoft has IBM and Global Foundries working on a CPU together for the next Xbox, or at least for developments that might appear in developers hands as early as April this year.
As usual, Microsoft has declined to comment on ‘rumors or speculation’ so we’ll have to wait for a probable GDC 2013 announcement for the next console, as it might be hitting store shelves in the Fall of 2013. Develop Online reiterates that their source from last October told them that Microsoft expects their next gaming console to come to retailers in the second half of 2013.
IGN’s Tech site breaks down details from others information with their own private sources. They are reporting for a late October to early November release date which is not the usual time for a console release but, could do well for the console as the Western world’s holiday season is only a month after its release.
While mass production won’t begin until the end of 2012, the processors will be based on a mix between Radeon’s HD 6670 and AMD’s 7000 Southern Islands GPU. These components according to IGN’s Scott Lowe, will give the console potential to use multi-display output, 3D & 1080p HD video quality. For those who don’t understand what multi-display output entails, this means with special glasses multiple players will be able to play full-screen games seeing their own experience, preventing the capability of gamers easily ‘screen-peaking’ while playing on the same LCD TV.
As the Radeon graphics card currently has a seventy US dollar value on the market, I’d expect the value to drop by about ten dollars before manufacturing for the consoles begins at the end of the year. Scott continues to say developers will probably get a finalized development kit sometime in August this year. For more information and updates, we’ll give you breakdowns of several credible sources to give you all the truth behind these rumors.
Picture – Radeon Card
Sources – Develop Online & IGN Tech
