Microsoft Corporation on Sunday added a new and most powerful gaming console under its Xbox One family, dubbed as the “Xbox One X” at the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2017 press conference in Los Angeles. The Xbox One X, previously known as Project Scorpio, it was first announced at the same event last year. The new Xbox One X will go on sale worldwide on November 7 for $499 (approximately Rs. 32,200) in the US and £449 in the UK. In terms of design, the Xbox One X looks very identical to the company’s previous generation, Xbox One S. Microsoft claims the new Xbox One X is the “smallest Xbox ever” made. The main USP (unique selling point) of the new Xbox One X is its support for 4K/HDR gaming with Dolby Atmos and support Microsoft’s backwards compatibility (all existing Xbox 360 titles and Xbox One games will be playable on the new console). As an introductory offer, Microsoft is giving 14-day free Xbox Live Gold membership and 1-month free Xbox Game Pass subscription with the purchase of an Xbox One X gaming console.
In terms of specifications, the Xbox One X features a custom 8-core AMD CPU clocked at 2.3GHz, a 6 teraflop GPU clocked at 1.17GHz that paired with 12GB of GDDR5 video RAM, making it a “world’s most powerful console.” The Microsoft Xbox One X offers a memory bandwidth of 326 GB/s for faster loading and the console comes with a 1TB HDD internal storage. Microsoft is using a custom GPU engine on Xbox One X that runs at 1172MHz, a big difference over the Sony PS4 Pro console’s 911MHz. The console’s processor also features a liquid-cooled vapour chamber, a cooling technology that is used on high-end PC graphics cards like the NVIDIA GTX 1080. The Xbox One X delivers native 4K graphics at 60 frames per second, clearly aimed at those gamers with 4K TVs as well as Ultra HD Blu-ray disks looking to take full advantage of visual improvements. In addition, players will not require a 4K-ready monitor to use the Xbox One X as the console uses supersampling technology to enhance visuals on 1080p screens, and offer true 4K UHD playback on 4K screens. The new console also supports features like HDR 10, high dynamic range, wide colours gamut, premium sounds like Dolby Atmos and full compatibility with all Xbox One accessories and games.
In terms of connectivity, the “world’s most powerful console” offers various connectivity options including Ultra HD Blu-ray optical disc drive, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi with Direct, IR blaster, HDMI 2.0b, three USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet port and more. The company is also offering some improved versions of existing Xbox One titles including Gears of War 4, Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3, Final Fantasy 15 and more. And one of the biggest-name titles for the new Xbox One X is Forza Motorsport 7, which runs at native 4K and 60fps. The Forza Motorsport 7 will launch on October 3.
