Microsoft's next-gen Xbox may launch during next year's Christmas season, according to third-party developers who have reportedly been fully briefed on the console.

The good news: it will run on dual AMD GPUs and between four and six processor cores, and will come with a built-in Kinect and a Blu-ray drive.

The bad news: it may require an always-on Internet connection as an anti-piracy measure.

If Microsoft is considering requiring gamers to connect to Xbox Live even for single-player games, they're not alone: Sony's next PlayStation is also rumored to require a constant Internet connection.

These new rumors contradict a previous report from MS Nerd, saying that the Xbox released next year will be a "stripped-down" version of the 360.

Microsoft won't bring the new console to E3, and isn't expected to officially announce anything about it until 2013.

[vg247]

The next installment of SimCity won't be available exclusively on EA's Origin service, the company has announced. EA says the city-building game will be sold on other digital distribution platforms and at retail stores, although a complete list hasn't been announced yet.

The bad news is that players will still have to be logged in to Origin to play the game, ostensibly because every SimCity player will influence the regional and global economies in the game's simulated world.

[joystiq]