Xbox One Console Reviews
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Scorpio is console hardware pushed to a new level
In 2005, Microsoft launched Xbox 360: a piece of hardware at least a year ahead of its time from a technological standpoint, introducing multi-core CPU processing and state-of-the-art advanced graphics technology. PlayStation 3 arrived a year later - an absolute age in technological terms - but the Xbox 360 still shone through. It was the product of a company determined to do everything it could to create the most powerful games console ever made. After the media missteps of Xbox One and the loss of performance leadership,Project Scorpiois a return to that fierce determination to produce the best possible box. This is the result of an Xbox team with something to prove - exactly the reaction we hoped for.
Microsoft's invitation to Digital Foundry to talk tech and exclusively reveal specs is a bold, brave move that at once highlights the platform holder's confidence in its new hardware, and continues its strategy of keeping users informed well ahead of time, as opposed to seeing carefully laid plans exposed via a relentless, inevitable trickle of leaks. The tactic worked at E3 (albeit at the cost of annoying some Xbox One owners, and gazumping the announcement of Xbox One S), and it continues to pay off with this reveal.
Across one extremely packed day just over a week ago at Microsoft's vast Redmond campus, I met with silicon architects, hardware designers, corporate vice presidents and P3 himself: head of Xbox, Phil Spencer. I can't think of any example of access at this level so far in advance of the launch of new hardware, but fundamentally, Project Scorpio is aimed at a very different user to prospective Xbox One S owners, making this coverage potentially less impactful to sales of the existing device. These days, Xbox One has skewed towards value, while Scorpio will be a piece of hardware with a premium price-point. My sense is that the price differential will be fairly wide and that there'll be less crossover in the audience than there is with PS4 and Pro.
Coming out of my visit and talking to colleagues, the main questions I was asked mainly concerned things that either I can't talk about or don't know. What does it look like? How big is it? What are the games like? What's it called and how much will it cost? On the latter point, we can at least have some informed speculation. PS4 Pro launched at £349/$399. Scorpio has a larger processor (the most expensive single part of any console), 4GB more memory, a faster hard drive, a UHD Blu-ray drive and a state-of-the-art cooling solution. All of these add cumulatively to the bill of materials and if I had to guess - and I'll stress that this isn't based on anything I might have heard on my visit - Project Scorpio is going to cost in the region of $499.
What's it going to be called? Again, there are no hints here from anyone at Microsoft, except to say that there's lots of talk about Scorpio being a part of 'the Xbox One family of products', so I wouldn't be surprised to see the machine named appropriately. The core concept is that Scorpio sits alongside Xbox One offering the same games, the same fundamental gameplay, separated not just by 1080p and 4K display ownership, but also by how committed the users are to owning the latest and greatest technology. Compared to last year though, the messaging to 1080p users - and indeed the delivery of features - is more firmly defined, an area where Microsoft has also learned from Sony's missteps with PS4 Pro.
Project Scorpio vs PS4 Pro: the spec differential
Despite the scale of today's reveal, we don't actually knowthatmuch more about the ways in which multi-platform software will vary between Project Scorpio and PlayStation 4 Pro. We went inknowing about a six-teraflop GPU and a huge boost to memory bandwidthand that's exactly what Microsoft has delivered. We guessed right on the 12GB of GDDR5 (fairly clearly signposted in the original E3 reveal), and this means that Scorpio versions will benefit from higher resolution textures where they are available. Where we got it wrong was in the make-up of the GPU. We predicted a slower but wider GPU to get to six teraflops. Instead, Microsoft has defied current-gen constraints and redefined the way consoles are built in order to push clock-speeds up closer to desktop GPU counterparts - a brilliant achievement.
As a result, at a base level, we anticipate third party releases where Scorpio enjoys higher resolutions and more detailed art, but the scale of the difference is something we can't draw definitive conclusions on until we start to see games. The best case scenario for Microsoft is that its CPU and GPU hardware customisation - derived directly from granular analysis of existing game engines - will produce a gulf in results even wider than those seen frequently seen in Xbox One/PS4 cross-platform releases.
If we take Microsoft's statements at face value, there's no reason why all titles that run at 1080p on Xbox One shouldn't run at native 4K - and the Forza Motorsport demo I saw presents some compelling evidence to support this. But it's perhaps the 900p third-party games (where base PS4 typically hits full 1080p) that will be more illuminating. Microsoft says that while the porting work will be more involved, these too should hit native 4K. However, just like PS4 Pro, the GPU has hardware support for checkerboarding and other pixel-efficient techniques, which Microsoft expects to see rolled out on the small amount of games on Xbox One that drop beneath 900p.
