Report - developers believe leaked Xbox 720 dev kit is authentic

A sketchy looking set of photos may be our first look at Microsoft's new console.

Digital Foundry reports a dodgy-looking development kit detailed on a developer forum is the real deal - an authentic Durango, the code name for the next Xbox console.

The site spoke with the source of the leak, who said the dev kits were distributed in February. He detailed the system's 64-bit architecture as having Intel CPUs and an nVidia graphics card, over 8GB of RAM (although Digital Foundry notes dev kits have more memory than retail consoles). The final hardware is expected to have eight cores, the source said.

It's apparently a very different set-up to the current Xbox and also contradicts repeat rumours of a deal between Microsoft and AMD; Microsoft and nVidia don't have a great history, either. That said, Digital Foundry claims development sources agreed Durango is a 64-bit system, and also confirmed the authenticity of the interface seen in the images.

The new Xbox is expected to be announced next year ahead of a holiday 2013 launch; a new PlayStation, codenamed Orbis, is believed to be aiming for a similar schedule.