Last week it has seemingly came to light that the Xbox 720 will require some kind of online functionality in order to operate as consoles do today after one member of the Xbox team went onto Twitter to try and put his point across why an “always-online” console wasn’t anything new and that gamers were simply over reacting to the news. This seemingly, although not mentioned by Microsoft, confirms that the next console will function online connectivity in some way.
However, now Paul Thurrott, a noted Windows blogger, has claimed that the Xbox 720 will launch this November and will be available as two models, a $300 subscription-based model and a $500 standard model. When making further comment on the pricing he described the overall platform as “expensive”.
In addition to this, Paul Thurrott also claimed that Microsoft is planning a $99 “stingray” Xbox 360 console which we assume is to target those who still don’t own the console, although this writer has seen Xbox 360 consoles sell preowned for £49.99/$76.57 already.
When quizzed on something that we all want to know about, when the console would be announced, Paul Thurrott answered by saying that Microsoft is planning a reveal event on the 21st May, still a long way away. In addition to this, Paul Thurrott explained that Microsoft were planning to reveal more information about their next-generation console at two June events: E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) and the Build 2013 developer conference.
We guess now that the only thing we can do is wait and, fingers cross, hope that this release date comes true.
[Source: What The Tech & NeoGAF via GameSpot]