The big question is this: factoring out higher resolution art (which will undoubtedly make a difference) will we be able to tell the difference between Scorpio and Pro games? Results vary according to content of course, but what PS4 Pro has proved is that checkerboarding, advanced anti-aliasing techniques, temporal super-sampling and dynamic resolution go a long way in closing the gap between sub-native ultra HD resolutions and the true 4K experience Microsoft is aiming for. However, on the flipside, it's not been a complete success by any means: Pro has handed in a few too many straight 1440p releases while actual, barnstorming, first-party 2160p HDR showcases have been few and far between. At the very least, variance will be down to resolution and frame-rate only - a 4K re-run of the current-gen Xbox One/PS4 Face-Offs - but this time in Microsoft's favour. Don't underestimate the importance of the additional memory, though. 4K textures already make a noticeable difference on titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider, even if you run the ultra HD mode at 1080p.
Project Scorpio vs PC: to-the-metal design vs sheer brute force
The closest equivalent to PlayStation 4 Pro's GPU in the PC space, in pure performance terms, is the Radeon RX 470 or an underclocked RX 480 - both mainstream graphics cards. The latter product typically overclocks to hit the same six-teraflop compute output as Project Scorpio. However, teraflop comparisons here simply do not reflect real-world results. With one or two exceptions, the 'next-gen' upscaling techniques used on PS4 Pro don't tend to exist in the PC space - and software-level PC upscalers that can produce great results still only manifest in a minority of games. On both counts, we expect things to change rapidly, but the bottom line is that right now, consoles are capable of producing some great 4K results even if the technical sleight of hand required to get there means that it's not strictly speaking a 'proper' native ultra HD resolution. This means more bang for your buck from your console purchase.
The bottom line is that Scorpio's six teraflops will almost certainly go a lot further than an equivalent PC part. I asked Microsoft about this specifically, and they raise a number of good arguments that make the case strongly. Firstly, that their shader compiler is far more efficient than PC equivalents (think of shaders as native GPU code). Secondly, addressing the hardware directly via their API and with access to console-specific GPU extensions again adds to the advantage of a fixed platform box. And finally, they point to their optimisation software - PIX (Performance Inspector for Xbox) - as a tool that provides the path to console-specific optimisations that PC simply cannot get.
From what I've seen so far, there is some evidence that Scorpio's true 4K performance could pose a challenge to the likes of Nvidia's GTX 1070 and AMD's Fury X-class hardware. I've seen Microsoft's new console running a Forza Motorsport 6-level experience locked to 4K60 on the equivalent to PC's ultra settings - cranking up the quality presets to obscene levels was one of the first things developer Turn 10 did when confronted with the sheer amount of headroom it had left after a straight Xbox One port. Out of interest, we tested Forza 6 Apex with similar settings at 4K on GTX 1060, 1070 and 1080. Frames were dropped on GTX 1060 (and a lot of them when wet weather conditions kicked in), while GTX 1070 held firm with only the most intense wet weather conditions causing performance dips. Only GTX 1080 held completely solid in all test cases. It's only one data point, and the extent to which the code is comparable at all is debatable, but it certainly doesn't harm Scorpio's credentials: Forza 6 Apex received plenty of praise for the quality of its PC port.
The bottom line: PC games need to evolve to more efficiently address 4K, in order to bring down the cost of GPU hardware to effectively and consistently power an ultra HD screen with the latest games. The best console titles have led the way here, and it's a tradition we expect to see continue on Project Scorpio. If third-party games live up to the first-party results we have seen, where 900p and 1080p games scale up to native 4K, the comparisons with PC hardware will prove absolutely fascinating. If Scorpio's GPU can hold native 4K and hand in results on par or better than GTX 1070, this is a seriously good result for a console.
Scorpio's four pillars and a renewed 1080p focus
Before the hardware deep dives commenced, Mike Ybarra, Corporate Vice-President of the Xbox and Windows Gaming Platform dropped by to outline what he called the 'four pillars' behind Scorpio: regaining the hearts and minds of developers, delivering enough power to hand in a great 'true 4K' experience, providing complete compatibility with existing hardware and software (and running old games better) and - crucially - making sure that Scorpio can 'light up' 1080p TVs.
To be clear, Microsoft still expects to sell more Xbox One consoles than Scorpio boxes, and the older tech is perhaps a better fit for full HD displays, but the platform holder has clearly looked at PlayStation 4 Pro take-up - very strong with existing 1080p screen users - and decided that a shift in strategy is required. Last year at E3, Xbox boss Phil Spencer positioned Scorpio very much as a 4K-focused console, though later comments balanced out the pros and cons more effectively for those hanging on to the existing displays. It's the right move, as I believe that core gamers are more likely to upgrade their consoles than their displays, in the short term at least.
With some PS4 Pro titles, we've been vocal in our criticisms of game modes locked to specific display types. If a title has a high resolution mode, 1080p display users should get super-sampling - something that doesn't always happen, even on Sony first party games. Part of Microsoft's commitment to the 1080p user is that super-sampling is mandated - if a Scorpio title runs at a higher resolution, it must downsample for full HD screens. Similarly, in-game frame-rates must be the same or faster than standard Xbox One titles. Hopefully we'll actually see smoother performance.
