Xbox 720 will demand always-on internet connection, claims report

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Bertan Budak,
News,
Mar 20, 2013.

The Xbox 720 won’t be able to play games straight from the disc, latest rumours suggest.

A newly ‘leaked document’ claims that the next Xbox console (codenamed Durango) will demand a 24/7 internet connection and will also require the next-generation Kinect to be hooked up to it at all times.

The document, published on the VGleaks website, also claims that the console will come equipped with a Blu-Ray drive – but users will not be able to play games straight from the disc, rather, they would need to install them directly onto the hard drive.

Oddly, the document doesn’t state why the console would warrant a constant internet connection – or what would happen if the Kinect wasn’t, err, connected to it. However, if true, we’re guessing these restrictions could be a somewhat OTT defence by Microsoft in its battle against piracy – possibly at the expense of the gamer.

It is rumoured that the Xbox 720 will be unveiled at the annual games exp, E3, in June this year and will be out in stores in time for Christmas. The console is expected to include AMD graphics hardware and Skype as the default messaging service – as well as a host of other new features.

You can check out the full section of the document from the VGLeaks website, below.

The Durango console is designed to offer game developers modern hardware that is more powerful than the Xbox 360. It uses a familiar x64 architecture and tools, and compared with Xbox 360 development time and effort spent on performance optimisation. Hardware accelerators, including ‘move engines’ for common tasks, will be added to the console.

Move engines can perform common game tasks like compression and decompression while moving data around the system. The console also has dedicated hardware support form common audio processing tasks that reduce the amount of CPU time that must be devoted to audio. The GPU provides considerable computing power, and supports Direct3D 11.

Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this ‘Always On, Always Connected’ design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.

Every Durango console will be sold with a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, which will be required for the system to operate. The console will provide HD videos, and will use new depth sensor technology to provide better screen resolution and less noisy depth data. Active infrared illumination will provide high-quality monochrome images even in low ambient light conditions. A wider field of view allows play in smaller spaces and removes the need for a tilt motor.

System software will offer a full set of system API for Natural User Interface (NUI), and the API set will be corresponding API used by Xbox 360. Skeleton tracking, identity, and other NUI functions will be performed by the system and for that reason, titles no longer need to allocate title resources to NUI.

The Durango controller will make the best-in-class Xbox 360 controller even better. It will have low-latency wireless connectivity to the console, and improve ergonomics. System interactions that use the controller will be simplified to make them easier for noncore gamers.

Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although its exact capacity has not been chosen. It will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from optical disc will not be supported.

Durango consoles will have Blu-ray disc drive. Disc media will be used for distribution, but during gameplay, games will not use content from optical disc. An installation system is being designed that will allow gamers to begin playing while the game is being installed on the hard drive rather than waiting until installation is complete.

Audio from Durango will be all digital – 7.1 discrete PCM output through HDMIU and S/PDIF. Hardware accelerators will be included for decoding and decompressing common audio formats. There also will be a dedicated processor to perform common signal processing in hardware.