You can tell that it is at least getting a little closer to the announcement of new consoles. We have only recently started hearing about what could possibly be next from Microsoft and Sony. We have a new rumor to report today.
Gaming
The PlayStation Network will be down for maintenance again today, after being down for nearly the same amount of time a couple of weeks ago.
Gaming
Despite previous rumors to the contrary it looks like there won’t be a new Xbox console this year. In an interview with a magazine, Microsoft France marketing director Cedrick Delmas stated that it was “certain” there will be no new Xbox released this year.
Gaming
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has announced that the Wii U will launch in the US, Japan, Europe, and Australia by the end of 2012. While the system was previously pegged for a 2012 release, this is the first time we’ve got confirmation that it’ll make it in time for the holiday season in all major markets.
Gaming
Despite what we’ve heard about a possible 2012 release, The Verge is reporting that Microsoft may wait until late 2013 to release its next generation Xbox gaming console. Another juicy tidbit is that it will use a AMD 40nm Radeon 6000 which was released in 2011.
If you were planning on grabbing some online time with MW3 or Battlefield today, we’re afraid you won’t. Sony has announced that the PlayStation Network will be down today from 11AM to midnight ET for maintenance. According to The Verge:
What a shock. As we reported a few weeks ago, it looks like Sony is indeed planning on being later than its competition with their next gen console. Sony says it doesn’t have any plans to launch a PlayStation 4 at E3 2012.
AT&T announced that 250MB a month will cost $14.99, and 2GB will go for $25 when the PlayStation Vita, Sony’s next PSP, arrives next month. There are no contracts involved, which is nice, but the Vita with 3G will carry an extra $50 tacked onto its price.
Eurogamer is reporting that Sony may be behind its competition with the next generation PlayStation. According to the site PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan said it would be “undesirable” for PS4 to be launched behind its competitors. With the next generation Xbox and WiiU both expected to come out next year, Sony can hardly afford to come in too late to the next gen console arena. If you remember, the PlayStation 3 was launched a year after the Xbox 360, and has only recently caught up in terms of sales.
Eurogamer also makes an interesting point: we have heard about the next gen Xbox in rumors, and Nintendo has already announced the Wii U, the Wii’s successor, but we haven’t even started to hear rumors about the next gen PlayStation. This could mean several things, either Sony is getting much better at controlling leaks, or they aren’t even close to announcing it. My bet is the latter. Sony has a tradition of taking its time and entering the market after everyone else, especially in the gaming arena. We might not even see the next gen PlayStation until E3 or CES of 2013, which would mean Microsoft would have those stages to itself for the announcement of the next gen Xbox.
According to Geek.com, the next Xbox will be a cheaper and thinner version of the Xbox 360. According to the site:
The console is supposed to be powered by an ARM device, designed by Microsoft with two chip partners, and follow the same architecture as the Zune HD did: one “main core” with “multiple dedicated assistive cores” for individual systems including graphics, AI, physics, networking, audio, encryption, and Kinect and other peripherals. On the software side, the new system is to be built on a version of Windows 9…
Two kind of shocking things here: first that it will run an ARM chip. The current Xbox runs on PowerPC architecture, so the switch to ARM is a little surprising. Apparently Intel isn’t even being considered. The next surprising thing is that the report says that it will run a version of Windows 9. You read correctly Windows 9, not Windows 8. This means that we are at least, AT LEAST, 4 years away from the next Xbox. Windows 8 will be released next year, and Microsoft has been on a 3 year cycle for Windows releases which means 2015 is when we will see the next Xbox. For those of you counting, that means the Xbox 360 will have been out 10 years when the next gen console is released.
