There’s plenty of Xbox Scarlett news to be getting excited about before the big 2020 release date.
We found out just this week that Microsoft is putting plans in place so that their next console has the best chance of beating the PS5.
While neither the PS4 or Xbox One provided much in the way of extra power over the other, the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro did.
And while the tech giant has ruled out releasing two consoles as part of Project Scarlett, that doesn’t mean their tech will be behind that of the PS5’s.
The latest news is that the Xbox Scarlett will boast dedicated ray-tracing cores as part of its launch specs.
Speaking to Gamespot, Gears 5 technical art director Colin Penty revealed that next-gen hardware would come with some great new console tech to play with.
“We don’t have anything to announce right now in terms of Gears with the new hardware–but I’m definitely super excited about what the new hardware could do,” Penty told Gamespot.
“Having dedicated ray-tracing hardware is huge.”
And there’s no reason at this point to think that Sony won’t offer the same kind of stuff with the PS5.
But it’s good to hear that both consoles will look to keep parity when it comes to pushing console gaming further.
It was also recently revealed during a Bungie Livestream for Destiny 2 that the first Xbox Scarlett games are being put through their paces.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed as much, via Windows Central, during a recent event, confirming that “I played my first games on Project Scarlett this week.”
That doesn’t mean it had anything to do with the Destiny franchise, but it’s great to hear more about the Xbox Scarlett.
We still don’t have a clear picture of how powerful the Xbox Scarlett will be or what games will look like.
But if games are starting to be played behind the scenes, there is still a chance we will find out more about the new console in 2019.
And it follows reports that Sony could be working on more than just one new console.
This would mean secondary devices launching alongside the PS5, which is expected to hit shelves in 2020.
Sony has reportedly filed a patent for a cloud-based console, which was made on August 29.
“The cloud gaming system implements at least one channel driver to facilitate I/O processing for the one or more client devices when executed by the computing resources of the one or more data centres,” reads the patent.
Microsoft previously released a disc-less Xbox One, so it’s possible this could also be a new PS4 alternative.
Or this might be more connected to an expanded PlayStation Now streaming service which could arrive with the PlayStation next-gen.
There are also rumours that Sony could be looking to launch a Pro version of the PS5 as well.
And not only that but this more powerful system would be released alongside the base console.
Providing different tiers and models of consoles has proven successful in the past, and it would still leave Sony a little wiggle room in the future.
There’s no reason why a third console, a mid-cycle refresh, couldn’t appear in the future, although this could prove to be a little too much for developers to handle.
Whatever is being planned, fans will be hoping to hear more about the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett in the coming months, or in early 2020.
