Xbox Series X's Backward Compatibility Features Are a Lot More Impressive Than You Think
In today's day and age, Xbox has become an all-encompassing term, referring to the Xbox Series X, the Xbox One X, the Xbox One, the Xbox 360, and the plain old Xbox from 2001. Microsoft's focus on cross-generation compatibility hasn't gone downwell in some circles because of the very real risk that cross-gen games will constrain developers from pushing 9th generation hardware to its limits, but at the same time, their commitment to compatibility means that the Xbox Series X is set to become the best possible platform to play previous-generation Xbox games.
And backwards compatibility here isn't just an afterthought either. With compatibility ingrained in its DNA, the Series X delivers meaningful image quality, graphics, and performance improvements in just about every backwards compatible game. In some cases, the out-of-the-box backwards compatibility even offers better visuals and performance than many full-priced remasters in the eighth-generation. How is Microsoft making this happen? What's the secret to Xbox Series X's backwards compatibility? Let's take a look.
Fission and Fusion: Building on Xbox One backwards compatibility
Microsoft promised that all games that currently run on the Xbox One will be compatible with the Xbox Series X. Reading between the lines, this indicates that the complete set of Xbox One backwards compatible titles will be available on the Series X. It's important to note here that Xbox One backwards compatibility was originally not a given. Around the time the Xbox One first hit the market, Don Matrick, a senior Xbox exec had this to say: "If you're doing backwards compatibility, you're backwards."
Suffice to say, attitudes towards supporting previous Xbox generations have changed substantially since then over at Microsoft. But it's interesting to look first at how Microsoft got backwards compatibility working on the Xbox One, since that's the base on which Series X compatibility will be built on.
Sometime between 2013 — when the Xbox One hit the market — and E3 2015, an in-house team at Microsoft took Xbox 360 backwards compatibility up as a challenge. It's important to emphasize here how significant this undertaking was. Neither Xbox One nor the PlayStation 4 shipped with hardware compatibility support. The PlayStation 3, in contrast, featured a full-fledged PlayStation 2 Emotion Engine SoC inside, just to allow users to play their PlayStation 2 games. Without bespoke hardware, software emulation was the only way forward. Microsoft's Fission project leveraged in-house development expertise, collaboration with publishers, and an automated toolset to set a large number of Xbox 360 games up and running on the Xbox One. Afterwards, Fusion, as separate project, worked towards getting original Xbox games running on the console. The extensive work that Microsoft teams did on the Fission and Fusion projects is the basis of Xbox Series X backwards compatibility.
Xbox Series X compatibility with Xbox One games
A big part of the Xbox Series X compatibility story — and what matters most to current Xbox One and Xbox One X users — is how well the new console will run eighth-generation games. Microsoft's promise that all Xbox One games will run on the Series X means that you entire eighth-generation Xbox library should work on the Series X, right out of the box. Because both the Series X and the Xbox One share a common x86 hardware architecture, the actual process of emulating Xbox One games is a lot more straightforward. Thanks to hardware-level backwards compatibility between the Series X's Zen 2 CPU and RDNA2 GPU with the Xbox One's hardware setup, Xbox One game code can be run more or less as-is.
Because there isn't a massive hit to performance on account of emulation, Microsoft has been able to leverage the Xbox Series X's additional performance headroom to deliver remaster-quality experiences right out of the box. Let's take a look at how that works and what it entails.
Enabling higher resolution and higher framerates
Microsoft promises a higher resolution output across the board and higher framerates in select titles. The former is par for course: the Xbox One X runs Xbox 360 games at up to 9 times their native resolution. The latter is far more interesting and goes beyond what we've seen from any backward compatibility solution till date.
Doubling the framerate is extremely hard to achieve through conventional software emulation for a number of reasons. First off, emulation itself is extremely intensive on the CPU. On PC and other platforms, intensive titles require hardware that's 5-10 times faster than the original platform. This is because of the complexity involved in interpreting instructions from very different hardware architecture. In this context, doubling the framerate of games on the Xbox One is no mean feat. It's possible in large part because an emulation layer isn't really needed: Xbox One code runs out of the box on Series X hardware.
