A supposedly leaked Microsoft 56 page document has apparently outlined their next-gen console – however, the authenticity of the document is being questioned, so anything below is best assumed as “rumour”.
According to the 2010 document – which has been removed on the request of Microsoft’s legal counsel but mirrored on Game Informer – the next-generation Xbox will come with Blu-ray compatibility, a form of augmented reality glasses, “Kinect V2”, a $299.99 price tag and a 2013 release window. The document also references Microsoft’s Smart Glass tech. A fair amount of this has been spotted previously in the rumour bins of the internet and some may well prove to be very true still.
Xbox World’s Michael Gapper said: “If it’s a fake it gets a lot right. It’s fabricated with good data, at least.
“A surprising amount is credible. Certainly more than I’ve detailed in XBW. They got the AR specs right, for a start… Still, there’s a lot in there I know to be accurate that has, to my knowledge, gone unreported.”
Tom Warren, senior Editor at The Verge told NeoGAF the information within the ‘leak’ matches up with what he’s heard from Microsoft sources too.
“I have been reporting on Microsoft for around 12 years now. That’s not to say I know everything about Microsoft and its processes, but I have a fairly good idea of what is and isn’t an internal doc usually after the first few pages,” he posted.
“This document in question is from August 2010, prior to iOS 4.2 (mentioned in the PPT notes) and when certain team members (mentioned in doc notes) were still at the company in engineering roles.
“The document references several employees by name and uses one of Microsoft’s internal ‘CSG_Pres’ PowerPoint templates (an early example of their Metro style PowerPoint templates that are used regularly internally now).
“Couple this with the fact it aligns with other information I’ve seen about Nextbox over the past year, it aligned perfectly. The document also references Microsoft’s SmartGlass technology (announced at E3).”
