Phil Spencer has done his best to be open and honest about Project Scorpio, but a lot of his statements are being taken out of context and causing confusion. I see people asking over and over again what Project Scorpio means for games they already have on Xbox One. I'm going to try and clear it up as simply as possible for you.
Resolution & Dynamic Rendering
Every game developer has to make a choice during the development cycle as to engine priorities. Do they want to prioritize speed and frame rate (measured in frames per second, or fps), or go for resolution and higher quality artwork? Unlike PC, they can't just throw everything out there and hope the player will upgrade their hardware or adjust the settings as needed. There are really three options for console developers here, given that they're working with a limited amount of horsepower within the confines of the console hardware:
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900p or 1080p/30-fps: Here, the developer is prioritizing image quality over speed. Games that employ this configuration include Destiny, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Typically, they'll have richer, real-time effects and lighting, and look pretty much what people expect of the "current" generation.
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Sub-FullHD/60-fps: Here, the developer is prioritizing speed and responsiveness over image quality, and choosing to render in a sub-FullHD resolution to ensure a better chance of the engine maintaining 60-fps (FullHD being an idiotic marketing term for 1920x1080 resolution, or 1080p). Battlefield 4 and Titanfall both employ this technique, both rendering around 720p and shooting for 60-fps. Call of Duty has also done this traditionally, rendering at 600p/60-fps on Xbox 360, and 900p/60-fps on Xbox One.
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Dynamic Resolution/60-fps: This is a newer, more advanced rendering technique, where the engine will scale the resolution based on the complexity and demands of a scene. During complex, demanding scenes where a lot is going on, the engine will scale down to 720p or even lower to maintain the 60-fps frame rate, then scale back up as quickly as possible. The advantage here is the player is less likely to notice the resolution changing during frantic moments of gameplay, and keeping the frame rate up prevents the game from ever feeling sluggish. Then, in smaller or less demanding scenes, the engine can scale back up to a true 1080p/60-fps, preserving image quality. Games that employ dynamic resolution include Halo 5, the new Doom, and Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Enter Scorpio
What does this mean on Scorpio? According to what Spencer has said in the press:
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Xbox One games that employ a dynamic resolution will see improved performance since the extra horsepower will allow the game to stay at 1080p/60-fps more consistently, if not all the time.
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Games that employ a fixed, locked output (like 1080p/30-fps) will not see a performance increase, and will not magically start outputting at 60-fps because they were never coded to do so. Unless the developer goes back and unlocks the frame rate (which I doubt most will want to spend the time and money to do, especially if the game's physics are tied to its frame rate), these games will run exactly the same on Scorpio as they do on Xbox One.
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The one grey area, where Spencer has not clarified, are the games like Titanfall and Battlefield 4, where they employ a 720p-ish resolution but an unlocked frame rate. During frantic firefights, both Titanfall and BF4 will see their frame rate drop from 60-fps down to 40-fps and below, leading to a stuttering, sluggish sensation and/or screen tearing. While it's clear they'll continue to output at their fixed resolution on Scorpio, it's not clear if Scorpio's added horsepower will help them stay a 60-fps more consistently. Similarly, Rise of the Tomb Raider aims for a 30-fps presentation, but sees drops into the low-20s in complex scenes; it's not clear if Scorpio will help it hold that 30-fps line. Given the nature of Microsoft's push towards this Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and the fact that both Scorpio and the Xbox One will run the same operating system and user interface, it theoretically makes sense that it would. However, without further information, it's too early to say for certain.
Universal Windows Platform
The main thing to take away from all this is Microsoft's new UWP umbrella. Traditionally, console and PC architectures have been very different. With Windows 10 and Xbox One, Microsoft is effectively merging them together, with the long-term goal of allowing PC, Scorpio, and Xbox One to all run the same software on the same operating system. The software then, in theory, scales to the performance of the hardware and the consumer's budget, with PC having the most eye-candy and highest cost, Scorpio serving as a mid-range option, and Xbox One likely dropping in price and acting as the entry-level member of the greater Xbox Gaming brand. Think of it like a BMW M3 (PC), a 335i (Scorpio), and a 328i (Xbox One): All three are members of the 3 Series, but offer different performance based on price.
Submitted by ItsMeSlinky | #Specialdealer Special Offer Online Shopping Store 2016
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