This year's BlizzCon has finally arrived, which means there's going to be a multitude of news and trailers for some of Blizzard's biggest games. From Overwatch to World of Warcraft, there's a whole lot of exciting news and announcements waiting to be revealed. We're compiling all the biggest ones from the show below.
What news and announcements are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check back often as we update this article with more news and trailers.
StarCraft 2 Will Soon Be Free To Play--Beginning this month, players will be able to play through StarCraft II's Wings of Liberty campaign and co-op mode for no cost.
New Overwatch Map Is A Blizzard Theme Park--Alongside a new character, Overwatch is adding a new map that fans of any Blizzard game will likely enjoy, with areas themed after Warcraft, StarCraft, and more.
As part of its BlizzCon opening ceremony, Blizzard has revealed a variety of new content coming to Overwatch. That includes a new map called BlizzardWorld which, as the name suggests, is essentially an amusement park themed around Blizzard's various games.
If you've played any of the games, you'll immediately recognize at least one area. There's a section that resembles World of Warcraft's Stormwind, a Hearthstone tavern, Naxxramas, Flight to Duskwood, a Protoss base, a Heroes of the Storm arcade, and much more. It looks like it'll be a lot of fun for Blizzard fans.
BlizzardWorld will be playable at BlizzCon this weekend, but it won't launch in the live game until early 2018. However, those willing to jump onto the Public Test Realm on PC will be able to try it for themselves "very, very soon," according to game director Jeff Kaplan.
Despite launching seven years go, StarCraft II remains one of Blizzard's most popular and successful titles, and those who have yet to play or have since fallen out will soon be able to jump in at no cost at all. During the BlizzCon opening ceremony today, Blizzard announced that the real-time strategy game is going free-to-play.
Beginning November 14, PC players will be able to play through the entirety of StarCraft II's Wings of Liberty campaign for free. Blizzard will also offer access to the full ranked ladder to all players, while co-op mode will give free players access to every commander up to level 5.
If you already own a copy of Wings of Liberty, Blizzard still has a free gift for you. Existing StarCraft II players will get the game's Heart of the Swarm expansion for free.
BlizzCon is going on this week and still has plenty of announcements in store for fans. In addition to the StarCraft news, Blizzard revealed two more characters for Heroes of the Storm: Overwatch's Hanzo and Warcraft's Alexstrasz. We'll report all of the big news from the event as it is shared.
A pair of new Heroes of the Storm characters have been announced at BlizzCon. Blizzard showed off a new cinematic trailer for the game that brings together one new addition from Overwatch and Warcraft--Hanzo and Alexstrasza.
According to Blizzard's Kaeo Milker, Alexstrasza is a ranged Support who can heal allies and transform into a dragon using her trait, Dragon Queen. Hanzo, meanwhile, is a ranged Assassin who can both take out enemies and serve as a scout.
Also coming to HotS are some other major updates to the way the game itself plays. In addition to voice chat and a refined camera, Blizzard said it plans to provide performance and laning improvements, a rework to how stealth functions, "evolved" mechanics, and more. All of this will be included as part of the 2018 gameplay update, which Blizzard will detail as BlizzCon continues. Milker also noted that we'll see adjustments to how matchmaking functions.
There's much more to come from BlizzCon. In addition to the HotS news, we've also learned that StarCraft II is going free-to-play, with players gaining access to a substantial chunk of the game without paying a dime. We'll report back as more news is shared; you can see everything announced in our roundup of the biggest BlizzCon 2017 news.
Just like that weird guy you never see for most of the year, but who suddenly appears in the summer driving an ice cream van full of treats in your area, Xur is back. This week Destiny 2's suspiciously odd merchant has popped up on Earth's European Dead Zone. That makes for another easy opportunity to expand your collection of Exotic items, which PC players in particular may still be focusing on. This also coincides with the launch of the latest Trials of the Nine (and its first appearance on PC).
To find Xur, you simply need to fast travel to the Winding Cove and then jump on your Sparrow and use the path on the left. You'll see Xur standing around above you, near the downed ship. He's been here before, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding him, but if you'd like a visual guide, check out the video above. You can see what items Xur has to sell below in exchange for Legendary Shards--as always, there's one Exotic weapon (a pulse rifle) and one Exotic armor piece for Warlocks, Titans, and Hunters each.
Graviton Lance (Pulse Rifle)- 29 Legendary Shards
Young Ahamkara's Spine (Hunter Class Gauntlets) - 23 Legendary Shards
Mask of the Quiet One (Titan Class Helmet) - 23 Legendary Shards
Nezarec's Sin (Warlock Class Helmet) - 23 Legendary Shards
Destiny 2's second-ever Faction Rally event begins on November 7 and will run run through November 13. As with the previous rally you'll have to align yourself with a faction, choosing between New Monarchy, Future War Cult, or Dead Orbit, and then head out to collect the most reward packages for your group. You can read more about Destiny 2's new Faction Rally here.
Developer Bungie has also released a new update that impacts the Faction Rally by adjusting how Faction Tokens are given out. Each completed Strike now provides anywhere from five to nine Tokens; previously, they offered three to seven. The first Nightfall of the week (per character) provides 10 to 18 Tokens, while Heroic Public Events hand out five (down from eight). You can check out the full Destiny 2 patch notes here.
