Xbox boss: next-gen consoles will bring biggest change to games since jump from 2D to 3D

[midian182]

A hot potato: Time might feel like it’s passing slowly these days, but we really are moving ever closer to the holiday season and the launch of the next-gen consoles. Ramping up the hype train, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has claimed that the Xbox Series X will bring about the biggest change in gaming since the move from 2D to 3D.

Microsoft has given away plenty of details about the Xbox Series X’s capabilities, including its hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing. Answering a question about how the technology will improve games compared to the previous generation, Spencer said: “RT [Ray Tracing] on console will be great. I'm very focused on the work we are doing around Dynamic Latency Input (DLI). In my view the feel of games this upcoming generation will change as dramatically as any since 2D to 3D given CPU upgrade, DLI, memory bandwidth and SSD.”

RT on console will be great. I'm very focused on the work we are doing around Dynamic Latency Input (DLI). In my view the feel of games this upcoming generation will change as dramatically as any since 2D to 3D given CPU upgrade, DLI, memory bandwidth and SSD.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 27, 2020

Spencer notes that a lot of work is going into Dynamic Latency Input—a system that reduces the input delay from a controller by sending the data just before it’s needed by a game, resulting in significantly lower controller latency.

The exec also mentions how the upgraded processor, increased memory bandwidth, and the much talked about solid-state drive speeds will set games on the Xbox Series X—and PS5—apart from what’s come before.

We’ve not seen much of games running on the Xbox Series X, though Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was shown off at December’s game awards. Microsoft said the gorgeous trailer is running as in-engine, which is promising.

The Xbox Series X is said to be capable of 4K@60pfs, 8K, up to 120fps, and feature 12 teraflops of power. Whether it and the PS5 produce games as outstanding as Spencer claims remains to be seen. It’ll also be interesting to find out how the consoles compare to the PC.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85028-xbox-boss-next-gen-consoles-bring-biggest-change.html

 

[m4a4]

I mean, I guess you could say that. But that bar isn't terribly high in the first place lol

 

[QuantumPhysics]

They are buy trying to sell technical jargon rather than gameplay footage.

Secret: Gameplay footage works better.

The only major upgrade will be the SSD storage.

SSD additions to old computers with HDD, brings such a major increase in performance than an old computer can seem new again. But other than the corporatized gaming experience, they are gonna have to work really hard to get me to buy in.

I absolute won't buy unless I see must-have exclusives.

Warhawk made me buy Playstation.
Soldier of Fortune II made me buy Xbox.
Quake 4 made me buy Xbox 360.
Battlefield 4 made me buy Xbox One.

Those games I pointed out weren't exclusives (with the exception of Warhawk) but desktop computers were so expensive back then I couldn't spare the extra money.

What will Xbox Series X have to force me to buy instead of just getting the game for my PC?

 

[Irata]

I guess we'll see a little bit after both consoles have been released.

IO will certainly play a part.

 

[OortCloud]

It is nice to see next gen consoles at least competing with the latest PC hardware. Last time around the consoles were mid-tier PC's at best.

 

[MaitieS]

They are buy trying to sell technical jargon rather than gameplay footage.

Secret: Gameplay footage works better.

The only major upgrade will be the SSD storage.

SSD additions to old computers with HDD, brings such a major increase in performance than an old computer can seem new again. But other than the corporatized gaming experience, they are gonna have to work really hard to get me to buy in.

I absolute won't buy unless I see must-have exclusives.

Warhawk made me buy Playstation.
Soldier of Fortune II made me buy Xbox.
Quake 4 made me buy Xbox 360.
Battlefield 4 made me buy Xbox One.

Those games I pointed out weren't exclusives (with the exception of Warhawk) but desktop computers were so expensive back then I couldn't spare the extra money.

What will Xbox Series X have to force me to buy instead of just getting the game for my PC?

Ray Tracing is also a huge upgrade. Like did you even see Minecraft RTX Off/On? How could you say that SSD is major upgrade when RTX is great as well and DLS too. This generation is going to be huge especially when it is not as mid-tier PC's like previous gen.

 

[Digitalzone]

The game's content is terribly lacking. Majority of games is garbage for losers with low or zero quality threshold. There is time to time something interesting but that's exceptions. I see as better strategy to play once in 5 years, so some gems will accumulate.
Rather find better hobby. Does anyone consider watching tv series a hobby? Gaming is not so different.

