Microsoft send out press invitations for a special event on May 21st that will mark the unveiling of the next-generation Xbox console. Not all details about the console will be revealed at this event though, additional bits will follow at industry events like E3 in June.
“On Tuesday May 21st, we will mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment. On that day, we will be holding a special press event on the Xbox campus and we invite you to join us via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox Live and Xbox.com. On that day, we will share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future,” an official statement by Microsoft reads.
Microsoft is already sending invitations to the event to members of the press, game developers, market analysts and other parties. Among the headliners of the event are Don Mattrick, the president of the interactive entertainment business unit at Microsoft, as well as other members of the Xbox team.
Microsoft Xbox Next “Durango” is expected to be architecturally similar to the PlayStation 4. It is believed that the future Xbox will be powered by AMD Fusion custom-designed system-on-chip with eight x86 low-power/low-cost Jaguar cores, AMD Radeon HD graphics with GCN architecture as well as 8GB of DDR3 system memory. The console is projected to feature hard disk drive, Blu-ray disc drive as well as robust Xbox Live online service. It is believed that Microsoft Xbox “Durango” has lower-performance graphics sub-system as well as slower memory sub-system when compared to Sony PS4. Microsoft is projected to install Xbox 360 core-logic into the new console to maintain backwards compatibility with current games. An analysis of what is known about the Xbox Next clearly points to the fact that Microsoft had put a great deal of attention to make the Durango a high-quality general-purpose device for the living room, while compromising some of the gaming-related aspects (e.g., graphics performance). The video games for the Microsoft Xbox Next will clearly look better and feel better than titles developed for the Xbox 360 simply because of the eight-year gap in technologies under the hoods of the systems. However, only time will show how future-proof will be Microsoft’s Durango console for the core gamers who demand improvements of titles throughout the active lifetime of the console that could span for eight years, as in the case of the Xbox 360.
Microsoft reveals new Xbox on May 21st