If you're still trying to complete the Leviathan Raid, you can also read our Destiny 2 raid guide. The Raid is now live on all platforms, including PC, providing a new high-level challenge and special rewards. Prestige mode for PC players is still to come, but Challenge mode is available for those on all platforms.
Like Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro before it, the Xbox One X represents a mid-generational upgrade that offers a significant boost in performance over its predecessor. Microsoft says the console will allow developers to render games natively at 4K, offer high-dynamic range for more accurate colors, improve load times, and bolster framerates. While we encountered issues with some of these enhancements, the Xbox One X has the potential to really soar when its power is leveraged effectively.
The Xbox One X retails for $500 / £449 / AU $649. For that, you get the console, a 60-inch long power cable, a six-foot high-speed HDMI cable (needed for 4K HDR), Xbox One controller, two AA batteries, a 14-day free trial for Xbox Live Gold, and a one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass.
Design
The console measures 30 x 24 x 6 cm (11.8 x 9.5 x 2.4 inches), which technically makes it the smallest Xbox console yet. This is really impressive when you consider the fact that it has an integrated power supply unit, like the Xbox One S before it. This means that you don't have to deal with an obnoxiously large external power brick like with the original Xbox One. Despite its small size, however, it's the heaviest Xbox One at 8.4 pounds.
Aesthetically, it looks a lot like a matte black Xbox One S. Like the S before it, it has a physical power button, which strays away from the original Xbox One's capacitive touch equivalent. This is a welcome tweak considering it was often prone to accidental shutoffs. The front of the console also sports a 4K HDR Blu-Ray drive, one USB 3.0 port, and a controller pairing button. The ports on the back remain identical to the S; from left to right it offers: HDMI out, HDMI in, two USB 3.0 ports, IR out, S/PDIF, and Ethernet. The X is backwards compatible with the existing Xbox One accessories, though you'll need a Kinect dongle if you want to use Microsoft's recently discontinued camera system.
Overall, the design is simple and clean. It has plenty of ventilation through the back and when you couple this with its compact size, you get a sense that Microsoft prioritized function over a flashy design here. Luckily, it still has an unassuming aesthetic that should fit right in with most personal entertainment centers.
Specs
CPU: x86-64 2.3GHz 8-core AMD custom CPU
GPU: 6 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon-based graphics clocked at 1172MHz with 40 compute units
Memory: 12GB GDDR5
Storage size: 1TB HDD
External dimensions: 30x24x6 cm/11.8x9.4x2.3 in
Weight: 8.4 lbs/3.8 kg
Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray
Input/Output: Power, HDMI 2.0b out, HDMI 1.4b in, three USB 3.0 ports, IR out, S/PDIF, gigabit Ethernet
Networking: IEEE 802.11ac dual band (5GHz and 2.4Ghz), 2x2 wireless Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct
Power consumption: 245W
Underneath the hood, there's been a lot of talk about the Scorpio Engine fueling the system. At the heart of it is AMD's x86-based 2.3GHz 8-core CPU, which is clocked 550MHz faster than the original Xbox One's octa-core equivalent.
Arguably bigger gains come from the integrated graphics processor, which uses a custom AMD Radeon-based solution that features 40 compute units clocked at 1172MHz. This provides six teraflops of graphics performance, which is over 4.5 times that of the original Xbox One and over 1.4 times that of the PS4 Pro, its nearest console competitor. This gives it enough horsepower to run certain games at 4K (2160p) with high-dynamic range colors enabled.
The Scorpio Engine is cooled via a vapor chamber cooler, which houses a small amount of water that evaporates into steam when it gets too hot. It then reverts back to liquid when the system cools back down. You typically only see vapor chambers in high-end graphics cards, but they've been known to work effectively, and it's nice to see Microsoft implement it here.
While the original Xbox One and PS4 Pro both use 8GB of shared memory across their respective CPUs and GPUs, the Xbox One X features 12GB of GDDR5 RAM that's capable of delivering 326GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is unprecedented for a console. Microsoft says that games will be able to leverage up to 9GB of it, with the rest going to operating system-related tasks.
While we would have preferred an SSD, Microsoft says that the Xbox One X's 1TB hard drive is 50 percent faster than the original's 5,400rpm solution; though we weren't able to validate this claim in our testing, which we'll discuss below. Like the original Xbox One before it, the X supports external USB drives for added storage.
Graphical Enhancements
The main reason to get excited about the Xbox One X is for the prospect of graphical enhancements. Rather than dictate a certain set of graphical targets for developers to hit, Microsoft lets developers use the console's extra processing power as they see fit. Games that are tuned to take advantage of the Xbox One X will carry an "Xbox One X Enhanced" label.
From what we've seen so far, many developers are opting to render games at 4K, which is four times the 1080p resolution of the vanilla Xbox One. Some are also adding HDR support to provide a wider color gamut and higher contrast ratio between white and black levels.
While the Xbox One X is geared towards users with 4K HDR displays, traditional 1080p TVs aren't entirely left in the dust as some developers may choose to use the extra processing power to improve lighting or to add dynamic shadows. Some games will also run more smoothly on the X. Standard HDTVs will also get supersampling, which renders games at higher resolutions and then down samples or "shrinks" them to a lower resolution display. This acts as an effective form of anti-aliasing that reduces undesirable jaggy effects.
While only Xbox One X-enhanced games will reap some of the aforementioned graphical tweaks, Microsoft says that the Xbox One X has tweaks at the hardware level to implement anisotropic filtering to every game in existence. This can help textures off in the distance look clearer.
