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Amid frenzied developments, the immediate question was whether the cache of information was genuine. Journalists from a wide variety of publications shared their views, and yet the detailed contents of the document was relatively unexamined. During the week the focus of attention turned to Microsoft's handling of the leak, after the Xbox firm summoned its lawyers to remove the pages on the grounds of copyright.

But in the intervening days, CVG has conversed with publishing executives, games studios and an expert in 3D technologies to examine every single detail in the document.

In doing so, CVG was told by one anonymous source that the 56-page file is genuine.

Over the next few pages, we present the key concepts and breakthrough technologies featured in the file. It is worth noting, however, that the document was written in 2010, and thus some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively.

Microsoft has also issued CVG with a statement on the matter. It reads in full as follows:

"We understand there is great interest and anticipation for what comes next for Xbox and we are lucky to have customers who are so passionate about the platform. Today, there has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360 console. We have found new ways to extend the console lifecycle by introducing controller-free experiences with Kinect and we've re-invented the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are continually thinking about the future of the platform and when we have something to share, we will."

The Xbox 720 Files

Index

1. Veracity

• Is the document genuine?
• Is it accurate?
• Who wrote it /approved it?
• 'For Todd'

2. Microsoft's final bid to create the first definitive media hub

• All-in-one
• Background recording, multi-streaming

3. Kinect version two: Four players, two sensors

• Stereo sensor imaging

4. Kinect Glasses - Microsoft's augmented reality breakthrough

• Feasibility
• Roadmap to Fortazela
• Kinect Shades on the Go

5. Market-leading hardware specs

• CPU/GPU Power and oddities
• Additions

6. The Xbox 720 battle plan

NEXT: Veracity

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively.*

1. Veracity

Is it genuine?
Yes. A development source at CVG has confirmed the validity of the Xbox 720 document. Lawyers for Microsoft have informed various online publishers to remove the file on the grounds of copyright.

The document itself rose to the surface on June 15th but it had been in circulation for several weeks prior. Details of the SmartGlass technology [described as "trans-screen experience" in the doc] were published online weeks before the tech's official reveal at E3.

A forgery of this detail would require remarkable perception and care. It would have required someone finely tuned into 2010 trends, when the industry was fixated on HTML5, 3DTV and Google TV (all feature frequently in the document despite recent declined interest). It even jokingly references Apple's "there's an app for that" 2010 marketing campaign. An image displaying final Halo Reach box art suggests that the final slides were put together in the latter half of 2010.

Is it accurate?

Not entirely. In an industry as fluid as games, a plan outlined in 2010 would likely have evolved continuously. CVG's development source said the contents "should not be considered totally reliable".

"A lot of what you see in there ties with design docs here and other studios working with Microsoft. Some of the hardware specs are... odd, completely not what we're looking at, and there are other things in there (haptic controller?!) that I haven't heard about," the person said.

Who wrote it /approved it?

Industry insiders have speculated that the document was developed by an agency on behalf of Microsoft. As most recently demonstrated in the recent PlayStation Orbis leak, console manufacturers often hire illustrators, marketing and design teams to provide concepts based on the information they are given.

'For Todd'

The final slide in the document cites "additional questions to answer for Todd". It is likely that this is a reference to Todd Holmdahl, the Corporate Vice President of the Xbox Product Group at Microsoft. Though he is not a public-facing executive at Microsoft, Holmdahl has been responsible for Xbox hardware development for eight years.

NEXT: Microsoft's final bid to create the first definitive media hub

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively. For more information on the reliability of the data, go here

2. Microsoft's final bid to create the first definitive media hub

Since the first PlayStation, console manufacturers have sought to evolve their games systems into all-encompassing media centres. Xbox 720, the new data suggests, is Microsoft's attempt to offer an unprecedented consolidated entertainment device.

All-in-one

"XTV" is the 2010 working title of existing plans to encompass online services such as TV streams, music and video catalogues, and various entertainment downloads. Blu-ray playback will also be supported.

Yet Xbox 720 will go one step further by allowing customers to mix applications together. Users can overlay sports feeds onto movies, game guides onto games, along with various other transmedia initiatives.

A significant step for Microsoft will be the system's form-factor, which the document suggests will closely resemble a set-top box. The consumer psychology is to present adults and non-gamers with a device that appears familiar to the living-room set-up.

Background recording, multi-streaming
The standout feature is the recording and playback technologies. Xbox 720 will allow customers to record live TV in the background while a game is playing. The footage can then be watched on the console at a later date, or it can be streamed to other devices in the household such as a tablet or smartphone.

All such content will accessible across devices, and users will theoretically be able to stream a movie from Microsoft's cloud servers through Wi-Fi, continue to watch the footage on 3G- and 4G-enabled smartphones, and finish the programme by watching through a PC.

Xbox Live will be a unified service that underpins all activities across mobile, computer, tablet, TV and console.

(The document also briefly suggests that "XTV" will be a service embedded into other, non-Microsoft set-top boxes and Smart TVs - a further suggestion that Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business believes that Xbox Live has the clout to take on Google and Apple's next-gen television sets.)

NEXT: 3. Kinect version two: Four players, two sensors

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively. For more information on the reliability of the data, go here

3. Kinect version two: Four players, two sensors

It was Sony Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, who last year said that current motion control technologies were "in their own 8-Bit era" - meaning that he felt such technologies had significant scope to improve.

Through various software updates, Microsoft has progressed Kinect's capabilities to offer a more reliable, accurate experience. Yet its plan in 2010 was to outright double-up on the system's capabilities by the time the next generation Xbox arrives.

Stereo sensor imaging
At the centre of Microsoft's Kinect Version 2 plan is what the document calls "stereo sensors, i.e. two cameras/microphones".

As shown in many of the artist's illustrations, the console set-up uses two separate cameras, placed either side of the TV. The new initiative is said will offer "full-body hi precision" motion control for many players. The tag line in the document is "closer, wider, deeper".

A "dedicated processor", improved microphone, and enhanced RGB cam means that Kinect version 2 will allow for "four players, sitting or standing" as well as sophisticated technology that can register props such as baseball bats.

The document also claims the original Kinect sensor will be compatible.

NEXT: Kinect Glasses - Microsoft's augmented reality breakthrough

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively. For more information on the reliability of the data, go here

4. Kinect Glasses - Microsoft's augmented reality breakthrough

Next-generation Augmented Reality shades will be the show-stopping centrepiece of Microsoft's Xbox 720 offering, the leaked document suggests.

Described in the file as "Kinect Shades", the unique peripheral will allow several players to view moving augmented reality images simultaneously.

"The game has broken out of the screen and is all around you," reads the document's suggested marketing line. Images show Kinect shades attached to smartphones, or a microconsole, that pulls image data created by the Xbox over Wi-Fi.

Theoretically, with Kinect communicating with the shades, player positions can be identified and thus multiple people can see the same moving AR image from different viewpoints.

The Microsoft document claimed the device would be a "breakthrough in heads-up and hands-free devices".

It claims the service will provide "seamless integration of the digital world with the physical world".

The pitch to developers reads: "Build next gen immersive experiences that extend beyond the TV. Incorporate the living room into your storytelling."

Feasibity
Torsten Hoffmann, an expert and regular speaker on emerging 3D technologies, said the Kinect Glasses set-up was "entirely feasible".

"The set-up is similar to Google's Project Glass," Hoffmann told CVG, referencing the search engine giant's recent glasses tech that layer digital information over the real world.

Hoffmann said that using Xbox 720 to stream the content would pave the way for new, rich augmented reality tech.

"Even though we already have things like Layar and other Augmented Reality technologies, these are all dependent on phone power. But to have a home console generate the images would allow for a much more striking graphics."

It remains a matter for debate whether Microsoft is pursuing the Kinect Glasses strategy. The service is codenamed Fortazela - named after the state capital of Ceará in Northeastern Brazil.

