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There's been a lot of dust kicked up lately regarding Microsoft's next console generation. Stories have flown in from all directions that declare, with equal amounts of gusto, the Xbox Next or Xbox 720 will be upon us in 2012 or 2013. These rumors have cited E3 of next year as the outing of the machine, or, even crazier to me, CES of 2012 during this next Janurary.

One notable analyst, Michael Pachter, has decided to add his opinion to the swarming discussion. Simply put, he doesn't think the next Xbox is coming any time soon. From an interview with IndustryGamers, here's Pachter on these rumors:

"Those rumors are silly. Microsoft is still selling a ton of Xbox 360s, and they won't replace the existing one until sales begin to slow."

What Pachter doesn't rule out, however, is that Microsoft will be making a new model of the Xbox 360 during the holiday of 2012. In fact, Pachter goes so far as to suggest that he fully expects Microsoft to do such a thing, and that's how he connects this whole storm of rumors to Windows 8. Here's Pachter:

"I think the rumors are based upon leaks about modifying the current Xbox 360 to allow it to operate Windows 8. I fully expect a new model of Xbox 360 by holiday 2012, but don't think we see a new console altogether from Microsoft until 2014."

I don't know about you, but I'm with Pachter on this one. Micorosft's Xbox 360 is doing way too well for the company to put it out to pasture already. Even more than that, as I tend to mention each and every time we talk about the new consoles, both Sony and Microsoft have said their machines were built with 10 year life cycles in mind. 2014 is a lot closer to that 10 year mark from 2005 for the 360 than 2012.

As always, we'll continue to report on the industry's rumors, reports and speculation. Stay tuned.

[via IndustryGamers]