Rumoured Xbox 720 Information Leaked

Remember that 56-page PowerPoint document that leaked last week, containing details about the Xbox 720 launch plans? After it went up, law firm Covington & Burling LLP, a firm that represents Microsoft, had it taken down, lending some credence to the potential of the document's authenticity.

As we've learned today, other sites hosting the Xbox 720 document have been sent takedown notices, including one Czech site who received a notice from a Microsoft internet investigator, seemingly confirming that the document is real and that Microsoft doesn't want you to see it.

The updates comes from The Verge who are relaying that file sharing site Dropbox was forced to remove the document at the request of Microsoft and that over the weekend Czech tech site Ihned.cz (among others) received a notice from internet investigator Alan Radford who works for Microsoft as well. The takedown notices confirm that the document in question is in fact, property of Microsoft. They can't be happy about this leak or the fact that their attempts at taking it off the internet are only spreading the news and details like wildfire.

Here's the notice/confirmation sent to Ihned.cz:

Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works published by Microsoft.

1. Identification of copyrighted works:

Copyrighted work(s):

IEB Roadmap

Copyright owner:

Microsoft Corporation

2. Copyright infringing material or activity found at the following location(s):

xxxxxxxxxxx-XBox-720-9-24-Checkpoint-Draft-1.pptx

Although seemingly legit, the information in the document is potentially outdated since it's from 2010. Let's recap the key findings from the document:

  • The document was likely from 2010, detailing plans at the time for the next-gen Xbox and comparing to expected competition from Sony, Nintendo, Apple and OnLive.
  • Augmented Reality Kinect glasses codenamed 'Fortaleza' releasing in 2014.
  • Blu-ray support and 3D glasses.
  • Kinect v2.
  • $299 price tag.
  • 2013 console release date.
  • Always-on functionality.
  • Steam content to any device.
  • Doubles as a DVR.

Most of what's listed potentially confirms previous rumors when it comes to the DVR, new Kinect, always-online features and Blu-ray. And a 2013 fall release date seems to be the commonly speculated release date for the next console and there were even rumors of hardware already being manufactured, but with not even a tease of it at this year's E3 and the big focus on software, both on the games front and on apps/TV services on the Xbox 360 -  not too mention SmartGlass - the Xbox 360's lifecycle continues to extend. If industry analyst Michael Pachter's estimates are worth anything to you, he thinks the console isn't coming until Spring 2014.

"If I were a betting man (and I am), I would say a spring 2014 launch makes more sense, since hard core Xbots could get a console without having to compete with moms buying gifts at holiday, and it is likely that they won’t manufacture more than a few million units for launch."

We've heard so much back and forth from analysts, "insiders," and various other rumors regarding the next Xbox, codenamed "Durango," that it's really hard to care about release date predictions until we hear something concrete relating to the console or something official (more recently official, that is) from Microsoft. Either way, at least we have a ton of console features to ponder, and the next-gen is coming relatively soon. It's an exciting era for gamers.

What are your thoughts and predictions about the next Xbox?

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Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Sources: Ihned.cz (via The Verge), X360