It goes without saying that there is going to be a next generation Xbox from Microsoft, and I suppose they are not going to rest on the Xbox 360’s laurels in any way. We have seen job listings that do point towards the possibility of a successor to the Xbox 360, in addition to some patents. The thing is, there has never been an official confirmation or announcement concerning a next generation console, not until today at least. An interview with The Verge saw Microsoft Windows Live General Manager Brian Hall make a reference to “The New Xbox” as part of a list of new products which are on its way to the mass market from Microsoft, where among them will include the new Outlook for your email and organizing needs, a spanking new Windows Phone handset, and what else, but a new version of Microsoft Office.
Hall mentioned, “We’ve had Hotmail and operated Hotmail for about 16 years. We obviously have Exchange, and Outlook, that people use at work. We just decided it was time to do something new and bring the best from each of those and put them together and release it right in time for the new wave of products that we could have coming out with Windows 8, with the new version of Office, with the new Windows Phone and the new Xbox.”
However, it was later revealed that a Microsoft spokesperson issued a statement that mentioned they are not working on a new Xbox, but are focusing on just how the existing Xbox has “defied lifecycle conventions,” so could that mean that the “new Xbox” implied by Hall is actually just an update to the current one. What do you think?