The existence of an in-development next-gen Xbox has been given further weight this morning, after various Microsoft employees were spotted mentioning 'next-gen' work in their LinkedIn CVs. Microsoft employee Jeff Faulkner is currently working as "Xbox Next Gen Creative Director" according to his LinkedIn profile, having occupied the role since January 2011. Meanwhile "senior creative director for Xbox" Jonathan Harris says he's spent the last 14 months "designing the next generation of entertainment", while Xbox hardware intern Joe Langevin says he's working on "high speed data buses to prevent electromagnetic interference in next-gen devices."
The most revealing of the LinkedIn listings though is arguably that of ex-Microsoft employee Patrick Corrigan, who says he spent the first half of 2011 "providing groundwork an[d] integration for branding elements for next-gen Xbox on all forms of media. Ranging from print to UI across future releases of the Xbox platform".
Microsoft's probably working on a new Xbox then. Try and act surprised.
The platform holder has long spoken of its ten-year plan for Xbox 360, which launched in late 2005, but that doesn't rule out a successor launching during the period, according to European Xbox boss Chris Lewis, who said in August:
"We think we're a little over halfway with the life cycle of the console, but that's not to say there won't be an overlap. I'm not going to announce specifically or talk about timing. But you could imagine there could be overlap, it depends. We're not being specific about the next generation at this stage."
Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/321826/xbox-next-gen-spotted-in-microsoft-cvs/