i3 - July/August 2019 - 23

ubscribers can play Apple
Arcade games across iPhone, iPad,
Mac and Apple TV, and they can pick up
where they left off in a game, even if
they switch devices. "

What this means for gamers is visuals beyond anything PS4 Pro can
deliver in 4K with high dynamic range (HDR). In fact, PS5 will support
8K, which opens the door for legions of gamers who will soon have a reason
to upgrade from their 4K TVs to an 8K model.
But Cerny also focused on an incredible leap of audio technology with the
new console, the one area that advanced processing power failed to significantly upgrade in the transition from PS3 to PS4. Sony has been working with
immersive surround sound audio with its PlayStation VR hardware, which has
sold over four million units to date. "Presence," a key term in delivering a completely immersive experience in virtual reality, is something that Sony is focusing on for its non-VR experiences with the new PlayStation, says Cerny. Gamers
will be able to hear enemies sneaking up from behind. When alien spacecrafts rush overhead in the game, it will be completely immersive.
Another element that Cerny promised will separate the new console from
any previous generations is the inclusion of a powerful internal solid-state
drive (SSD). As games become larger and more complex, even disc-based
titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 require massive amounts of data to be
stored on a hard drive and then accessed when moving from one area to
another in the game world. What once took 15 seconds to do - and forced
game makers to create cut scenes or custom lobbies to mask the loading
times - will now require a fraction of a second.

Microsoft Cross-Platform Gaming

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been touting cross-platform gaming
within its Xbox and Windows 10 ecosystems with its Xbox Play Anywhere
C TA . t e c h / i 3

platform and more recently its Xbox Game
Pass digital titles. One price allows gamers
to play games like Forza Horizon 4,
Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves on Xbox
One or Windows 10 devices. Now the tech
giant is testing Project XCloud, a gamestreaming technology that Kareem
Choudhry, corporate vice president of
Gaming Cloud at Microsoft, says will complement its console hardware and give
gamers more choices.
"We love what's possible when a console is connected to a 4K TV with full
HDR support and surround sound -
that remains a fantastic way to experience console gaming," Choudhry says.
"We also believe in empowering gamers
to decide when and how to play."
Choudhry envisions a future where
gamers can seamlessly access content on
their phone, tablet or another connected
device. "True console-quality gaming will
become available on mobile devices, providing the two billion-plus gamers around
the world a new gateway to previously console- and PC-exclusive content," Choudhry
says. "We can achieve this vision with the
global distribution of Microsoft's datacenters in 54 Azure regions and the advanced
network technologies developed by the
team at Microsoft Research."
At this year's E3, Microsoft unveiled
some basic details about its next generation console, currently titled Project
Scarlett. Complete with a customdesigned AMD processor and other
next-gen upgrades, the console is
expected to arrive in the 2020 holiday
season. Accompanying its release is the
game Halo Infinite, the next installment
of the blockbuster Xbox-exclusive series.
Like Sony and its PS4 Pro, Microsoft
offered a slight upgrade to its Xbox One
console in 2017 with its Xbox One X and
Xbox One S. Microsoft also launched the
Xbox One S All Digital Edition last year,
which stripped away the disc drive. All
of these consoles support 4K gaming
with full HDR.
"We're excited about our ability to
deliver a best-in-class global streaming
technology," Choudhry says.
JULY/AUGUST 2019

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i3 - July/August 2019

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