Microsoft's old Xbox 720 roadmap leaks...

[DiGiTaL MoNkEY]

While this information is about 2 years old, it's still an interesting read and may contain some ideas of the future Xbox...

The leaked document is known as "Xbox 720 9-24 Checkpoint" and details pretty much everything Microsoft was thinking of for the future of their entertainment division. It appears to be some sort of platform for invoking discussion about the Xbox 720 and other projects rather than a complete roadmap that Microsoft was going to stick to, but the information of what they were hoping to achieve is juicy.

In the document Microsoft is calling the next Xbox the "Xbox 720" and they appear to be aiming for a console that is at least six times as powerful as the current Xbox 360. The console described here will possibly have a Blu-ray optical disc drive and will be capable of delivering "true 1080p and full 3D" while launching sometime in 2013. Microsoft is aiming for a system that will launch for $299 plus a "Kinect V2" sensor, while selling more than 100 million units over a 10 year lifecycle.

The aforementioned Kinect V2 sensor will improve (or at least they were aiming to improve) on the original by providing a better 3D play space (closer, wider and deeper), better voice recognition, better HD RGB cameras, dedicated hardware processing and support for concurrent tracking of four players.

Meanwhile in the holiday of 2012 Microsoft was looking to unleash "XTV" (aka. Xbox TV) which is a combination of "linear TV, TV apps [and] DVR" alongside internet-provided services such as Netflix. This service would be launching on the Xbox 360 first later this year before a full roll-out with the Xbox 720 in 2013; it will also work on phones and PCs.

Later in 2014, Microsoft is hoping to launch "Fortaleza", which will essentially be Kinect 3D glasses that provide a "breakthrough heads-up and hands-free" gaming experience. This will provide "seamless integration of the digital world within the physical world". Later on Microsoft hopes to bring seamless Xbox gaming anywhere on any device through the use of the cloud.

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-...-leaked-online

56 PAGE DOCUMENT: http://www.scribd.com/doc/92821757/X...kpoint-Draft-1 Has been removed.

My re-uploaded copies (PowerPoint Format):
http://www.sendspace.com/file/vgnxai
http://www.filefactory.com/file/vt5y...t-Draft-1_pptx

[Rubberband]

Whilst interesting it's not really surprising considering the way the industry is moving.

MS should have moved to corner the central media player ages ago, but if they nail the codecs correctly this time so it's at least as good as a WDTV or equiv they might see a number of people consolidating back to one device and buying in to extra features.

[lithos]

Ah, The Cloud™. It'll cure cancer. Or bring back virtual reality, apparently.

[elvis]

Nothing exciting there. "Gen 8 consoles will be faster than gen 7 consoles".

Somewhat interesting is Microsoft finally admitting defeat and including BluRay.

But other than that, it's going to be obvious that all the console companies are going to do a big push towards downloadable titles and trying to offer an all-encompassing media service. And it's equally as obvious that the next gen of consoles will be faster, and offer higher definition graphics as a result.

[Linkin]

Originally Posted by lithos

Ah, The Cloud™. It'll cure cancer. Or bring back virtual reality, apparently.

Cheers for the new sig. I hate seeing this buzzword "The Cloud" everywhere. If you look up at the sky you get many clouds. When you look at storing stuff on the internet, you have data services, which is someone's server in a datacentre, not a fucking cloud.

End Rant.

So glad some new consoles are coming through, we'll be back to bashing console scrubs, and all the "glorious pc gaming master race" hatemongering in no time.

Seriously though, I hope these consoles actually support 1920x1080 with anti aliasing, and hopefully at 60fps or so. It is not hard to achieve with current tech. Mostly I'm looking forward to the fact that PC games might actually require hardware upgrades again...

[Deliverancexx]

The 56 page doc you linked appears to have been taken down. Damn.

[DiGiTaL MoNkEY]

Originally Posted by Deliverancexx

The 56 page doc you linked appears to have been taken down. Damn.

Just uploading my Powerpoint copy...won't be long

EDIT:
My re-uploaded copies (PowerPoint Format):
http://www.sendspace.com/file/vgnxai
http://www.filefactory.com/file/vt5y...t-Draft-1_pptx

[lithos]

Originally Posted by Linkin

Cheers for the new sig. I hate seeing this buzzword "The Cloud" everywhere. If you look up at the sky you get many clouds. When you look at storing stuff on the internet, you have data services, which is someone's server in a datacentre, not a fucking cloud.

End Rant.

Yeah. I've been emailing myself docs when I need to transfer stuff between PCs and can't find a USB stick, so, man, I was using The Cloud™ before it was cool! And, quite honestly, I do not completely trust others to store my important data over the net. I'd rather it hosted on my own drives. Least if the net goes down I can still access it.

So glad some new consoles are coming through, we'll be back to bashing console scrubs, and all the "glorious pc gaming master race" hatemongering in no time.

Seriously though, I hope these consoles actually support 1920x1080 with anti aliasing, and hopefully at 60fps or so. It is not hard to achieve with current tech. Mostly I'm looking forward to the fact that PC games might actually require hardware upgrades again...

I'm sure that'll last for about a year, then we'll be back to the same old cycle.

MS seems pretty keen to keep the 720 around for a while, and they *cannot* do the sensible thing and have a reasonable (<5 years) lifespan for it, because all the 360 customers will shit.

[KriiV]

Originally Posted by Linkin

Cheers for the new sig. I hate seeing this buzzword "The Cloud" everywhere. If you look up at the sky you get many clouds. When you look at storing stuff on the internet, you have data services, which is someone's server in a datacentre, not a fucking cloud.

End Rant.

OMG. This whole iCloud thing. They make it sound as if its new. The 'cloud' IS the internet. It has been around for a while. I'm with you.

[silverbullet]

Dunno how they will manage a $299 release price point though especially if it includes bluray.

[Zerstorer]

Originally Posted by silverbullet

Dunno how they will manage a $299 release price point though especially if it includes bluray.

It's going to be $399US, I don't question that one bit. WiiU is heavily rumoured to be $299US, and that's not near the specs of what the 720 will be.

[Rezin]

Originally Posted by elvis

Somewhat interesting is Microsoft finally admitting defeat and including BluRay.

Didn't they do that in (according to Wikipedia) early 2008, by discontinuing the HD DVD drive?

[gregpolk]

My impression was that MS was more in support of digital distribution being the competition to bluray. Supporting HDDVD was more about helping the enemy of your enemy. Having bluray support is just the sensible thing to do with your next gen console, its not like they can use DVD, HDDVD is dead, next gen tech is probably a while off and a lot of markets aren't really ready for pure digital distribution.

[sulrich]

Originally Posted by gregpolk

My impression was that MS was more in support of digital distribution being the competition to bluray. Supporting HDDVD was more about helping the enemy of your enemy. Having bluray support is just the sensible thing to do with your next gen console, its not like they can use DVD, HDDVD is dead, next gen tech is probably a while off and a lot of markets aren't really ready for pure digital distribution.

Agree totally.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just buy the oculus rift 3d glasses company out as well - saves competition when you can just own the competition.