The event of year for the gaming community, E3, has seen some fantastic previews and exciting announcements already.
Probably the most significant news is further details about Microsoft’s next release, Xbox Series X.
The tech giant announced back in June that the console — codenamed ‘Project Scarlett’ — will debut at the end of next year. Microsoft said it is “four times” as powerful as the Xbox One S and comes with more memory, higher resolution, and better graphics. It will also have more inbuilt storage.
“A console should be built and optimized for one thing, and one thing only: games,” said Phil Spencer, executive VP of gaming at Microsoft, at the event Sunday.
What that translates into, according to Xbox staff in a teaser video, is faster loading screens for gamers.
“Thousands of games across four console generations will look and play best on Project Scarlett” Microsoft said.
The company refreshes gaming consoles every few years. The last major iteration of the Xbox — the Xbox One — launched in 2013.
Sony— which produces rival PlayStation 4 console — announced previously that it would not attend the conference for the first time in the event’s history.
Sony and Microsoft have been competing for dominance since the original Xbox first released.
With the previous generation of consoles, the PS4 and the Xbox one, Sony is commonly thought of as the winner. Going by sales figures anyway.
Partly due to lack of exclusive games for the Xbox and perhaps the over confidence of Microsoft, following the huge success of the Xbox 360.
But Microsoft has spent the last couple of years addressing the mistakes of the last generation.
Being the first brand to really bring a subscription game ‘rental’ to consoles, in the form of Game Pass. This is like the Netflix model but for games rather than films.
Sony also has a similar product available now, but without the grand offering of new and old titles that Game Pass has.
Microsoft has also been buying up game developers by the truck load.
But unlike usual buy outs such as with EA, they are allowing them to continue making their own ideas and games. Thus, keeping the creativity from independent studios, and getting a regular stream of Xbox exclusives to rival Playstation’s.
These exclusives also get released from day one straight to Game Pass, and at £7.99 a month, you get a lot of bang for your buck!
Xbox currently holds the title of most powerful console, with the Xbox One X. A mid generation release capable of 4k output.
So, we would not be surprised to see their next foray being powerful enough to hold that title above Playstation’s next release.
However, with Sony being a no show at E3 we may have to wait to see just what they have instore for us with the Playstation 5.
Sony aren’t on the back foot in any case, not attending E3 may be playing their cards close to their chest, rather than having nothing to show.
Microsoft said Sunday that the new console will launch alongside the game “Halo Infinite.” It also announced a new Xbox controller that comes with Bluetooth and a rechargeable battery that has “up to 40 hours” of life. It costs $179.99 and pre-orders are available online.
With this much just for the controller, I dread to think what the console will cost. Yet with the precedence for Microsoft making their money from the software sales, they may well sell the hardware at a loss to keep themselves competitive.
It also looks like Sony aren’t the only competition the new Xbox will be facing. With Google throwing in it’s take on the future of gaming with the Stadia. Click the below to read more on this.
With new consoles offering 4K and above video output, you may want to consider upgrading your TV. Try out our Artificial Intelligence Personal Shopper and find out which TV best suits your lifestyle.
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