Because the Series X features over twice the CPU horsepower, games that were CPU limited on the Xbox One will enjoy meaningful boosts to performance. Games built around a locked 30 FPS will likely see far fewer drops below, for a more consistent experience. A select number of titles — especially those with game logic that isn't tied to the frame rate will actually offer 60 FPS or even 120 FPS modes on the Xbox Series X, depending on their Xbox One performance levels. It's not clear right now a to how much of an improvement individual games will get. However, we're looking out for CPU-bound titles like Alien: Isolation that have the potential to run so much better on the Series X. 2014's Alien franchise entry was extremely light on GPU resources, with graphics cards like the GTX 750 Ti able to hit 60 FPS. All console versions were locked at 30 FPS, though, likely due to CPU bottlenecking.
Auto HDR and Quick Resume: Building Series X functionality into older titles
Microsoft's compatibility push doesn't end with higher framerates and higher resolution output. The company promises to implement forward-facing Series X features including Quick Resume and Auto HDR.
Auto HDR is an interesting solution because it appears to have been engineered with both backwards compatibility and the current-gen titles in mind. Auto HDR uses an AI algorithm that detects luminosity information in screenspace, then cranks up the brightness in appropriate areas. Auto HDR enables HDR in almost all backwards-compatible games. We also expect the feature to work on Series X titles that don't support HDR out of the box. Because the AI algorithm is aware of what the scene looks like, and because it apparently has awareness of common light sources (like the sun), Microsoft has been able to implement Auto HDR with ease, even in earlier Xbox 360 and original Xbox games that came out before HDR was a thing.
Quick Resume is another Series X feature that's coming to backwards-compatible games, too. Quick Resume saves game data on the Series X's ultra-fast SSD storage, allowing users to jump right into the action without dealing with additional loading screens.
Conclusion
Xbox Series X's backwards compatibility is a boon for users who want to get more value from their existing Xbox libraries. With enhanced framerate and resolution options, as well faster load times, Microsoft has gone above and beyond here.
DiRT 5 – Xbox Series X Gameplay Showcases Gorgeous Environments
Codemasters' DiRT 5 is one of the more interesting titles for next-gen consoles, particularly due to its support for 120 FPS gameplay. Thanks to some new gameplay footage and details from GameSpot, we get a better idea of the game's enhancement modes and settings on Xbox Series X. The video also showcases ice drifting in New York and snow rallies, for those interested in how those work.
The key options for visuals are Image Quality and Frame Rate. The former will offer the best possible visuals in 4K and targets 60 FPS, though the frame rate takes a hit when several cars and effects are on-screen. The latter also runs in 4K and targets 60 FPS but with a much more solid frame rate. Then there's the option to run it at 120 FPS a lower resolution (which is still higher than 1080p).
Overall, DiRT 5 is looking sharp en route to its launch next month. It's out on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 6th while the Xbox Series X/S versions arrive on November 10th. The PS5 version releases on November 12th. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.
Watch Dogs: Legion – Updated PC Requirements Revealed
It was less than a month ago that Ubisoft revealed the full PC requirements for Watch Dogs: Legion, but those requirements have now been updated. There have been changes across the board- GPU and CPU requirements have been modified to be more demanding in pretty much all settings.
In particular, its the ray-tracing settings that are particularly demanding, with two of them requiring support for Nvidia's new RTX 30 Series. At 1440p with ray-tracing enabled on very high settings, you'll need either an Intel Core i7-9700 or an AMD Ryzen 5 3600, along with an RTX 3070. Meanwhile, on 4K ultra high settings with ray-tracing enabled, you'll need either an Intel Core i9-9900K or an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, along with an RTX 3080.
You can check out the full requirements below.
