Friday, December 13th 2019
Microsoft Unveils Xbox Series X, Available Holiday 2020, and "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II"
Microsoft announces the Xbox Series X console. For eighteen years and three console generations, the Xbox community has shown us the power both games and fun can have on all of us. As we enter a new generation of gaming, we see a future where you're instantly absorbed in your games - where worlds are even more lifelike, immersive, responsive and surprising - and where you are at the center of your gaming experience. With the new Xbox Series X, we will realize that vision.
Xbox Series X will be our fastest, most powerful console ever and set a new bar for performance, speed and compatibility, allowing you to bring your gaming legacy, thousands of games from three generations and more forward with you. Its industrial design enables us to deliver four times the processing power of Xbox One X in the most quiet and efficient way, something that is critically important in delivering truly immersive gameplay. We also designed Xbox Series X to support both vertical and horizontal orientation. It's bold and unique, very much like our fans around the world and the team of collaborators and innovators who built it.The name Xbox is an expression of our deep history in gaming, our team's unrelenting passion, and our commitment to both our fans and the future of gaming at Microsoft. It also signifies our belief that a gaming console should be for just that - gaming.
Alongside Xbox Series X, we also unveiled the new Xbox Wireless Controller. Its size and shape have been refined to accommodate an even wider range of people, and it also features a new Share button to make capturing screenshots and game clips simple and an advanced d-pad derived from the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller. The new Xbox Wireless Controller will be compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, and will be included with every Xbox Series X.
The possibilities of what Xbox Series X enables developers to achieve was also brought to life this evening with the unveiling of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. A sequel to the award-winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice from world-renowned developers Ninja Theory, the game is being built to leverage the full power of Xbox Series X. The footage shared tonight was captured in-engine and reflects the power of Xbox Series X available to developers to deliver new universes, experiences and games in ways you have never imagined.
Bringing Developers' Dreams to Life with Xbox Series X
Games today deliver amazing visuals and tell an array of different and deep stories. That's why, when we started work on Xbox Series X, it was vital we continue to advance state-of-the-art visual capabilities for developers, while also ensuring they could realize even greater feeling, emotion and empathy in their games. With Xbox Series X, we will elevate the way games look, play and feel. We will also remove the technical barriers faced in previous generations and enable developers to create more expansive, immersive gaming worlds that invite more players to play.
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.
One Console, Four Generations of Gaming
One of the things we're most proud of with Xbox Series X is the promise we're delivering to our fans who have and continue to invest with Xbox. Thanks to backward compatibility, you can expect your gaming legacy, thousands of your favorite games across four generations of gaming, all your Xbox One gaming accessories, and industry-leading services like Xbox Game Pass to be available when you power on your Xbox Series X in Holiday 2020.
Building on our compatibility promise, with Xbox Series X we're also investing in consumer-friendly pathways to game ownership across generations. Leading the way with our first-party titles including Halo Infinite in 2020, we're committed to ensuring that games from Xbox Game Studios support cross-generation entitlements and that your Achievements and game saves are shared across devices. As we branch out and extend gaming to more players around the world, console gaming will remain at the heart of our Xbox offering. Game creators around the globe are already hard at work building content for Xbox Series X and our 15 Xbox Game Studios are developing the largest and most creatively diverse lineup of Xbox exclusive games in our history. On behalf of Team Xbox, we're excited to enter the future of console gaming with you and can't wait to share more in 2020.
Xbox Series X will be our fastest, most powerful console ever and set a new bar for performance, speed and compatibility, allowing you to bring your gaming legacy, thousands of games from three generations and more forward with you. Its industrial design enables us to deliver four times the processing power of Xbox One X in the most quiet and efficient way, something that is critically important in delivering truly immersive gameplay. We also designed Xbox Series X to support both vertical and horizontal orientation. It's bold and unique, very much like our fans around the world and the team of collaborators and innovators who built it.The name Xbox is an expression of our deep history in gaming, our team's unrelenting passion, and our commitment to both our fans and the future of gaming at Microsoft. It also signifies our belief that a gaming console should be for just that - gaming.
Alongside Xbox Series X, we also unveiled the new Xbox Wireless Controller. Its size and shape have been refined to accommodate an even wider range of people, and it also features a new Share button to make capturing screenshots and game clips simple and an advanced d-pad derived from the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller. The new Xbox Wireless Controller will be compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, and will be included with every Xbox Series X.
The possibilities of what Xbox Series X enables developers to achieve was also brought to life this evening with the unveiling of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. A sequel to the award-winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice from world-renowned developers Ninja Theory, the game is being built to leverage the full power of Xbox Series X. The footage shared tonight was captured in-engine and reflects the power of Xbox Series X available to developers to deliver new universes, experiences and games in ways you have never imagined.