Visual Analysis
To analyze the visual enhancements that the Xbox One X offers, I compared it against the original Xbox One, a high-end gaming PC, and Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro with multiple copies of games whenever possible.
I hooked up all the systems to the same TV: a 55-inch 4K HDR Samsung UN55KS8000 and then swapped between the HDMI inputs to conduct visual A/B tests. Because the Xbox One X can also bolster 1080p graphics, I also connected both systems to a 55-inch 1080p TV and similarly analyzed the visual differences there.
While a wide variety of Xbox One X-enhanced games are on the way, unfortunately, at the time of this writing, only a handful of games were patched to take advantage of the new hardware. The available games that we tested include Gears of War 4, Killer Instinct, Super Lucky's Tale, FIFA 18, Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure, and Disneyland Adventures. You can expect us to do more graphics comparisons in the future as the Xbox One X enhancement patches are released.
Gears of War 4
Testing the third-person shooter on the 4K HDR TV, the resolution bump is immediately apparent from the initial menu screen, which showcases a real-time rendering of protagonist JD Fenix's face. With the Xbox One X, the pores on his cheeks provide a real sense of depth, almost like you could fall into them...if you were tiny enough. On the original Xbox One, they comparatively look more like fuzzy dust particles.
You really get much better detail overall with less jagged aliasing issues running on the X. This is especially evident around characters' hair or distant items with straight lines. Overall, it amounts to a cleaner, sharper image.
Gears of War 4 also sports arguably the best implementation of HDR we've seen in a game yet. The high-dynamic range allows colors to appear more realistic. The original Xbox One looks much more washed out and muted in comparison. The X's high-contrast implementation also provides really dark black levels, which, again, contributes to a more realistic image that pulls you into the scene.
In terms of pure image fidelity, it surprisingly looked better than our high-end gaming PC equipped with a GTX 1080 running the game maxed out, as it offered extra dynamic shadows that don't seem to be available on the PC. Unfortunately, the game doesn't run at 60 FPS here on the Xbox One X, so a high-end PC will be able to beat it in terms of framerate.
Fortunately, Gears of War 4 also offers a performance mode that eschews the native 4K rendering in favor of a smoother experience. Here, it looks visually closer to its orignal Xbox One counterpart, but often felt like it was running at 60 FPS.
Hooking everything up to the 1080p TV, the Xbox One X does a good job making the display punch above its standard HD resolution. While there are still some jaggies, supersampling effects provide a very potent form of anti-aliasing. While the difference between the Xbox One X and the original Xbox One isn't as prominent on a standard HDTV, the overall image still looks noticeably clearer with less noise. The Xbox One X can effectively make your 1080p TV look as good as it possibly can.
Super Lucky's Tale
When it comes to Playful's platformer, there's much less to analyze. Super Lucky's Tale supports 4K 60FPS with the Xbox One X and 1080p 30 FPS on the original Xbox.
Whether playing on the 4K TV or 1080p display, the frame rate increase with the X is noticeably smoother. The game looks very crisp running on the 4K TV with the Xbox One X. When hooked up to the 1080p TV, the X's supersampling does make it look slightly sharper than its Xbox One counterpart, but it's not super prominent unless you're really looking for it up close.
Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct already runs at a locked 60 FPS on the original Xbox One. The X simply bumps up the resolution to 4K, which mitigates most of the jaggies.
The game doesn't support HDR, and the Xbox One X makes shadows look too dark on our HDR display. We didn't encounter this issue running the game on our traditional (non HDR) 1080p display, however. Here, the original Xbox One looked washed out in comparison to the X. We also noticed improved anti-aliasing and better anisotropic filtering that made details in the background a little more clear.
FIFA 18
FIFA 18 is the only Xbox One X-enhanced game available at the moment that's also enhanced on the PS4 Pro. When we pitted the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro head to head here, it was honestly hard to tell the difference. Both platforms render the game at 4K, but neither system is able to achieve a stable 60 FPS.
The biggest visual difference we could tell between the two consoles was that color on the Xbox One X looked more realistic on our 4K HDR TV. On the PS4 Pro, the grass looked a bit too "nuclear green" in comparison, which gave it a more "videogamey" aesthetic.
Beyond that, if you're looking for more graphical comparisons between the two consoles, you'll have to wait until we have access to more Xbox One X enhanced games post launch.
Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure
This family-friendly mini-game compilation supports 4K and HDR through the Xbox One X. The enhancements allow the game to feature vibrant colors and look sharp, but it clearly isn't able to run at a smooth 60 FPS, as we encountered the odd, occasional hiccup. This is disappointing considering Rush doesn't look very graphically demanding, especially not compared to something like Gears of War 4. This could be due to how the game was originally designed or may speak to the quality of the update.
Disneyland Adventures
Like Rush, Disneyland Adventures supports 4K and HDR through the Xbox One X's enhancements, but, again, the frame rate didn't see an improvement with it running below 60 FPS. Despite the official HDR support, the game ended up looking a little dim on our 4K HDR television.
4K HDR Video Support
To test out the Xbox One X's 4K HDR video playback capabilities, Microsoft provided us with a 4K HDR copy of BBC's Planet Earth II series.
On our 4K HDR TV, the nature documentary looked stunning. The visuals were sharp and crisp, and it was easy to make out every strand of hair on a sloth and every texture of each tree branch.
