2019-03-01_Xbox_The_Official_Magazine

TOPPhil Spencer
with Lisa Su,
president and
chief executive
officer of
Advanced Micro
Devices.

INSIDER XBOX FUTURE

Processing

power

Phil Spencer hints at AMD tech

powering next gen of Xbox

in the past that have led to what

we’ve been able to do today are

going to be critically important to our

future endeavours. I’m really looking

forward to showing those to people

more in the future.”

Scarlett, which?

Since last year’s E3, rumours of

Microsoft’s ‘Project Scarlett’ have

been flying, and it is now widely

thought to entail not just one,

but potentially a family of gaming

devices. More recently Windows

Central revealed that two Xboxes,

codenamed Anaconda and Lockhart,

were expected to launch in 2020.

The Lockhart would be the next-gen

equivalent of the Xbox One S, while

the Anaconda would be a higher-spec

model, much like the X.

These consoles need top-notch

processors, and so it’s likely that AMD,

who already provide APUs based on its

Jaguar microarchitecture, for the Xbox

One S and X, would be the first choice

to provide Microsoft with the APUs for

Project Scarlett. We’ll bring you more

next-gen news when we have it! Q

Since last year’s promise at

Microsoft’s E3 conference that the

team which created the Xbox One is

“deep into architecting the next Xbox

consoles”, we’ve been keeping an eye

out for any news of just what the next

phase in Xbox gaming will entail.

At CES 2019, the Consumer

Electronics Show in Las Vegas in

January, Xbox Head of Gaming Phil

Spencer revealed a little more about

the tech that is likely to power the

next-gen of Xbox. Taking to the

stage during US tech giants AMD’s

keynote speech, Spencer talked

about Microsoft’s partnership with

the company, suggesting that

AMD would be very much involved

in Microsoft’s “future platforms”.

AMD make the APUs, or Accelerated

Processing Units, that already power

our gaming consoles, and while he

stopped short of confirming that

AMD’s tech would power the new

Xboxes, Spencer said:

“As we look forward to future

platforms that we’re building and work

that we’re doing, the partnerships

and the innovations that we’ve seen

CONSOLE

YOURSELF

BARREL

WATCH

GAMING’S FAVOURITE

PROP RATED BY OUR

RESIDENT COOPER

Shadow Of

Mordor

Here, one of

Middle-earth’s

many coopers

asks nicely if

he can have some barrels, so he

can sell them to hobbits to use

as front doors. Just greed, really.

Atlas

Pirates always

have barrels

around. They’re

as ubiquitous

as parrots, and

less talkative. If we were to guess,

this one, hiding away on the poop

deck, probably contains rum.

Call Of Duty

WW

These secretive

Nazi barrels are

just waiting for

allied saboteurs

to blow them up. Look carefully and

you’ll see that one is marked in

German: “No flash photography”.

Indivisible

In this charming

RPG platformer,

lead Ajna can

absorb heroes’

souls to help

her in her quest, like this evidently

heroic barrel. Ajna now has the ability

to contain fish, beer or citrus fruit.

Mortal

Kombat X

Kano might be

about to rip

Scorpion’s

spleen out

through his nose, but far more

interesting is that shy little barrel –

we want to see more of you!

014 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE