When the company began advertising for several key hardware development positions on their own website back in February. However, there is significant reason to not get overly excited just yet, as Microsoft has already announced it plans to keep running with the Xbox 360 until 2015.

After taking major financial losses after releasing the 360, they will want to ensure that any new console launch is planned meticulously.

After all this is Microsoft, who spent a rumored $500m to advertise Kinect during the launch period and sales are doing well with well over 10m units sold so far worldwide. For Microsoft, Kinect IS the next generation of gaming hardware and for the time being. They seem content to push the product with that strap line and any announcement about a new console could well damage the current marketing push for the Kinect by shifting interest from one piece of hardware to another.

It is almost certain that Nintendo will announce the development of a Wii 2 to the world at E3 later this year in Los Angeles. With Microsoft’s main rival, Sony publicly stating that they have no concrete plans for a PlayStation 4, it seems that Microsoft is happy to keep us gamers guessing for the time being.

Speculation on this subject is rife. At the moment, that’s all it is with nothing yet confirmed by the people that matter at Microsoft. It will be interesting to see what happens at E3 in June though. With Nintendo set to make a big annoucement, you would have to think that maybe, just maybe both Microsoft and Sony might have something up their sleeves.