Xbox One X will go on sale in November and will cost 499 euros

Microsoft presents its smallest console to date and also the most powerful since it will be able to run games to «native 4K»

  It is the smallest Xbox One in history and, however, it is also the most powerful. Microsoft has put name, date and price to its next console. It will be called Xbox One S, it will go on sale on November 7 and will do so at a price of 499 euros. It is, of course, the most powerful console of the moment: it will have 12 GB of RAM, of which 9 will be reserved for video games and 3 for the system.


   It will have a CPU with 8 X86 cores as it will operate at 2.3 GHz and a GPU with 40 computing units also made to measure at 1172 MHz. The memory bandwidth will be 326 Gb per second and it will have one unit of disk capable of reading Blu-ray discs in ultra high definition.

The Redmond promises - and gave several samples of it throughout the night - the execution of games with HDR and, above all, a native 4K resolution, something that PlayStation 4 Pro, its most direct competition, is far away . "It is the most powerful processor ever included in a console," said Kareem Choudhry, director of Software Engineering at Microsoft, proudly during the pre-E3 conference in Los Angeles.

  And not only will it serve to give more luster to the latest developments, the games of the original Xbox One will benefit from graphic improvements and faster loads and at least thirty games of this generation - 'Resident Evil 7' and 'Ghost Recon: Wildlands ', among them- will receive updates to take full advantage of the new hardware.

But a console is nothing without its games and that's where maybe Microsoft faltered, not because there were no games for its platform but because there were no great exclusives that are, in the end, decant the consumer for one or another console. In addition, almost all exclusive Xbox One will reach Windows 10 under the Play Anywhere program (play anywhere).

  The spectacular 'Forza Motorsport 7' was the title in charge of opening the night. Among its novelties: day and night cycles, dynamic meteorological changes - puddles of water will get bigger as time passes - and a gameplay to native 4K and 60 frames per second. It is, simply, spectacular.

The launch of the new Microsoft machine was also accompanied by the presentation of titles that, while not exclusive to Xbox One X, will benefit from its power to display graphics in ultra high defición. This is the case of the third installment of the saga 'Metro', surnamed 'Exodus', which will hit the market in 2018. The post-apocalyptic setting continues to mark a game of action and adventure in the first person, obviously great. There was also space for 'Assassin's Creed Origins'. The saga of Ubisoft, which last year was finally taking a break, returns with a new environment -Egypt- and with new playability elements such as the possibility of diving or defending with a shield. The title will also run in native 4K on Xbox One X.

The conference last night also served to put big expected dates of Xbox One. Thus, 'Crackdown 3' will hit stores on November 7 and indie platforms and bosses 'Cuphead' will do on September 29. No date was set, however, to 'Sea of ​​Thieves', Rare's pirate multiplayer game, which showed some new mechanics such as first-person shooter attacks on the ground, diving and combat between ships-special mention for the incredible detail of the surf. It was also announced 'Ori and the Wild of the Wisps', the second installment of 'Ori and the Bild Forest'.

One thing was clear, after its acquisition, Microsoft was not going to waste that chicken of the golden eggs that is 'Minecraft'. The game of construction in the first person will allow cross game between Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, Xbox One and tablets and also receive an update in the fall that will enable the game at 4K resolution and add graphics improvements and a somewhat more refined aspect.

To Xbox One will also come first in a game that PC has already achieved 3 million users. This is 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds', an action game that includes the premise of films like 'Battle Royale' and 'The Hunger Games' and faces a hundred players on a vast map where only one can be left.

'Deep Rock Galactic', 'State of Decay 2', 'The Darwin Project', 'Dragon Ball Fighter Z', 'Black Desert', 'The Last Night' - with a touch between 'Flashback' and 'Blade Runner' - 'The Artful Scape', 'Codevein', 'Super Lucky's Tale' and 'Ashen' are other games that have been shown during a conference that, in the absence of a great exclusive, it has taken several world premieres.

Perhaps the most interesting has been the 'Anthem', the title with which Bioware and Electronic Arts seem to want to take a step further in what open worlds are concerned. The title puts the player at the controls of an exoskeleton with which he can fly in a wild and mysterious universe with a level of detail, judging by the demonstration, extraordinary.

The prequel 'Life is Strange: Before the Storm' and the second installment of the game based on 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Shadow of War' also had a space in a conference that served to announce that by the end of the year the Xbox One will not only be compatible with some mythical titles of Xbox 360 - at the moment, they are already 385 games that can be executed - but also with those of the first Xbox, among them 'Crimson Skies'.

Surprising that Microsoft has launched a machine so competent and yet the technical demonstrations of its brute force have arrived, excluding from the equation to the shocking 'Forza Motorsport 7', of studies from outside the house. 'Crackdown 3', 'Sea of ​​Thieves' and 'Cuphead', three of the exclusive titles for the machine and for Windows 10, had already been seen in previous editions of the fair for the more modest versions of Xbox One, so they hardly take advantage of the potential of the machine. That is why it is strange that Microsoft has opted for exclusive, a priori, temporary and independent games, instead of profiling a title that makes the console become an essential. Will the biggest power be enough argument to dethrone Sony and its PlayStation 4?