The color reproduction is equally amazing. The blues of the ocean and the greens of the forest are realistically portrayed. The bright rays from the sun pierced down through tree canopies very convincingly. This is about as good as it gets as far as home theater setups go.
User Interface
Microsoft released its overhauled Xbox One dashboard last month. While there is a small learning curve to new user interface, it's snappier than past iterations. We did encounter some menu slowdown while we were downloading a bunch of games and quickly flipping through all the tabs, but it's certainly not as sluggish as past updates.
The new dashboard also allows you to filter games that are Xbox One X Enhanced, though it doesn't tell you what specific graphical enhancements the console offers.
Noise, Heat, Power Consumption, and Boot Times
Sitting in the dashboard, the Xbox One X runs silently. When we fired up Gears of War 4, a slight hum from the cooler arose, but it's impressively whisper-quiet.
Using Flir One's heat camera, we measured the Xbox One X's temperature.
The console does get a bit warm, however. Just sitting in the OS, we clocked it at 54.3 degrees Celsius. When we fired up Gears of War, it rose to 61.7 degrees C. It's not scorching hot to the touch by any means, but it is significantly hotter than the PS4 Pro we tested last year, which we saw hit 46.1 degrees Celsius when we were gaming on it. Interestingly, the temperature dropped to 57 degrees C when we switched over to Gears of War 4's Performance mode, which optimizes frame rate over visual fidelity.
We also saw this mirrored when we measured the system's power draw. The Xbox One X consumed 144 watts of power under Gears of War 4's Performance mode, but 174 watts in the higher fidelity Visual mode.
In terms of boot times, Microsoft asserts that the Xbox One X's hard drive is 50 percent faster than the original Xbox before it, and while we did see improvements here, they weren't as good as the company's claims. From a cold boot, the X took 7.5 second to turn on. This is just 0.6 seconds faster than the original Xbox One. Loading up Gears of War 4, the X took 50.8 seconds to boot to the main menu, which was roughly seven faster than the Xbox One. When I loaded up the same Act 1 mission, both consoles took 31 seconds.
When I fired up Killer Instinct, the X launched the game in 37.7 seconds, whereas the original Xbox One did so in 44.1 seconds. While there's generally a measurable performance gain when it comes to load times, it's not as significant as Microsoft is claiming thus far.
Conclusion
As Xbox head Phil Spencer has suggested, the Xbox One X shares a lot in common with the company's high-end Xbox One Elite controller. Both devices are designed for enthusiasts through and through, and are priced accordingly. This makes the less cost-prohibitive Xbox One S a better fit for most people.
While the Xbox One X is an expensive box, from a hardware standpoint, you're getting a very powerful and capable machine. You'll be hard pressed to build a comparably powerful PC for $500. On top of that, you get a 4K HDR Blu-ray player, which can cost several hundred dollars on its own.
The Xbox One X isn't perfect. From what I can tell so far, its load times don't live up to Microsoft's claims, and I noticed some poor HDR implementation, but when a developer is able to take advantage of the hardware, you can get sharper visuals, more vibrant colors, better performance, and added graphical bells and whistles. Playing Gears of War 4 on the Xbox One X really feels like it's the way it's meant to be played.
Should you get an Xbox One X? That answer should largely depend on whether you'd be happy with the console's library of games. You can check out a list of all the Xbox One X-enhanced games here. If you're happy with the lineup and are thinking about jumping in, allow me to outline three different scenarios for you. If you game on a 1080p TV and don't have any plans to upgrade to a 4K one, the Xbox One S is going to be a better fit for you. While you will get some graphical enhancements with the X, you don't really get your money's worth if you don't have a 4K HDR TV. But what if you already own a 4K HDR TV and an Xbox One? In this case, I'd only recommend getting the X if you have the disposable cash to spare for the increased visual fidelity and performance benefits. If you have a 4K HDR TV, don't have a current gen console, and are looking to purchase one, however, the Xbox One X is a great choice.
Ever since deleted scenes started appearing on DVDs in the late 1990s, fans have loved seeing what was cut from their favorite movies and TV shows. The new season of Stranger Things hit Netflix last week--so how much of Season 2 ended up on the cutting-room floor?
Producer Shawn Levy has revealed that there are in fact very few deleted scenes from the new season. Levy told Collider that creators Matt and Ross Duffer simply don't write scenes that aren't needed for the plot. Warning, spoilers below!
"It's really interesting because in a given two-hour movie there's usually at least half an hour of scenes that get cut," Levy said. "On Stranger Things, both seasons, because the Duffers write and rewrite and rewrite, they just like hammer this material so rigorously before it ever shoots that everything has a purpose.
"They also don't believe in scenes that aren't plot necessary. So you'll notice there's very few scenes--even like a delicious treat like Billy flirting with Karen Wheeler, it serves a purpose; he's trying to get information from her. So because the Duffers like all scenes to anchor into plot and necessity, it means there's very, very, very few deleted scenes."
While Netflix are very secretive about viewing figures for their shows, we do know that Stranger Things 2 had a huge audience in its first week on the service. According to estimates released by ratings company Nielsen, the show's premiere episode averaged almost 16 million views during its first three days.
