The next Xbox will be unveiled in late May, Microsoft has just confirmed. This is the first time the company has officially acknowledged their next-generation gaming console, which has been rumored for years now.
We just got our invite to the event, which will take place in Redmond, Washington on May 21 at 10am Pacific. It'll also be streamed online and on Spike TV in North America.
You can see the event invitation above.
Here's a blog post from Microsoft spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb:
On Tuesday May 21st, we’ll mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment. On that day, we’ll be holding a special press event on the Xbox campus and we invite you to join us via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE and broadcast on Spike TV if you are in the US or Canada.
On that day, we’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games.
We are thrilled to pull back the curtain and reveal what we’ve been working on.
A New Generation Revealed
Xbox Campus, Redmond WA
Tuesday, May 21st @ 1p ET/10a PT/17:00 GMT
For the past few months, we've been hearing and reporting all sorts of rumors about Microsoft's answer to Sony's PlayStation 4, which was announced on February 20 at an event in New York City. Earlier this year, we reported that the next Xbox, code-named Durango, will require Microsoft's new version of Kinect to run. We've also heard from some sources that the next console could be online-only, although that's been hard to nail down, and there have been conflicting reports about the specifics.
Worth noting: this event will happen at 2am Japan time. Microsoft has struggled to find footing for their consoles in Japan, so the timing of this event could be indicative: perhaps that audience is not very important to the Xbox makers.
