Update: EA has flat-out smashed the rumor.
Xbox 360 has been doing well this year, especially as Kinect has shipped 10 million units, but Microsoft may be planning a move into the next generation much quicker than many of us had anticipated, if a new report from Develop is at all accurate. The U.K. publication claims that "the successor to the Xbox 360 console is on desks at an unnamed Electronic Arts studio," and Microsoft will unveil it or at least hint at it during its E3 press conference on June 6.
Few details are known about the new system, but it's currently in a PC shell, with no new console form factor design present yet. “Quite often when new consoles come around they’re packaged into a PC shell, but actually what’s inside is an entirely new console,” Develop's "senior, trusted, well-placed" source said.
The new Xbox is reportedly to launch by the end of 2012 and will feature "enhanced support for Kinect with just a couple of alterations."
The Wii successor is to launch sometime next year as well, and word is that Microsoft doesn't want to lose its momentum or allow Nintendo to steal attention at E3. “Kinect will keep the 360 going for a couple of years, but Microsoft knows that if it slows down now it will face trouble,” the source continued.
Both Microsoft and EA declined comment, but there certainly have been rumblings about next-gen Xbox projects through job openings over the last several months. That said, both Microsoft and Sony have talked up the longer console cycle, and we'd frankly be surprised to see new Microsoft or Sony hardware as soon as Nintendo's, and we'd be even more surprised to watch Microsoft unveil it at this year's E3. Nevertheless, Microsoft is clearly working on new hardware to launch at some point in the next few years - it's just a matter of when.