 

[krizby]

Sadly Nvidia is just gonna make the next gen consoles mid tier PC before they arrive...
Hopefully microsoft can erase the exclusive boundary between PC and Console, kinda make me mad with all those FF VII Remake clips that Youtube keep showing me since I dont have PS4....

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Ray Tracing is also a huge upgrade. Like did you even see Minecraft RTX Off/On? How could you say that SSD is major upgrade when RTX is great as well and DLS too. This generation is going to be huge especially when it is not as mid-tier PC's like previous gen.

I haven't seen the benefits of ray tracing and I have the best card on the market for it.

Structurally, I'm still disappointed you can't install your own M.2 or Sata SSD in the Xbox Series X.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Ray Tracing is also a huge upgrade. Like did you even see Minecraft RTX Off/On? How could you say that SSD is major upgrade when RTX is great as well and DLS too. This generation is going to be huge especially when it is not as mid-tier PC's like previous gen.

Probably because the path tracing used in the Minecraft demo was so performance intensive it would only run 1080p while averaging a bit over 30FPS.

If you want the 4K native and 60FPS on complex next gen games (I.e NOT minecraft) from these consoles then you better get used to having mild ray tracing enhancements at best.

I would say the biggest leap in fidelity at least in the 3D era was PlayStation to PlayStation 2. The later PS2 games were so good if you scale them up to HD resolutions in emulators they still look nice enough, 15+ years later. You can also do a lot to PS1 games but they few hold up well.

 

[brucek]

I believe we'll see more benefit from Ray Tracing now that developers know that allocating development budget for it is of benefit to 100% of the title's audience, vs. maybe less than 10%.

Even so it's been a long time since I've felt that graphics made or broke a game. There were great games even when graphics were primitive compared to what we have now. In the long run there are other elements that give a great game its heart and soul.

As to the dynamic latency input, I really wish I could claim that some fraction of a millisecond of controller input processing delay was a noticeable component of my total human reaction time. I do believe there are pros who are much, much faster than me but I think I take at minimum tens of milliseconds to do anything, and hundreds is not out of the question. I question how many gamers are going to find this a major change in their gaming experience.

 

[Eldritch]

Raytracing is the future standard part of games. Emphasis on future.

Right now the consoles have been frozen with the specs which are simply not enough for raytracing at higher res in complex scenes. Ofcourse, it can be circumvented to a large extent by using it very sparingly and using lightmaps for other situations. And cutscenes. Sooo many cutscenes full of both pre rendered and in game sequence specific renders created to flaunt a effect that one time in a specific scenario.

They will call it 'optimization' and everyone will wonder how console games look so great with relatively low specs.

Years later, PC port of the game will be released with full raytracing, real time global illumination, much higher draw distance, high res textures etc. However, framerate will somehow still be locked.

We will discuss how performance intensive it is on computers and how it used to run great on consoles.

 

[Wasteak]

The only major upgrade will be the SSD storage.

Well not only.

. Those games I pointed out weren't exclusives (with the exception of Warhawk) but desktop computers were so expensive back then I couldn't spare the extra money.

A computer that can runs in high every game you quote, didn't cost more than 500€/600€.
Was it still too much ? (not being mean, just asking)

 

[Irata]

Well not only.


A computer that can runs in high every game you quote, didn't cost more than 500€/600€.
Was it still too much ? (not being mean, just asking)

Are you sure about that ? Looking at a 2005 Anandtech article with gaming PC recommendations - and these are for a mid range system - I get higher numbers for a PC:

MB + CPU - 311
GPU - 379

And then you need all the rest.

XBox 360 cost USD 299 / 399. Basically the cost of a GPU alone.

Mid-Range Buyer's Guide, September 2005

www.anandtech.com

 

[Wasteak]

Are you sure about that ? Looking at a 2005 Anandtech article with gaming PC recommendations - and these are for a mid range system - I get higher numbers for a PC:

MB + CPU - 311
GPU - 379

And then you need all the rest.

XBox 360 cost USD 299 / 399. Basically the cost of a GPU alone.

Mid-Range Buyer's Guide, September 2005

www.anandtech.com

I was talking about the battlefield/xbox one time period, failed my quoting sry

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Well not only.


A computer that can runs in high every game you quote, didn't cost more than 500€/600€.
Was it still too much ? (not being mean, just asking)

I was busy paying for school and my car and house. Couldn't afford the extra for PC build until later.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

This past generation was an outlier, a lateral step in technology because Sony and Microsoft were afraid consoles were dying thanks to mobile gaming. Now that both know this isn't the case, this next generation will finally be a true generational leap akin to what we saw between OG Xbox and Xbox 360 or PS2 and PS3.

