Microsoft unveiled their Xbox Series X, rumored before as "Project Scarlett," to the world during E3 2019. The console is one of the first officially revealed next-generation hardware, and the studio finally revealed more details on the console's technology and features.
In their latest blog post, Microsoft dived more into what the Xbox Series X's case holds inside as well as what to expect once you turn it on. The studio quadruple the processing power of an Xbox One after customizing and optimizing the AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures. Not only that, the Xbox Series X gives developers 12 Terraflops of Graphics Processing Unit to create their wildest gaming dreams, double the current 6 Terraflops present in the Xbox One X.
Xbox Series X is our most powerful console ever powered by our custom designed processor leveraging AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures. Delivering four times the processing power of an Xbox One and enabling developers to leverage 12 TFLOPS of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) performance – twice that of an Xbox One X and more than eight times the original Xbox One.
In addition to that, Microsoft made sure the Xbox Series X is the first console to adopt the hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing. We saw the technology showcased in several trailers from Nvidia alongside multiple titles, and it allows for incredibly "true-to-life lighting, accurate reflections and realistic acoustics in real time." That said, the PlayStation 5 will also have some form of hardware-based raytracing. The studio revealed it will support up to 120 frames-per-second, an upgrade from the standard 60 fps common in today's gaming industry.
Further down the blog post, Microsoft dives into their cross-buy functionality across all their console generations. Players will be able to continue playing their favorite Xbox One games, while supporting selected Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles that are already backwards compatible on the current generation's console. The Quick Resume feature is another new addition, allowing players to freeze multiple games then come back to instantly resume their playthrough without waiting through loading screens.
The Xbox Series X is expected to release later this year, and we will definitely receive more information during E3 in a couple of months.
