SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is expected to unveil in May a successor to Xbox 360 videogame consoles that have been evolving into hubs for home entertainment in the digital age.
Microsoft sent out invitations Wednesday to a May 21 event at its main campus in Redmond, Washington at which Xbox team will reveal a "new generation."
Industry tracker NPD Group reported last week that as of the end of March, the Xbox 360 had been the top-selling console in the United States for 20 consecutive months.
More than 70 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide since they were introduced in November 2005.
A new-generation Xbox would take the field against the latest offerings from Sony and Nintendo.
Sony announced a new generation PlayStation 4 system in February and laid out its vision for the "future of gaming" in a world rich with mobile gadgets and play streamed from the Internet cloud.
Sony spoke ambiguously about the device, leaving much to the imagination during a two-hour presentation in New York City.
Industry insiders anticipate learning more from Sony and Microsoft, and perhaps even getting their hands on new consoles, at a premier E3 videogame conference that will take place in Los Angeles in June.
Low-cost or free games on smartphones or tablet computers are increasing the pressure on videogame companies to deliver experiences worth players' time and money.
Features being incorporated into new consoles include games relying on connections to servers in the Internet "cloud" and synching play, movie viewing and social networking with tablets, smartphones and other devices.
A PlaySation App will let iPhones, iPads or Android-powered smartphones or tablets be used as "second screens" augmenting play taking place on televisions connected to PS4 consoles, according to Sony.
Sony said the PS4 would hit the market in time for the year-end holiday season but did not provide details.
The PS4 will succeed PlayStation 3 consoles that began their lifespan in late 2006.
Nintendo released a new-generation Wii U console late last year but said on Wednesday that the Japanese firm "was not able to maintain the initial sales momentum after the beginning of 2013 due to a delay in the development of subsequent software titles."
Nintendo has been banking on the Wii U to boost its fading fortunes after the original Wii, launched in 2006, proved a huge success as it lured legions of casual gamers with motion-sensing controls.
With the Wii U, Nintendo vowed to start a trend in "asymmetrical play" that gives players using GamePad tablets different in-game perspectives and roles than those using traditional wand controllers.

MADRID: A 16th century religious tapestry which police suspect was stolen by one of Europe's most prolific art thieves from a cathedral in Spain in 1979 has returned to the country after an odyssey that took it to five countries.
Culture Minister Jose Ignacio Wert and Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz presented the wool and silk tapestry, depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, Thursday at a Madrid news conference a day after it was handed over to Spanish officials from the US customs service.
The US Homeland Security Investigations unit seized the artefact last November from the unidentified Texas business that had bought it at auction three years ago for $369,000.
The tapestry had been stolen in December 1979 from the Cathedral of Saint Vincent in Roda de Isabena in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain "apparently" by Rene Alphonse Van Den Berghe, also known as Erik the Belgian, a police spokesman said.
Van Den Berghen is suspected of carrying out several heist of artworks from churches across Europe.
The tapestry was one several works of art that were taken during the break-in at the cathedral in Roda de Isabena, a fortified town in the Spanish Pyrenees, the Spanish culture and interior ministries said in a joint statement.
"Since its theft in 1979 the tapestry has made many trips as it was successively bought and sold in the art market and it passed through five countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and finally the United States," it said.
The tapestry was identified in 2010 by a researcher from the Museum of Lleida, Carmen Berlabe, who spotted it on sale in an online catalogue of a gallery that specialises in the sale of old tapestries in the Belgian city of Mechelen, the police spokesman said.
Police then launched their investigation which led to its discovery in Houston.
The tapestry will now undergo a restoration by the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute, a unit of the culture ministry.