Microsoft expected to reveal Xbox 720 in April following PS4 unveiling

[Shawn Knight]

Sony’s “surprise” PlayStation 4 announcement earlier this week reportedly caught Microsoft off guard at first, according to one Sony senior official that asked not to be named. The person in question said they definitely ruffled some feathers which seems likely considering most expected the two companies to announce their next generation consoles at E3 later this year.

As such, we are now hearing that Microsoft is planning to host a press event some two months earlier to compensate for Sony’s unveiling. That event could take place as soon as early April. Further evidence supporting Microsoft’s decision to host a one-off event is the fact that Ustechs, a company that has worked with Microsoft in the past on other media briefings, recently registered the domain XboxEvent.com.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft is keeping quiet about their next generation console as they have for the past few years.

In the event that you somehow missed it, Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 at a press conference in New York City on Wednesday. The company highlighted several key features of the console and even showcased some upcoming games but interestingly enough, the console itself was nowhere to be found.

The system made an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Thursday night for a live demo but once again, the actual hardware was never shown. The segment started out with Fallon showcasing the new DualShock 4 controller before jumping into a game of Killzone: Shadow Fall. Astute viewers may have noticed that the controller used to play the game was wired and ran behind the large display to an unknown device.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/51727-microsoft-expected-to-reveal-xbox-720-in-april-following-ps4-unveiling.html

 

[highlander84]

To me it seems like 2 kids trying to be the best... I have a Gaming computer and a Wii U... enough for me...

 

[Guest]

Don't feel anything for Wii U. My PC is powered by a GTX 670 and i7 so that will last a while. However, I am excited about the new PS4 and possibly new Xbox. PS3 had some great first party games and can't wait to see what they do with the new system.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

The specs for Sony's PS 4 are fair but nothing special. I wonder if Microsoft will oust them... I have my doubts. Either way I don't care. I'm not interested in either.

 

[yorro]

I'm a PC gamer in general, but lets see who can win my money in the console market.

 

[Ranger12]

I have a feeling Sony did this to maintain people's attention and detract from any hype about the 720.
They have an early soft reveal which obviously has everyone's attention since there is no showing from Microsoft yet. The they have a more concrete reveal shortly after microsoft's ensuring that the attention stays primarily on themselves and the PS4.
A lot of people don't care or don't want to be bothered with all the specs. Their decision will be made by Sony and Microsofts advertising campaigns and right now I think Sony has the drop on Microsoft.

 

[m4a4]

Always good to have some healthy competition.
However, I believe that price point is going to be the biggest deal for consumers this gen, whether or not Sony getting the jump on MS is better strategy or not...

 

[JudaZ]

Still waiting for Sony to actually reveal a console ...

 

[soldier1969]

Very poor decision not showing an actual console, I think its starting to backfire on them. By the time they do show it most people will have lost interest in it. Its not even due out for sale for 10 more months. I don't even care that much about it, My PC is running 2 x GTX 680s 4gb each in SLI at 2560 x 1600 res, so the games they showed this past week doesn't impress.

 

[cmbjive]

I am a console gamer first and am always interested in what the big 3 have to offer. Truthfully Nintendo should hang up the cleats and leave the console market. I would love to play their games on either system. PlayStation 4 is impressive and are doing some things that will change the gaming industry for the better. I definitely like the idea that they are getting rid of atrocious load times and are introducing streaming to the console as well as playing games as they are being downloaded. I've heard rumors that specwise the Xbox 720 is a little underpowered compared to the PS4 but I think it will be moot. The Xbox 360 is underpowered compared to the PS3 but it's been able to pull its weight.

 

[kissx]

The last of us and gta 5 will keep me playing my ps3 for another year. The ps4 does not look leaps and bounds over the ps3.

 

[cmbjive]

The last of us and gta 5 will keep me playing my ps3 for another year. The ps4 does not look leaps and bounds over the ps3.

I thought Knack made every PS3 game look outdated. Maybe I'm impressed too easily.

