Microsoft Xbox 360 successor may be announced May 21

Microsoft looks set to announce the successor to its popular Xbox 360 gaming console on May 21, a report in The Verge indicates.

According to the report, Microsoft was expected to originally unveil the next generation Xbox on April 24, but that date has now been pushed back to May. It quotes sources familiar to the matter to say that the event will be held at a "small venue with a focus on providing the very first details on the next Xbox, codenamed Durango." That sounds rather similar to what Sony did with its PS4 event back in February. Microsoft is expected to fully unveil the new Xbox at E3 in June.

Rumours have indicated that the new Microsoft gaming console, called Xbox 720 in some circles, will need an always-on Internet connection to play games. The same report also indicated other details including the fact that "games purchased on disc will ship with activation codes, and will have no value beyond the initial user" i.e. used games will be practically unplayable. The report also revealed that the games will be available via download or in the physical form of Blu-Ray discs with 50GB capacities. That's an upgrade from the 6.8GB dual-layer DVD discs seen on the current Xbox 360 console.

Another report had indicated that the new Xbox will come with 500GB of storage and a new generation Kinect that will be included with every unit, and not as an add-on like with the current generation Xbox.

Previously rumoured next-gen Xbox specifications include an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800 MHz graphics solution and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It is also expected to come with USB 3.0 and HDMI 1.4a (which supports 3D over HDMI) Ethernet, audio return channels and 4K resolution.