That's a lot of viewers, even for a TV show as popular as Stranger Things. According to Netflix's most recently published numbers, the service has over 52 million American subscribers--meaning right around 30 percent of subscribers watched Stranger Things 2. In addition, if you binge-watched the entire season, you're not alone. Nielsen estimates that 361,000 people watched every single episode on the first day of release. However, it is worth Nielsen estimates figures through surveys and other unpublished metrics, and Netflix have released no official numbers.
The upcoming Xbox One X will be the most powerful console to date, and Microsoft has released a full list of games that will feature Xbox One X enhancements. Aaron Greenberg alluded to the list during a livestream at Gamescom 2017 and mentioned Quantum Break and Halo 5: Guardians as key games to receive optimizations.
Every game that gets the Xbox One X enhancements will receive the updates for free, which can include--but are not limited to--4K resolution (checkerboard or native), anisotropic filtering, HDR, and high-resolution textures. However, developers decide how their games take advantage of the more powerful hardware.
As of right now, more than 100 Xbox One games will be upgraded when the new console launches on November 7; check out the entire list of confirmed enhanced games below.
The next line of Amiibo figures for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild go on sale very soon. The four Champion Amiibo launch next week, on November 10, and now Nintendo has shared more details about the items each figure unlocks within the game.
As Nintendo revealed during its most recent Direct broadcast back in September, each of the four Champion figures unlocks a new helmet that's based on their respective Divine Beast. Each of the Divine Helms also grants a specific buff. You can see which helmets each figure unlocks and the perk that item bestows below:
Additionally, the Divine Helms grant a set bonus--Ancient Proficiency--when equipped with Ancient Cuirass and Ancient Greaves (which need to be upgraded to at least two stars). That bonus increases the attack power of Ancient and Guardian weapons. Each Helm also increases defense against ancient energy attacks and displays an enemy's HP gauge, like the Champion's Tunic.
The Champion Amiibo figures launch ahead of Breath of the Wild's second DLC expansion, The Champions' Ballad. That is slated to launch later this year and will feature a brand-new dungeon, gear, and an original story that reveals more details about Princess Zelda. The Champions' Ballad is only available through Breath of the Wild's $20 expansion pass.
Overwatch fanboys and gals, you're in for an early BlizzCon treat. Razer has just announced a new line of officially licensed PC gaming accessories inspired by Blizzard's beloved mech pilot D.Va.
The new line is on the smaller side, but includes D.Va's signature MEKA headset, a themed mouse, and mousepad. Of course, the mouse and matching pad are tastefully pink, and decked out with her cheeky bunny moniker and logo. Snag a quick peek at the line below in its announcement trailer.
While official details on the MEKA headset have not yet been released, it does appear to be a wireless headset, unlike the line's mouse. The mouse is an Abyssus Elite wired model, and is part of the Chroma line. The matching mousepad, a Goliathus model, is anti-fray and will stay flat no matter how many time you roll it up to crush your enemies.
Pricing and launch details have not yet been revealed, but you can check out the specs of the mouse and pad on the Razer website. With any luck, more details on the headset will be released soon.
BlizzCon 2017 is upon us. Blizzard's annual fan event kicks off today, but even if you missed out on securing a physical ticket for the convention, you can still follow along with it online.
BlizzCon's opening ceremony begins today, November 3, at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET. It will be preceded by a special pre-show that starts at 10:30 AM PT. The opening ceremony is free for all viewers to watch; you can stream it on Blizzard's YouTube channel or right here via the embed below.
You can find the schedule for this year's BlizzCon events here, while Virtual Ticket can be purchased here. BlizzCon 2017 runs for two days and will conclude with a concert by Muse on Saturday, November 4. Blizzard hasn't teased what announcements it will make at this year's convention, but there will almost certainly be news about Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, and other titles. We'll be covering all the big announcements, so be sure to check back for more news from BlizzCon 2017.
"Should you get an Xbox One X? That answer should largely depend on whether you'd be happy with the console's library of games. You can check out a list of all the Xbox One X-enhanced games here. If you're happy with the lineup and are thinking about jumping in, allow me to outline three different scenarios for you. If you game on a 1080p TV and don't have any plans to upgrade to a 4K one, the Xbox One S is going to be a better fit for you. While you will get some graphical enhancements with the X, you don't really get your money's worth if you don't have a 4K HDR TV. But what if you already own a 4K HDR TV and an Xbox One? In this case, I'd only recommend getting the X if you have the disposable cash to spare for the increased visual fidelity and performance benefits. If you have a 4K HDR TV, don't have a current gen console, and are looking to purchase one, however, the Xbox One X is a great choice." -- Jimmy Thang [Full review]
IGN -- 8.7/10 (Review-in-progress)
"The Xbox One X is a very impressive collection of hardware crammed into a sleek case. It runs cool and quiet as it delivers impressive performance in the enhanced games we've been able to test out so far. It's hard to believe Microsoft exclusives like Gears of War 4 can look so good and run so smoothly on a box that costs less than half of what you'd pay for a high-end gaming PC. Plus, it caters to home theater enthusiasts with 4K ultra-HD Blu-ray playback and Atmos sound. However, the big question of how it compares to the PlayStation 4 Pro in running third-party games remains, for now, unanswered." -- Brandin Tyrrel [Full review-in-progress]
Polygon -- No score (Pre-review)
