Two New Consoles
It wasn’t just Sony and Nintendo showing off new hardware this year. Microsoft took a bite of time out of their E3 2016 conference to introduce a the Xbox One S. This is a smaller version of the One console, featuring has HDR support for better colors and sharper contrast, as well as support for 4K physical media. The release helped usher in a Microsoft sales lead for a few months during the late Summer and into the Fall, until its streak was halted in November.
Coming down another pipeline, the long rumored Project Scorpio was confirmed, though it won’t be available until around this time next year. It is set up to be the most powerful home gaming console ever created, capable of true 4K gaming and offering VR capability right out of the box. We haven’t heard anything about it in quite some time, but the prospect of a Microsoft mega-console is certainly intriguing.
Incoming VR compatibility will allow the Xbox it to join the fray alongside PC and the PS4, although details on what exactly (and when) we can expect are still up in the air. It’s no surprise that Microsoft has decided to wait and watch the competition before diving headfirst into virtual reality, as the field has no shortage of experimentation for both players and developers.