Watch Dogs: Legion launches for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on October 29, for Xbox Series X/S on November 10, and for PS5 on November 12. Ubisoft recently spoke about their post-launch plans for the game, while new details on the game's microtransactions also emerged.
Updated PC specs!
https://t.co/0FFHEHkvLd
— Watch Dogs: Legion (@watchdogsgame) October 12, 2020
Yakuza: Like a Dragon Includes High Resolution, High Frame Rate Modes on Xbox Series X
Despite being a cross-gen Sega's Yakuza: Like a Dragon is one of the bigger titles to look for next month when the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 launch. It's a launch title for the Microsoft's console but how does it run? A new preview by GameSpot reveals three modes – high resolution, high frame rate and normal.
High resolution, as the name indicates, seems to be in native 4K though it was noted to be running in what seems to be 30 FPS. High frame rate mode prioritizes a "much higher" frame rate with visuals taking a hit though whether this is higher than 60 FPS is unknown. Finally, there's normal mode which is 60 FPS and doesn't suffer from too much drop in visual quality (as seen in the video below).
Either way, it seems the RPG won't be running in 4K/60 FPS like the Microsoft Store listing initially indicated but will still look very good. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is out on November 10th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4 and PC in the West. The PS5 version arrives on March 2nd 2021.
5 Things You Should Know About The Dark Pictures: Little Hope
Last year, Supermassive Games and Bandai Namco came together for The Dark Pictures Anthology, their series of multiple individual horror narrative adventure games, and got it off the ground with Man of Medan. Building on the success Supermassive had found earlier with Until Dawn, Man of Medan may not have been as good as the earlier PS4 title was, but it was still a solid start for its new series.
Soon, The Dark Pictures will be returning with Little Hope, the second game in a planned series of eight, and deliver a similar choice-driven horror experience, but with a completely new story, setting, and characters. There's quite a bit Supermassive have already revealed about their upcoming game, and ahead of its launch at the end of this month, we're going to talk about five crucial details that you should know about it.
So without further ado, let's get started.
PREMISE
Supermassive Games have said on a few occasions now that with each new game in The Dark Pictures Anthology, they plan to explore a different style and subgenre of horror. With Little Hope, they're going for horror driven by greed, fanaticism, and paranoia, in a story that takes inspiration from many sources, including The Blair Witch Project, It Follows, Season of the Watch, and even the Silent Hill games.
So what exactly is the game's premise? Framed once again within an interview style conversation with the enigmatic Curator, Little Hope follows a group of college students and their professor who become stranded in the town of Little Hope, New England, after a bus crash, unable to leave because of a strange fog that's trapping them inside (hence the Silent Hill inspiration, one would image).
The group of students and their professor soon discover that the town has some terrible hidden secrets, when they witness the execution of group of settlers from the past who look exactly like them. It falls to the group to uncover the town's terrifying past, discover their connection to it, root out evil, and hopefully, make it out alive.
MORE STORY DETAILS
The Dark Pictures: Little Hope puts a lot of emphasis on uncovering the mysteries of the past in its story, and it's clear that there will be plenty connecting the events of the past and the present. Learning exactly what those connections are is going to be an important element of the story, so it makes sense that we will also be witnessing events in the past of the town of Little Hope.
This time, interestingly enough, also has a history of witch trials, and the story will be focusing on a particular time in the 17th century, during the time of witch burnings. Meanwhile, at the same time we'll also be learning about a family that lived in the town in the 1970s. Players will be uncovering all of these pieces as they look to piece the story together.
Clearly, there's a lot of interesting strands to follow here- our only hope is that it all comes together well in a cohesive manner, to tell a story that brings the past and present together in convincing fashion. With a story that has as much going on, good pacing is always crucial (but never a given), so we're hoping for the best here.
CHARACTERS AND ACTORS
As we've discussed, Little Hope will focus on a group of four college students and their professor- but who exactly are these characters? Like Until Dawn and Man of Medan, Little Hope will make use of an ensemble cast of several characters, many of whom – also in true Supermassive fashion – will be played by some very well-known faces.
