No 'Xbox 720' in 2012, says MS exec

Rien ne vas plus, says French Xbox bloke

World+Dog wasn't expecting the 'Xbox 720' - or whatever Microsoft's next console will be called - to go on sale this year, but a company executive has confirmed it anyway.

And Microsoft France's Cedrick Delmas also hinted that we might not even see the new machine at June's E3 games industry show.

There has been many a rumour of late that Microsoft and Sony will introduce the next generation of their consoles at the event.

Speculating at what may happen at E3 is "premature", Delmas, the Xbox marketing chief in France told local paper Le Point.

But "what is certain is that there will be nothing new in 2012", he said.

Yes, he said, Nintendo has shown off the Wii U, but Microsoft isn't competing with Nintendo.

"Nintendo has placed itself in a different cycle," Delmas told the paper. "They advance at their own pace, successfully as we have seen with the Wii. [But] we are not here to deal with Nintendo and they are not there to fight against other manufacturers." ®