French site Xboxygen is rumouring that Microsoft is to make some kind of announcement related to the next Xbox at Las Vegas tech show CES in January.
The information, according to the site, comes from a source “very close” to the company.
The story’s also rumouring that the machine is to have a hex-core CPU with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and has been in the works since 2005 – the year Xbox 360 released. AMD is to provide the GPU, according to the piece.
As previously rumoured, Xboxygen says a division called Loop is handling software development on the project, while another team, Infinity, is working on the console itself.
The site has been told to not expect a “huge announcement” with software, but rather “some information on the new console, and some of its capabilities”.
Talk of Microsoft’s next console has gathered pace in the second half of 2011, with chatter beginning in earnest around E3. EA was tipped to have started work on the machine – a story that was quickly denied – with a further two stories pinning a reveal on E3 2012.
Four Microsoft CVs turned up mentions of “Xbox next-gen” in October, with a Develop story later that month claiming Microsoft would show the console for the first time at E3 2013.
CES 2012 runs from January 10-13.