Next-gen Xbox may be unveiled at E3 2013

Hungry for rumours and speculation? Well, the latest one is all thanks to director of Xbox Live's programming department Lawrence Hryb. Thanks to a timer on his blog that is counting down to the upcoming E3 2013, which is five months away, fans are speculating that Microsoft may be getting ready to make a new announcement.

It's rumoured  that this announcement could possibly be about the company's next-gen console, dubbed by fans as the Xbox 720. This is similar to previous rumours that stated that the console will make its first appearance in the fall of 2013. The emergence of these rumours can easily be attributed to the fact that the current generation of consoles has been the longest one so far. While previous generations only lasted for five years, the current generation has lasted for seven.

Maybe this year's E3 will see new consoles being announced

Back in December, the existence of next-gen consoles by both Sony and Microsoft was revealed through a survey hosted by Capcom. Capcom had held a survey as it was "gathering feedback from consumers on projects they would like to see from Capcom in the DIGITAL game space (not retail).” This hints towards a focus on digital distribution in the next consoles.

We had earlier reported that the next-gen console from Microsoft, rumoured to be called either the Xbox 720 or the Durango, will be seeing a release in late 2013. The rumours are also gaining momentum because of the fact that developers have already gotten their hands on dev kits for the Durango. This could also force Sony to unveil the next PlayStation, as again, developers have already gotten their hands on dev kits. Considering the game release schedule, and how there aren't many big titles set to be released after May, this could point towards the next-gen consoles from both Sony and Microsoft being closer than we think.

In mid-2013, the developer kit for the next Xbox was leaked. A supposed Xbox 720 developer kit was posted on a developer forum and was offered to the public for $10,000. The developer kit resembles a traditional PC tower running a debug launcher, which caused many people to be cautious and sceptical about whether the prototype was authentic. EuroGamer’s Digital Foundry reached out to the source of the leak and after following up on the story with multiple developers working on next-gen projects, they came to the conclusion that the hardware was real.

The man who had leaked the shots told EuroGamer that Microsoft’s next-gen gaming console will feature an eight-core processor. The console is also rumoured to include support for Blu-Ray, true 1080p and native 3D output; it is expected to be around six times more powerful than the current Xbox 360.