Over the last few months, many names have obviously been flying around with the most common name almost being a media christening in reference to the Xbox ’720′ tag. That may never come to light though, with other names such as Loop, Ten and Infinity being thrown into the hat as well – with Microsoft probably enjoying every minute of the name game speculation.

Some new details have surfaced over the weekend which you may find particularly interesting though, as we may see an outcome where Microsoft actually decide to name their next Xbox, the Xbox 8. While it obviously isn’t the 8th version of the Xbox, the number does combine with other Microsoft products – the main two being Windows Phone 8 and the upcoming desktop software Windows 8.

The source of the information has come from ThisIsXbox, and you may have actually heard about the Xbox 8 name already, since the same site mentioned it a few months ago. When discussing rumors about the Unreal Engine 4 though, they felt the need to talk about the Xbox 8 again though, so in the space of a few months they are still adamant that this will be the name of the next Xbox.

Does the name really fit though? Microsoft has often separated their other products away from the gaming side, but by calling their next console the Xbox 8, it’s obviously a clear side that they want to draw even closer ties with their mobile OS and their desktop OS.

Don’t be fooled if we see some details on this at E3 2012 either, despite the company stating that they won’t have any new hardware to show. The element of surprise is always possible at E3, so we just hope that Microsoft are planning to drop this huge bomb this year, rather than next.

If you think about Xbox 8, Ten, Loop, Infinity and Xbox 720 – which name do you think would suit the console best? Nobody expected that Kinect would be the final result of a Project Natal codename, so do you think Microsoft are planning to surprise everyone with another totally unique name not mentioned yet? Give us your thoughts on this in the comments. Another thing to bear in mind if they are going with Xbox 8 – what happens when Windows 9 and Windows Phone 9 is released?

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Innovative is certainly going to be the key word for consumers as they look for brand new features in hardware and software that haven’t been seen yet. Nintendo’s Wii U touchscreen controller certainly fits this bracket, but Microsoft also have something huge in the pipeline and we could be seeing it in their next console.

The company has filed a patent for an Xbox controller which uses biometrics to identify users. In other words, the controller has the ability to scan data such as the length of your fingers, as well the firmness of your grip and send back the info to the console which will identify the person each time based on his or her biometric data.

It means that simply grasping the controller will allow you to sign in to Xbox Live straight away without the need of any button presses, and in our opinion – it’s a stroke of genius. Additional details over at TheVerge suggest that the patent also extends to Kinect as well, using biometrics to boot up Kinect games and profiles without the need of button presses.

It sounds fantastic doesn’t it? There’s no indication that this patent will be ready in time for the next console but we think we speak on behalf of everyone in saying that we hope so. These are the kinds of innovative features that the next generation console needs and it could turn out to be a major selling point for Microsoft. Does Sony have something similar in the pipeline, or will this end up being a Xbox ’720′ exclusive feature thanks to the patent? Not long to go until E3 2012 now – we can’t wait.

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If you consider that Sony originally charged $499 for the 60GB PS3 back in 2006, it is a scary prospect to consider what they may demand for the PlayStation 4. Most recently, many people were not too happy with the $299 asking price for the PS Vita either, so with all the excitement to come on what kind of hardware we may see, it may well turn to horror once Sony and Microsoft finalize their pricing in the years to come.

However, there could be one amazing twist to this which Microsoft may have just given an insight to with a new strategy for their Xbox 360. The company has just revealed a $99 Xbox 360 console which is tied to a two-year monthly subscription to Xbox Live. In a similar way in which phone contracts work, US consumers will now have the convenience of picking up a console for next to nothing and then pay it off gradually with monthly payments of $15.

In reality, the total cost of $460 when adding all the monthly costs up is obviously greater than the standard $250 you would usually pay as well as a $120 two years subscription to Xbox Live gold that you would need as well. However, paying just $99 and $15 a month may seem like a much better deal in the long run for those that don’t have enough cash to pay in one go. Also, if the move turns out to be a glowing success for Microsoft, then don’t be surprised if we see a similar move for their next generation Xbox console either. It is very clever from Microsoft’s part you have to say.

Monthly installments are a great way to manage your overall bills and extending this with your home gaming console may prove to be a stroke of genius by Microsoft. Will Sony adopt a similar approach with their PS3? There may be additional barriers for Sony to overcome though if they go down this route as online gaming via the PlayStation Network still remains free compared to Xbox Live.

Put it this way – would you prefer to pay a monthly subscription with your next generation console combined with say a $150-200 one off fee for the console? Or would you just prefer the traditional method of paying one lump sum for everything? It is going to be interesting to see how well Microsoft’s new strategy performs – this could well phase one of their transition into next generation gaming on the Xbox.

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That was just a few days ago, but now it’s Microsoft’s turn as some new whispers have popped up this week about the elusive next Xbox console, more commonly known as the Xbox ’720′. There has been plenty of discussion on how the next console won’t include a disk drive and will rely entirely on digital sales, but a recent article has completely contradicted this.