At the hardware level, Microsoft is confident in the quality of the scaler built into Scorpio's display processor. It's enhanced over the Xbox One S equivalent to "handle the bandwidth and quality requirements of 4K", using a high quality six-tap vertical and horizontal Lanczos filter. Compared to a native 1080p output on Xbox One, super-sampling is a great feature to have: anti-aliasing quality is second to none, the same texture filtering quality improves with more resolution (for a given screen area, the texture is sampled more) and art is richer owing to the use of more highly detailed texture assets.
Microsoft's insistence on 1080p supersampling is actually more inclusive than it sounds, and it's good news for users of all screens. There have been instances of PS4 Pro games with higher performance 1080p modes only accessible if the front-end is set to a full HD output - No Man's Sky and The Last Guardian are two examples of this. If your Pro's set to 4K instead, you might never even know that an alternative, higher performing mode exists. With Scorpio, all game modes - resolution, performance or otherwise - must be available to all users regardless of the display the console is attached to. This philosophy reflects a long-held Digital Foundry view, and hopefully PS4 Pro titles will also follow suit.
Is this the end of the traditional console generation?
This is where we suspect there is a difference in opinion between Sony and Microsoft. Last year, Mark Cerny drew a line in the sand - PS4 and Pro were of the same generation and we'd require a radical upgrade in CPU, GPU, memory and storage to justify a prospective PlayStation 5. Mike Ybarra's comments about users wanting the latest technology faster suggest something different.
Our take? Mark Cerny's outlook is possibly the ideal, and more in line with the core gamer's expectations, but Mike Ybarra hinting at more frequent console refreshes more closely fits the realities of console manufacturing. Moore's Law is slowing down. A 6x to 8x leap in console power every five years is looking less and less viable, so we should expect to see more frequent, more iterative upgrades. However, likening this to a mobile phone upgrade cycle isn't the way I see things going. A new console with a 2x-3x boost every three to four years seems more likely, based on current trends.
Typically, two aspects define improvements in console power - innovative design and the ability to shrink transistors down using the latest semiconductor fabrication technologies. By my reckoning, there's plenty of scope to see performance improvements via the former, but the latter is going to be a struggle. PS4 and Xbox One launched in 2013 and used 28nm chip fabrication technology - first used on PC graphics cards way back in 2011. The replacement 16nm FinFET process used on both Pro and Scorpio only became viable five years later - and I'd venture to suggest that both consoles would not be viable without it. 10nm is starting to roll out now, but may not be suitable for consoles, while 7nm is some years away. With that in mind, more iterative console launches may be the only way to get better hardware out to tech-hungry gamers, but even so, yearly or biannual updates are highly unlikely.
The fortunes of the mid-generation refresh in the longer term remain to be seen, but in the here and now, the transition to 4K display technology is certainly a good enough reason to bring devices like Scorpio and Pro to the market. The transition to ultra HD TVs is the best chance Microsoft will have to launch a more frequent console upgrade cycle. For those wavering over a purchase this year, perhaps not fully convinced by 4K, I'd urge you to check out Horizon Zero Dawn running in HDR on a 4K LG OLED display, or Sony's own ZD9. It's a first-party tech showcase par excellence operating on the best screens available now, and it looks incredible.
In the wake of the Microsoft visit, I've little doubt that Project Scorpio will be a great piece of hardware. Xbox One S went above and beyond what we would expect from a second-gen 'slim' design - in a sense, the Xbox team regained its hardware mojo. But the technology, craftsmanship and attention to detail throughout the new device is simply first class (the only unknown remaining from my perspective is fan noise). It's entirely fair to say that with Xbox One, Microsoft lost technological leadership to Sony and PlayStation 4. Project Scorpio really is exactly the right reaction from the Xbox team in the face of Sony's success: in many respects, this is console hardware design pushed to a new level, with a meticulous focus on appealing to the core gamer.
Beyond that, the excruciating wait begins to see what Scorpio can do where it really counts: its games need to deliver to the same level as its hardware.
We learned about Project Scorpio at an exclusive briefing at Xbox HQ. Microsoft paid for travel and accommodation.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...pio-is-console-hardware-pushed-to-a-new-level
Coming in to post this exact same thing.. figured you were on it.
This son of a bitch is going to be a fucking beast. What they are doing to backwards compatibility is brilliant. It almost demands that current Xbox owners upgrade their system because you know the games are going to be running with the full might of this beast behind it and not have the beast dumb down the experience.
And this is where Sony might have Fucked it up...