"The Xbox One X is undeniably the best console to play multiplatform games; they'll look and run better on it than on the PS4 Pro. For some people, that peace of mind--knowing that they're guaranteed to get the highest image quality and smoothest performance--will be enough to justify the purchase price. And the ancillary benefits of Microsoft's ecosystem, such as Xbox Play Anywhere and backward compatibility going back to the original Xbox, can't be discounted. But I've been floored by plenty of games on the PS4 Pro, like Horizon Zero Dawn. For now, with the limited number of enhanced Xbox One X titles I've been able to test, I haven't seen enough to be able to recommend the console in light of its high price--especially when the audience for these mid-cycle upgrades still seems so specific." -- Samit Sarkar [Full pre-review]
The Verge -- 8.5/10
"Sony really has some impressive exclusives on the way, and it's hard for Microsoft to counter this despite its great job on the hardware. Microsoft promised the best hardware, and it delivered--but that's nothing without games." -- Tom Warren [Full review]
The Guardian -- 4/5
"Multiplatform titles will almost certainly look better on Xbox One X than on PS4 Pro, sometimes very noticeably (and elements like increased draw distance and smoother frame-rates can have a palpable effect on your gameplay experience), but is it worth the extra £100? That's a conversation you need to have with your aesthetic standards and your wallet." -- Keith Stuart [Full review]
Engadget -- 87/100
"Ultimately, the Xbox One X offers some major performance upgrades that gamers will notice--especially if you're coming from an original Xbox One. But it's also a bit disappointing since it's coming a year after the PS4 Pro, and it doesn't offer VR yet. For Microsoft fans, though, none of that will matter. It's exactly what the company promised: the fastest game console ever made." -- Devindra Hardawar [Full review]
Eurogamer -- No score
"Really, it all comes down to whether you own a 4K screen or are considering investing in one. The right ultra HD display with decent HDR support really does offer a huge improvement in many cases over standard 1080p. Forza 7's precision lines and often beautiful lighting are a world apart from the base Xbox One experience, while the richness of detail in Gears of War 4 (or the doubling in frame-rate, if you prefer) are transformative experiences. Work needs to be done on beefing up the lacklustre 4K media support, but as a top-tier games machine, Xbox One X is an excellent piece of kit." -- Richard Leadbetter [Full review]
Cheating isn't unfamiliar in any video game, but for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, it's becoming a serious issue. So much so that the team behind the title has publicly announced its commitment to fight cheating in its massively popular title.
"As part of our efforts to foster a safe & fair ingame environment, we are deploying new measures to combat cheaters," the team said via Twitter. "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by the cheaters and promise to take stronger actions against them going forward."
The developer's post on Steam mentions that the battle against cheating isn't going to end overnight, but it does want to see it to an end. The goal is to ban cheating players, but maintain a fun and safe environment for those who are simply enjoying the game as is. The next step in the team's cheat-combating endeavor is a patch coming next week to help assist with cheating detection. Feedback from players is also being requested as the team creates its anti-cheating system.
What is the Xbox One X? Formerly code-named Project Scorpio, the Xbox One X is a significantly more powerful version of Microsoft's Xbox One console that's capable of offering 4K support and higher fidelity graphics. Read our Xbox One X review here.
How do the Xbox One X specs compare to Sony's PS4 Pro console? On paper, the Xbox One X is more powerful. While both consoles use an 8-core system-on-a-chip design built by AMD, the Xbox One X's CPU is clocked 200MHz faster at 2.3GHz, compared to Sony's 2.1GHz equivalent. On the GPU side, the Xbox One X's solution offers six teraflops of performance, which is 1.8 teraflops more than the PS4 Pro. The Xbox One X also offers 12GB of GDDR5 memory, while the PS4 Pro offers 8GB of GDDR5 coupled with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. The Xbox One X also offers a 4K-capable Blu-ray drive, whereas the PS4 Pro does not.
Will the Xbox One X work with Xbox One games? Yes. The Xbox One X will support the existing library of Xbox One games and peripherals.
Will there be Xbox One X exclusive games that won't work on the original Xbox One? No. Microsoft tells us that all games will work across both consoles.
What console generation is the Xbox One X a part of? Microsoft considers the Xbox One X to be a part of the Xbox One family, which would classify it under the eighth generation of consoles.
Will original Xbox One games receive graphical boosts or performance benefits on the Xbox One X? Yes. Microsoft tells us that it has made hardware modifications to the Xbox One X that will allow older games designed for the Xbox One to receive enhancements like anisotropic filtering and faster load times right out of the box. The company also tells us that games that feature variable frame rate and resolution should be able to run smoother and at higher resolutions. In addition, Microsoft allows developers to go back and update their games to take advantage of the Xbox One X's extra processing power. These manually tweaked games will carry an "Xbox One X Enhanced" label.
Will the Xbox One X use an SSD? No. The Xbox One X will use a hard drive, but Microsoft tells us that it's 50 percent faster than the Xbox One's 5,400 RPM solution.
Will the Xbox One X support VR? Yes. Microsoft revealed that the Xbox One X will support VR at its E3 2016 press conference. While VR was a no-show at the company's E3 2017 press conference, the company confirmed to us that it still plans to support VR on the console but will share more details at a later date.
Does Xbox One X support native 4K? Yes. It will support native 4K (3840x2160p), but it will also support checkerboard rendering on more graphically demanding games.
What is checkerboard rendering? It's a rendering technique that takes up the same spatial resolution as a native 3840x2160p image but has half the number of pixel shader invocations, which are laid out in a checkerboard pattern. Essentially, it's a 4K-like rendering shortcut that isn't quite as sharp or rich as a native 3840x2160p render, but it can look very close.
