We’ve been hearing about the next generation of consoles for years now, from leaked development kits to vague statements from executives we’ve got everything but an official confirmation. This may all change according to Game Informer, whose source claims that the next machines from Microsoft and Sony may be officially announced as early as this coming March. Adding even more fuel to the fire is that the announcement events will be “apple like”, meaning invites will be sent out to the tech press just a week or so before the big day

It’s not unlike Microsoft or Sony to want to copy the world’s most successful tech companies announcement strategy. Announcing just the hardware, alongside some tech demos, makes the focus entirely on the machine itself rather than about the games, launch price, launch date and other questios. This way either company can manage and squeeze the most exposure out of the press. It sucks to be a gamer and be spoon fed this stuff, and as a journalist I’ve probably written a few thousand words about products that don’t even officially exist yet but its PR gold for either console maker.

March is also the annual Games Developers Conference (or GDC) in San Fransisco. We know that developers have been working with alpha versions of the Xbox Durango (codename) kits for some time now. A public reveal at GDC wouldn’t entirely be unheard of, two years ago Nintendo had the 3DS on display publicly at GDC and while the conference is known more for studios recruiting new talents or showcasing behind closed doors announcements a public presence has been growing year by year. As press we are paying just as much attention to GDC as we do GamesCom and almost as much as do to E3!

This opens up the possibility for E3 to be all about the games and the rest of the summer to be about launch dates and prices. I’d imagine that we’d hear more about prices and worldwide dates at something like GamesCom in Germany rather than June’s E3. If the coming out party for either console is this year, E3 is the place to do it. The last few years in Los Angeles have been rather dry, save for the odd surprise reveal, everything has either been underwhelming or predictable. A new console would certainly get the crowds cheering again!

What do you think about the possibility of the Xbox 720 or PS4 being announced in just a few months? Let us know in the comments section.