Tonight's Game Awards was in no short supply of surprises, and one of the more "oh snap" moments happened when Microsoft's Phil Spencer waltzed onto the stage to present the next generation of Xbox.
What has been secretively referred to as "Xbox Scarlett" has now been given a proper name: Xbox Series X. It's big, it's bold, and me oh my is it blocky. Like, full on rectangle. It's actually kind of menacing, and not at all what I would have expected from a next generation form-factor. However, my contemporaries tell me that my opinion is wrong and that I should feel bad for not embracing its semi-obelisk shape.
If you can believe this next part, the Xbox Series X is being billed as the most powerful Xbox yet. It's capable of all sorts of fancy technologies such as realtime Ray Tracing, and has some bleeding-edge components under the hood. Backwards compatibility is also making a comeback.
Here's a more in-depth description of the Xbox Series X and its capabilities, courtesy of Microsoft (by way of Polygon)
From a technical standpoint, this will manifest as world-class visuals in 4K at 60FPS, with possibility of up to 120FPS, including support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and 8K capability. Powered by our custom-designed processor leveraging the latest Zen 2 and next generation RDNA architecture from our partners at AMD, Xbox Series X will deliver hardware accelerated ray tracing and a new level of performance never before seen in a console. Additionally, our patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology will allow developers to get even more out of the Xbox Series X GPU and our next-generation SSD will virtually eliminate load times and bring players into their gaming worlds faster than ever before. We are minimizing latency by leveraging technology such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and giving developers new functionality like Dynamic Latency Input (DLI) to make Xbox Series X the most responsive console ever. Xbox Series X is also designed for a future in the cloud, with unique capabilities built into the hardware and software to make it as easy as possible to bring great games to both console and elsewhere. Xbox Series X will deliver a level of fidelity and immersion unlike anything that’s been achieved in previous console generations.
The Xbox Series X is expected to be available for Holiday 2020.
