How will the Xbox720 look

Details about Xbox 720 dev kits (code named "Durango") have been leaked by a shady character trying to sell one for $10,000. While it was originally speculated to be a hoax, several Xbox developers have confirmed the authenticity of the information.

Here's a summary of the hardware inside the Xbox720...

Xbox720 System Specifications (Leaked Dev Kit may vary from final Xbox720 specs)

There's a Kinect development tool built in for easy integration into games. Look for Microsoft to push the next generation of Kinect pretty hard in the 720.

The dev kit is housed in "an anonymous-looking black box," so it is not representative of final retail design.

The kit uses Intel CPUs (note the plural on "CPU," suggesting a multi-core processor). I had heard last year Microsoft was considering a 6-core processor, but the IGN article did not go into specifics about the CPU.

The guy selling the kit claims it has 8 GB of RAM, but other sources say the dev kits have 12 GB. It does run on a 64-bit operating system, and will use DirectX 11.

And here's what you're really waiting for: the GPU is similar to a 6000-series AMD Radeon processor, specifically a Radeon HD 6670.

No word on storage or optical drive.

Judging from what has been divulged so far, while the Xbox 720 dev kit is six-times more powerful than the Xbox 360, it is not nearly as powerful as I anticipated. A well-equipped gaming PC that can be built today - right now - with a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i7 and an SLI or CrossFire GPU configuration could smoke this dev kit without breaking much of a sweat. And a PC gamer on a budget could build a rig equivalent to the capabilities of the 720 dev kit.

If these preliminary specs hold true for the final retail Xbox 720, this means a PC gamer with a high-end rig has very little need (outside of playing Halo or Gears of War) to buy an Xbox 720, at least until the first price drop occurs (usually in the second or third year). And if you're a gaming enthusiast on a budget, you can buy an Xbox 720 for under $500, which is considerably less money than building a similarly-equipped PC.

Either way, gamers win.

Tell us your views

1. Will the Xbox 720, specced like this, last the full 10 year production cycle the big consoles aim to meet?

2. More importantly, do you feel this relatively low end next gen hardware will slow game development progress even further? We are already experiencing a significant impact due to the current gen consoles now being significantly underpowered, compared to the hardware available in PCs.