We are only days away from the organized event that will introduce to the world Sony’s next-generation gaming console, but while Sony may be keen to reveal what they have been working on with Orbis; Microsoft on the other hand are remaining tight lipped. The lack of public information from the Redmond company shouldn’t come as any great surprise, but we do have a plethora of leaked information to wade through in the meantime, starting with a source who is already familiar to the community.
The newly leaked information is coming courtesy of an individual who calls himself SuperDaE and is previously known to the gaming community through his attempts at selling an official Durango dev kit. The legitimacy of the claims remain entirely unknown, but could stand to ruffle the feathers of those gaming fans who still remain undecided on the Microsoft Kinect sensor attachment. We’ve heard a number of different rumors about the next iteration of the Kinect sensor, but the latest speculation is suggesting that Microsoft are making the attachment mandatory in the next Xbox.
If this turns out to be factual then the mandatory status means that any new Xbox console would ship with Kinect and would require the sensor to be attached and properly calibrated before the console would even run. The thinking behind such a move brings consistency to the way how developers work when they are producing games for the new hardware, leaving them safe in the knowledge that all consoles will have the camera and motion detecting features.
SuperDaE is also suggesting that the wireless controller that will ship with the new console will fundamentally be the same as the existing one, but will feature evolutionary differences. The layout and setup of the controller is rumored to be almost identical to what we have now, but the integration of a new and mysterious wireless technology means that 360 controllers won’t work with the new hardware and vice versa.
In addition to the mandatory Kinect integration and new wireless controller technology, the new Xbox is also said to have the ability to run more than one app or game at any given time. Rather than having to entirely exit a game to play another or run an additional app, the new hardware will have the capability to suspend the currently running title in order to invoke a different game.
It is also being suggested that the next Xbox will have 8GB DDR3 memory on board, and the optical drive will be able to hold a whopping 50GB. Apart from that, 3D support will be there in full 1080p, if the game developer wishes to go down that route. Running on top of an 8-core 64-bit CPU clocked at 1.6GHz, the next Xbox is definitely going to be an entertainment powerhouse. And oh, did we mention it will support DirectX 11? Yup, it’s there too.
Of course, the legitimacy of these claims can’t be verified and Microsoft is remaining silent on the Xbox situation, but they could definitely produce mixed emotions if true.
(Source: Kotaku)
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