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Xbox

Microsoft has announced information technology volition take the hat off Scorpio at its E3 conference on June 11, four years after the Xbox One got taken apart by Sony during E3 2013. Scorpio, in many ways, is Microsoft'south first existent chance to clean upwards the Xbox One luggage the company has been dragging around for nearly four years.

Microsoft'due south early plans for the Xbox 1 were vastly different from what Sony offered with the PlayStation 4. Where Sony went simple and focused on the "It plays games," bulletin, Microsoft went broad. The Xbox I was a multimedia organisation where you could watch Tv set and game (despite lacking a DVR). It'south Kinect ii camera was almost every bit expensive every bit the console itself, and Redmond was investing in creative partnerships to create custom Xbox Ane content, enhanced apps that took reward of Kinect 2, and a live-action Halo TV serial helmed by Steven Spielberg (Microsoft insists this is yet happening, but the show is now 18 months behind schedule and Phil Spencer has taken to given single-discussion updates on it via Twitter). It would offer an hands-shared game library, only physical game media would be phased out as a consequence. Consumers revolted and Microsoft eventually reversed course, but the harm was washed. The PS4 / PS4 Pro have outsold the Xbox One by about ii:one (an estimated 28.one million Xbox'southward have shipped, compared with 54.4 one thousand thousand PS4s).

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Glad we cleared that up

28.i one thousand thousand consoles is no small number and there's no sign the Xbox One ecosystem is declining to thrive or missing key titles as a result, but Microsoft manifestly wants to redeem itself and close the gap. Hither's what nosotros'd similar to run across the platform do, and where information technology might steal a march on Sony. Our predictions for its hardware specs and capabilities are here. In no detail order:

Offer UHD Blu-ray support: It was surprising when Sony, which drove development on the Blu-ray standard, opted not to include 4K Blu-ray playback in the PS4 Pro. Microsoft has added this capability to its Xbox 1 S refresh, simply it needs to retain the option in at least one Xbox Scorpio SKU (assuming it offers more than one). Nearly people don't buy a game console just for its media playback capabilities, just plenty of people who purchase consoles enjoy having the pick.

Make the bound to SSDs: It's technically possible to add an SSD to either system and the load fourth dimension improvements can be substantial. Why not take this a step further and actually optimize for solid state storage? NAND wink prices have fallen plenty to brand a 480GB SSD a real option in a higher-end console SKU, and the Xbox I's existing support for external drives would permit users relieve SSD space for games that actually benefit from it, while transferring other titles to larger but slower magnetic media.

Give 1080p gamers a reason to upgrade: Sony's PlayStation iv Pro has suffered from a confusing and sometimes contradictory upgrade situation. At launch, Sony positioned the platform every bit primarily benefiting gamers with 4K, HDR-capable televisions. The company's Heave Mode now offers additional operation gains in some titles, only this should have been a launch feature, not something patched in after. The all-time mode for Microsoft to steal a march on Sony is to launch a console that offers something for every type of player, non just those who are planning to upgrade their TVs at the same time.

Nail backwards compatibility out of the gate: This could evidence tricky, depending on how Microsoft designs the Xbox Scorpio. Sony chose to build a system that required devs to specifically update their software to take reward of the PS4 Pro's capabilities. Phil Spencer has stated Scorpio will be fully backwards-compatible with the Xbox One / 1 Due south and that game developers will be required to support both platforms, but he hasn't shared any details on how this is accomplished. This could be significant, since the Xbox Scorpio is supposedly a much greater leap over the Xbox Ane than the PS4 Pro is over the PS4. Sony has had some hiccups on this front — Microsoft has an opportunity to employ its software expertise to smash the point.

One thing Microsoft probably shouldn't do is try to play the "next-generation" carte prematurely. Thomas Mahler, programmer of Ori and the Blind Forest, caused a contempo stir on NeoGaf when he wrote the following:

The trouble with arguing about console generations is the gaps between each generation has been shrinking for a long time. Early on in the Xbox One / PlayStation 4 cycle information technology was still possible to compare the latest games directly with their Xbox 360 / PS3 counterparts. The general conclusion of these comparisons was the gap was noticeable, only not as large as it used to be. Console developers have to target multiple platforms and capabilities, so the chances we see games with vastly improve textures and visual effects on Scorpio than any other system are remote. Scorpio's biggest improvements are likely to be better frame rates, more consequent frame rates, and faster load speeds, along with some modest bumps to graphics fidelity. It'due south a much smarter motility to focus on being faster, more than consistent, and somewhat prettier than the PS4 Pro, as opposed to trying to fence Microsoft has launched a new generation of console.

That's our wish list. What's yours?