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The new console is named Xbox Series X, and it looks ... distinct.
There's no price for the console just yet, nor is there a specific release date, but we do know that it's scheduled to arrive in the 2020 holiday season.
A new, next-generation Xbox game console got a surprise reveal on Thursday night: the Xbox Series X.
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The console, on paper, is largely a known quantity. It plays Blu-ray discs, it has built-in storage, and it contains some pretty hefty horsepower to power the next generation of console gaming.
What's new and exciting, however, is the console's distinct appearance. Let's take a closer look!
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The top of the Xbox Series X is a massive cooling vent.
The Xbox Series X is said to be four times more powerful than the most powerful current Xbox, the Xbox One X. It's said to be capable of running games at 120 frames-per-second, at up to 8K resolution. Microsoft says it can produce graphics with "Ray Tracing" — a lighting technique that makes games look more impressive than ever.
All of that stuff requires a heavy lift, processing-wise, and all that processing takes a lot of cooling. The Xbox Series X is intentionally designed around cooling, with the entire top panel serving as a massive cooling vent for the computer inside.
Here's a closer look at the front, which features a glowing Xbox logo as the power button — a continuation of a tradition started on the Xbox One.
And here's a closer look at the bottom of the front, which features the Blu-ray disc drive, a USB port, and a button for pairing devices with the console.
In many respects, the front of the Xbox Series X is a minimalist interpretation of the front of the Xbox One X. It's got a disc drive slot, a single USB port, a button for pairing wireless peripherals, and the Xbox power button.
It is otherwise a lengthy blank slate that's intended to disappear into your home entertainment setup.
But the console isn't the only thing getting a visual update — the Xbox Series X comes with a next-generation gamepad as well!
Similar to the design of the box, the gamepad is remarkably similar to the current Xbox One gamepad — albeit streamlined and updated.
It comes with two major new additions: a Share button, intended for easily capturing screenshots and gameplay video (and then sharing it), and a new d-pad, which is modeled on the Xbox One Elite gamepad d-pad design.
The new gamepad will work with the Xbox One as well as the Xbox Series X, despite belonging to different game console generations, just as old Xbox One gamepads will work with the Series X.
Microsoft has yet to showcase what the back of the box looks like, so we don't know how many ports it has, but you can take a deeper dive into the console in its debut video below: