Rumors leaking from the belly of Microsoft claim that the next Xbox will be Six times as powerful as the current generation Xbox 360. At first glance this seems like a great increase in power, but if you look just a little bit into these claims you can find the disturbing truth. (Update After Break)

As it turns out, Six Xboxs strapped together is still only 1/4th as powerful as a high end computer. A computer that you can buy today as opposed to a console that is still at least a year from release. By the time the next Xbox is released, you will most likely be able to buy a more powerful computer for an insignificant amount more than the console. If you already have a computer all you need then is a video card, which you can already buy, for less than a 360, in most cases.

What about the games you ask? Unless you’re dead set on playing Gears of War 4, and Halo 5 as soon as possible then you have no choice. Almost every other game, however is released on PC. PC also being mostly owned by Microsoft, they make sure to make most games available on both platforms.

What about the online community? Steam offers the same service as Xbox Live, but for free. Most of Xbox live was taken from Steam’s service anyway. There are also plenty of Steam alternatives, however Tears of Time uses Steam, and has a public group you should join.

What else does Xbox even offer? Children screaming in your ear while trying to play a game? That’s why people don’t have kids in the first place. An extra fee to play online? I’m already paying for the internet and every other service is free, yea let me just give you more money for the hell of it.

Get real Microsoft. This next console better make the ‘grandeur’ rumors look like nothing in comparison, or we’ll see you go the way of SEGA.

Update: The Wii U claims to be twice as powerful as a Xbox 360. The next Xbox claims to be 20% more powerful than that. 2 x 1.2 = 2.4 Xbox 360s. According to Moore’s Law, technology doubles every 18 months, which would put the next console at a requirement of 16x as powerful just to keep up with itself. Which is it Microsoft?