If you’re anything like me, then the majority of the words spoken by Head of Xbox – Phil Spencer this past week may have gone straight over your head. I can’t help but turn off to all this talk of teraflops and raytracing, it’s basically a different language to us simpletons. If you are like me then fear not, as I’ve taken the work out of your hands and dissected what it all means and which are the important bits you really need to know about the upcoming Xbox Series X.
Look, I’m not going to pretend to have learnt what all this stuff really means since the opening paragraph. What do we need to know though? Basically this machine is about as powerful as you can imagine. To nobodies surprise, it’s basically a very high end PC. To sum it up, the Series X is going to be twice as powerful as the 4K powered Xbox One X and quadruple the power of the original Xbox One, leading to what may be a surprising jump in graphical quality.
Okay this is where things really begin to get exciting. The utilisation of SSD storage will allow the Series X to have quick resume on multiple games at the same time. That’s right, this beast will give players the ability to have more than one game on standby. This means you can theoretically jump between shooting bad guys on Call of Duty, scoring a world class goal on FIFA and adventuring the wild in your favourite RPG all in the space of a few seconds! This may feel like overkill but I for one could easily see myself getting used to this. It will also mean loading times will pretty much become a thing of the past, again this is something I could really get behind.
Okay, I stumbled upon more confusing phrases here such as Variable Refresh Rates and Auto Low Latency Mode. To translate (i think), Microsoft have essentially been working closely with TV manufactures to make sure that when you plug in your Xbox Series X, you will be getting the best possible experience depending on your television set. I may be wrong here, but I believe the console will automatically pick up your TV’s capabilities and give you your optimal settings. In case you haven’t guessed it by now, this is going to be very appealing for a big dumb dumb like me (and you, c’mon you’ve got this far, we’re both on the same wavelength here). Anytime my device can save me time and research into how to get the most out of my set up, I’m happy! It will also give the Series X the ability to play certain games at 120fps which is insane when you consider the high quality of games which currently play at 60fps.
We’re going to end this on a high as ‘Smart Delivery’ looks to be another step taken by Microsoft to be the leader when talking value for money and consumer satisfaction. Smart delivery essentially means that any Xbox exclusive released on both Xbox One and Series X will only need one purchase. So for example; if you buy Halo Infinite on your Xbox One due to not being able to afford a Series X just yet, well then you have no need to worry about buying the same game again when you upgrade as the Series X will do it for you automatically. It’s not just Xbox exclusives either, Microsoft have given this option to all third part developers with CD Projekt Red already jumping on board with Cyberpunk 2077.
Gamers should never be forced to purchase the same game twice or pay for upgrades. Owners of #Cyberpunk2077 for Xbox One will receive the Xbox Series X upgrade for free when available. https://t.co/nfkfFLj85w
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) February 24, 2020
Smart Delivery also means that any game across the entire Xbox family is playable due to backwards compatibility, whether that’s by playing your old discs or enjoying the games on Xbox GamePass. And of course, all of those older games will benefit from the power of the Series X with no work needed from the developers, meaning those old ass games will looker greater than ever before. GamePass by the way has also confirmed to feature the giant Halo Infinite on release day so there’s more great benefits to players!
So there we have it, I hope I’ve been able to save you some time and clear things up a bit. If you’re a tech whizz and have noticed something I have got wrong, please feel free to correct me in the comments below. Also let me know if you’ll be purchasing a Series X off the back of this massive data dump! Personally as a loyal PlayStation guy, I’m pleasantly surprised by all of this and just pray that Sony can achieve the same high quality with the PS5.
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