Sony is going to have to come out with another system either in 2018 or 2019 to possibly compete with this... which will be a middle finger to those that bought the PS4 pro and a huge loss to the company for all the development into the PS4 pro. Sony should have gone the Xbox S route.
Just carry over your current externals... the shit is going to be compatiable.
With all the free games my shit is filling up quickly. Might get a bigger one and use the one I have for the PS4 since it can finally use an external.
Shit, "Project Scorpio" is a monster for real there won't be any game they can't make now. Sony may be in deep doo doo.
The one thing that Sony still has over Microsoft is exclusives. If Microsoft really wants to come back into th this race.. they are going have to do better then Sea of Theives, Crackdown, and Forza. I'm pretty sure they will drop a halo trailer at E3 but im going to need more IP.
I also wish they bring back Summer of Arcade and Gawd Damn Game demos at least demos for the indie titles..... there are hundreds of indies on the game store that I wouldn't mind playing but I'm not going to just spend money on horseshit. I would like to try some of this shit out first.
They also need a dedicated listing or heading for indie titles...
I just need a pre order date.
As impressed as I am about the specs, none of it means anything if you're agent getting exclusives to take full advantage. Halo? FORZA? Come on, you have to have system sellers now. I bought a ps4 pro to play Horizon Zero Dawn and Last Guardian...I'm not rushing out to buy a Scorpio to play another Halo game. The Switch is technically shit compared the other systems...but they have Zelda and that one game is responsible for moving hardware.
I've got to agree with you.
I'm a tech nut... So I'm definitely buying this, but Microsoft needs to come out guns swinging at E3.. But the Fact that Microsoft shifted their briefing to Sunday afternoon at 2pm Pacific... Should be a sign of things.
Something tells me that they didn't show anything last E3 because they want to show off their new games running on the New Scorpio hardware. I mean think about it. We haven't seen a peep of Crackdown 3 since we found out about Scorpio.
Originally they had planned for Crackdown to only have destructible buildings in the Multiplayer due to the Xbox Ones computing power.. (anybody remember when cloud computing was the IT phrase)... but now I'm beginning to wonder if they are working on Mass destruction for Crackdown on the Scorpio.
Speak of the Devil...
New Crackdown 3 Info Is "On The Horizon," Developer Says
"2017 is shaping up to be great!"
Last updated by Eddie Makuch on April 4, 2017 at 6:59PM
It's been a while since we've gotten new information about Crackdown 3, but that is going to change soon, it seems. More information about the Xbox One and PC is "on the horizon," reads a tweet from the game's official Twitter account.
"2017 is shaping up to be great!" the developer said (via WindowsCentral). "Crackdown 3 info is on the horizon, and we're ready to bring the boom!"
View image on Twitter
Follow
Crackdown @crackdown
2017 is shaping up to be great! #Crackdown3 info is on the horizon, and we're ready to bring the boom!
4:09 PM - 4 Apr 2017
Asked on Twitter if the Crackdown 3 news might come on Thursday as part of the Project Scorpio reveal, the developer said, "We have no insight in to what other teams are working on, but Crackdown news will start rolling out BIG TIME in the coming months."
The "coming months" could be a reference to E3, which takes place in early June. Microsoft's briefing is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, June 11, which is earlier than its normal Monday morning timeslot.
Crackdown 3, or at least a part of it, was previously expected to launch in 2016. Microsoft later confirmed a delay to 2017, for a couple of reasons. First, Xbox marketing manager Aaron Greenberg said the open-world game won't launch in 2016 because the company's holiday lineup was already so stuffed with great games that it didn't need more. Later, Microsoft Studios boss Shannon Loftis said the delay is partially the result of needing more time work on the campaign.
We also know that the game will run at 4K on Project Scorpio and should launch this holiday or sooner.
Crackdown 3 is in development at Reagent Games, under the guidance of Crackdown series veteran David Jones. For more on the game, you can see all of GameSpot's previous written and video coverage here.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-crackdown-3-info-is-on-the-horizon-developer-s/1100-6449191/
New Crackdown 3 Info Is "On The Horizon," Developer Says
"2017 is shaping up to be great!"
Last updated by Eddie Makuch on April 4, 2017 at 6:59PM
It's been a while since we've gotten new information about Crackdown 3, but that is going to change soon, it seems. More information about the Xbox One and PC is "on the horizon," reads a tweet from the game's official Twitter account.
"2017 is shaping up to be great!" the developer said (via WindowsCentral). "Crackdown 3 info is on the horizon, and we're ready to bring the boom!"
View image on Twitter
Follow
Crackdown @crackdown2017 is shaping up to be great! #Crackdown3 info is on the horizon, and we're ready to bring the boom!
4:09 PM - 4 Apr 2017
Asked on Twitter if the Crackdown 3 news might come on Thursday as part of the Project Scorpio reveal, the developer said, "We have no insight in to what other teams are working on, but Crackdown news will start rolling out BIG TIME in the coming months."
