Apparently, MS is not planning to release next xbox anytime soon. Bach states it's becuase of the current world economy status, therefore players will be less eager to buy the new console.

News:

No new XBox Console in Microsoft’s future

For those of you that have been sitting at home, pining away for a shiny new XBox-branded console to replace your ailing 360, you might want to consider taking up a new hobby. Robbie Bach, president of MS’ entertainment division, revealed that the company has decided to focus its efforts on continuing development of the existing generation console for the foreseeable future. According to the company, research has proven that fewer gamers are in the market to upgrade their existing system these days, likely due at least in part to the ailing economy. As such, the company is planning on concentrating its efforts of exploiting the XBox 360 to its full potential, with plans for new features and further game development. This isn’t terribly surprising, but it’s still a bit disappointing given the relative ago of the XBox 360, which went into production in 2005…almost 4 years ago. Now that Microsoft has shown its cards, what new features would you most like to see the company work on integrating into the 360?

Sources:

http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/01/10/no-new-xbox-console-in-microsofts-future/

http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/589420.html

I'll believe it when I see it. When companies release statements like this, it just leads me to believe another Xbox is not only in development, but just a few years off.

MS would be smart to release first again and try to hold off Sony as long as possible. I don't have a clue how they will outpace Ninny unless they get seniors, soccer moms and nongamers into the fold.

Devs will be the ones to leak info on the next Box, not MS. Mark my words on this.

Heh, and I remember when they said This.

There's no reason to. I feel that right now the 360 is in its prime and devs have nearly mastered it. I'd like to see it stay around for as long as the PS2 has.

I only thought this would be obvious since the sucsess is much more epic then the original xbox.

Microsoft's next console will not be called XBox. That's about as much truth as there is to this.

I thought that was pretty obvious.....

I dont see another Xbox until late 2010 or anywhere in 2011

Agreed.

Obviously, the 360 will have a longer lifespan. Alongside the 360's greater commercial successs, the original Xbox was dropped prematurely because of an unfavourable deal between Microsoft and Nvidia over its GPU.

november 18-22 in 2011 is when i believe the next xbox will release, they like to release a new system the week of or close to thanksgiving, so this stands to reason as the possible release date for the xbox 3.