Talk has been hotting up over the last few months about the impending announcements about Microsoft’s next generation games console, but the rumours are really starting to fly now, so here’s our take on the most contentious of the horse whispers. Known as the Xbox 720, or Project Doranga, as some have started to dub it, the new console will replace the might of the Xbox 360 and become Microsoft’s new champion in a battle that will see it go toe to toe against the genius of the Nintendo Wii U and the power of Sony’s upcoming Playstation 4, so there’s a lot riding on the rumours.
The biggest and most contentious of them all is the talk of the Xbox 720 being launched with the Internet connection always on and the requirement to use an activation code to lock a game to an individual console, fundamentally stopping second hand games sales. The rumour seems to have a number of different sources, including Edge, so it’s hard to disregard, however, with the fact that Nintendo’s Wii U is already on the market and selling well worldwide with second hand games sale options safely in tact, it would suggest that a move by Microsoft or Sony to stop the second hand games market for their next gen consoles would be a suicidal one.
The flip side to this is that the promise of additional game sales for developers without second hand sales hitting their bottom line could be enough for them to favour the PS4 and Xbox 720 for future games releases. However, with the might of Nintendo and their own very successful games titles, it would take a lot to shake the industry enough to favour an end to second hand games without all major consoles on board. With Nintendo already launched without a block in place and the need for Microsoft to be competitive we can’t see them going ahead with tying each game to a single console. If they do, the Xbox 720 will be a much weaker proposition compared to the Nintendo Wii U.
The second big rumour about the Xbox 720 is that it will be launched in June of this year. The rumour surfaced after the Director of Programming for Microsoft’s Xbox Live, Larry Hryb (AKA Major Nelson), put a countdown timer on his blog for the start of the E3 Expo in June later this year. However, it seems more plausible that the actual announcement will be a more realistic launch date of late Autumn 2013. Essentially, this is another rumour that we’re not quite buying.
Another of the big rumours is one that we’ve been keen on since we first wrote about the speculation for the Xbox 720, and it’s the integration of Kinect technology bundled in with the console. With the massive worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii when it first introduced motion censor gaming to the masses in a real way, and the recent launch of the Wii U, along with Sony’s Move technology, it’s hard to imagine a viable and competitive Xbox 720 launch without it having Kinect tech build in with it. From our point of view this is a rumour that’s got to happen for the new console to be a real contender for the gaming crown.
Our last rumour is one that we’re starting ourselves about launch games that should be in with a shout for the Xbox 720 release. Based on what was on offer around Christmas with the Wii U and the fact that their release this year should coincide with the expected release date towards November time for the new console, we think two of the launch titles have got to be Fifa 14 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4. Call us a bunch of dreamers, but hopefully they’ll also feature the enhanced tech of an integrated Kinect motion control system too!
That’s all for now, but if you have any questions, post them below and we’ll do what we can to answer them.
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