The "coming months" could be a reference to E3, which takes place in early June. Microsoft's briefing is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, June 11, which is earlier than its normal Monday morning timeslot.
Crackdown 3, or at least a part of it, was previously expected to launch in 2016. Microsoft later confirmed a delay to 2017, for a couple of reasons. First, Xbox marketing manager Aaron Greenberg said the open-world game won't launch in 2016 because the company's holiday lineup was already so stuffed with great games that it didn't need more. Later, Microsoft Studios boss Shannon Loftis said the delay is partially the result of needing more time work on the campaign.
We also know that the game will run at 4K on Project Scorpio and should launch this holiday or sooner.
Crackdown 3 is in development at Reagent Games, under the guidance of Crackdown series veteran David Jones. For more on the game, you can see all of GameSpot's previous written and video coverage here.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-crackdown-3-info-is-on-the-horizon-developer-s/1100-6449191/
Why Microsoft is making Project Scorpio
With today's reveal of the tech behind Project Scorpio, we now know what is inside the next Xbox. But why did Microsoft build it in the first place?
Project Scorpio represents a fresh start for Xbox and Microsoft's console ambitions after the relative failure of the Xbox One. That much is clear. So there's an obvious commercial benefit to launching a new, ultra powerful console to help reboot Xbox. But there's more to it than that.
Mike Ybarra, corporate vice president of the Xbox and Windows gaming platform at Microsoft, discussed this topic at length with Digital Foundry editor Richard Leadbetter when he travelled to Redmond to unearth the innards of Project Scorpio. According to Ybarra, Microsoft was in part motivated by a desire to "win developers back" after the launch of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in 2013. This after a reversal of the developer relationship it enjoyed during the Xbox 360 and PS3 era.
"The team looked back at developers and the developer relationship we have," Ybarra said. "With Xbox 360 we had the absolute best platform for developers, [with Xbox One] we sort of lost that in a two-year time-frame, so we said how do we win the mind-share of those developers back?
"We want the best games running on our box and there are tools, devkits and some arrows like that to win the developers back. So that was a big priority for us as we approached this product."
Ybarra's comments bring to mind Sony's strategy for the PS4. Following a post-mortem of the PS3, which many multiplatform developers found tricky to work on compared to the Xbox 360, Sony decided to focus on delivering a high spec console that was easy to develop for.
"I think of it as super-charged PC architecture, and that's because we have gone in and altered it in a number of ways to make it better for gaming," PS4 chief architect Mark Cerny said in a Digital Foundry interview from 2013.
"We have unified memory which certainly makes creating a game easier - that was the number one feature requested by the games companies."
The PS4 ended up a more powerful console than Xbox One, pleasing developers mindful of the performance of multiplatform games in the process. And it's this trend Microsoft hopes to reverse with Project Scorpio, which promises to out-muscle the PS4 Pro when it comes out later in 2017.
"We have to win the hearts and minds of developers," Ybarra said. "We have to have the right toolset that lets them bring out their games across the whole family of products and let them create the absolute best versions of those games."
There's more to the why of Project Scorpio than that, of course. Project Scorpio, like the PS4 Pro, is a mid-generation refresh - something we're not used to seeing from console makers. Ybarra said Microsoft had taken note of the mobile phone business model, which sees new handsets released yearly.
"I think externally, as you look at the industry... consumers, they've just changed a lot," Ybarra said.
"When you think about phones, for example, consumers are buying phones more frequently than we've ever seen. Their expectation of technology is they no longer need to wait for it, it's immediately there in front of them and they expect all of their content to flow across those devices, too.
"And so when you see people buy phones, their apps just download and they just keep going and it works seamlessly for them. Same with 4K TVs. 4K TVs are one of the biggest holiday items this past year. People are expecting this new technology faster than I've ever seen and when you think about the console business, that's kind of in conflict to that, because it's like here's a console and for the next five to seven years, you're on that physical box. And yeah the games get a little better because developers get faster and they optimise it and things start looking a little better, but really you're fixed in that box."
Ybarra said that around four years ago, Albert Penello, who leads marketing for Xbox consoles, sat Microsoft's team down and got them to thinking about how to change the traditional console cycle.
"When we see consumers tell us they want 'the latest technology, the latest experience, the best experience more frequently' to our traditional console business that doesn't really align with that, you have to pause, you have to take some pretty big risks," Ybarra said.
"What does it mean to introduce a console within the generation that provides enough difference that makes consumers appreciate and want that device?
Here's a thing
:: The best 4K screens for HDR gaming
:: Inside the next Xbox: Project Scorpio tech revealed
"That's the big thing we're doing here. We're taking that big risk to release something we know consumers want. And adopting that business model, that's where the risk comes in - it's in the business model of saying let's change things up and let's give consumers what they want, sooner."
