The Xbox Series X is sure to be one of the best video game consoles when it launches, but Microsoft has finally confirmed the biggest Xbox Series X rumor – it’s smaller than a fridge. We all hoped that they’d manage it, but those technology wizards at Redmond have done it. Oh, and it also revealed a ton of specs and showed off some of the new features of the Xbox Series X and the new Xbox controller.
The above image is obviously a bit of fun stemming from the Xbox Series X’s unique design, which you must admit does look a lot like a fridge. Alongside this, Microsoft has unveiled the complete tech specifications for the Xbox Series X and we have to say, it looks like a bit of a beast. We’ve already seen the 12 teraflop number floating around, but we now know how that performance will be delivered: a 12 TFLOPS Custom RDNA 2 GPU, backed up by an 8x Cores 3.8 GHz Custom Zen 2 CPU.
Those numbers don’t mean a whole lot out of context, but what it means is that the Xbox Series X is going to be a significant power jump over the current generation of games consoles – we’re looking at 4 times the power of the Xbox One X and 8 times the output of the launch Xbox One.
But Microsoft wants to be clear that it’s not all about power this time around. “While the Xbox Series X will deliver a massive increase in GPU performance and continue to redefine and advance the state of art in graphics with new capabilities such as hardware accelerated raytracing,” explained Jason Ronald, Director of Product Management on the Xbox Series X, “we don’t believe this generation will be defined by graphics or resolution alone.”
To that end, Microsoft has also shown off some tech demos for some of the new features that the Xbox Series X will have up its sleeves. For one thing, users will now have the ability to instantly resume multiple games, meaning you don’t have to close down one game to start another up. This lets you skip the loading screens and get right back into the action. There's a video of this in action, showing a user swapping between five different games instantly without having to start each program up from scratch.
And when you do have to endure a loading screen, it won’t be for very long thanks as Microsoft showed off in a demo video comparing the load times for State of Decay 2 between the Xbox Series X and an Xbox One X.
We also got a look at the new Xbox controller that will ship with the console. It’s very much a refinement of the Xbox One controller’s winning formula, with a redesigned d-pad, textures trigger grips and a dedicated share button. We think it looks pretty slick and as fans of the current controller, we’re glad they haven’t gone overboard on the redesign. Finally, we also learned that you'll be able to expand the console's internal storage through proprietary storage cards, alongside traditional external hard drives.
We’re still waiting for some key information from Microsoft when it comes to the Xbox Series X though. We’ve seen how it stacks up to a standard fridge, but how does it compare to the best side-by-side refrigerators? What about the best French door refrigerators? We need to know Microsoft, stop holding out on us.