The four college students are Taylor (played by Caitlyn Sponheimer), Angela (played by Ellen David), Daniel (played by Kyle Bailey), and Andrew. Andrew is a character many players will recognize- since he's being played by Will Poulter, who's appeared in films such as The Maze Runner, Midsommer, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, and more. Meanwhile, the professor is being played by Alex Ivanovici (whom some horror fans will probably know as the voice of Rick Trager from Outlast).
Finally, as we mentioned earlier, The Curator, played by Pip Torrens, will be returning as well. The Dark Pictures is going tell several stories that are not connected to each other and have different settings, plots, and characters, but The Curator is the one character that's it all together. We don't know yet if we'll be learning more about his motivations (or if he even has motivations) in Little Hope, but we sure hope we do.
MULTIPLAYER
One of the most highly praised things in Man of Medan was its multiplayer gameplay, which itself was inspired by the popularity of Until Dawn as a makeshift couch co-op game. Little Hope will be following in those footsteps as well, and it's going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy.
The two multiplayer modes from Man of Medan will both be featured in Little Hope. In the Shared Story mode, two players play the story together through online co-op. Then Movie Night, which sees five players each selecting their character that they stick with throughout the story, with the game occasionally prompting for the controller to be handed off to the next character.
Both modes were quite well implemented in Man of Medan, Movie Night especially, so hopefully, Little Night will deliver a solid multiplayer experience as well.
IMPROVEMENTS
Man of Medan wasn't a perfect game, and there were a number of things that were criticized when the game launched. Supermassive Games have, of course, internalized much of that feedback, and they will be introducing some improvements in Little Hope in response to that feedback.
Speaking to Game Informer, the developer talked about quite a few of these. For instance, players will have greater ranges of walking speed, the camera will no longer always be fixed (though the game will take control in some sections), and animations and transitions have also been made smoother so that characters look better when they're moving.
QTEs are also being tweaked in response to feedback for Man of Medan. They will not be as abrupt as they were in the 2019 title, and the game will try to strike a better balance between QTE-driven interactive sequences and letting players make big branching decisions.
15 Best Secrets in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Given how dense every level in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is, it goes without saying that there's a lot of hidden detail in each one of them. Crash 4 is, of course, also a game that pays homage to its predecessors every chance it gets, so a lot of those aforementioned secrets turn out to be awesome references, calling back to previous Crash games (and some other things). In this feature, we're going to talk about some of the best secrets we've found in Crash 4 until now.
SPYRO THE DRAGON BEACH FLOAT
Crash and Spyro are on very similar paths, with both classic PlayStation platforming franchises having seen resurgences thanks to excellent remake- and Crash pays plenty of tribute to the purple dragon in his latest outing. For instance, in the very first level of the game, on the very first screen of the game, if you move back toward the water a little bit, you'll spot a Spyro beach float to the right.
FIFA 21 Tops UK Charts With Biggest Physical Launch of the Year so Far
The weekly charts for boxed software sales in the UK are out (via GamesIndustry), and to no one's surprise, FIFA 21 has topped the charts on debut. Its physical sales are down 42% over FIFA 20, continuing the series' waning physical sales performance, but this is a series that has also grown every year in terms of digital sales. Meanwhile, in spite of a drop in launch sales, FIFA 21 still manages to enjoy the biggest launch of the year in the UK so far, beating the likes of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Last of Us Part 2.
Star Wars: Squadrons, which debuted in second place last week, holds on to that position in spite of a 55% week-on-week drop in sales. Meanwhile, last week's top performer, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time drops down to third place, with a 58% week-on-week drop in sales.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Super Mario 3D All-Stars round out the rest of the top 5, while the remaining games in the top 10 are no surprises either, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, and more.
You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending October 10 below.
