Microsoft confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in tech: The next Xbox will be revealed on May 21.
The company on Wednesday morning sent out invites to the media for a product unveiling.
"A New Generation Revealed," the invitation reads. "Don Mattrick and the Xbox team invite you to the Xbox campus for a special unveiling."
The company plans to broadcast the unveiling live on the Xbox, as well as on Spike TV.
Earlier this month, long-time Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott broke the news of the date of the debut in an interview with the video blog "What the Tech."
The Xbox 360 has been the king of consoles in the United States for more than two years, outselling the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3. So Microsoft has been in no rush to debut a new version, preferring instead to let rivals show their hands.
That's why, the unveiling of the next Xbox will be the last from the big three companies in the next generation of video game consoles. In a bid to get ahead of the competition and jumpstart its sagging console fortunes, Nintendo launched its Wii U, which comes with tablet-like game controller that doubles as a second screen, last November. And last February, Sony took the wraps off the PlayStation 4, which will have a far zippier graphics engine and beefier storage than its 7-year-old predecessor.
Microsoft's gathering will come just three weeks before the giant E3 gaming trade show in Los Angeles. The software giant is likely to unveil the technical specifics as well as talk about the entertainment focus of the Xbox that go beyond gaming at its May 21 event. If history is a good gauge, the company will show off some of the biggest gaming titles for the next Xbox at E3.