(Photo : Xbox 720)

If you are somewhat into gaming news, you ought to be pretty aware of the current state of things, with millions of game fans wondering what the next generation video game consoles will be like, and when they will be released.

Microsoft released the Xbox in 2001, stepping in to a market dominated by Sony's PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 and did pretty well, in much thanks to a number of exclusive titles (The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Halo anyone?), four player multiplayer, Xbox Live, etc.

Then in 2005, nearly to the day eight years ago, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360 which took on the PlayStation 3 and later the Nintendo Wii. Perhaps even more than the original Xbox, Xbox 360 became a major success for the company which managed to substantially increase its market share through the device.

Now, in 2013, it looks like the third generation Xbox is on its way. Fans have variously called it the Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, The Next Xbox, and more. The official name is yet to be known however. The release date is rumored to be in November, just in time for the holiday season.

Microsoft has teased fans with a press release saying they will host an intimate media event at their Redmond offices this Tuesday, May 21, where the new console is unveiled. The event is scheduled to start 9 a.m. PST (12 p.m. EST).

The device is expected to feature AMD graphics hardware in the form of dual GPUs, to give developers more freedom. In addition, it is likely to have Blu-Ray, Wi-Fi, an octa-core CPU and 500 GB storage.

Based on reasonable logic and rumors, online blogger Paul Thurrott has predicted The Next Xbox to cost $300-500, depending on configuration.

More facts will no doubt be known later this week, as we see what comes out of the Redmond media event.