Neowin

There's been a lot of chatter on the Internet lately about the details for the next version of Microsoft's Xbox console. Officially, Microsoft still isn't talking, but new and unconfirmed rumors claim Microsoft is aiming for a first reveal of the hardware and games at a small event on May 21st, with a bigger reveal set for E3 2013 in June.

Previous rumors claimed that Microsoft was planning to reveal the next Xbox sometime in April, but now a new story from Bloomberg, via unnamed sources, claims that Microsoft decided to push back the next Xbox announcement until May because the company "saw little competitive pressure from Sony." That company surprised many in the game industry by officially revealing the PlayStation 4 console at an event in February, with a launch planned for the holiday period of 2013.

The same Bloomberg story repeated previously reported rumors that the next Xbox would have a processor and graphics chip both provided by AMD, which is confirmed as providing that hardware for the PS4. It also mentioned that the console may not be backwards compatible with current Xbox 360 games because of the AMD hardware, which was also mentioned by Electronic Arts' chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen mentioned as a strong possibility in February.

Source: Bloomberg

I hope Microsoft is afraid of the PS4. It was arrogance that caused all the PS3 problems.

YEAH! that makes sense. no pressure huh..... if there is no pressure they are not paying attention. kinda reminds me of sony arrogance not but a few years ago riding the ps2 wave. so history might repeat itself it seems with a new victim of loving the smell of their farts and believe its all rosey.

uh oh

this MS rumor is talking about them seeing "little competitive pressure" from Sony but then we also get rumors about them trying to match the PS4 specs accordingly and then them getting their 720 reveal pushed back seriously close to E3

C'mon now..

Why should they be afraid? The PS4 doesn't have modern always online technology! So nobody wants that outdated piece of hardware anyway. Everybody will rush and buy Microsofts Kinectflix Box! Yes, that's the actual name, you heard it here first!

Moderated,

-Mr Khan

One thing Microsoft could do to win is: bundle illumiRoom + Kinect in every X720 box

http://www.youtube.com/v/re1EatGRV0w

Otherwise it will be hard sell...

lol, no pressure.........hurry up ,,,,,,,add more ram

I don't think MS is afraid. I really do think they have a plan in place that they are comfortable with. And I don't think it's a case of Sony "You'll be happy to get a 2nd job to afford it. kind of arrogance.

I think they're planning on beating Sony on price and mass appeal. (Think 4GB price point and subscription plan with the $99 box, etc.) I still think the danger of them losing the dominance of the English-speaking prime markets of North America and UK are almost nil at this point. And frankly, they can make a profitable generation on just those markets like they did this time. (In fact, I'd be tempted to not put much of any resources into Japan this time around and strengthen Western appeal as much as possible.)

Whether this is all true is speculation of course, but I'm willing to wait and see what E3 brings on both sides before I pick winners and losers in the hype game. Even the "Always On" fiasco. We know zero details for sure, we don;t what the positives would be (which there must be or they wouldn't attempt it.) And I for one wouldn;t bet against them at this point.

People thought they were crazy when they bet on broadband for the original Xbox Live/Xbox and they ended up being right. We thought they were crazy when they were paying for Gold versus opening everything for free, and from a business decision, they were right. We thought they were dead in the water with RROD, and they rebounded stronger than ever. We thought they were dead with "only" a handful of exclusives, that sold great and helped them grow. They thought they were crazy on Kinect, and while core gamers weren't impressed, as a business decision, they were right (at least so far - especially if they can keep broadening its usage to Windows and beyond gaming.)

The death of the Xbox brand has been greatly exaggerated at this point.

Maybe they pushed it back to May so that they could reveal the console and then keep the hype going by talking about more details of the console and its exclusives/price a few weeks later at E3, however, I don't think they expected negative news about their console before it was actually announced. On the other hand, Sony revealed the PS4 in February, and is giving it a 4 month gap before they will reveal new details of the PS4 at E3 hoping that the hype for the PS4 will not die down. This has so far worked for them because MS didn't reveal their console so there has been nothing to challenge the PS4's hype.
Also, the fact that Sony didn't actually show the console may have left many people very interested and curious, and Sony could steal some of MS hype right after the 720 is announced by releasing the look of the PS4 with some more info. Either way, we will see which console will have more hype between E3 and November cause its in that time frame that Sony/ MS will attract buyers for their consoles.

I don't believe this May 21st rumor that the article is based off.

In addition there is no advantage in pushing back the date unless the original show didn't have enough content.