In recent months, Microsoft has made a multitude of announcements that interested gamers worldwide. From Xbox exclusives being ported for PC to the confirmation of a slimmer Xbox One, they’ve heard a lot of good news from the tech giant. However, one announcement interested some of them (including me) more than the others: the revelation of a new, upgraded Xbox One codenamed ‘Xbox Scorpio.‘
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if no one saw this coming. For a long time Phil Spencer, the head of the Xbox division, has been hinting towards hardware upgrades for the Xbox One. At first, some people thought that this meant they’d have to upgrade the Xbox One themselves by purchasing external devices or swapping out parts from their console. Instead, it seems that Microsoft is taking a similar approach to Sony’s PlayStation NEO, a new upgraded version of the PlayStation 4.
What this means is that the Xbox Scorpio will be available on the market at retailers and stores around the world in a similar fashion to its predecessor, the standalone Xbox One.
Though it had bad reception at its first announcement due to many flaws, the Xbox One released with these flaws resolved and has been a main competitor in the eighth generation’s console market since.
Scorpio was introduced on the back of the XBox One design flaws. The Scorpio will include a more powerful GPU than the base product, according to some familiar with the structure of the upcoming console. Although the specs have not been set in stone yet, third-party publishers have been briefed on the Scorpio,according to a report by Kotaku.
Thanks to its supposed GPU upgrade, it’s likely that the Scorpio will be capable of handling 4K resolution for its video games. However, the I/O transfer speed’s upgrade is not a confirmed aspect of the specs, which might mean longer loading times in return for more beautiful graphics. I/O transfer speed is the speed at which the console can transfers assets from the hard drive/disc to the console’s memory.
While the Scorpio does sound like a good idea to people who would like a better graphical experience on their consoles, many are outraged by the sudden news. People are under the impression that while the Xbox One is not technically an abandoned console (it’s far from that at this point), Microsoft is trying to release another new console that outperforms the One in an attempt to rush the console generation and generate more income with more frequent improvements to their technology.
Gamers such as this one are voicing their negative opinions about Xbox Scorpio. (Name of commenter excluded; comment from Kotaku)
Though people are both happy and unhappy about the Scorpio, at this point no one can really make any judgments about it. As is the case with the PlayStation NEO, the Xbox Scorpio seems to just be an Xbox One with more powerful hardware. If both the One and the Scorpio run the same games, I can imagine that most gamers won’t care.
However, if Microsoft creates exclusive games for the Scorpio, I can almost guarantee that the fans will not be happy and that further action by the Xbox division will be needed to calm them down.
Do you think the Xbox Scorpio is a good or bad idea? Let us know in the comments section found below!
