Hey fanboys! Want to get your panties in a bunch? Start right... NOW:

Microsoft EMEA veep Chris Lewis says the company is already working on its next next-generation console because "we have to".

Preliminary work is already under way, he told UK games site Kikizo.

"You can't sit back on your laurels in this business - the consumer won't let you, the developers certainly won't let us. So that's happening right now," he said.

The research and development practices of the console division are "no different than any other part of Microsoft" though, he insisted.

The news that Microsoft is already working on an Xbox 360 successor won't come as much surprise, mind - having been last to market with its first Xbox, the company was first to market in the next generation.

My question is this: the Xbox 360 was not named 'Xbox 2' because they didn't want consumers to think they were numerically inferior to the PS3. So what will they call the Xbox 360 2? The 720? The 1080? The 2160? Florian Eckhardt

New Xbox already in planning [Eurogamer]

Contact information for this author is not available.