Patrick Garratt over at VG247 has revealed that the next Xbox will in fact make use of a disk drive and like the Sony PS3, it will be based on the Blu-Ray format. According to their ‘reliable’ sources, the next Xbox will be releasing during the Christmas period of 2013 and again matching recent speculation with the PS4, Microsoft’s next console could also be based on AMD architecture.

However, the source also hints of a possible four to six cores for the system, two of which will be specifically reserved to service Kinect and the operating system. Perhaps the biggest talking point though and again it’s something that we have heard rumors on prior to this new report, is that the Xbox 720 will require a constant internet connection, meaning that users will not even be able to play single-player games like The Elder Scrolls offline.

If true, this is obviously a bold move to combat the huge piracy problem that they have right now with the Xbox 360, so on that basis alone it’s not a totally surprising move by Microsoft, as it’s clear that they need to do something about it. Over here in Asia, we are amazed to see just how easy it is to pick up copied Xbox 360 discs for next to nothing. If Microsoft are going to attempt to put an end to this, having a constant internet connection as a requirement may be the only possible solution to this.

We’ve seen Ubisoft’s attempts to cut down on piracy with their controversial DRM tactics, and it looks like Microsoft may be looking to do the same with their next Xbox. Of course these are still rumors at this point, but how would you treat a next-generation console that required an internet connection to play single-player titles?

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The new information has come direct from the mouth of the ‘MS Nerd’, who you may be familiar with since the person has garnered a reputation for spilling the beans on Xbox leaks for sometime now. Using Reddit as his or her platform for communication, we’re told that the Xbox Lite will be announced at this year’s E3 event, but the system won’t actually be ready until 2013.

The machine won’t be a next-generation Xbox, but instead a smaller and compact model which will contain an ARM architecture and offer both Xbox 360 playback as well as media apps, which could involve Microsoft Windows 8 support as well. Here’s the interesting part though – considering that the Xbox Lite won’t be deemed as a next-generation Xbox console, we’re hearing that Microsoft will be making their new Xbox 360 variant very attractive from a pricing perspective. Additional information over at TechRadar reports that the Xbox Lite may hit the shops at around the £100 / $100 mark, making it very appealing indeed.

We have already had a slim-line PS3 of course, but could we now be seeing the very first compact Xbox 360? You can’t really call the current Xbox 360 Elite a slim model as Microsoft didn’t change too much from the original model. We’re not sure if we’re happy or sad about this though – a slim Xbox 360 would probably look great, but we’re getting to the point where we really need to see some brand new next-gen hardware soon, especially to those who are thinking of overlooking the Nintendo Wii U.

Would you be satisfied with an Xbox Lite instead of an Xbox ’720′ next year? Let us know your reaction this – we’ll inform you if we hear anymore whispers on this story.

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Some work colleagues and friends have gone in head first with 3D gaming, which is great for them, but it’s my decision to wait for something better and this is the same choice that millions of gamers share.

The next big thing could be an old idea – we’ve embedded a video below that gives you a demonstration by Forth Dimension Displays, you might have heard of this name when watching movies thanks to their 20 years in microdisplays, but the gaming industry is a new direction for this UK Company. The video showcases virtual reality with an FPS game in a raw stage of development, and they quickly point out that it will be the peripheral maker that takes this technology and produces a sleek looking unit.

We’re blown away by how much fun this must have been for the technology editor (Brian Crecente) that demoed the virtual reality tech, and while it has a long way to go before it could be classed as “production ready“, we can also see the potential for gaming.

This is the 3D experience I’ve personally been waiting for over 20 years, and loved the idea back in the late 80′s and early 90′s. It never took-off then and now that the technology is almost ready for gaming it seems brands are as well, especially with Sony recently predicting a return of the virtual reality headset. With this in mind it would be good for Sony to introduce this technology with PS4′s launch, and if that happens we’d also expect something from Microsoft’s so called Xbox 720 as well. Either one of these brands could take this opportunity and change gaming as we know it, which could be seen as needed considering the threat from Cloud Gaming.

Watch the video below and us know if you can see the potential for virtual reality FPS games on Xbox 720 and PS4? If the unit looked cool enough, would you want to game like this?

In Summary: We touched on the importance of 3D gaming towards the end of last year, and how UK feedback showed most people thought of 3D as a gimmick. It’s our view that the real 3D experience is to be had with virtual reality and the technology by Forth Dimension, shown during GDC 2012, is in really early stages but also shows promise of gaming to come, which I’d be one of the first in line for the real 3D gaming experience.

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Capcom share that vision as well, perhaps more than others are willing to divulge at the moment. Christian Svensson, the main man behind the US division of the company has given a fascinating interview with Gamasatura, in which he has stated that in five years, game discs will be replaced by tokens that come bundled with soft toys and figurines.

We’re not joking either. While he doesn’t think that retailers will be eliminated entirely, he feels that gamers will instead buy games as an impulse purchase, rather than an intended purchase. But tokens, seriously? Surely we are a long way off that happening, where we no longer receive a shiny game disc inside a box.

