Sony pulled a bait and switch routine on the broader gaming industry at the beginning of 2013. On Wednesday night the company debuted the technology—though not the actual console—that is the PlayStation 4, almost exactly one month after the company said it would do no such thing. The plan as of January was to wait for Microsoft to make the first move. “Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?” said Sony CEO Kaz Hirai. But Sony did go first, and now the industry is wondering when Microsoft will respond and show off its successor to the Xbox 360. If new rumors are correct, the Xbox 720, or whatever it ends up officially being called, will peak out in April.
Computer and Video Games is reporting that Microsoft will debut the next Xbox sometime in April, echoing the sentiments of industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan. “We think Microsoft is unlikely to formally announce its next-generation console until April or later,” said Pachter in a note to investors, suggesting that the company may wait until the E3 trade convention in June.
A source inside Sony told CVG that the PS4 announcement “ruffled some feathers” and “caught Microsoft off-guard.”
An April announcement for the Xbox 720 makes sense from both historical and business perspectives. March is crowded with major game releases associated with the Xbox 360. Microsoft is publishing Gears of War: Judgment while 2K Games is releasing BioShock Infinite. The original BioShock, being an Xbox 360 exclusive, has tied that brand to Microsoft’s current console. Those games have the potential to move at least a few Xbox 360s at retail, so Microsoft will want to give them a berth in the press before announcing the Xbox 360.
It will also want to avoid the clutter of E3 2013. Sony will be properly unveiling the PlayStation 4 at that event while third-party publishers announce projects for both machines. By announcing the new Xbox 720 in April, Microsoft will enjoy nearly two months of uninterrupted press and fan dialogue with few big game releases to jockey for attention, and it will allow developers at E3 to unveil games for the new system without having to explain the technology too much. A new Xbox announcement at the end of April could even impact Sony’s spring, taking away from the May release of The Last of Us.
Microsoft would also be repeating history. The Xbox 360 was announced in April 2005 at an MTV special detailing the console, and then showed off early looks at games in May. Footage of games like Madden NFL 2006 turned out to not be representative of the actual games, though.
I don’t doubt Microsoft will come back in a big way. The XBox to X360 wasn’t a huge upgrade, especialyl since Microsoft wen’t HD instead of Blu-Ray. The PS to PS3 was a BIG jump. Time time around Sony didn’t make as big of a jump, this sets the stage for Microsoft to do something big. The only thing is that is HAS to work. They’ve gotta go Blu-Ray, they’ve gotta add titles which are only for the Xbox console to solidify their grasp.
Of course they can’t expect to take Sony’s fan-boys, but they can do something on the lines of pulling some of the Sony fans over to Microsoft.
This is Microsoft’s time to shine, as well as get some revenge seeing as Bungie is now with Sony. It’s definitely going to be an interesting fight. Can’t wait to watch it play out. Hopefully consumers will be the ultimate victor.
thing is despite bluray it didnt do much for ps3 being that alot of games couldnt run in full hd, just meant that they could have more texture data, albiet not compressed as heavily as the 360. I just really wish that the next gen can REALLY run games at full 1080p and with good amount of antialiasing, they said that this current gen was the HD era, well, its been like 65-70% hd era
i think it would be clever if the new xbox that comes out is called the “xbox 362″
here are some reasons why new consoles are needed. They gimped Crysis 2 so the consoles wouldn’t melt.
As long as we can still rock our 360 games & it will play used games I’m ready to upgrade. Would like to be able to download new release games directly from Live.
http://bossfightgamingblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/crysis_2_pc_xbox_360_vun9r.jpg
Major Nelson hinted at this 2 months ago – http://majornelson.com/2013/01/02/countdown-to-e3-2013/
Not going to happen.
No no no
That’s not a valid excuse.
Tell me how a game can get better with this step up of the upgrade.
Do we get to see the pimples on the fans’ face in a sports game next?
EVEN IF LOAD TIMES ARE CUT IN HALF, that will save us a good three seconds.
Big deal.
Not worth it.
Give me one, valid, practical reason why we need a new console generation
Because developers are creating games based on 512mb of ram, then porting them to other systems. PC exclusives look and play WAY better than current consoles, and multi-platform titles are being held back by the current console power. For games to continue to evolve the ‘lowest common denominator’ needs to be better!
because i am sick of staring at god damn jagged edges everywhere! in 1080p with no antialiasing, makes a good looking game ugly!
There was a time when Rogue Squadron 2 was the “best ever” and old atari games were the “best ever”. Even Crysis was at one time called “the best things would ever get.”
Hell, here is a minecraft mod.
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/8899/titleeb.png
When you make new cutting edge tech, you put it to use. As you figure out how to mass produce the new cutting edge tech in larger quanities, faster, and for less then technology itself becomes more advanced. f
thats pretty cool, ironic yeah thats a minecraft mod, those 8bit textures, but a funny clunky kind of look, guess thats the appeal