Earlier last week, semiaccurate.com claimed to have inside information that next gen Xbox's, notoriously known as the Xbox 720, are being shipping out "soon" to developers in the form of dev kits. Today, yet another source has confirmed the rumor, saying they expect to see the development kits being shipped out in late March, or early April.
Tech site Fudzilla not only confirmed the information with what semiaccurate.com was reporting, but added that the System on a Chip (SoC) indeed began production last December, and is code-named “Oban." According to the site, the chips are being produced by both IBM and Global Foundries.
Interestingly enough, Fudzilla dropped specs on the new console. Their inside source tells them that next Xbox will be based around a PowerPC CPU and a custom ATI 7000-series “Southern Islands” GPU. This GPU is far superior to the chips found in the slim models of the current Xbox 360, but if true, will most likely raise the price of development, meaning a higher retail price.
Microsoft has yet to respond to both site's rumors, so we cannot yet set this in stone, but it is interesting that both sites are confirming each others sources. At this point, it's logical to assume a 2013 launch, as Microsoft continues to say there will not be an E3 announcement for the next gen console. Sadly, that means you will be hearing continuous news on the "Xbox 720," which plays right into the hands of Microsoft.
Source: [Fudzilla]
