Trying to pin down the likely window of release for the next generation of consoles is a fool’s errand. Rumours present themselves, anticipation reaches all-new highs, and the fabrication is soon quenched. Rinse and repeat.

But there’s definitely reason to be excited. As the months pass and our current crop of consoles begin to show their age, we’re being greeted with ever-more convincing reports relating to the successor to the Xbox 360 (Xbox 720?) and the PlayStation 4. 

While PS4 rumours remain hazy – Sony is likely to see Microsoft’s hand first - the very latest set of rumours seems to be pointing to CES 2012 as the stage at which Microsoft is likely to reveal the next Xbox.

First picked up by French site XboxyGen, what first seemed like ‘stab-in-the-dark’ speculation now looks highly plausible, with a source close to Edge magazine informing the publication that Ubisoft Montreal is allegedly working with so-called ‘target boxes’ – PC kits that use expected performance specs of the upcoming console - with genuine dev kits expected be sent out to developers before the year is out, a set of circumstances that adds fuel to the CES 2012 fire. Furthermore, we’ve known for a while now that dev teams are hard at work on next-gen projects, with the likes of Epic wowing the industry when it showed off its ‘Samaritan’ tech demo earlier this year.  Take a look beow.

We wait in feverish anticipation.