Gadgetory

- So we just finished watching the Xbox E3 presentation, and there was a lot of stuff announced and talked about but something I really wanna focus on is the general future of Xbox based on a couple different main things they talked about. And the first is, of course, the new Xbox which right now we're still going under the title of Project Scarlett. Now what we've heard about Project Scarlett so far lines up a lot with what PlayStation has been talking about with their new PS5, in that we're not hearing hard specs just yet, but we are getting an idea of what these systems are capable of. Specifically, the concept of 8k gameplay at 120 frames per second and support for using an SSD so that way loading times are much faster than what is currently possible on modern consoles. Now something they did do that Sony has not done yet, however, is show how actual gameplay might look like on a system like this, and the example was with Halo Infinite, the next Halo title which we now know is scheduled to come out on the same day as the Scarlett, or at least the same window, and be a launch title for it. And to be honest, this just looked absolutely amazing. I mean, especially being here, in the crowd, and seeing this giant screen and all the detail that was still in this gigantic image is just a really great sign for what this system can be capable of. Now one of the things a lot of people were hoping to maybe hear at this E3 is the potential of Xbox and Nintendo working together with the idea of xCloud even serving the Switch. That did not happen, but I don't think that's entirely off the table either. I think Xbox is really pushing this idea of bringing their platform and their games to as many different things as possible, and... That'd be some pretty significant news, and I think they're waiting for the right time to really talk about that as a possibility even to begin with. Another thing that goes with this idea of play anywhere is the fact that last month they announced that Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC, and what they announced here is that for a single membership at, I believe it was 15 bucks a month, you're able to play Xbox Game Pass on your Xbox One, on your PC, and get Xbox Live Gold all together in one package, which is a pretty awesome deal. All of this plays into this new future I think Xbox is really trying to focus on, which is the idea that, yes, Project Scarlett is going to be this amazing system, but it's not going to be the be-all end-all way of playing Xbox, they want it to by tied into everything, so no matter where you are, what you're doing you can play Xbox. So all this stuff is super cool to talk about, but it's also kind of in the far future. I mean, the new Xbox is slated for holiday of 2020. But something that is much more immediate in the future that I am really happy to see make a surprise appearance here at this show is the new Xbox One Elite Controller. So here we actually have the new Xbox One Elite Series Two Controller and there's a lot of changes going on with this versus the original design, and there's a lot of new functions this offers as well. The grip design that it has used to only cover the back side, now is a full wraparound which is much more comfortable and is gonna really help if you get sweaty hands during long periods of gameplay. The sticks on it are now not only interchangeable, but you can also use a little tool to adjust the tension on the stick, so if you want a little more pushback or you really want a very loose stick, you can adjust that now. Along with these new features, there's also some expansion on what you could previously do on the old controller. You now have three different profiles that instead of being a switch you move in the middle, you just press this button right here to switch between three different ones you can design, and the hair triggers now have three different levels you can choose from instead of two, with a new extra-short one compared to what you could do before. Favorite change out of everything, though, is the fact that they are now using an internal rechargeable battery instead of relying on AAs. And according to Xbox, a full charge will last you 40 hours! Xbox made a lot of great announcements today, and a lot of them have to do with the far future, but as far as things that are coming up a lot sooner, I am so happy this is here. And we are back in the office, featuring a new Xbox pin. I think it glows in the dark. Also, better sounding audio. (laughs) Anyways, the thing is I've been thinking more and more about what we saw at today's press conference, and something that's really interesting to me is that while we got a lot of game announcements at this E3, it was a lot of back-to-back stuff from Xbox, which was a good move, I really think the core of what Microsoft is trying to do right now comes down to those last 20 minutes where they really talked about Project xCloud and Project Scarlett. Obviously, having a lot of big name games is important, and it was something they focused on last year and this year was, making sure to be clear "Hey, we're acquiring all these new studios, "we've got a lot of these "first-party titles in development now." But I think the really big thing comes down to the idea of Xbox trying to develop themselves into being more of a side service. The idea that "Hey, look, do you like our games? "You don't have to own "the brand new awesome Project Scarlett, "you don't even have to have had an Xbox One before, "we just wanna focus on the idea of "if you like our games, we want you to have "some way to be able to play them." And the xCloud is a great example of this, because part of what they talked about was "Hey, if you own one of our systems "you can use it as your own server to use to play games. "But if you don't, we still have our own servers "you can play on with your phone "or whatever other device you're using "so you can access the stuff "whether or not you own our hardware." Which is a really important distinction to make. After all, the idea of using your own system as a server isn't a completely brand new thing, I mean you can already do this with PlayStation as they recently brought the ability to stream PlayStation directly to a phone, and in the past you could use it with a PS Vita. Xbox is opening up that door by saying "Yes, you can do that too, "but even if you don't own our system, "xCloud is something you can access." Something that also occurred to me as just kind of an interesting thing is that, look, having a new Series Two Xbox One Elite Controller is awesome. I've been waiting for that for a while, and I liked the original Elite, but this one is shaping up to be something even better. I mean, even the short hands-on time I had with it, it felt like an amazing controller, but it's also kinda coming out a little late in the cycle if we're getting a brand new Xbox late next year. Which raises the question, if they're releasing new hardware does it necessarily we're seeing an entire new generation shift? See, in the past, every time a new game system comes out, everything changes, we get a new controller, we get new online services, we get new everything. But this time around, I almost wonder if Xbox's goal is hey, here's the new Project Scarlett, whatever official Xbox name they end up giving it, and while that is new, more powerful hardware that will support games haven't been able to play before, they might just stick with using the same Xbox One controller. It might just be a thing where, hey, if you own the brand new Elite Series Two Controller, and then you get Project Scarlett, you just keep using that controller on there as well. It's one continuing experience instead of being a complete heavy shift. Ultimately, I think a really big takeaway from this press conference for Xbox this year is that while there is a lot of stuff to look forward to within the coming year, I really think Xbox is approaching late 2020 as almost like a brand new starting point. The idea that look, the Xbox One ultimately didn't entirely go as planned. And a lot of that was botched by the initial launch of the system, and a lot of work has been done to try to build some goodwill back. And I think the release of Project Scarlett, the release of Game Pass on more systems, the release of xCloud, is all going towards this new momentum of hey, fresh new start for Microsoft. Going good, yeah. Look, so we're recording with a lav mic, so if you want to say anything on camera you have to yell it into my chest. - I can do this. This is fine. - Yeah, cool. - This is the way I talk to you always. - What did you think of the new Xbox?