- FIFA 21
- Star Wars: Squadrons
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Minecraft (Switch)
- Minecraft Dungeons
- Marvel's Avengers
- Ring Fit Adventure
Xbox Series X Will Retain Quick Resume Even After Being Unplugged
One of the best features to come out of the current crop of consoles is the suspend feature. Being able to hop in and out of a game instantly was quite incredible for both the PS4 and Xbox One, and Microsoft is taking that to the next level with Quick Resume on the Xbox Series systems. It's been officially said that you can now suspend and resume up to 6 games, but it's actually been shown under the right circumstances it can actually do up to 12. Well, it's even better than it sounds as you'll be able to resume games even after your system has been unplugged.
While the current gen suspend feature is great, it is quite limited. For one, you can only do one game at a time and if your system powers down, that cuts out the game. Apparently, on the Series X, your quick resume will retain even after unplugging the system. YouTuber Alanah Pearce detailed the feature, which you can see a link to below. That means even if the system is powered down, you can still jump directly into a game that you have saved in quick resume. The Series S also has a quick resume feature, as shown here, but as of now that hardware has not been given to the press or public, so it's unclear if it functions in the same way.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will launch November 10th.
ALSO: you can unplug the Xbox Series X from power entirely and Quick Resume will STILL work.
I have a video here showing the first time I turned the console on after moving it, and immediately launched a game via Quick Resume: https://t.co/s68tHCqWjd
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) October 12, 2020
The Outer Worlds 2 is in Pre-Production – Rumour
Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds was exactly the game fans of the developer and the genre had been hoping it would be- but, of course, there's always room for improvement. This is the kind of series that would benefit hugely from iteration with sequels, even more so now that Microsoft own the property and the developer.
And it seems a sequel might be in very early stages of development. Taking recently to Twitter, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad said that a new game in The Outer Worlds series is "being explored" and is currently in early pre-production- which probably means ideas for the games are being pitched and going back and forth.
Possible sequels to The Outer Worlds have, of course, been mentioned in the past by both Obsidian Entertainment and Microsoft. Last year, Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty talked about wanting to expand the series with future releases. Meanwhile, co-director of The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, has also spoken about the possibility of The Outer Worlds' sequel being open world.
Of course, if The Outer Worlds 2 is made (which seems likely, given the success of the first game), it will be published by new owners of the IP Microsoft, and not previous publishers Private Division- which, of course, means that the game might end up being exclusive to Xbox and PC.
For now though, Obsidian Entertainment are currently working on their next big RPG, a new first person fantasy title set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, called Avowed.
The Outer Worlds is currently available on Xbox One, PS4, PC (where it will soon also became available on Steam), and Nintendo Switch. Its first of two expansions, Peril on Gorgon, launched last month.
Last I heard a new entry in the franchise is being explored, currently in pre-production.
Could change into something else ofc, but this is the current status. https://t.co/OGvfHjycNu
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) October 11, 2020
Resident Evil Village Listed For $70 On Asian Retailer For PS5 And On PS4 For $60 – Rumor
We're on the verge of another year, and there's a lot to look forward to: the first full year of a new generation of consoles, hopefully COVID finally being brought until control, and the eighth mainline installment in the Resident Evil franchise, Village. The game will be coming to next generation consoles, and well, it looks like you will indeed be paying a bit more for it.
A listing for the PS5 version of the game recently went live on Play-Asia recently, and probably as you'd expect the asking price is $69.99 (the price may change to your region's pricing scheme). The $10 USD price bump, and even more in other regions, has been something of a sour note for many as we head into this new gen. It's worth noting that for now we're filing this under rumor since there's been no official statement from Capcom, but it seems obvious at this point that the price hike will be the new standard. Interestingly, there is also a listing for a PS4 version of the game at $59.99, which you can see here. Capcom said they were looking into current gen versions for Village, but as of now nothing official has been announced so put this under double rumor.
Resident Evil Village will release in 2021 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC with PlayStation 4 And Xbox One versions currently being evaluated. You can check out some insights from the developer on the game as well as some new art through here.