Last year, Microsoft launched the Xbox One X, and promised that they were already at work on the successor to the Xbox One console. Now, we have confirmation. Speaking near the end of Microsoft’s briefing at E3 today, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed that the Xbox hardware team- he was careful to note it is the same team that brought us the Xbox One X, which was possibly Microsoft’s best designed hardware yet- has already started work on the next Xbox console now.

This is the first time a confirmation of a new Xbox console has been officially made- so it’s good to know that Microsoft intends on sticking around in the console market in spite of their recent tribulations, even if the next console is not launching any time soon. Based on what Microsoft has said about its hardware philosophy for Xbox going forward, the next Xbox, whatever it is, will presumably maintain full compatibility with the Xbox One line, while also packing in a lot of power.

As of right now, though, it’s not coming any time soon. Enjoy your Xbox One S and Xbox One X for the time being.

We’re almost five years out since the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One. What this means is that their successors are on the horizon—even if they don’t launch any time soon, they’re on the cusp, in active development, and will be out by 2020 or thereabouts, presumably.

What will these new consoles look like? One point of speculation has often been that they may move to a digital only model, eschewing physical media entirely. However, according to Andrew House, who formerly used to lead Sony’s PlayStation division, that doesn’t seem likely. Speaking at the GamesBeat conference (via TechRadar), House revealed that he was of the opinion that both these consoles will still use discs, mostly because consoles continue to break into developing markets like India and China, where physical media still reigns supreme.

“I don’t have any firm knowledge on this, but my sense is that you will see the disc around in the industry for a while. If you’re going to tap into some of these [developing] markets, then allowing for that more traditional physical purchase model as an option is probably no bad thing,” he said.

In spite of this, House revealed that he expects game streaming to nonetheless play a major part in the next generation of consoles.

“If you look back at console gaming history, there are certain inflection points that allow for the industry to be upended and for new participants to emerge,” he said. “One of those is when you have a wholesale shift in the distribution method. In content-based industries, that is what is creating barriers to entry for people to come in.

“So, other than the technical challenges, there’s no reason why game streaming can’t be present in games in the same way that we have seen in the music and film and television industries.”

Sony, of course, has already got PS Now as a streaming and delivery solution, which may be informing House’s opinion and take on this matter a little. Whether or not game streaming ever actually catches on, owing to the unique challenges that the interactivity of video games pose, remains to be seen.

As games get better looking and more and more technologically sophisticated, the costs of making them continue to rise. For consumers, on the other hand, this leads to not just more intrusive monetization methods in games, but also more expensive hardware needed to run those games to begin with.

This generation saw consoles launch at their highest average price yet, with the PS4 launching at $400 and the Xbox One launching at $500- and now, the Xbox One X has, yet again, come in at the $500 price point. Is this indicative that to hit the level of power necessary to get an appropriate specs and graphics bump that most gamers expect, the next gen of consoles might end up costing $500 or more at launch, too?

According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, the answer to that is no. Speaking on his web show, Pachter said that $500 consoles have historically never done well, and that is unlikely to change- although he did say that, presuming the Xbox One X was a sufficient, sustained success, he would be proven wrong.

“I don’t think next gen consoles will be $500… though I guess the right answer is, let’s see what happens with the Xbox One X,” he said. “If Xbox One X is a phenomenal success, if it sells out, if overall Xbox sales rise to above the current level of 10 million a year, because everyone wants that power, then sure, the next gen can be more expensive. But if the Xbox One X sells 1-2 million a year, out of the 10 million Xbox sold every year, and after a couple of years, they satisfy demand and no one wants it at $500, then no.