While Digital Foundry has revealed the tech powering the next Xbox, we still don't know the final name of the console, nor do we know how much Microsoft will charge for its mid-generation refresh. But one thing seems clear: Project Scorpio will be more expensive than PS4 Pro.
Ybarra told Leadbetter Project Scorpio is designed for "that premium customer, the gamer that expects the absolute best versions of the games" - so expect it to be priced accordingly.
Scorpio made simple: the next Xbox's tech explained
Last week, Digital Foundry's Rich Leadbetter travelled to the Microsoft campus in Redmond for an exclusive deep dive on the tech powering the next Xbox console, codenamed Project Scorpio. You can find his detailed report here on Eurogamer, along with his opinion on and analysis of what he saw and heard, and an additional look at how Scorpio will handle backward compatibility.
But if you're not as tech-literate as the average Digital Foundry reader, you might be wondering what this all means in layman's terms. Read on - we've got you covered.
What's it called? When's it out? What does it look like? How much will it cost?
We either weren't told, or can't tell you. Sorry. This was a tech reveal. We assume those details are being saved for E3. There's some good stuff in here though, promise.
Come on, give us a hint!
The form factor of the console will pleasantly surprise you. As for cost, Microsoft told us absolutely nothing - but looking at what's in it, it ain't going to be cheap. Our guess, and it is just a guess, is $499, the same launch price as the original Xbox One.
So, what did you find out?
Microsoft gave us the full tech specs of the machine. The central processor (CPU) has eight custom x86 cores clocked at 2.3GHz. The graphics processor (GPU) has 40 customised compute units clocked at 1172MHz - a very high clock speed for a console - and it does achieve Microsoft's stated six-teraflop performance figure. There's 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, with a memory bandwidth of 326GB/s. There's a faster 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive, and a UHD Blu-ray drive. Like Xbox One S, it has an integrated power supply, so no external power brick. In terms of input/output ports, it is identical to Xbox One S (so, no Kinect port, but HDMI in is retained).
I didn't understand any of that.
OK, so the CPU is about 30 per cent faster than the Xbox One's. The GPU is 4.6 times more powerful than Xbox One's. What matters just as much, though, is the huge amount of very fast memory available. Even with 4GB reserved for the system, games have a whole 8GB to play with, up from 5GB of much slower memory on Xbox One. That means fast streaming of very high-quality art assets, which will really help at the 4K ultra HD resolutions that Microsoft is gunning for.
So it's as powerful as they said it would be? As powerful as everyone hoped?
Pretty much, yeah. Some were hoping to see next-gen CPU technology in there, but that was never likely, given Microsoft's mandated compatibility with all existing Xbox One software. On the CPU side, what we have is a more modest evolution of the Xbox One unit. But the GPU is a beast. It's very, very fast.
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Last week, Digital Foundry's Rich Leadbetter travelled to the Microsoft campus in Redmond for an exclusive deep dive on the tech powering the next Xbox console, codenamed Project Scorpio. You can find his detailed report here on Eurogamer, along with his opinion on and analysis of what he saw and heard, and an additional look at how Scorpio will handle backward compatibility.
But if you're not as tech-literate as the average Digital Foundry reader, you might be wondering what this all means in layman's terms. Read on - we've got you covered.
What's it called? When's it out? What does it look like? How much will it cost?
We either weren't told, or can't tell you. Sorry. This was a tech reveal. We assume those details are being saved for E3. There's some good stuff in here though, promise.
Come on, give us a hint!
The form factor of the console will pleasantly surprise you. As for cost, Microsoft told us absolutely nothing - but looking at what's in it, it ain't going to be cheap. Our guess, and it is just a guess, is $499, the same launch price as the original Xbox One.
So, what did you find out?
Microsoft gave us the full tech specs of the machine. The central processor (CPU) has eight custom x86 cores clocked at 2.3GHz. The graphics processor (GPU) has 40 customised compute units clocked at 1172MHz - a very high clock speed for a console - and it does achieve Microsoft's stated six-teraflop performance figure. There's 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, with a memory bandwidth of 326GB/s. There's a faster 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive, and a UHD Blu-ray drive. Like Xbox One S, it has an integrated power supply, so no external power brick. In terms of input/output ports, it is identical to Xbox One S (so, no Kinect port, but HDMI in is retained).
I didn't understand any of that.
OK, so the CPU is about 30 per cent faster than the Xbox One's. The GPU is 4.6 times more powerful than Xbox One's. What matters just as much, though, is the huge amount of very fast memory available. Even with 4GB reserved for the system, games have a whole 8GB to play with, up from 5GB of much slower memory on Xbox One. That means fast streaming of very high-quality art assets, which will really help at the 4K ultra HD resolutions that Microsoft is gunning for.
So it's as powerful as they said it would be? As powerful as everyone hoped?
