Xbox 720 has been fully detailed to some third-parties, VG247 has learned, and has been slotted in for a Christmas 2013 released. And yes: of course it’ll have a Blu-ray drive.

VG247 has learned that Microsoft has now detailed Xbox 720 to certain partners and has internally confirmed the machine for a Christmas 2013 release.

The next generation Xbox will have a Blu-ray drive, contrary to a recent report.

Multiple sources have confirmed this morning that the machine will have two GPUs. One said: “It’s like two PCs taped together.”

We’re waiting for final confirmation of specs, but the graphics cards are thought to be equivalent to AMD’s 7000 series GPUs, but “not CrossFire or SLI”. The GPUs aren’t structured as they are in a normal dual PC set-up, in which the two chips take it in turns to draw lines of the same object: Xbox 720′s graphics units will be able to work independently, drawing separate items simultaneously.

It was reported last week that PlayStation 4, internally codenamed Orbis, will also be powered by AMD hardware.

There will be “four or six” cores to the Xbox 720 CPU, one of which will be reserved for Kinect and one for the OS.

Xbox 720 will require an always-on internet connection as an anti-piracy measure.

We’ve also been told that the next generation of Kinect will be built into the device as standard.

The details have emerged in the wake of a hastily removed tweet from Sean Tracy, a technical designer for Crytek, that said he was attending the “Durango summit” in London at the end of February. Durango is though to be the codename for the console.

Microsoft is not expected to announce anything pertaining to its next machine until next year.

Many developers have been posting job openings for “next-gen” and “future-gen” systems for months.

Lionhead and Bethesda are just two of the latest.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/02/xbox-720-detailed-blu-ray-inside-always-on-netcon-required/

One said: “It’s like two PCs taped together.”

Nintendo gets copied yet again.

Online required ? Thats stupid, some people want to travel with the Console and play in hotels and so without internet so this is non sense.

i do that all the time.

I won't buy it until next week AND another source reports MORE findings.

Some of it seems believable, but two of those 7000 series bad boys? How much is this system going to cost, I hardly even want to imagine.

Hmm I wonder if the dual GPU thing plays into the APU rumour, as in there is an APU with a small integrated GPU plus a separate full GPU. With the APU GPU being used for low power (turn off the big GPU when not in use) as well as GPGPU tasks and additional rendering much like the Cell was used for, devs could run physics on it for example.

I don't really see them putting 2 full GPUs in a console.

Even though the X360 is the most connected of the current 3 consoles, I still doubt it has even reached 75% of users (it was supposedly 60% of U.S. users about 3 years back) so that would be 25% of their audience negated right there... then of course not all of that 75% will have access to online all the time, and many will not like the idea of being forced to be online (what happens if your connection cuts out temporarily) MS would be limiting it's market too severely.

As such I call BS.

thetonestarr said: I won't buy it until next week AND another source reports MORE findings.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xboxygen.com%2FXbox-720%2FNouvelle-Xbox-CES-2012-et-GPU-ATI

a source from a few months ago saying that the "720" will have a 6 core CPU and dual GPU

Oh and 

http://pastebin.com/j4jVaUv0 

Source from arround the same time that mentioned the Darango and Orbis codenames for next gen consoles, which if you will remember is the codename linked to the recent Kotaku rumour for the PS4 http://kotaku.com/5896996/the-next-playstation-is-called-orbis-sources-say-here-are-the-details which is confirmed by the fact that it redirects on the Playstation dev site http://orbis.scedev.net/. 

So...more powerful than the WiiU then? xD

zarx said: thetonestarr said: I won't buy it until next week AND another source reports MORE findings. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xboxygen.com%2FXbox-720%2FNouvelle-Xbox-CES-2012-et-GPU-ATI a source from a few months ago saying that the "720" will have a 6 core CPU and dual GPU Oh and  http://pastebin.com/j4jVaUv0  Source from arround the same time that mentioned the Darango and Orbis codenames for next gen consoles, which if you will remember is the codename linked to the recent Kotaku rumour for the PS4 http://kotaku.com/5896996/the-next-playstation-is-called-orbis-sources-say-here-are-the-details which is confirmed by the fact that it redirects on the Playstation dev site http://orbis.scedev.net/.

this would mean a $600 pricetag :D