According to details supposedly leaked by Xbox World, the Xbox 720 (or whatever they are going to call it) will debut with a brand new version of Kinect, a Blu-ray drive and an A/V port for watching and recording broadcast TV. It makes sense that Microsoft would throw in a Blu-ray player as well as an updated version of Kinect, though the TV watching and recording is a little surprising for me.
The latest issue of Xbox World promises “next-gen secrets inside” and has reportedly uncovered several specifications on the next generation of the Xbox gaming console. Microsoft has been extremely tight lipped about the next generation of Kinect, as it has been about all aspects of the new console. However, a company document supposedly leaked back in June talked about a higher level of accuracy, stereo imaging, better voice recognition and the ability to track four players simultaneously.
In addition to that, other features are said to include directional audio, an input and output for watching and recording TV shows and an “innovative controller”. Last February Xbox World said that the redesigned controller would come with a built-in HD touchscreen, though no further information about that has been leaked.
Microsoft has also been playing around with the idea of AR, or Augmented Reality, glasses for the new Xbox at some point in the future. The new Xbox is code-named Durango and is rumored to be powered by a CPU with “four hardware cores, each divided into four logical cores” and 8GB of RAM.
Xbox World’s Editor in Chief Dan Dawkins recently reported to CVG saying, “Xbox World has been at the cutting edge of Durango coverage for over 12 months. Unless something really dramatic changes, everything…will be revealed long before E3 in June.”
Source: CNET – Xbox 720 to offer Kinect 2.0 and Blu-ray drive, says Xbox World