The New Console Generation: The Xbox Series X

With the current console generation coming to an end, Microsoft unveiled its newest console: the Xbox Series X. It was unveiled at ‘The Game Awards’ on December 12, 2019. Given how new the console is, we don’t know everything about it yet, but here’s what we do know. 

The Xbox Series X will be Microsoft’s entrance into the new console generation rivaling Sony’s PlayStation 5. The console will launch with Halo: Infinite, the newest game to the Halo Series. All the launch games planning to be released with the Xbox Series X will be compatible on the Xbox One as well, so, Halo: Infinite will work on the Xbox One.

The release date of the console is expected to be November or December of 2020. As for the price, it is still unknown, but experts believe the price will be equal to or greater than the price of the Xbox One when it was released – around $499. Now onto the specs. 

The current consoles can pump out games that already look amazing. For example, look at Guerrilla Games’, Horizon Zero Dawn or at CD Projekt Red’s, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Each of those are already stunning games, but the Xbox Series X has hardware that can make games look even better. According to Microsoft and some other sources, the specs of the Xbox Series X are as follows:

Processor: Custom AMD Zen 2-based CPU (8x @ 3.6 GHz)

Graphics: Custom AMD Navi-based GPU

Memory: 16GB GDDR6 RAM 

Storage: NVMe SSD (Speeds of anywhere up to 2GB/s)

Video output: 8K, 4K @ 120Hz

Optical drive: 4K Blu-ray

Ports: One front-facing USB Type-A; Unknown

The console aims to have 8k or 4k resolutions at 120 frames per second, supported by ray tracing and more. Something never before seen on any console. To put it into something easier to understand, the games will run as smooth as butter, and the characters in the game will look so nice and detailed you could probably see their pores if you looked hard enough. All in all, the games on the Xbox Series X will look magnificent.

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