What exactly is 4K? In the consumer realm, it's generally considered a resolution that offers 3,840 horizontal pixels and 2,160 vertical pixels. It offers four times as many pixels as 1080p.
Will the Xbox One X come with a 4K Blu-ray player? Yes.
Will the Xbox One X support HDR? Yes. You will need an HDR-capable TV to see its full effects.
What is HDR? HDR stands for high dynamic range. You can learn more about it here. In short, HDR displays provide a much wider color gamut and contrast ratio compared to standard RGB panels. Colors look richer, blacks look darker, and whites look brighter.
Will all games and movies support HDR? No. Games and movies must be specifically tuned to support HDR.
Do I need a 4K TV or HDR TV to use the Xbox One X? No, but if you want to fully reap the system's benefits, you'll most likely want one.
Is there any benefit to using an Xbox One X on a 1080p TV? Yes. Microsoft asserts that the Xbox One X will be able to add anisotropic filtering, shorten load times, and enable supersampling; the latter of which renders games at a high resolution and then downsizes them to 1080p, resulting in a sharper image than native 1080p rendering techniques.
How big is the Xbox One X? 30x24x6 cm (11.8x9.4x2.3 in). It is Microsoft's smallest Xbox console to date.
How much does the Xbox One X weigh? Despite being noticeably smaller than the original Xbox One, the Xbox One X is .6 pounds heavier at 8.4 pounds, which makes it two pounds heavier than the Xbox One S.
Can the Xbox One X stand vertically? Yes, though it requires a stand that's sold separately.
What games are designed to support the Xbox One X's beefier specs? You can find a comprehensive list here.
Update: As you'll read in our Xbox One X review, Microsoft's upcoming console is capable of six teraFLOPS, but what exactly is a teraFLOP? And which consoles have the most?
We're going to answer those questions and rank the consoles by their FLOPS in this gallery.
What are FLOPS?
They stand for floating point operations per second. They're used to measure a console's maximum graphical potential.
In this story, you'll see us mention gigaFLOP and teraFLOP. The former represents a billion FLOPS and the latter represents one trillion FLOPS.
How do you calculate a teraFLOP?
The basic formula for computing teraFLOPS for a GPU is:
(# of parallel GPU processing cores multiplied by peak clock speed in MHz multiplied by two) divided by 1,000,000
The number two in the formula stems from the fact that some GPU instructions can deliver two operations per cycle, and since teraFLOP is a measure of a GPU's maximum graphical potential, we use that metric.
Let's see how we can use that formula to calculate the teraFLOPS in the Xbox One. The system's integrated graphics has 768 parallel processing cores. The GPU's peak clock speed is 853MHz. When we multiply 768 by 853 and then again by two, and then divide that number by 1,000,000, we get 1.31 teraFLOPS.
Imperfections with teraFLOPS
While teraFLOPS can provide a relatively good indication of a console's performance, it isn't perfect. TeraFLOPS only measure a segment of GPU performance. For instance, AMD's RX 480 graphics card offers 5.8 teraFLOPS, but is generally a little slower than Nvidia's GTX 980, which offers 4.6 teraFLOPS.
This metric doesn't take into account a console's video memory, which can act as a GPU bottleneck. It also doesn't take into account CPU, system RAM, storage speed, thermals, and power limits, all of which can bottleneck performance.
Now that we've explained the technical lingo, let's get to the console teraFLOP rankings.
14. Sega Dreamcast
We're starting with the Dreamcast, because it's the first console we have precise FLOP numbers for. Sega's console came out on November 27, 1998, and featured a 100MHz PowerVR2 integrated GPU, which offered 1.4 gigaflops of performance.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Jet Grind Radio, Soulcalibur, Shenmue, Shenmue II, Resident Evil Code: Veronica, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, Rez
13. Sony PlayStation 2
Released on March 4, 2000, Sony's PlayStation 2 used a 150MHz Graphics Synthesizer solution that offered 6.2 gigaflops of performance, which is 4.4x more than the Dreamcast.
Notable graphic-intensive games: God of War, God of War II, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Gran Turismo 4, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, Jak 3
12. Nintendo GameCube
Released on September 14, 2001, the GameCube's Flipper GPU allowed Nintendo's console to reach 9.4 gigaflops, which is 1.5x the competing PlayStation 2 released a year before it.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Resident Evil 4, Star Fox Adventures, Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leader, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, F-Zero GX, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
11. Nintendo Wii
Released five years after the GameCube on November 19, 2006, the Nintendo Wii used ATI's Hollywood GPU clocked at 243MHz. With the Wii, Nintendo opted to go with an innovative control scheme, rather than to focus on processing power. It offered 12 gigaflops, which represents a 1.27x improvement over its GameCube predecessor. In terms of FLOPS, this is the smallest leap between console generations in this list.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Red Steel 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl
10. Microsoft Xbox
Despite releasing five years before the Wii on November 15, 2001, Microsoft's original Xbox offered 1.6x more FLOPS than Nintendo's motion-based console with its Nvidia NV2A GPU. Its graphics solution was clocked at 233MHz, which allows it to break into the top 10 with its 20 gigaFLOPS.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Ninja Gaiden Black, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Burnout Revenge, Doom 3, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Forza Motorsport, Chronicles of Riddick, Far Cry Instincts, Halo, Halo 2
9. Sony PlayStation 3
Sony released its PlayStation 3 console on November 11, 2006. With its Nvidia RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics solution, it offered 230.4 gigaFLOPS. That's 11.5x as many FLOPS as the 2001-released Xbox before it. Compared to its predecessor, the PS2, it offers 37.1x as many FLOPS and represents the largest generational jump in graphical performance on this list.