We understand his logic though. In a way it is similar to some of the product-game deals that we have recently seen before in the US anyway. Remember the Dr Pepper Battlefield promotion in which you could get some free dog tags by using promo codes featured on bottles and cans? Well we’re guessing that this is exactly the idea that he expects to see a lot more of, only that there will be a bigger emphasis on the game content you’ll be getting with these ‘figurines’ or ‘soft toys’.

Most of you will probably think he’s on another planet though – but we wouldn’t like to bet against the idea of something like this happening in the future – just not in five years, as that is too soon. For example, imagine a scenario where you could only pick up Capcom’s latest Street Fighter game on next-generation consoles if you bought a limited edition set of Street Fighter figurines – that wouldn’t be feasible right now would it?

The interview is well worth checking out, as there’s a lot of interesting quotes from Svensson. At the moment, these feel like pipe dreams to us which won’t happen soon, when in reality, the company should be providing evidence in the real world why they didn’t include local online co-op on the Xbox 360 version of Street Fighter X Tekken, or why they locked away 12 extra characters on the console disc, which they plan to charge gamers for at a later date.

Going back to the digital debate though – what are your thoughts on this? Do you think discs will become obsolete in five years time or not?

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The company are obviously famed for their Crysis and Far Cry titles, with their latest effort Crysis 2 arguably one of the best looking games on consoles at the moment. Now though, the company has given the public an exact idea of what they have been working on following on from Crysis 2, as they appeared at the recent GDC 2012 event in San Francisco to give everyone a glimpse of their next-generation CryEngine 3, which will power the company’s upcoming releases over the next few years.

To say their tech demo is impressive is probably not doing Crytek justice. There was one particular moment in the clip shown of their next generation character models, which featured a male face amusingly bearing a resemblance to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer. That aside, the amount of realism shown in the face was nothing short of mindblowing, as was the new tessellation effects that the CryEngine 3 will bring to the table as well.

Skyrim fans will enjoy this video for sure as well, as there’s another segment from the clip which suggests that Crytek could do a fantastic job on an open-world Bethesda style game as well. CryEngine 3 has been developed for games on existing hardware, but there’s no doubt that some of the visuals seen in the video could find their way onto next generation hardware from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo as well.

Check out the clip below for yourself and let us know what you think of it – We’re dying to find out who composed the music that Crytek used as well, so if you know who it is be sure to let us know! Do you think the CryEngine 3 could be the most impressive games engine seen so far, or did the recent Quantic Dream tech demo of Kara win you over more?

More About: CryEngine 3, Sony PS4, Xbox 720

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Earlier this month we reported to you that the Sony PS4 may not have backwards compatibility as it is rumored not to feature a cell processor. Now this could also be the case for the Xbox 720 as MCV have been told by sources that the device will not feature an optical drive. It is being claimed that Microsoft has already been letting its partners know the next device will come lacking a disc drive.

The information has been given to companies under what the source is claiming as “the strictest NDA” that has ever been seen. Instead the device is claimed to be using some sort of solid state flash card such as a SD card or something similar. It may use something like what the PS Vita uses with its propriety memory card format, which also has games available to purchase from the PlayStation Store as well.

Some still claim that Microsoft will be showcasing the next Xbox at this year’s E3 event in June, and the same sources are claiming we will actually see a release of the Xbox 720 in 2013. While the lack of an optical drive means owners won’t be able to play their Xbox 360 games, it could mean a new era in the games industry similar to what’s already on offer with the OnLive service.

When asked about the speculation Microsoft at first said they don’t comment on such rumors, but later added that the life span of the current console has been extended with the addition of the Kinect and a new dashboard. It went on to say that the company is always looking at ways to increase this further along with “thinking about what is next for our platform”.

Will you be disappointed if there is no backwards compatibility with the next Xbox?

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This seems to have come out of nowhere, but there is little doubt that everyone is talking about it on the likes of Twitter at the moment. The Steam Box story is according to a report over at The Verge who suggest that Valve may be planning to reveal the new hardware at the Game Developers Conference, which kicks off this week in San Francisco.

Further more, The Verge has even got a potential list of specs for us to drool over, specs which were apparently discussed at CES 2012 back in January. If legit, Valve may be announcing the Steam Box with specs such as an Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and graphics from NVIDIA.

8GB of RAM sounds pretty good to us, but what would a console from Valve mean for the industry – more specifically, how would it make Sony and Microsoft feel since both companies are almost ready to announce their PS3 and Xbox 360 successors? There has always been a big gap from console to PC, but the idea of having a compact box in the living room which could handle the equivalent of Battlefield 3 on PC, may be a tempting idea for many gamers who have previously been reluctant to make the jump from console to PC.

What’s more interesting, is that this huge rumor has come days after Gabe Newell was quoted as saying ‘if we need to sell hardware, we will’. Coincidence perhaps guys, or a real indication that Valve are ready to enter the console market? Let us know your initial feelings towards a Steam box from Valve and if you would choose it ahead of the Sony PS4 and the next Xbox console. Kotaku has a image of a rumored prototype model here – well worth a look.

The idea of playing PC-quality games in the living room is an interesting one, but we would definitely like to see it happen as a fourth console option is always better than three.

More About: Sony PS4, steam, Valve, Xbox 720

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