 

[dennis777]

I might switch to xbox 720? they have innovation that is far ahead than Sony (e.g. Kinect). Graphical enhancement is always given to a new console..

still I wish it would have offline play. No one will care if your playing an RPG (say Final Fantasy) and your console posting it in FB saying "PLAYER defeated a wild chocobo"

 

[Burty117]

still I wish it would have offline play. No one will care if your playing an RPG (say Final Fantasy) and your console posting it in FB saying "PLAYER defeated a wild chocobo"

They already said in many interviews that everything can be turned off if you so wish, or when you boot up the machine for the first time and you skip the social bit the button won't do a thing anyway.

I've heard rumors that specwise the Xbox 720 is a little underpowered compared to the PS4 but I think it will be moot. The Xbox 360 is underpowered compared to the PS3 but it's been able to pull its weight.

That's not actually true, the Graphics card in the Xbox has always been a bit more powerful and its architecture is easier to program for than the PS3's, hence why its been able to keep up or surpass it.

I thought Knack made every PS3 game look outdated. Maybe I'm impressed too easily.

I actually agree with this, if you look at the textures, lighting and level of detail and animations, it did look very good, I think what also helps is that the console is powerful enough to run things like Knack at a decent resolution, although not confirmed we can pretty much say the games shown off were in 1080p, hell the official screenshots that were released were in 4K resolution!

Very poor decision not showing an actual console, I think its starting to backfire on them.

It is indeed! they've actually apologized about it, but also stating the hardware is not ready yet, I think they're lying a little bit there to be honest, it doesn't take 5 years to come up with a design for the outer shell.

 

[xplayer]

Very poor decision not showing an actual console, I think its starting to backfire on them. By the time they do show it most people will have lost interest in it. Its not even due out for sale for 10 more months. I don't even care that much about it, My PC is running 2 x GTX 680s 4gb each in SLI at 2560 x 1600 res, so the games they showed this past week doesn't impress.

wow that's a powerful PC

 

[Guest]

For starters, Sony announced NOTHING.

Secondly, I am sure Microsoft were bothered to a level of ZERO.

Not a fan of either company but this is all meaningless. We know that both companies are preparing a console for later this year. We know they will be similar and will make fan boys of either platform happy. Floaters will buy one or the other depending on what side of the bed they got out of that day.

The only surprise for me was that the Playstation is on PC hardware. Presumably this is good for us all because developers will be able to port from one platform to the other with minimal effort. Costs cut, profits raised.

 

[Burty117]

For starters, Sony announced NOTHING.

Secondly, I am sure Microsoft were bothered to a level of ZERO.

Not a fan of either company but this is all meaningless. We know that both companies are preparing a console for later this year. We know they will be similar and will make fan boys of either platform happy. Floaters will buy one or the other depending on what side of the bed they got out of that day.

The only surprise for me was that the Playstation is on PC hardware. Presumably this is good for us all because developers will be able to port from one platform to the other with minimal effort. Costs cut, profits raised.

So wait, they announced to the world that the Playstation 4 does exist, they show the controller and live demo's and a load of games being released for it but they announced nothing? right...

Well this article is about how Microsoft is now scrambling to get there own show together, they obviously felt some kind of blow otherwise they wouldn't be trying to bring their announcement forward? Are you just another Xbot defender?

I wouldn't call using the x86 architecture a surprise but definitely an overdue welcome that will certainly help consoles and pc developers alike.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Very poor decision not showing an actual console, I think its starting to backfire on them. By the time they do show it most people will have lost interest in it. Its not even due out for sale for 10 more months. I don't even care that much about it, My PC is running 2 x GTX 680s 4gb each in SLI at 2560 x 1600 res, so the games they showed this past week doesn't impress.

That's all you ever say, in every console-related thread. "Ooh look at me and my SLI."

Your comment is good, just leave out the second bit, please.

 

[9Nails]

Very poor decision not showing an actual console, I think its starting to backfire on them. By the time they do show it most people will have lost interest in it. Its not even due out for sale for 10 more months. I don't even care that much about it, My PC is running 2 x GTX 680s 4gb each in SLI at 2560 x 1600 res, so the games they showed this past week doesn't impress.

Nah, Sony's probably going to milk the hype hype machine for a while now. Here, they have a "Look, a game developer made something work on our developer platform!" Next we'll see, "Look, more partners developing!" in September we'll see, "First look at our hardware specs!" Then in November, "First look at the hardware!" And then near December, "Look first play tests on the new hardware!" And then, the "We sold it all. Come back to the store next week to buy more!"... It's all scripted in history.