"Microsoft has a codename for absolutely everything," a second development source recently told CVG. "They are obsessed with codenaming new ideas with places around the world."

Kinect's original codename was Natal a city is also in the northeast of Brazil.

Roadmap to Fortazela
Microsoft plans to delay the release of its Kinect Glasses until one or two years after the system's release, the document suggests. This is likely because they will appeal to a more casual audience and not early adopters who will buy the 720 on day-one.

It is also suggested that the Shades will elongate the Xbox 720 lifecycle in a similar manner to how Kinect evolved the 360 experience.

By 2014, a new Glasses SDK will be issued to developers, while Microsoft works on what it calls a "Glasses app store".

Kinect Shades on the go

By 2015, Microsoft will issue a Mobile Glasses SDK to studios. It promises that developers can utilise a "low dev cost for building 'connected' glasses experiences on the go".

It is believed that Xbox Live's cloud service will be central to the experience, with data pulled over a 4G connection. The document's pitch to developers is: "Build heads up/hands free next gen immersive experiences for mobile computing. Incorporate the real world into your storytelling."

NEXT: Market-leading hardware specs

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively. For more information on the reliability of the data, go here

5. Market-leading hardware specs

CVG's source said the hardware specs outlined in the document were not entirely accurate. However, the general framework of information corroborates with data already public and believed to be accurate.

CPU/GPU Power and oddities
Xbox 720 will be powered by a 6-8 core CPU (either ARM or X86 chips). However, one strange addition is the 3-core PowerPC chip, said to be used primarily for backwards compatibility.

Being of a different architecture to the Xbox 720's main CPU, it is not clear why these (admittedly cheap) processors are added to the system when the 720's existing chipset could handle the processing.

Another strange inclusion is the dual GPU, one for applications and another dedicated to 'system'. It shouldn't be confused with an Nvidia Dual SLI set-up, which requires both cards carry the same spec. It is speculated that the application chip will be used for TV screen display, while the system GPU will be used for processing other images and streamed to devices such as the Kinect Glasses.

Additions
The Xbox 720 will boast 4GB of system memory, solid state storage for fast-access info and a hard drive for the bulk of data. Meanwhile, the use of USB 3.0 will likely open up the potential of legacy Kinect devices.

The Xbox 720 document claims that "unified Windows 8 foundation makes it easier to build integrated applications across Xbox, PC, and Windows Phone environments".

NEXT: The Xbox 720 battle plan

*Disclaimer: The information hereinbelow is taken from an Xbox 720 design document written in 2010. Some of the details will have been revised, perhaps extensively. For more information on the reliability of the data, go here

6. The Xbox 720 battle plan

As expressed in the disclaimers, Microsoft will have altered the finer points of the 2010 roadmap, yet the underpinning Xbox 720 strategy will not have changed.

The company that sought the core market with the first Xbox, then expanded to the casual audience with the 360, now wants to produce a living-room device as essential as the television itself.

The competition is Apple, Samsung and Google as much as it is Nintendo and Sony.

TV, movies, games and music will be processed on the system and streamed over Wi-Fi to tablets, computers and phones. Users can record live TV in the background while games are played, while customers will be given the option to overlay internet content - such as news feeds - across the screen.

Microsoft's next console will be a super-high-spec system engineered for a ten-year lifecycle. Microsoft will use Xbox Live, and an ambitious cloud-based service, to constantly refresh the Xbox 720 with new content when the system in low-power states.

It will dominate a household's Wi-Fi bandwidth, streaming movies to tablets, as well as high-spec augmented reality images to Kinect Glasses.

The Kinect sensor will be bundled as pairs for high-precision family motion control, with a sensor perceptive enough to register props and allow for an 'invisible user interface'.

Xbox Live tiers will be sold like TV packages, with a range of content on offer depending on subscription.

The system will be released late in 2013, at $299. Microsoft's IEB division believes it can create a positive gross margin each year in the ten-year cycle.