Xbox Scorpio: The End of Console Generations?

Microsoft's Project Scorpio Is Blurring The Lines Between Console & PC

Project Scorpio E3 2016

 At this years E3 Microsoft dropped a bomb. A 4K ready, GTX1080 Titan equipped bomb. The Xbox Scorpio is the first console to be released with the best available graphics card & that is only fraction of the amazing specs that were touted at E3. The console is hitting stores with an 8-core CPU, 6 teraflops of graphics power & 320Gb/s of memory bandwidth. With this hardware, the Scorpio is going to be capable of competing with gaming PC's at a price point far below. To give you a comparison, the PS4 can hit speeds of 176GB/s & the Xbox One can hit just 68GB/s. Estimates for the price on release range around $600.

Read Also: Top 5 E3 Announcements

Beyond the technical specs, Microsoft has already assuaged the woes of Xbox One users. All new content is going to be compatible with all of Microsoft's hardware. Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of Xbox, said that Microsoft intends to add to the community without forcing users to buy into the new hardware releases. Xbox Scorpio & Xbox One games will also work on the Windows 10. Microsoft is creating a platform where users can move seamlessly between their hardware.

With the Scorpio's announcement & the upcoming holiday release date of the PS4K, are we seeing an end to console generations as we know them? PC gamers have enjoyed the freedom of playing old games on new hardware for years. Now with this next console iteration, we are seeing console platforms begin to take from the PC playbook. Given the specs of the new consoles & the upcoming release of VR for both Sony & Microsoft platforms, console users have more reasons than ever to avoid paying the high cost of a gaming PC.

Read Here: For more details on Microsoft's Scorpio Plan

 

Any thoughts on the upcoming consoles? Let us know.

Justin Asaya is the lead writer at The Gaming Room © 

When he's not writing, he's streaming new games & content on Twitch @TheAsaya 

Astroneer: Crafting & Ship Travel Gameplay

I'm going to put solar panels on everything.

This Astroneer gameplay video showcases the resource gathering & modular crafting which is going to drive the game. The full range of crafting hasn't yet been showcased, however we have an idea of the base building & transportation in the game. If the crafting system is deep enough, this game has the potential to gain more traction than No Mans Sky which releases at a similar time in 2016.

 

Star Citizen & The Rise of Crowdfunded Games

Star Citizen is bringing a highly detailed, user influenced universe to a fanbase that is already funding it.

 

The project, developed by RobertsSpaceIndustries has already generated $116,713,219 & has continued funding goals. With this amount of investment, early access players have gotten a game with possibly the largest scope of its kind. Star Citizen is expected to have a fully persistent economy & universe. Want to take over a processing plant? Maybe run your own pirate merchant squadrons? In the Star Citizen universe, these are barely scratching the surface.

 Many of these features, have now been implemented in the current 2.4.0 Update. You can get early access by purchasing a package that starts you with a ship a hangar & some resources. The game currently has a server side persistence engine running & being tested by the players.

The development team working closely with the players has come up with an ambitious universe and built a community to bring the persistent economy to life.   

 Star Citizens success with crowdfunding showcases the benefits of blurring the line between the development team & the play.ers. What we aren't seeing however is a monetary incentive being included in this process. Instead we see issues in the support for user content that could be fixed if content creators were paid. Game developers could start to follow the lead of crowd source online marketplaces like DesignCrowd & TopTal. If developers monetized the process of adding user generated content to their games, they will gain access to a massive source of development potential & create a new job market. 

If a developer at E3 unveiled a plan to pay content creators who contribute to their games, the crowd would go wild. Roberts Space Industries working in tandem with its community is building a game the ambition of which will showcase the massive leaps games could take if every developer started using this strategy. 

 

Justin Asaya is a lead writer at The Gaming Room © & hosts a Twitch stream @TheAsaya with new gameplay & content