So MSFT is trying to mimic Google? That makes sense I guess. When Google introduced their own phone (Nexus) it lit a fire under the OEMs asses. Since then Android products outran APPL in terms of innovation and sales and Google comfortably took over the entire smart phone market. This could turn the tablet market on its head, especially since APPL disappoints with their new products.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to what the new tablets have to offer. Coupled with the fact that MS is the only competitor of the big three to offer a fully established cloud system, a successful gaming platform (streaming games/videos from your Xbox onto your tablet anyone?), the best multimedia software/hardware combo with Zune products and of course the industry standard of office programs even I might buy my first tablet.

Haha, no, it won't be using an ARM CPU. I should have been more clear. What I mean is that the next Xbox will likely be using its own custom version of the Windows 8 Metro UI, with just the Metro user interface along with a few new additions. It will essentially be Windows 8, but Windows 8 with some notable changes made specifically for the next Xbox. Not like it is right now on the 360, where it's mostly cosmetic. I think with the next Xbox, there will actually be more significant changes.

I agree with Grift, buying Windows 8 will be a waste of money. Windows 7 rocks too hard!

Here is what I mean.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/microsoft-intro...

Just like how Windows Phone 8 runsYea, the Windows Phone 8 is running on ARM, but if it's possible on Windows Phone 8, it can surely be possible on the next Xbox to have a kernel based on a combination of Windows 8/RT. Even the Internet Explorer 10 is pretty damn impressive on there.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/microsoft-unvei...

No way Microsoft doesn't make sure the next Xbox runs on a custom Windows 8 kernel.

So that leaked 56 page MS 720 doc was real, MS have cliamed ownership, even though they have prob changed allot since then?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/354694/micros...

i thought we knew it was real. we just knew it was old. ie, their plan may not be the same now, as it was back then.

Nah most people called it fake, i suppose that could also mean the more recently leaked 720 spec doc could also be true?

i dont see how it could have been fake given what was in it. hella outdated? probably, but fake..nah

Yeah i also thought it was true due to its smartglass prediction.

With its power only 6-8 times more than the 360, MS's new console seems to become rather the gadget that connects your living room to your PC, smartphone and tablet...

Since I neither own a fancy smartphone nor a useless tablet, I honestly don't like the direction theyre going...

I bought the 360, because it was a pure gaming machine, but the Wii (and Kinect as the answer to it) kind of killed the box imo.

No interessting games in ages....

Not really the leap from xbox to 360 was 5/6 times and that was a massive leap, dont think the ps4 will be much more either, cost and profitability will be very important for both MS and Sony this time round.

I'll be very happy if its 8x more powerful, plus the new tech :)

Depending which spec you'd consider, but 360 is more or less considered to be 8-10 times more powerful than Xbox 1.

3-6 times more powerful than the 360 is pretty damn significant. That's a pretty damn big jump from where the current 360 is. A console 3 times as powerful as the current 360 can pull off watchdogs, star wars 1313 and then some. Much less 6-8 times more powerful than the 360.

Have any idea what Halo 4, for example, would look like with 3 times more power than the current 360? My oh my :)

I wondered this myself and on checking the physical stats alone the 360 is about 6/7 times more powerful than the first xbox, but you have to take into account that its also newer tech so that alone can also give 2/3 jump, and the same will be for the nextgen box whether its 6 8 or 10x more powerful on the physical stats the newer tech it uses will also give it a nice bump.

I dont think The jump wont be as significant as you think. Certain rendering techniques are already established with the current gen and they dont seem to be changing anytime soon. It wasnt like the jump from PS2 to 360 where we where getting massively better poly counts, texture res, shaders, bump and normals etc. i'm not even overly confident we'll be seeing much tesselation and displacement next gen. I think what we'll get next gen will possibly be a little better then a current top of the range PC. Where games like crysis and battlefield and withcher 2 obviously look and run better, but it isnt a night and day difference to the console versions.

If that is the case tho, i dont really see much need in new consoles. Some new dynamic particle systems and lighting doesnt seem to be enough for me. I'd rather wait longer and see better results. I mean, watchdogs, 1313, the UE4 tech demo where hardly the face melting improvements i personally want.

I'd be plenty happy with xbox720 if it could pull of the Samaritan demo, the UE4 Tech Demo, and the Crysis 3 engine (at current maxed out PC tech).
I don't think it will, sadly.

It will run those engines with most of the dx11 features at 720p and 30 FPS. Some more intensive features like particle shadowing, real time reflections etc will have to be turned off.

To get a good idea of what these consoles will be capable off, just install and play Crysis 2 DX11. It will introduce to all the major DX11 features ^_^

We won't really need bigger poly counts. We'll obviously get better texture res, better quality shaders, higher resolution shadows and the sort, but the real, or perhaps biggest differences, will come in the form of lighting and particles for next gen. That's what's really going to end up blowing most people away, I think, when all is said and done. Next gen games are going to, in time, smoke the Samaritan demo. I really and truly believe that. For example, remember when some people hoped we'd at least match the ruby assassin demo? Well, the 360 and PS3, in my view, have clearly surpassed that demo. I expect the same of the Samaritan and the UE4 tech demo with regards to the next Xbox and Playstation. We will have the power next gen to accomplish these things, as unlikely as some might feel that is. If the 360 and PS3 have shown us anything, it's that they both possessed power and capability far beyond what some were expecting their limits to be. We can all be amazed by what we're seeing now, but there will come a time when we'll laugh at the very notion that the next gen Xbox and Playstation wouldn't outperform our expectations. People think Watchdog and Star Wars 1313 look good? What was on display in those games might be lowballing what the next systems can do.

Once upon a time, people were impressed to see the 360 version of COD 2 look as good as it did in comparison to the PC version. Trust me when I say we're all going to be laughing at the thought that we underestimated the next xbox and playstation 3 or 4 years from now.

I don't think this is as big an issue as you make it though. The tools available today make it almost as easy to make a High Detail model (which they already have to make to get normal maps) as a low one. Easier even, as making a model within a poly budget look good takes more effort than many realize.
With good engines and tools, I don't think there will be a significant a jump in price, if there is one. There were seventy and eighty dollar games during the 16 bit era. I'm personally shocked that game prices haven't changed all that much in the last 20 years.
The hard part will be to find enough artists with that level of skill...

The prices won't go up that much in the art department in the future i think. Like i said in the other thread, artists already make high res meshes to bake maps from, including environment props. I think programmers is where the cost might go up if anything. More advanced physics, lighting models and shaders will probably make the coding teams sweat :P

I don't about the programmer bit.....every single studio has a dx11 engine in place. Fox Engine by Kojima Pro, ICE engine by Sony, Unreal Engine 4 for multiplatform developers, Cry Engine 3.5/4 for multiplatform developers, Luminous Engine by Square Enix & Eidos, I am sure Valve will add DX11 features to Source by the time Half Life 3 ships. The only ones screwed are smaller developers like Team ICO who insist on using in house engines. Their PS3 engine is 7 years in the making and they have nothing to show for it.....but all the major publishers should be ok.

I feel next gen will be like PS2 generation. A lot of great games, industry growth, full use of DX11, more new studios opening instead of closing.