Pretty much, yeah. Some were hoping to see next-gen CPU technology in there, but that was never likely, given Microsoft's mandated compatibility with all existing Xbox One software. On the CPU side, what we have is a more modest evolution of the Xbox One unit. But the GPU is a beast. It's very, very fast.
More powerful than PlayStation 4 Pro?
Yes. Sony's machine is very clever and produces great results in the right hands - and as ever, the quality of the end results depends on how well the software runs, not on waving numbers around. But as far as those numbers go, Scorpio has PS4 Pro licked. It will surely be more expensive, too. It's a higher-spec machine in every sense, down to the optical drive that plays the new UHD Blu-ray format (not that anyone buys those). Microsoft uses the word "premium", and you know what that means: $$$.
Did you see it running a game?
Yes. Well, a ForzaTech demo, which is a stress test based on the Forza Motorsport 6 engine, running the maximum number of cars around a track with dynamic weather and all the bells and whistles turned on.
How did it do?
Smashed it. At the same graphics quality settings as Xbox One, the demo ran at a full 4K resolution, at a perfect 60 frames per second. For Xbox One to do this at a standard HD resolution of 1080p uses about 90 per cent of that console's power. Scorpio was only using 60-70 per cent of its resources to run this demo. The graphics settings were then ramped up to the equivalent of the ultra settings on the PC game Forza Motorsport Apex, and Scorpio still didn't break a sweat.
So that means...
Scorpio potentially has enough power not just to run Xbox One games at 4K resolution at the same frame rate - it's got power to spare on improving their looks further, with higher quality graphics settings, smoother frame rates, and more.
What's the catch?
Microsoft didn't choose the Forza engine to demo to us by accident. It's one of the best optimised, best performing game engines out there. Results on other game engines can and will vary.
I don't have a 4K TV and I doubt I'm going to get one any time soon. Why should I care?
Microsoft has made a commitment that (unlike PS4 Pro) all improved Scorpio modes for games must be available regardless of the display that's connected. So even with a regular 1080p TV, you'll be able to choose between performance modes that make the game run better, or resolution modes that will then "supersample" the 4K image down to your 1080p display, which should give you superb image quality - basically, a fantastically smooth and pretty picture. It's like having the ultimate anti-aliasing solution.
Hmm, maybe...
OK, how about this: Scorpio will run absolutely all Xbox One games better, whether they get patched with 4K/Scorpio enhanced modes or not. Rather than running on an emulated Xbox One, they'll run with the full power of Scorpio unlocked, which in most cases should mean: more stable frame rates that hit their target more often; no screen tearing; maximum possible resolution at all times; nicer-looking textures; and faster load times, thanks to the improved hard drive and the spare 3GB of fast RAM.
Sounds good. What about backwards compatible Xbox 360 games? Any advantages there?
Yep, all the above. And it's worth pointing out that none of this has been easy for Microsoft to engineer. There's an impressive commitment to making as many Xbox games as possible run better than you've ever seen them before on Scorpio.
So, what do you think?
With the pretty huge caveat that we've only seen one demo running on the machine - and for the umpteenth time, software is everything - we're very impressed. The machine is beautifully engineered, right down to the state-of-the-art vapour cooling system that will keep that monster graphics processor cool. It's a far cry from Xbox One, Kinect and TVTVTV. It reminds us of the original Xbox and Xbox 360 - this is Microsoft throwing its considerable engineering resources at making the best possible games-playing machine. Xbox is back.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-06-project-scorpio-explained
full uncompressed 4k image
https://cdn.gamer-network.net/2017/screenshots/Forza-Tech-Screenshot.png
I think it will be $450
It will sell like hot cakes if it's priced at $399
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FUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
damn...got my interest now...will it play my regular XB1 games? damn I gotta see if there are any 4K projectors otherwise I might have to finally breakdown and get a 65" joint...jeezus christ that's a beautiful visual
any settings I can change to make the XB1 more functional offline...I was watching a show using VLC then got booted cause my internet connection is fucking up...I should be able to watch a fucking show/movie off my HD regardless of fucking internet connection...any help would be appreciated
Xbox Scorpio could be the best 4K Blu-ray player
Microsoft’s Project Scorpio is an upgrade to the Xbox One — a significant upgrade, it seems. On paper, it will be the most powerful gaming console in history when it launches this holiday season.
But the main reason I’m going to buy one has less to do with its gaming performance and much more to do with a different piece of its hardware. The best home video experience still depends on physical media, and the Xbox Scorpio is already in the running to be the best 4K Blu-ray player on the market.
Physical media isn’t dead yet
As I said in my 4K explainer last year, 4K resolution has arrived. At this point, it doesn’t make much sense to buy a 1080p television: 4K isn’t any more expensive than 1080p these days, and almost all top-of-the-line units are 4K displays.
