Microsoft Employees Use LinkedIn To Drop XBox 720 Hints

Microsoft appear to have started work on their XBox 720 console after a number of employees were spotted adding 'XBox Next-Gen' to their CVs.

Despite being rumoured for a long time, it was thought that Microsoft had decided not to press ahead with a replacement for their XBox 360 in the near future, concentrating instead of developing software to run alongside Kinect.

As an example, CVG highlights employee Jeff Faulkner as working as "Xbox Next Gen Creative Director", a role he has occupied since January 2011.

"Senior creative director for XBox", Jonathan Harris, states that he's spent the previous 14 months "designing the next generation of entertainment", while XBox hardware intern Joe Langevin says his job is to work on "high speed data buses to prevent electromagnetic interference in next-gen devices."

Topping those is ex-Microsoft employee Patrick Corrigan, who claims to have 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."

XBox boss Chris Lewis had told CVG 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."

Previous rumours had suggested that the XBox 720 could be displayed at the 2012 E3.

Forty years of games consoles...