This year’s annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) might have been postponed amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from streaming what it had planned for the show. The Xbox maker has revealed it’s planning to live stream a number of developer-focused keynotes, including one specifically about the Xbox Series X and Project xCloud on March 18th.
Microsoft has so far surprised Xbox fans with the unveiling of the Series X hardware design during the Game Awards last year, and confirmation last month of the 12 teraflop GPU performance. Microsoft’s hour-long live stream will be focused on how game developers can leverage its next-gen Xbox hardware, and we’re likely to hear some new details. The company has been revealing Xbox Series X features and hardware specs in a gradual way, and that’s likely to continue next week.MICROSOFT RECENTLY CONFIRMED IT’S USING RDNA 2 FOR THE NEXT-GEN XBOX
The Xbox Series X will include a custom-designed CPU based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA 2 architecture. Microsoft is also using an NVMe SSD on the Xbox Series X to boost load times for games. The next-gen Xbox will also support 8K gaming and frame rates of up to 120fps in games. Microsoft has partnered with the HDMI forum and TV manufacturers to enable Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) on the Series X as part of its HDMI 2.1 support.
Microsoft is still in the process of teasing the power and hardware support of the Xbox Series X, but the company has revealed some aspects of the software side. Specifically, the console will be able to resume multiple games instantly and even resume titles after the Series X is rebooted for a system update.
We’ll also hear more about DirectX ray tracing next week, too. A separate talk on “what’s new in DirectX” is scheduled for 1:20PM PT / 4:20PM ET on March 18th. Microsoft will discuss ray tracing, mesh shading techniques, and more.
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