By: James Pisano
So it finally happened. Microsoft announced their next console during the Xbox E3 2019 Media Briefing. For now, however, we only know it as Project Scarlett. Phil Spencer did let us know what we can expect from the upcoming Xbox hardware on a technical level though.
Under the Hood
It’ll have an AMD chipset, with their new Navi graphics architecture and a Zen 2 CPU. They promised to reduce or eliminate(?) load times, and it will contain a new generation of solid state hard drive, also acting as virtual ram, so this actually is possible. Microsoft says will lead to a 40x improvement in load times over previous consoles, but that remains to be seen.
Overall, they said Project Scarlett would perform 4x faster than their most powerful current console, the Xbox One X. They said we would see resolutions and framerates we have never seen before on consoles.
8k resolution, 120 frames per second were quoted, and those are certainly the best we’ve seen in the console market to date. And we got a quick mention that it will be backwards compatibile across all current xbox consoles.
What Does it Mean Though?
It’s a lot of tech speak, and enough to make most parents’ heads spin. That’s why we’re here to explain what this all means to you. (We also have a list of tech definitions here.)
With a more powerful graphics chip and processor will allow the console to display the beautiful visuals that were promised. That said, most of our current televisions will look beautiful. But, it sounds like this new console will be and to display resolutions up to 8k. That would be stunning… but impossible on our current televisions. As of the time of this writing, the cheapest 8k television is approximately $4,000. That price will almost certainly come way down by the time the console releases however.
The solid state hard drive is going to be used to facilitate shorter load times which more engagement, and happier players.
They also shared that Project Scarlett would have total backwards compatability. That means that all the Xbox games you’ve bought so far will not be obsolete as they will play on the new console.
We’re excited for Project Scarlett, and we think you should be too.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!
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Michael Duetzmann 
Stephen Duetzmann