Report: Xbox 720 will block pre-owned videogames

In a week already awash with ‘NextBox’ speculation, we bring you yet more unfounded and conveniently anonymous ‘insider’ details regarding the Xbox 360’s eventual successor.

Specifically, a report offered up by videogame site Kotaku claims Microsoft’s much talked about hardware will apparently play host to both standard DVD and high-definition Blu-ray discs.

While the above info isn’t exactly ground-shaking where revelations are concerned—not least because Blu-ray is the industry standard for HD playback—the report does strike a note in its claim that Microsoft’s upcoming console will reject pre-played games.

According to Kotaku’s “reliable industry source” the Redmond-based software behemoth is also looking to push customers towards digital game downloads by “incorporating some soft of anti-used game system” into the hardware that will prevent the playing of pre-owned discs.

On the plus side, Microsoft will apparently ship its new console complete with the latest version of Kinect—its hot-selling, hands-free motion control technology.

Other ‘NextBox’ rumors that have landed this week indicate that the device will run on the ‘Oban’ processing platform, which combines IBM’s PowerPC CPU with AMD’s latest Radeon HD 6670 graphics solution.

Depending on where you seek your gaming whispers, the Xbox 360’s successor will begin shipping in Q4 of 2012 ahead of an early 2013 launch, or it won’t be unleashed until the latter part of 2013.