A new report today revealed that the next-gen Xbox or 720 is already in the manufacturing stage.

The source comes from within IGN.com who have revealed that Flextronics branch in Austin, Texas has began assembling the new Xbox. Funny old thing the Xbox 360 also began life there.

"Prior to reaching the manufacturing stage, Flextronics created a new testing group separate from the rest of the company," the report claims.

"This team was solely dedicated to comprehensive marketing, software, and hardware tests of the next Xbox. With that activity concluded, Flextronics started building the hardware."

Don't expect anything major to come from this report though as more than likely they are only creating consoles to fill the needs of developers, currently working on Xbox 720 titles.

Of course Microsoft were as ambiguous as ever when commenting on the news,

"Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships.

"We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation."