New Xbox in the works?

Well over the past week or so there have been increasing numbers of sources suggesting that there is a new Xbox in the works with some claiments even suggesting that it'll be announced as soon as this years E3.

You can only ever believe so much that you read on the net, and simply searching "new Xbox" or the widely nicknamed "Xbox 720" throws a million and one web pages with comments about this new console by Microsoft.

The first rumours came about certain job listings on the business networking site LinkedIn. These included roles such as Graphics Hardware Architect, Senior Architect and Performance Engineer and Senior Hardware Design Verification Engineer.

The positions alone would appear to me that the new console development is some what in its infancy and the team is only just being put together to begin development. To suggest that a new console announcement may be ready come E3 seems somewhat absurd to me. Given that the console industry has historically worked to 5 year cycles, all current generation consoles have far exceeded that. This I would believe is mainly down to the increasing cost of development and the need for companies such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to return a profit.

Microsoft have only just finished pushing Kinect which has recently gone in the Guiness World Records for being the fastest selling consumer device in history.

Personally, I'm more than happy with my existing console (Xbox 360 Elite + Kinect combination) and will be more than happy when the time is necessary to pick up an Xbox 360 S.

I would be quite gutted to hear that a new xbox is only around the corner. If the job descriptions are anything to go by, then it would appear that its still early days, and if so, given the expected 5 year life span of Kinect, then potentially something to be officially released in and around 2015.

Its not exactly like game developers are crying for new hardware for their games, most games today do not even go anywhere near pushing the boundaries of the Xbox 360.