Even so, there’s still a severe lack of native 4K content to watch on those fancy new TVs. DirecTV is currently the only company that is broadcasting in 4K, and that’s on three channels. A number of streaming services offer a selection of content in 4K, including Amazon Video and Netflix. Hollywood studios and other providers are releasing more and more content on Ultra HD Blu-ray. Computers with powerful graphics cards have been able to run video games in 4K for some time. Console gaming is stepping into the 4K world with Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro last fall and, roughly a year later, Microsoft’s Project Scorpio.
That might sound like a decent array of options, but UHD Blu-ray is the only physical media format for 4K content. (Xbox One games will continue to come on standard Blu-ray Discs, since Microsoft isn’t allowing any Scorpio-exclusive titles.) Streaming services can provide a solid 4K picture — I watched Netflix’s Stranger Things in 4K last summer, and it looked great — but they can’t quite deliver the same fidelity or features as a UHD Blu-ray.
Sure, most people won’t care about the videophile’s argument citing the inferior bit rate of streaming 4K compared to UHD Blu-ray, or the audiophile’s preference for certain surround sound formats and multiple language options. UHD Blu-ray is also your best bet for high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut, two features that are arguably more important than 4K resolution itself. While some nongaming apps can deliver HDR content on the Xbox One S, none of the nongaming apps on the PS4 Pro currently support HDR. (Scorpio, the Xbox One S and all PS4s support HDR for games.)
If that doesn’t persuade you, consider the following: Services like Netflix are continuing to ramp up their original content efforts in favor of maintaining a massive library of movies, TV shows, documentaries and other items. My decade-old DVDs of Arrested Development don’t look great on my 4K TV, but I sure am glad I have them, since the show’s first three (and best) seasons almost just disappeared from Netflix.
Most people will disregard discs and tell you that physical media is going the way of the dodo. Indeed, that was part of Sony’s justification for leaving a 4K Blu-ray drive out of the PS4 Pro. “Our feeling is that while physical media continues to be a big part of the games business, we see a trend on video towards streaming,” said Andrew House, head of the PlayStation division, in an interview with The Guardian for the console’s unveiling in September.
Purists and collectors don’t need to be convinced of the merits of physical media, but that doesn’t make the choice any less expensive. Most movies cost around $30 upon first release on 4K Blu-ray, the same level as Blu-rays early in that format’s history. Of course, you also need a device that can play them, and stand-alone 4K Blu-ray players aren’t cheap. Most of them cost upward of $200, and although they often include streaming apps, anybody who’s reading this article probably already owns multiple devices that offer that functionality.
That’s what makes the Xbox One S so appealing for people who want a 4K Blu-ray player and are even remotely interested in video games, but don’t already own an Xbox One. The Xbox One S is widely available for under $300, and it happens to be able to play 4K Blu-rays. While audiophiles have taken issue with the Xbox One’s lack of support for bitstream pass-through audio, Microsoft is finally delivering that feature next week. I hear the Xbox One S is a fine device for playing 4K Blu-rays, but I held off on buying one because I have a launch Xbox One and I knew that Scorpio was on the way.
I’m a weird person
Now that we know Scorpio will contain a 4K Blu-ray drive and be able to play games at native 4K resolution, even at 60 frames per second, I’m on board. I also recognize that my situation is a special case: I own a 4K HDR TV and a surround sound system, but I don’t yet have a UHD Blu-ray player. Oh, and I like video games.
In other words, I’m pretty much the target market for Scorpio.
I forgot one other element of my situation: I’m lucky enough to have enough disposable income to be able to afford a new gaming console. Scorpio’s price is likely to be high, and that’s the only thing that would give me pause about buying one. Cost was the other reason Sony gave for the lack of 4K Blu-ray support in the PS4 Pro. Sony launched the console at $399, and with the powerful technology inside Scorpio — including the cost of the UHD Blu-ray drive — there’s probably no way Microsoft could hit that price point.
Digital Foundry, the source of today’s deep dive into the Scorpio hardware, made an educated guess at the system’s launch price: $499. That’s about my upper limit; it seems reasonable if you think about the guts of the console and the retail price of a stand-alone 4K Blu-ray player. But considering that that’s $100 more than the PS4 Pro — not to mention that Sony could very well drop the price between now and Scorpio’s debut — many other people might balk at that number.
Like I said, I’m weird. I didn’t need much convincing, but Microsoft still has a lot of work to do for most other folks.
Correction (April 7): Although Netflix previously announced that the first three seasons of Arrested Development would disappear from the service as of April, they remain available for the time being.
http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/6/15207548/xbox-scorpio-best-4k-blu-ray-player
That Scorpio makes me want to buy a microsoft made gaming console. Been team Sony but this looks like a game changer.
I hate to sound like a nerd elitist but PC will still be the master race.
I hate to sound like a nerd elitist but PC will still be the master race.
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