MICROSOFT CLAIMS IT WILL SUPPORT 8K GAMING AT UP TO 120FPS, WITH RAY TRACING FOR REALISTIC LIGHTING

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Crumbs, is… is that a new console?

Yes indeed. This windowless black tower is ironically from Microsoft. It’s the Xbox Series X, it arrives this year and absolutely nobody saw it coming… except everyone who knew the PlayStation 5 was on its way and immediately put two and two together. If the design’s giving you vertigo, don’t fret - it’ll work on its side too, although insufferable geeks reckon that’ll make it the same height as the Xbox One X but double the width, so either way the real winner here is Ikea.

Will it beat the PS5 for power?

Specs are scarce, but AMD is on processor/graphics duty and it will use rapid GDDRG memory. Far more exciting is Microsoft’s claim that the Series X will support 8K gaming at up to 120fps with a variable refresh rate. There’s also a built-in solid state drive (SSD) for super-fast loading times and support for everyone’s favourite renegade cop… sorry, graphics rendering buzz term, ray tracing. This simulates lighting in the most realistic way yet, so environments look true to life - because being reminded of the real world is what everyone wants when playing video games. Sony’s PS5 is expected to go pretty much toe to toe in the specs stakes, although leaked benchmarks suggest the Series X wins by 12 teraflops to 9 (with a teraflop measuring theoretical performance). The important part is they’ll both play FIFA.