Ballmer Touts New Xbox, Greenberg Denies It News

Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer appears to have let news slip of a new Xbox system that will launch alongside Project Natal in 2010.

During a speech on the recession at the Executives Club in Chicago yesterday, Ballmer spoke of a new Xbox 360 that will be released with a built-in camera when Project Natal launches in 2010.

According to a TG Daily report, Ballmer stated that the new Xbox unit will contain technology that is "really, really close" to an actuality and has a "natural interface" that can recognise movement and voice through the built-in camera.

This follows rumours that emerged earlier in the week of a new Xbox platform that would launch alongside Project Natal. The alleged system was said to have a slightly beefier processing unit than the existing Xbox 360, although it will be compatible with the Xbox 360's back catalogue.

Since the rumour emerged, Microsoft has been quick to poor water all over the flames of the report, all but flatly denying the existence of any system. However, following Ballmer's comments yesterday, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has now told Kotaku that "There will be no new console".

Greenberg, Microsoft's Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Live, said of Ballmer's comments, "We're not going to be launching a new console any time soon. I really believe he was speaking about Project Natal."

However, when asked if Microsoft had considered integrating Project Natal into a new hardware configuration for the Xbox 360, Greenberg noted that, "Yes, we have looked at that, but we haven't announced any details for something like that."

He went on to re-state Microsoft's current position on Project Natal, which is that there is still no launch date for the technology and that it will be compatible with all the Xbox 360 systems that are currently on the market.