Key Xbox Series X & Playstation 5 Features

January 4, 2020 at 10:53pm
By Jason Stettner

While information is limited, we do have some details for what the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 will have when it comes to features. Here are some thoughts on what the defining elements of the next generation consoles could be, and how that will factor into the future of gaming.

I aimed to go over what I feel will be the big elements of what games will benefit the most from in the coming years, and the improvements that are only possible on these upcoming consoles. I’ve also broken them down based on the key feature, and then digging into them further from there. That’s the just of this setup.

Ray Tracing
Both of the consoles are set to have support for ray tracing, and that technology has just started getting supported on PC. I’ve played a number of games that feature it, and it’s incredible to take in. This is going to be a massive shift for lighting, shadows and development next generation.

I can see this tech growing by a lot with the support of the consoles allowing faster adaptation within the market. With consoles having more players with this type of tech support, hopefully it just becomes standard for usage down the road.

SSD (Solid State Drives)
There’s a lot of special tech surrounding this and from both companies promises have been made to virtually erase load times. Whether or not that does happen will be interesting, but this is something that’s being pushed to make these games run better and faster.

There will be different techniques in application for both of these consoles, and I can’t wait to see how much of an improvement we’ll see in getting to actual gameplay faster. Speed could be a big selling point going forward here.

High Frame Rates
We’ve been hitting resolution targets to a degree with the premium mid-generation consoles, while not getting the smooth FPS we all desire. I can’t wait to see a situation where we can at least get that 60fps without sacrificing resolution and other extras. No more excuses, a smooth and fluid experience no matter what you’re playing. I could see this being a big deal for faster, better looking gaming experiences.

4k Standard
There definitely is a big jump from regular HD to 4k, and it’s going to be shown clearly within this next generation. Hopefully we’ll see high quality textures and enhancements with this as well. We might even see 8k resolutions for some titles, but I feel that note is more of a media playback aspect as opposed to game resolution. Perhaps minor indie games could hit that target, but it’s very demanding with few individuals having access to 8k screens. Whatever the case, I can’t wait to see a clean resolution across the board and hopefully there’s a push towards a native quality for it as well.

Backwards Compatibility
We don’t know how far this is going for Playstation 5 currently, but we do know both consoles will have this feature. With Xbox Series X we’re getting all of the generations of Xbox consoles and that will be great. I hope we’ll see enhancements on top of this, but it’s great that the wealth of our growing libraries over the years will finally carry forward. No more straight up hard resets, a visual jump without the sacrifice of our favorite games.

Games
I’d expect most to feel this is the most important aspect of a next generation console, the games. While I expect some titles to be ports during the start, I can’t wait to see what sort of wild experiences we’ll get to have as what’s possible continues to expand. Bigger, livelier and more intense worlds that are hopefully full of high quality assets. Perhaps a push to further the realism, or the scope of experiences that were limited in the past.

This past generation saw some crazy titles, from large scale to smaller ones that we never would have saw in the past. Hopefully the indie scene continues to grow for consoles, along with the traditional large scale titles we’re used to seeing. It’s always exciting to hear about the mystery titles, preparing for the big games we can’t wait to play over the generation.

That’s it for now, read our thoughts on the mystery of the Playstation below or check out the Xbox Series X hub for additional coverage.

Read our The Mystery of the PS5
View our Xbox Series X Hub