Rumor: Microsoft Planning to Unveil Xbox 720 at E3 2012

Remember when game consoles were for playing games and nothing else? Actually, don't answer that, lest you date yourself as an old fogey. The consoles of today are used for much more than just gaming, sitting in our living rooms streaming music, movies, and photos, tapping into Netflix, and even allowing us to burn a few hundred calories jumping up and down in front of motion sensors. Because of these expanded capabilities, both Microsoft and Sony have been content to tweak their respective consoles with slimmer designs and more storage space rather than release brand new hardware, but if the latest rumors are any indication, look for Microsoft to announce a successor to the Xbox 360 at next year's E3 Expo.

This year's E3 Expo belonged to Nintendo and it's Wii U unveiling, but according to Videogamer.com, Microsoft will steal the show in 2012 with its Xbox 720 device, or whatever the successor will be called. In fact, Crytek is already developing a new TimeSplitters game for next generation of consoles, Videogamer.com says.


As the rumor goes, Microsoft is still batting around hardware options, but Crytek is banking on DirectX 11 playing prominently into the 720 and is using the API as the basis for next-generation development.

And that's really all we know at this point, which isn't much, nor has the information been confirmed by Crytek or Microsoft. In other words, keep your fingers crossed and take this with a healthy dose of salt.