With everyone wondering if the indie game developers are going to truly win the season via the Game Developers Conference 2013 going on in San Francisco now until Friday, March 29, it's remarkable that Microsoft has allegedly decided not to show anything about the forthcoming Xbox 720 at GDC all week.
For those who were hoping GDC 2013 would have some semblance of a revelation about Microsoft's Xbox 720, you'll just have to wait until E3 in June, apparently.
On Tuesday, March 26, Microsoft confirmed to TechRadar that "it has no plans to show anything at all at GDC this week, despite many rumours suggesting there might at least be a technology demo or some other kind of pre-announcement."
It's a pretty damning statement for Microsoft to make about its Xbox 720 on the second day of the conference, considering not only the buzz about all of the indie developers at GDC but also the fact that Microsoft has taken some real flak recently about its lack of showmanship/marketing prowess when it comes to new products/services.
According to TechRadar, it was Sony's premature PS4 launch event back in February that may have jostled the now trigger-shy Microsoft. Whereas some analysts speculated this would mean Microsoft would show some kind of demo reel or something about its Xbox 720 at the GDC, now we've learned the dreaded truth: Nope. Not a thing, courtesy Microsoft.
The shocking thing is how little we still know about the Xbox 720. For one thing: As TechRadar points out, we still don't even know its actual name. We've all just been calling it Xbox 720 (employing, on occasion, its codename "Durango") because that's what everyone else calls it, in kind of a "positive spiral" that Bill Gates — ah, remember the days? — talks about in his 1995 book "The Road Ahead." Truth is, none of us is exactly sure yet if it is going to be the Xbox 720 or what.
Again, lack of information courtesy of Microsoft. We thought maybe it had learned its lesson, hence opening up a little about Windows Blue, but maybe that was just a fluke.
One nice thing is that CVG reported back at the end of February that there will be more on the way (finally) about the Xbox 720 in April, meaning we might not have to wait all the way until June's E3 after all.
What are your thoughts on all of this? Should Microsoft start being a bit more transparent about its future products and services, or is it just: "They're Microsoft! Leave them alone!" Let us know in the comments below.
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