At present it's impossible to say with any positivity exactly when I can expect to see this all new Xbox appearing on the shelves of our favorite gaming stores across the country, Microsoft has yet to make any announcement. The eyes of gamers across the globe will undoubtedly be focusing on E3 Early June 2013 as the possible medium for an announcement from the boys at Microsoft. Or possibly for the Christmas holidays season of 2012. I will be checking with my sources frequently.

The relatively recent release of the Xbox Kinect, along with a new Xbox 360 slim model, certainly suggests that the developers are expecting to squeeze a lot more life out of the existing console yet. In fact, once upon a time Microsoft made the statement that they expected the 360 to be a ten-year console. That would take us up to the year 2015.

Don't panic! We really aren't going to have to wait that long. How do I know? Because the latest official reports suggest that there will be a reasonable overlap between the Xbox 360 and the all new 720.

But that's not all... The ever intensifying debate over the best console, PlayStation or Xbox, could face a devastating blow dependent on which manufacturer is able to bring out their next generation console more swiftly. If Microsoft can pip Sony to the post by even a few months they can be sure of extra sales, especially after Sony's security scandal of 2011, with the loss of player data from around the globe.

I wouldn't be surprised therefore to find the 720 hitting the high street in 2013. As soon as solid release dates for the Wii U and PS4 are scheduled, I can expect a rush of action from the Microsoft development team as the final sprint to the finish line begins.

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