Speculations over the latest Xbox starts just before CES 2012

Microsoft has announced that the 2012 edition of the CES will be the last time it is going to participate in the event as exhibitor. This has increased speculations about the possible surfacing of the latest Xbox, which is supposed to be provided with capabilities based on tablets along with functions of media recording.

GameSpot has cited reference of the new software updates that has been provided to the present Xbox in lines with the OS of Windows PC and Phone, to suggest that the upcoming Xbox gaming console is going to have components heavily based on tablets.

This move is going to be in similar lines with that of Nintendo, whose latest Wii U has been making use of a controller styled like a tablet. The differences between the two gaming console is going to be the aspect that Microsoft might allow a number of its Windows tablets and Phones to work together with its Xbox 720 whereas the Wii U from Nintendo will have a proprietary controller along with potential support to 3DS.

Another rumor that is getting circulated widely is that the latest Xbox is going to be provided with a digital recorder for media content recording, which would be the result of the recent granting of a patent that Microsoft had applied for in 2007.

The PlayStation 3 from Sony has been provided with an add-on DVR, the Play TV (popular in Japan as Torne). But if the latest Xbox surfaces at the CES, Sony is going to be pressurized to reveal plans regarding its PlayStation 4, even though it is creating significant buzz regarding the February release of its handheld Vita in Europe and North America.

Both the companies had introduced gesture controls as an option in 2010, after the huge mainstream success that the Wii from Nintendo received.