Xbox 720 Infinity Durango: No 24/7 Internet Needed for this Machine ?
Good news for gamers as the upcoming Xbox no longer requires a constant Internet connection.
A new internal e-mail to the Xbox team leaked by Ars Technica, suggests that the console won't always need to be plugged into the Web.
"Durango (the code name for the next Xbox) is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet," the e-mail said, according to the Ars report. "There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game."
Microsoft neither commented nor verified the authenticity of the email on the Ars story, or even verify the authenticity of the e-mail. Instead, the company trotted out the statement it's been offering with regard to Xbox rumors since announcing plans to unveil the next console on May 21.
Meanwhile, the Xbox Infinity will be showcased at a "special unveiling" by Microsoft's President of Interactive Entertainment Don Mattrick and the Xbox team. The next-generation Xbox launch should be used to unveil the new console, which is tipped to have the same eight-core x86-64 AMD Jaguar processor with 8GB of RAM as the PS4 console revealed in February.
Rumoured to play host to two separate CPUs for dedicated gaming and multimedia processing capabilities, the Xbox Infinity could also have the new Kinect 2 motion gaming peripheral, Xbox TV streaming service and 3D technology.
The Xbox 720 always-on DRM connection has recently been debunked by an apparently legitimate internal Microsoft email, which also tipped the next-gen console to pack a Blu-ray player and HDMI input connection.
The next generation of Xbox console is expected to be announced on the 21st of May this year and was expected to be launched during the holiday season. The new Xbox might not become available earlier than the first quarter of 2014.
However, Microsoft will face stiff competition with the release of Playstation 4. Sony's upcoming next generation console is scheduled for release the holiday season of 2013.