Items tagged with xbox series x
Let's start with the good news—Microsoft's Phil Spencer says the Xbox Series X is still on track to launch this holiday season, which means it will debut sometime in November or December, as originally planned. So, what's the bad news? Some next-generation games may lag a bit behind, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This does not come as a huge surprise. Efforts to contain the global virus pandemic have disrupted businesses far and wide, including game development. Major events have been cancelled, and the call for social distancing has seen more people than ever sent home to either take time off, or work remotely, both of which present certain challenges. Spencer acknowledged the reality...
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Microsoft has been pretty forthcoming about its next-generation Xbox Series X game console, and has revealed many details about its hardware and software features. Not only have we seen what the console looks like (something that Sony isn't yet prepared to do with its PlayStation 5), but we also know about the innermost workings of the console including its AMD Zen 2-based Ryzen processor, RDNA 2 GPU and speedy PCIe 3.0 SSD. What we haven't seen much of so far is actual gameplay footage from the console. That all changes next week, as Microsoft will hold an Inside Xbox event on May 7th at 11am EST, during which it will show actual gameplay from upcoming native Xbox Series...
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This is a big year in the gaming console segment—Sony is set to release its PlayStation 5 in the holiday season (November or December), and around the same time, Microsoft will launch its Xbox Series X. Rumor has it the PS5 will debut at $399, or thereabouts. What about the Xbox Series X? Nothing has been announced yet, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer says he feels "really good" about how the Xbox Series X stacks up against the PS5 in both price and performance. In regards to performance, we already know he is justified in feeling good about where things stand. Both Sony and Microsoft have revealed detailed specs about the hardware insider their respective next-gen consoles, and while the PS5...
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If things go well, you will never have cause to open up your game console and spy its guts. That is somewhat of a shame, because depending on the system, there is some complex engineering involved. This is especially true of Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Series X console, which crams high-end components into a tower design. Game consoles have become more closely related to PCs in recent years, and the Xbox Series X looks more like a PC than any previous generation game system. The reason is because Microsoft determined it was the best fit for the juggling act that takes place. What juggling act? Well, the Xbox Series X has to fit high-end parts, including a next-generation GPU; it has to accommodate...
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Last week, a semi-anonymous hacker made headlines when they brazenly posted supposed source code to GitHub outlining chunks of AMD's next-generation Radeon DNA 2 (RDNA 2) GPU architecture, as found in the upcoming Xbox Series X game console. The hacker valued the stolen data at $100 million, but can it really be classified as source code? And is it truly that valuable? Maybe not. The hacker claimed to have gotten their mitts on various source files pertaining to different versions of AMD's graphics technology, the most interesting of which is Arden, the codename of the GPU inside the Xbox Series X. AMD managed to get the code removed from GitHub by filing a DMCA take down request. The hacker...
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AMD has confirmed that some of the source code pertaining to its RDNA 2 graphics architecture used in Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Series X console and was posted to GitHub by a hacker who stole the data is legitimate, but downplayed the extent of the theft. According to AMD, the "stolen graphics IP is not core to the competitiveness or security" of RDNA 2. "At AMD, data security and the protection of our intellectual property are a priority. In December 2019, we were contacted by someone who claimed to have test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products, some of which were recently posted online, but have since been taken down," AMD said in a statement. "While we are...
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When it comes to next-gen game consoles, the core specifications are now officially known, with both Microsoft and Sony revealing more hardware details about the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, respectively. While custom bits rule the day, the hardware is rooted in PC-centric architectures, namely AMD's Zen 2 CPU and second generation RDNA GPU technologies. They're basically PCs in console digs, or as Valve co-founder Gabe Newell puts it, they are "just delivery sockets" built on the same general foundation. This is a good thing. It affords more freedom for developers to focus on their games and not necessarily the various platforms. The PS5 and Xbox Series X are built on top of similar CPU...
