On Monday, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, went to the Xbox Wire to write up a blog post that details some key features and specs of the Xbox Series X, titling the post “What You Can Expect From the Next Generation of Gaming.”
We have a news story from earlier today that goes over the entire post and all the next-gen console’s exciting features. But, there are a couple of more noteworthy tidbits of information that you need to know about.
12 Teraflops and an SSD
Phil Spencer had a lot to say about the power and speed of the Xbox Series X in the blog post and there’s a lot to unpack here, but here’s what you need to know.
The Xbox Series X has 12 teraflops, which happens to be twice the number of teraflops that were present in the Xbox One X and more than eight times the original Xbox One, giving next-gen games more “sophisticated worlds, and an immersive experience unlike anything seen in console gaming.”
Thanks to the custom-designed processor leveraging AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, the console will be delivering four times more processing power, enabling developers to really push the visual fidelity of their titles.
The Xbox Series X will also allow developers to prioritize effects on game characters or objects in the environment by using Microsoft’s patented form of VRS, which is Variable Rate Shading.
Not only will developers be able to prioritize certain things in-game by messing around with pixels, but the Xbox Series X will be powered by hardware-accelerating DirectX Raytracing, which Spencer states “is a first for console-gaming.”
For comparison, the Xbox One had 1.30 teraflops and the Xbox One S has six.
And thanks to the Xbox Series X having a solid-state drive (SSD), every game will load up much faster than any previous Xbox console.
Coincidentally, the PS5 will also come packed with a SSD of its own.
Quick Resume Feature
Probably one of the most useful features that began on the Xbox One and the PS4 was the ability to put your console into sleep mode while keeping one game suspended.
You would also be able to watch media apps while that game is suspended too. It was a godsend and now, after years of using it, we wouldn’t be able to live without it.
The Xbox Series X is taking that much-need feature and taking it up a couple of notches. Toted as the ‘Quick Resume’ feature, it lets you continue not one but multiple games from a suspended state almost instantly –no more long loading screens to switch between apps.
This will make gaming much easier as you can switch back and forth between each game without having to quit out of it, letting you finish what you’re doing without having to open the title screen more than once.
Sony has not mentioned any features like this for the PS5 but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Smart Delivery/Backwards Compatibility
Now, it’s no secret that Microsoft has been pushing and pushing backwards compatibility in recent years, allowing people to play older titles on their new consoles.
The blog post confirms that users will be able to play Xbox 360 and original Xbox games on the Series X and that your favorite games will “benefit from steadier framerates, faster load times and improved resolution and visual fidelity – all with no developer work required.”
Of course, with this new console, Microsoft is making sure that if you buy an Xbox game once, you will get the right version of that game for whatever Xbox you’re playing on, letting you save some cash.
So, for example, if you buy Halo Infinite for the Xbox One but then you want to play it on your Xbox Series X, you’ll be able to do that without buying the game again.
CD Projekt Red confirmed this morning that if you buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One, you can upgrade to the Series X version for no charge at all. Not all developers/publishers will be taking advantage of Smart Delivery, but the option is there and available for everyone to use.
Are any of these new Xbox Series X features calling out to you? Which of the next-gen consoles are you interested in purchasing the most? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
About the author
