Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Next-Gen Xbox Will Arrive in 2020: Report (thurrott.com)
Brad Sams, writing for Thurrott blog: This past week, I was tipped off that the next generation Xbox was codenamed Scarlett and in an effort to track down if this information was accurate, I was able to view content that highlighted several unannounced Microsoft products that are coming in the next two years. Microsoft is planning for the next Xbox console release to arrive in 2020. But what is more interesting, is that Microsoft describes 'Scarlett' as a family of devices; meaning we may see multiple pieces of hardware released that year.
The XBox is no longer a video game console.
It is an ad machine. Has been since they removed the blade interface from the 360
90% of the home screen is ads and 'recommendations' (Fancy way of saying ads.)
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
The problem with that approach is that it destroys all benefits of a console. Games devs target consoles exactly because they know exactly what hardware they're targeting, and what performance constraints they have to hit. Making versions with all kinds of different hardware in them just makes them under-powered PCs.
I disagree. A console existed to deliver a high quality and consistent experience based on specialized hardware and input interfaces at a time when the general consumer couldn't be bothered to labor through the complexities of building a computer, adding an appropriate graphic and sound card (yes, you used to have to do that), and then attaching an input peripheral (do I have a free serial port?). Eventually it evolved to extract the most amount of performance out of the lowest cost hardware and, with the internet, evolved to create the online multiplayer ecosystem which sought to deliver a balanced (read fair) competitive landscape where nobody had a real hardware advantage. In the years since the first consoles debuted, we have come a long way on the PC side of things, both from a device capability standpoint as well as a end-user knowledge standpoint. Most PCs can now play a variety of games, have access to a wide range of input peripherals, and are supported by robust development platforms. With content delivery moving online, there is less worry as well about whether your game needs to be delivered on 5.25" floppies, 3.5" floppies, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.
Consoles over the last two generations have consistently moved closer and closer to being general computing platforms (remember that the PS3 could run Linux and the Xbox One is effectively running Windows with an Xbox virtual machine). This trend will only continue until the gaming platform is no more than a gaming-focused UI on top of a general purpose OS backend. At that point, PlayStation vs. Xbox isn't so much about the hardware, but the ecosystem that comes with it. I'd argue that Microsoft has made far better progress with that than Sony has to date.
Where do you see 3-year life cycle? I have an Xbox One that I bought in 2013. It still does and will always play every Xbox One game released. A new hardware platform in 2020 would be a 7 year life cycle for a console which is completely reasonable. Remember that the Xbox One S and Xbox One X are effectively mid-cycle refreshes that just try and keep the platform viable until the next generation. They didn't drastically alter anything other than supporting some higher resolution needs of a subset of users.
I'm staying seven generations behind. I'm getting free games and free consoles from trashcans!
#DeleteFacebook
It's plausible that two models of Xbox will be released out the gate: a standard model with a spinning hard drive and baseline performance (enough for 4k 30fps play), and another model with a SSD and substantially more powerful graphics (for 4k ~60fps). Coming late 2020, that could be ~11TFLOPS (40% improvement from architecture, and a compounded 35% from 7nm die shrink) for $399, and ~18TFLOPS for $549 respectively. Expect a price drop as NAND prices come down and the 5nm shrink happens a year or so later, eventually ditching the standard model. Compatible with (maybe only 2nd-gen) Windows Mixed Reality headsets, as well.
Rumor is also that the PS5 devkits are going out to 3rd party developers already. That could signal a late 2019 launch, although rumors suggest 2020 is more likely. In any case, new console generations will be defined by how much RAM they have, rather than how much graphical power they have. Scaling back graphics (particularly resolution, now) is relatively straightforward but changing coding to require less RAM isn't so easy.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.