Microsoft will release ‘Halo Infinite’ alongside the new Xbox

One game that’s sure to take advantage of Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation console will be Halo Infinite. This game was first teased by the company back at E3 2018 and it appears to be an open-world version of Halo. And now we know it’ll launch alongside the Project Scarlett console. And it’ll be available on the Xbox One and PC then as well. The new teaser trailer above shows Master Chief being brought back to life. According to 343 Industries, Halo Infinite is considered a “spiritual reboot” of Halo, complete with new characters. But at its heart, it’s still Master Chief’s story. At the same time, though, the story is a good starting point for new players. It builds on the story from Halo 5, and it contains adventures that led up to this moment.

Halo Infinite is made with the new Slipspace Engine, which 343 Industries built specifically for this game and future Halo games. This teaser is a first look at what we can expect.

Microsoft teases next-gen Xbox ‘Project Scarlett’ console

Microsoft is finally talking about its next-generation Xbox and what we can expect from it. For now, we know this next-gen console as Project Scarlett. It promises to be a console that’s four times more powerful than the Xbox One X. It’ll use a custom-designed processor based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture. And with Microsoft opting to use fast GDDR6 RAM, it claims this will “user in resolution and framerates we’ve never seen before.”

The Project Scarlett console will support 8K gaming, ray-tracing, variable refresh rate support, and framerates of up to 120 frames per second. The company will use the SSD as virtual RAM, which should boost performance by 40 times over what the current generation offers. This means loading times should be a thing of the past. All the specs are also meant to provide a more immersive experience than before. Microsoft didn’t talk about what the console will look like, but we know it will launch alongside Halo Infinite in the latter part of 2020.

Report claims Microsoft is developing a low-cost, streaming-only Xbox

At the recent E3 conference, Microsoft announced its cloud gaming system, which is being called by a new report Scarlett Cloud. But it seems that isn’t the only big thing coming for Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox strategy. Thurrott.com reports the next Xbox will be coming in two versions. One is the traditional gaming console with games being processed locally, and the other will be a lower-powered system that will stream games from the cloud. The report says the console will still have some processing power to help counter any latency usually associated with streaming games and it’ll run part of the game locally but the rest will be streamed to the system. This streaming-based Xbox is being speculated to cost much lower but will make up its profits from the sales of games and online services.

Microsoft will not support VR on the Xbox

When Microsoft announced Xbox One controller support for the Oculus Rift, it was speculated that Project Scorpio was going to work with the Rift as well. Guess that isn't happening.

Microsoft backtracks from earlier announcements and proclamations that they are going to have virtual reality headsets for the Xbox. Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer for Gaming Mike Nichols told Gamesindustry.biz that they “don’t have any plans specific to Xbox consoles in virtual reality or mixed reality.” He adds that he believes the PC is “probably the best platform” for virtual and mixed reality, while the Xbox will keep its focus on “experiences you would play on your TV.”

This is in complete contrast with what the company started announcing back starting 2016 when Xbox head Phil Spencer said its then upcoming Project Scorpio console would support “high-end VR” like with Windows PC. But it doesn’t come as much of a surprise especially with Microsoft seemingly changing its focus for its VR and mixed reality to something more business oriented.