Bringing Developers' Dreams to Life with Xbox Series X
Games today deliver amazing visuals and tell an array of different and deep stories. That's why, when we started work on Xbox Series X, it was vital we continue to advance state-of-the-art visual capabilities for developers, while also ensuring they could realize even greater feeling, emotion and empathy in their games. With Xbox Series X, we will elevate the way games look, play and feel. We will also remove the technical barriers faced in previous generations and enable developers to create more expansive, immersive gaming worlds that invite more players to play.
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.
One Console, Four Generations of Gaming
One of the things we're most proud of with Xbox Series X is the promise we're delivering to our fans who have and continue to invest with Xbox. Thanks to backward compatibility, you can expect your gaming legacy, thousands of your favorite games across four generations of gaming, all your Xbox One gaming accessories, and industry-leading services like Xbox Game Pass to be available when you power on your Xbox Series X in Holiday 2020.
Building on our compatibility promise, with Xbox Series X we're also investing in consumer-friendly pathways to game ownership across generations. Leading the way with our first-party titles including Halo Infinite in 2020, we're committed to ensuring that games from Xbox Game Studios support cross-generation entitlements and that your Achievements and game saves are shared across devices. As we branch out and extend gaming to more players around the world, console gaming will remain at the heart of our Xbox offering. Game creators around the globe are already hard at work building content for Xbox Series X and our 15 Xbox Game Studios are developing the largest and most creatively diverse lineup of Xbox exclusive games in our history. On behalf of Team Xbox, we're excited to enter the future of console gaming with you and can't wait to share more in 2020.
84 Comments on Microsoft Unveils Xbox Series X, Available Holiday 2020, and "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II"
I'm on the fence on this, and probably leaning to PS5. Have to see how the kids do on their old RX580 rigs this year - do the start pining for upgrades, or are they drawn to the new Xbox/PS5? I can't justify all three. (gaming PCs, PS5, and Xbox SeX)
And we are calling it that. Don't let MS live this one down.
-The Internet
Depending on specs and price, may have to get this and the ps5
I posted just yesterday that Xbox Scarlett was going to be using something comparable to the 5700 XT. Looks like their comments on it being 8x faster than a One S bears that out, since the One X is ~4x faster, and so this new box would be around 2x faster than a One X. So if we're making some wild guesses, I'm guessing that this box will use around 250 - 300 W. This could be one of the reasons why the Xbox Series X (blech) is so chunky. They can't really have an external PSU that isn't massive in its own right, and the cooling capability has to be rather large. The One X got away with a blower for the whole unit, but throwing a bunch of dense fins below a large fan should be more reliable and cheaper, and they can cool the PSU in line as well.
BOM cost guesses:
$250 for the CPU/GPU combo (may be even more, ~$300 with the raytracing silicon)
$30 for the PSU
$20 for the controller
$25 for the disc drive
$40 for the SSD
$50 for the 12+ GB GDDR6
$75 for mobo/case/accessories/packaging
-------------------
~$440 - 490
I guess they sell this thing for $500 and either come out with a $350 cut down box based on the 5500 successor, or repurpose the One X silicon with an SSD as a 1080p/30 fps box. I hope they do the former, having to support two CPU levels would be pretty rough 5 years from now. But I could see some limited One X compatibility for the first few years.
You can always glue some RGB strips...
That said, I was really sad when they've shown this.
I liked the slim, horizontal design. And it fits my TV table perfectly.
I guess no one has DVD readers anymore, so this form factor doesn't make as much sense as it used to...
I'm not sure why it's so big. Is the PSU included?
I can only hope this case is just for the faster "X" version and the "S" successor is still small (maybe a cube - i.e. half of this?) No. The whole point of consoles is that the parts are fixed. This is a clear distinction from PCs and it's important.
Otherwise consoles make little sense and could be replaced by gaming OS or a launcher.
Anyhoo, the bigger news for me is the Hellblade sequel. Wasn't expecting that at all. The first game was surprisingly well done so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Thanks to selling a console they make money on subscription services (exclusivity / full control) and on games.
Sure, Xbox lets you use EA subscription as well, but EA pays MS for this access to the platform. Console popularity stems from how easy to use they are. That's the whole point.
All games work with no meddling with settings, with no compatibility issues and no minimum requirements.
The console is much simpler and more robust. It's easier to make games as well.
Games will already run at acceptable refresh rate on the basic model. They were optimized for that particular hardware.
Why upgrade? What is your goal? 80fps? 140fps?
Because it seems that you're trying to infect consoles with PC-like approach. It makes no sense and would just ruin the idea. Most people strongly prefer either PCs or consoles.
What next? An fps counter in the image corner? Or maybe core usage and temperature? :p
I think Microsoft may be losing me as a customer for Xbox Live.
My computer can run anything on the market, has a 2080Ti which means I can ray trace better than this newer machine possibly can and I have more RAM, more CPU power and more SSD storage than Microsoft will offer.
Applies to 2080ti's as well (that will be near 2.5 years old when the consoles come out).
I don't mind the look of this, tho I don't particularly like the simple look, I'd want something curvier.
Also can't wait for videos of these burning up because kids moms put flowers or something at the top :)