Notable graphic-intensive games: God of War 3, Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls
8. Microsoft Xbox 360
Despite releasing a year before the PlayStation 3 on November 22, 2005, the Xbox 360 has 9.6 more gigaFLOPs than Sony's system with its 240 gigaFLOPS offering. With its ATI Xenos GPU clocked at 500MHz, it offers 12x more FLOPS than Microsoft's first console.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Gears of War 3, Alan Wake, Dirt 3, Fight Night Champion, Viva Piñata, Crysis 3, Forza Motorsport 4, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Halo 4, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round
7. Nintendo Wii U
Released on November 18, 2012, Nintendo's Wii U is powered by a 550MHz Latte graphics chip from AMD. It offers up to 352 gigaFLOPS of performance, which is 29.3x as much as the Wii before it.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
6. Nintendo Switch
The Switch is Nintendo's only console to date that offers a teraFLOP of performance. This makes it 2.8x as graphically powerful as the Wii U before it. Released not long ago on March 3, 2017, Nintendo opted to focus more on portability rather than raw power, and went with a custom Nvidia Tegra mobile processing chip as a result.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Arms, Fast RMX
5. Microsoft Xbox One
Released a few days after the PlayStation 4 on November 22, 2013, Microsoft's Xbox One uses an AMD Radeon graphics solution clocked at 853MHz that offers 1.31 teraFLOPS, which means it offers 310 more gigaFLOPS than the Switch that launched after it. It also offers 5.4x as many FLOPS as its Xbox 360 predecessor.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break, Gears of War 4, Titanfall 2, Rise of the Tomb Raider
4. Microsoft Xbox One S
Released on August 2, 2016, Microsoft's Xbox One S received a marginal seven percent GPU frequency boost over the stock model. This was primarily done to accommodate the extra overhead that HDR introduces. This raises the console's overall teraFLOP count to 1.4.
Notable graphic-intensive games that support HDR: Battlefield 1, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Gears of War 4, Mass Effect Andromeda, Resident Evil 7
3. Sony PlayStation 4
Despite garnering a top three spot, the PlayStation 4 is actually the first console to break through the one teraFLOP barrier with its 1.843 offering. Released on November 15, 2013, a week before the debut of the Xbox One, its integrated AMD Radeon GPU allowed it to offer 533 more gigaFLOPS than Microsoft's competing Xbox One console. It offers 7.9x as many FLOPS as its PS3 predecessor.
Notable graphic-intensive games: Infamous Second Son, Killzone Shadow Fall, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Order: 1886
2. Sony PlayStation 4 Pro
Released on November 10, 2016, the PlayStation 4 Pro represents a mid-generational console jump for Sony that can bolster certain games' frame rate and/or resolution. With its AMD Radeon-based GPU clocked at 911MHz, it offers 4.2 teraFLOPS. This is 2.2x as much as the original PS4.
Notable graphic-intensive games that support PS4-Pro enhancements: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, The Elder Scrolls Online, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Horizon Zero Dawn, inFAMOUS Second Son, The Last of Us Remastered, The Last Guardian
1. Microsoft Xbox One X
The Xbox One X is set to release on November 7, 2017. With its custom, integrated AMD Polaris GPU clocked at 1172MHz, it offers 6.0 teraFLOPS. This puts it 1.8 teraFLOPS ahead of the PS4 Pro. It offers 4.5x as many teraFLOPS as its predecessor, the Xbox One.
Console Teraflop Rankings Over Time
Above is a chart that plots out all of our console's FLOP rankings over time beginning with the Sega Dreamcast in 1998 and ending with the Xbox One X in 2017.
Console
FLOPS
Release Year
Dreamcast
1.4 GFLOPS
1998
PlayStation 2
6.2 GFLOPS
2000
GameCube
9.4 GFLOPS
2001
Xbox
20 GFLOPS
2001
Xbox 360
240 GFLOPS
2005
PlayStation 3
230.4 GFLOPS
2006
Wii
12 GFLOPS
2006
Wii U
352.0 GFLOPS
2012
PlayStation 4
1.843 TFLOPS
2013
Xbox One
1.310 TFLOPS
2013
Xbox One S
1.4 TFLOPS
2016
PlayStation 4 Pro
4.2 TFLOPS
2016
Nintendo Switch
1 TFLOPS
2017
Xbox One X
6 TFLOPS
2017
It's worth reiterating that an increase in FLOPS doesn't translate exactly to a proportional bump in performance. In addition to the bottlenecks we mentioned earlier, with different hardware, software, and APIs, this adds an additional learning curve for developers to overcome.
How many teraflops will it take developers to get to "photorealistic" graphics? When we asked revered Epic Games Founder Tim Sweeney that question, he told us, "You know, we're getting to the point now where we can render photo-realistic static scenes without humans with static lighting. Today's hardware can do that, so part of that problem is solved. Getting to the point of photo-realistic dynamic environments, especially with very advanced shading models like wet scenes, or reflective scenes, or anisotropic paint, though...maybe forty Teraflops is the level where we can achieve all of that."
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