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Earlier this morning, Microsoft revealed the full hardware specifications for its upcoming Xbox Series X gaming console, and it will be an absolute beast. From its 3.8GHz 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor, to its 56-CU RDNA 2 GPU to its 1TB NVMe SSD, Microsoft means business with console, which will be able to deliver 4K60 gaming experiences. One thing that Microsoft didn't talk about at the time, however, was the console's wireless controller. Instead, the folks in Redmond saved that discussion for a separate Xbox Wire blog post. When it comes to the overall design of the Xbox Series X controller, Microsoft isn't reinventing the wheel -- it is instantly recognizable as an Xbox controller....
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While Sony has been holding things incredibly close to the vest with its PlayStation 5, Microsoft has been very forthcoming with information on its Xbox Series X. Nowhere is that more evident with today's full specs dump on the console, which is packing some very impressive hardware. Starting off with some of the stuff that we already knew, we're looking at an AMD Zen 2-based processor design, which feature a total of 8 cores. However, Microsoft today confirms that the custom chip is clocked at 3.8GHz by default, or 3.66GHz if SMT is enabled. The Radeon RDNA 2 GPU is rated at 12 TFLOPs (which was previously announced), but Microsoft is confirming that the GPU is cooked at...
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It will probably be at least another several months before we learn lower level details about the hardware powering Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Series X console. Rather than wait, however, internet sleuths continue to dig up interesting tidbits from around the web. The latest piece of information comes from the LinkedIn page of Ashish Shukla, who lists himself as a senior ASIC manager on AMD's semi-custom team. Before we get to that, let's recap what has been confirmed so far. The Xbox Series X will be powered by a custom SoC built by AMD. It will feature Zen 2 CPU cores paired with GPU cores based on AMD's next-generation RDNA 2 architecture, with hardware support for real-time ray tracing (basically...
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We learned earlier today that E3 2020 has been officially cancelled. Given the graveyard of tech conferences that the coronavirus has already left in its wake, it wasn't too surprising to learn that E3 2020 would become the next victim. "Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation," wrote the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) on its site this morning. "We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters." Microsoft was one of the key gaming companies that was going to have a big presence at E3 2020, so its opportunity to engage...
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Microsoft has already given us a wealth of information on its upcoming Xbox Series X game console, but it isn't finished just yet. The company was expected to take a deeper dive into discussing the console at GDC 2020, which was supposed to run from March 16th through March 20th. However, with the show being cancelled due to the coronavirus, Microsoft is taking matters into its own hands with a livestream event next week. Microsoft will host a number of talks on March 17th and March 18th, but the most interesting stuff will be happening on the latter day. At 11:40am PST on March 18th, Microsoft will hold a livestream event entitled "Xbox Series X + Project xCloud = New Chapter...
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Are you ready for some more Xbox Series X rumors? Well, a new "throwaway" account over at reddit is dishing out some highly plausible details on Microsoft's next-generation game console, and what we might see this week at AMD's Financial Analyst Day. According to the redditor, Microsoft will be on hand at the AMD event, which will take place on March 5th. There's a lot to digest here, but we'll start off first with the RDNA 2-based Radeon GPU that will be inside the game console. This rumor alleges that the RNDA 2 architecture will be exclusive to Microsoft and the Xbox Series X, seemingly leaving the Sony PlayStation 5 completely out of the equation. In addition, it's...
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Microsoft revealed a number of new details about its upcoming Xbox Series X console earlier this week, including "Quick Resume" functionality. According to Microsoft, Quick Resume allows you to hop back into gameplay in an instant from a suspended state. Quick Resume will suspend the state of multiple games, which is a big advantage over the current Xbox One family of consoles that can suspend gameplay for just one game. Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb unleashed a bit more information on Quick Resume this week in a podcast. According to Major Nelson, the resumed state "survives a reboot", which is a great feature to have in the case of a system crash or system maintenance that...
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