Rumors surrounding next-gen consoles continue to dominate the news today, with a source telling Edge that Ubisoft Montreal already has a dev-kit in-house for Xbox 360’s successor.
According to the anonymous source, dev-kits are to be shipped out to more studios by Christmas, with EA already in possession of one in addition to the Assassin’s Creed studio.
Ubisoft is rumored to be working with “target boxes” running custom software and components from Microsoft, with further rumors claiming AMD-branded GPUs are running the boxes.
In a statement given to Edge, a Ubisoft spokesperson said: “We do not comment on rumour and speculation.”
The next Xbox console was rumored for a CES 2012 reveal yesterday.
Last month, four Microsoft employees listed work on next-gen systems on their LinkedIn resumes, and Kinect creative director Kudo Tsunoda was last night revealed to have assembled a team tentatively called the “NextGen team at MS”.
Rumors that Microsoft-owned studios Lionhead, Turn 10, Rare, and 343 Industries are working on games for the next console have also swirled around of late, with the later denying Halo 4 would be the system’s launch title.
Major Sony studio working with PS4
It’s not only next-gen rumor today; another Edge source has claimed that one of Sony’s major studios has “ceased PlayStation 3 development” and has shifted focus on the console’s fourth iteration.
The studio is also supposedly involved with the development of the console’s graphics tech.
The new talk comes at a time when Square Enix’s has gone public on the current generation of consoles, saying developers have nothing more to accomplish with the tech. It was even announced by the firm’s technology director that its best talent has moved on to “something else,” making it likely the publisher is also working on next-gen tech, especially in light of the announcement of Square’s new Luminous Engine.
Epic Games has also started work on an enhanced version of Unreal Engine 3, which will be shown during GDC in March 2012. However, if an Unreal Engine 4 is to be released, the firm want it to launch alongside the next wave of consoles, not beforehand.
While the old adage of where there’s smoke there’s fire might ring true in this case, it’s still best to take everything with a grain of salt until something more concrete emerges, especially as the majority of developers are still keen on current-generation consoles, and both Microsoft and Sony have 10-year plans in place for Xbox 360 and PS3.
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