Next Gen Xbox To Be Powered By Windows 8 “Core”

This week we finally heard an official statement from the Microsoft camp about their next generation Xbox, which Microsoft are set to reveal at a presentation next month, just three weeks prior to E3!

Paul Thurott is a well known tech blogger and Microsoft insider and aside from being one of the first to report about Microsofts Xbox reveal event on May 21st, he also had some other prediction and stories to share about the future Microsoft console. He said that the next Xbox is “based on Windows 8 core”, basically the same back end that Microsoft use for the desktop OS and this comes as little surprise but does open some interesting possibilities for the new console.

The Windows 8 base is the same framework that Pro, Enterprise and RT editions of the OS are made of, Microsoft are clearly going to a unified ecosystem with Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone and soon Xbox.

With the new console running AMD’s x86 CPU cores its unlikely that we will see Windows 8 RT as that is meant for ARM hardware, but having the x86 hardware and software that is familiar to the PC user base is going to be great news for developers who can port games from console to PC and vice versa with relative ease compared to current gen consoles.

This will open up greater opportunities for software and app developers too, as well as the indie community and while it isn’t the strongest in the market just yet, it could also broaden the appeal of other Windows products.

Its an interesting thought and you can be certain that all eyes will be on Microsoft’s Xbox presentation next month, but will it be enough to beat Sony, who as we all know have yet to play all their cards in the next-gen console race.

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