Significantly better CPU, significantly more powerful GPU on a more efficient architecture, custom SSDs... It's going to be fun.

 

[gamerk2]

Ray Tracing is also a huge upgrade. Like did you even see Minecraft RTX Off/On? How could you say that SSD is major upgrade when RTX is great as well and DLS too. This generation is going to be huge especially when it is not as mid-tier PC's like previous gen.

Except these consoles won't be able to push ray-tracing; we're still a few generations from having the GPU horsepower to do so.

 

[Reehahs]

Talk about hyperbole.

 

[numnumnum]

Bullsh*t. A bit better graphics and a bit higher frame rate, that's it. All that is available on PC for a long time already. Ray tracing is good, but there is no doubt that its performance will be very limited for this generation, at least before some "pro" versions will be released.
I'm not saying that it is bad, just saying that it's already a bit annoying, to hear such a bold statements every other day without any real showcase. And history shows that when it is time for the real deal - graphics almost always gets some downgrade from what was promised. They should allow real engineers to talk about main changes, instead of these "effective managers".

 

[OptimumSlinky]

All that is available on PC for a long time already.

You realize he's talking about consoles, right? Literally nobody cares that this stuff has been on PC for a while, because the bulk of the gaming market is still console driven. And if console players wanted to buy PCs, they would. Instead, they buy PlayStations and Xboxes.

Next-gen is bringing PCIE 4.0 SSDs (which are NOT common on PC yet), 8c/16t CPUs (more common on PC but there are still probably more 4c/8t i5s and i7s out there total), and a ray-tracing capable GPU with 10+ teraflops TO THE MASSES. So while most PC gamers are still at 1080p with GTX 1060s and 1050 Ti's, the Xbox is going to be bringing a 2080 Super to the living room with VRR, HDR, and 4K/60+ Hz.

Does that mean PC gaming is dead? No, of course not. PC gaming will never die, and in a year or two PCs will be more powerful and ahead again. But this generation is going to be a big jump, and at launch these consoles are going to embarrass the majority of "gaming PCs."

 

[numnumnum]

Next-gen is bringing PCIE 4.0 SSDs (which are NOT common on PC yet), 8c/16t CPUs (more common on PC but there are still probably more 4c/8t i5s and i7s out there total), and a ray-tracing capable GPU with 10+ teraflops TO THE MASSES. So while most PC gamers are still at 1080p with GTX 1060s and 1050 Ti's, the Xbox is going to be bringing a 2080 Super to the living room with VRR, HDR, and 4K/60+ Hz.

No need to prove that PC is better or worth for gaming, I have no preference here. From game developers perspective mobile market is a clear winner for a long time already. What I'm saying is next generation consoles are just a 2x-2.5x more powerful then current pro/x versions. From my point this doesn't look like next gen.

PCI-E 4.0 capable SSD: nothing to say here, great thing, that will actually be used.

8/16 CPUs: exclusive games and some good studios probably will be able to use that, but computational tasks in gaming that CPU is responsible for can't be paralleled that easily, also even if all 8/16 will be used that doesn't mean 8/8 or in some cases even 4/8 will do job worse, there are too many factors to count here. Main performance bump is not 8/16, but architecture and higher raw cpu power with higher clocks.

Ray tracing with 10+ tflops GPU: that's good, but to get fair ray tracing you need more like 30+ flops GPU. For now it will be rasterization + ray tracing, which still will give visible difference in some specific scenes, but 2d to 3d level change? Ah come one, pure marketing.

This will also be first time when games will be created for both generations of the consoles at the same time, because of backward compatibility and amount of players on the current gen, so I'm skeptical about major graphics bump.

So again - this is good update for the consoles, but it doesn't feel like something next gen.

About "PC gaming is dead" question, I see it as quite the opposite, more like console gaming is dead, as consoles are basically just a PC build already. 3 years release cycle, backwards compatibility, so there be no major graphics bump with next gen, etc.

Still with that being said I would like to see what PS5-only exclusives will look like, when you don't have to think about cross platform or past gen support.

 

[m3tavision]

So many people offended by the graphical horsepower, that these new rdna2 consoles are bringing to the Gaming market.

This Holiday season, you are going to have a bunch of adolescent youth gaming with higher frames & better visual fidelity, than 95% of PC market. Microsoft's Series X is equal to a rtx2080 SUPER in frames w/300% increase in ray tracing.

rdna2 consoles: Most games will be playable at 4k 60fps. There is nothing to cry, or whine about there.