“Look, I don’t have a lot of experience with $500 consoles, but what I have is bad. The PS3 launched at $600 and it flopped. The Xbox One launched at $500, and it didn’t work, they had to drop the Kinect and bring it to under $400 before it sold. There’s just some consumer obstinacy about spending more than $300-400 on a console. I can’t explain why, I spend that much on Halloween candy, I don’t know. Some people, they just say ‘I can buy an HDTV for $500,’ and you can, and in a couple of years, you’ll be able to get 4KTVs at that price. So a console sounds very expensive compared to that- a TV will last you 10 years, and you can use it all the time, and a console lasts you 5 years, and won’t be used that much. So my bias is no, $500 consoles won’t happen.”

He also touched briefly upon when next generation consoles might launch to begin with, stressing again that he doesn’t feel like discrete console generations will ever happen again, while stating that this would be a question to return to after the Xbox One X has had a couple of months on the market.

I agree with him on the former point- I don’t think $500 consoles will ever be mass market or palatable to the mainstream, and so, I do not see them happening. But as for there being no more discrete generations, well… look, as far as I know, I was the earliest advocate for rolling hardware generations on the internet. back when the Scorpio and Pro first leaked, and everyone either doubted the rumors, or dismissed the potential of the idea, I was talking about how they could be the wave of the future for consoles.

But the thing is, while I see Microsoft going with this plan, and I see Nintendo continuing to do their own thing, I don’t see Sony dropping discrete hardware generations, not just yet. I think there will be a full fledged PS5- but like Pachter, I don’t think it will be $500.

Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has promised that the Xbox One X represents a world beyond console generations- but the question on the minds of many has been, just how enforceable is such a mandate, anyway? Is Microsoft meaning to never release a true, next gen Xbox system? What happens if Sony releases a PS5? Will Microsoft continue to put out iterative Xbox One systems on the market?

Speaking about this topic with IGN, Microsoft’s Albert Penello said that Microsoft doesn’t think that console generations are coming to an end- but rather, that generations will maintain compatibility.

“That’s the question we’ll have to see how it goes,” he said in an interview with IGN. “I mean, part of it is, this is a grand new experiment that both us and Sony are on with this concept. And right now, we have to sort of build trust that the stuff you’re buying will work, that this ecosystem will make sense for people, for developers, and that is what will inform what happens next.

“But I think there will always be step changes in technology. I don’t think we’ve ever said that console generations go away because of this idea. But I do think that it changes the nature of how you think about compatibility, which has always been an afterthought for the most part on consoles… there have been some who have done a great job of it, but we’re doubling down on it, going back even further. And Phil said this a lot… we’re making a huge effort for backward compatibility. A lot of the stuff you saw, the tools that we are doing for 360, are tools that were necessary to make Xbox One, S, and X games compatible. We’re building a lot of that strength in software to do that.”

He added that the next Xbox console, should it exist, will probably be compatible with the Xbox One family of hardware, since that is an area of huge importance to Microsoft going forward.

“So I think compatibility will be a more important focus. And then, there will be step changes in hardware, there will be evolutions. I am not sure what the next thing will look like, but I would certainly say we are doubling down on our commitment to compatibility, we will try to keep it compatible with our existing library of games, that is super important to us.”

Now, to be clear, Microsoft has implied that the Xbox One X represents the start of a world beyond console generations in as many words plenty of times before- but I am willing to consider that they will still consider discrete generations with rolling hardware, simply because that makes the most sense for them (and for game creators and console owners, too). As for what the inevitable Xbox 4 will look like? Well, hopefully we find out in the next 3-4 years.

Electronic Arts has confirmed that the latest entry in the NBA Live series, NBA Live 14 will release on November 19th for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. NBA Live 14 will be the first entry in the NBA Live series since NBA Live 10, which was released all the way back in 2009. The only other NBA Live release since that time was the 2010 release of NBA Elite 11, but its release was cancelled across consoles.

The last scheduled installment, NBA Live 13 was cancelled because production was not completed in time for the October 2012 release date. For some reason EA has a problem with pushing the release of their games. I don’t see how releasing 2 months later would have been any less profitable.

NBA Live 14 is one of few upcoming games which will featured the brand new Ignite Engine, which is featured in several upcoming games in the EA catalogue.