PC World - USA (2019-02)

96 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2019

FEATURE THE MADBOX CONSOLE & THE FUTURE OF GAMING

is just as outdated, with 16GB a pretty normal

baseline. Hard drives are still used for bulk

storage, but cratering SSD prices have made

them a centerpiece of many gaming PCs. And

of course we have new graphics cards. Keep

in mind the original Xbox One is roughly

equivalent to a GTX 750.

The Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro have

kept consoles closer in power this generation,

at least for those who upgraded. As I said in

our Xbox One X review (go.pcworld.com/

xbx), it was roughly equivalent to the average

gaming PC (via Steam’s Hardware Survey) in

2017—and for only $500. Pretty incredible.

Even so, we’ll see an appreciable bump

when developers no longer need to code

games that run on a GTX 750-level system.

And with the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4

Pro running games at 4K/30 frames per

second, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to

expect 4K/60 frames per second from the

next generation.

Indeed, the Mad Box might seem outland-

ish from a “How will they pull this off?” per-

spective, but it seems pretty reasonable as far

as the performance I’d expect from a console

in 2021. As with the current mid-generation

upgrades, I think we’ll see next-gen games

offering lightweight graphics settings,

so-called “Performance” and “Fidelity” modes.

Maybe you get 4K/60 frames per second on

medium settings or 4K/30 frames per second

on Ultra, something along those lines. Regard-

less, it definitely feels like the PlayStation 5 and

uh...Xbox Two will cement 4K as the standard

for another eight years or so.

Virtual reality is more questionable. I’d

hope Sony puts out another PlayStation VR

headset, or continues support for the current

model. Sony’s helped fund some really

interesting games since release, and contin-

ues to be a great ambassador for VR. The

Will the Xbox One X (pictured)
be the last “traditional” console
from Microsoft? Probably not—
but it’s possible.

96 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2019