Xbox 720 Release Date: Will Microsoft Launch A Smaller Console First? Xbox Lite For 2013 Holiday, Cloud Storage [SPECS]
With the recent launch of Windows 8, Microsoft may have another new venture in the works. The software company could be releasing a pre-successor to its widespread gaming console, the Xbox 360. The new gaming system, which may be known as the Xbox Lite, will be launched before the next-generation Xbox console, according to rumors. Sony/IBTimes UK

Following reports last month that a genuine Xbox 720 dev kit, codenamed "Durango," was being sold on a relatively obscure tech forum for more than $10,000, another alleged "Microsoft XBOX Durango Development Kit" popped up on eBay just minutes before midnight on Saturday. By Saturday afternoon, the kit's price had already exceeded $15,000. Bidding closed for the non-descript black PC tower on Sunday afternoon at a final price of $21,000.

The seller's username is superdae, a handle similar to the illusive online figure DaE, whose identity Eurogamer's digital foundry first investigated to confirm July's alleged "Durango" leak. On Aug. 11, DaE tweeted his plans to possibly sell the kit on eBay, adding the next day, "I sold one of two I own. I still have the one that featured in news, the other one wasn't really necessary to keep as a leg rest."

While DaE's identity remains highly suspect, Eurogamer's original report claimed that his screenshots of Microsoft's Visual Studio coding tool, along with the images of the PC Tower itself in action, were verified as "genuine" next generation Microsoft console hardware by industry experts and developers.

If such hardware has been effectively leaked to the general public, then Microsoft may be pressured to move the Xbox 720 reveal date (or even potentially the next-generation console's release date) earlier than its planned debut at next year's E3 gathering. That is, unless Microsoft itself purchased the kit as Kotaku suggests may be the case.

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