Almost five and a half years ago, Microsoft released the Xbox 360. With the current generation of consoles growing long in the tooth, and Nintendo revealing its next-generation hardware in June, the announcement of a new Microsoft console is increasingly likely. So, it may not be a huge shock that an Electronic Arts development team allegedly has a very early build of the new Xbox.
According to Develop's source, EA received the new hardware over a month ago, and it's currently sitting inside a PC shell. Developer's are generally given first access to new hardware, allowing them to start familiarizing themselves with the equipment and prepare to possibly develop launch titles.
“Quite often when new consoles come around they’re packaged into a PC shell, but actually what’s inside is an entirely new console,” the site's "trusted, well-placed" source said.
Originally, Develop reported that the source believed the console was looking at a late 2012 release period, and we could expect an announcement at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Unfortunately, an equally trusted source at EuroGamer came along and rained on our parade.
Their source called the announcement, "unlikely."
Well, it's nice to hear that Microsoft is moving forward with new hardware, but if EuroGamer's source is correct, we may not have any confirmed details until E3 2012. It's a bummer we'll have to wait so long, but let's give them plenty of time to research the new cerebral implants (I made that last part up).
What would you like to see in the next Xbox console? Is there a particular feature you're expecting, whenever the hardware's finally announced? Let us know in the comments.