Xbox 720 due Christmas 2013: rumour

The rumour mill is churning today with speculation flying about apparently 'leaked' details for the possible Xbox 720.

VG247, a usually credible gaming website, reports that the Xbox 720 has been detailed to certain parties – most likely developers – and that the machine will receive a Christmas 2013 release.

The same site also says the next generation of Microsoft console will have a Blu-ray drive, in contrast to another recent rumour which posited that the machine would have no disk drive at all.

Veteran gaming analyst Michael Pachter was quick to dismiss the rumours as 'noise', finding particular amusement in the contrariness of the disk drive speculation.

"I love that the Xbox 720 has gone from no disc drive to a Blu-ray drive in the space of a week," Pachter told NowGamer.

"If there are disparate rumours about the Xbox 720 and PS4, one of them must be wrong.

Other speculations include the possibility the Xbox 720 will require an always-on internet connection as an anti-piracy measure, and will have built-in Kinect.

But while Pachter says these features all sound credible enough, he does not think developers would be informed about things like built-in Kinect at this early stage.

"The noise about who will launch first is just noise. Neither Sony nor Microsoft knows what the other is doing, so it's not particularly important which one launches first. They may both go at holiday 2013, although spring 2014 makes more sense so that they can keep up with demand," he says.

Although Pachter seems to discount the ideas, VG247 notes that in the last few months some major developers have advertised job openings for next-gen developers, including Lionhead and Bethesda.

As far as rumours go, these ones might not be credible but at least they're kind of exciting.