Xbox 720 Release Date and Rumors: Durango May Come Dec. 2013

Impact

According to an IGN report that surfaced earlier this year, the next Xbox will be up to six times stronger than the current one, which also seems to make it 20% stronger than the Wii U.

It has also been rumored that the future console will largely expand the role of motion controls, upgrading its current Kinect peripheral to employ increasingly accurate detection of body movement. It is also believed that, much to the chagrin of gamers, the system will discourage used game sales by requiring a code activation method that essentially locks each disk to one console. Other changes reportedly include a switch to Blu Ray and a greater focus on Cloud gaming.

Regarding games, the strongest indication has arrived for a new series by Bungie, the people behind the original Halo trilogy, which surfaced after some legal troubles with a fired contractor that essentially dropped the ball on their secret project, codenamed Destiny.

Also in the public eye now are job postings for future console development by Infinity Ward (Call of Duty) and Bethesda (Fallout). Former Max Payne developer Remedy has also revealed on its forums that it is hiring several developers for work on next-gen consoles.

According to a senior technical designer at developer Crytek, the console is codenamed “Durango” and no release date has been hinted, although the rumored date of late 2013 is reportedly very likely.