Back on Friday, a user took to message board NeoGAF to allegedly share comments from a friend in the industry about the Xbox Lockhart - Microsoft's unannounced, lower-spec next-gen console. This information has reportedly been vetted by a moderator on the message board, but we still suggest taking it with a pinch of salt.
According to the post, the developer explained that they didn't get any type of Lockhart hardware until recently, making it harder to optimise for the system via the Anaconda (Xbox Series X) dev kit. However, the concerns went away when the Lockhart development kits finally arrived:
"It is indeed the same CPU and SSD and getting up and running on this device was super easy compared to Anaconda running in the Lockhart profile. We have been able to do the work we want on Anaconda and get it running on Lockhart with not a ton of work but it has required a bit more time to make sure the code runs on both machines in the same fashion. Its not something we are really worried about anymore. As the generation goes on I feel like this will be the approach for many studios. You start on Anaconda and then optimize for Lockhart. There is nothing the Lockhart can't do that the Anaconda can."
Following this, they went on to highlight that a potential concern is how rare Lockhart development kits appear to be at the moment, as it's more challenging to mimic the system on the Xbox Series X kit. However, they also explained that the optimisation tools provided by Microsoft have come "a long way":
"For smaller teams I could see the optimization process being more time consuming but the tools provided by Microsoft have come a long way. They make it very easy to jump from one kit to another and the Lockhart kit is equipped with a lot of tools that help you see exactly where code needs to be looked at. Ray Tracing is one area that they seemed to have focused on and have made it very easy to adjust the levels."
The developer even talked more about the differences between developing for the Xbox Series X and PS5, revealing that the PS5 dev kit is a bit easier to work with, but the Xbox Series X "has the upper hand in terms of us being able to really push effects."
That's a lot of information! What do you make of this rumour? Let us know below.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 26
Oh, good to know indeed!
Xbox Series S will be 'perfect' for next-gen games, says former Sony engineer.
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/xbox-series-s-will-be-perfect-for-next-gen-games-says-former-sony-engineer
We all know lockhart is coming. I really hope that it doesn't hold anything back. However, it remains to be seen how well this does, because if the price difference isn't massive, why wouldn't you just spend a bit more and future proof yourself with a series x?
@SuperNintendoMii spending twice as much isn't "a bit more." Especially if this is going to be my secondary console. I mainly game on Switch but will happily have this to play forza, NHL, FIFA, COD.
Great to know..
I wonder whether Microsoft will force developers to support it as it clearly requires some additional development effort. As a digital only console they don’t have to worry about people buying discs and then not being able to run them.They should be able to just present the games that would work on it in the digital store front.
The loss of the equivalent of six gigs of VRAM will certainly negatively affect the texture quality it can display. I would hope they would allow developers who are unhappy about the visional downgrade to opt out.
Good to hear developers are liking Lockhart. Maybe it’ll quiet all the people whining that it will “hold games back”. 🙄
PC gaming has been doing this forever & there is no reason why consoles can’t do it too.
@sixrings and how do you know it'll be twice as much?
The real question is what happens if Sony price PS5 in the middle
@KelticDevil news like this will not quiet those people down. Take it from a Nintendo fan, they're not acting in good faith.
@IronMan30
Touché. Lol.
@SuperNintendoMii well you are making your assumptions based on rumours about how weak it will be and how it will hold games back and I'm making assumptions based on other rumours about how competitive it will be and how cheap it will be. We're all making assumptions here.
@IronMan30 as a Nintendo fan this system suits me well especially if all the Xbox one games play at their current resolutions available on the Xbox one x.
@sixrings where did I say it was weak?
good news, just show it already ms, can't wait
MS for the last 3-4 yrs been 10x better than sony hardwarewise, don't worry one bit it'll work like magic. The true question still remains: can you give us games that will justify not buying ps for their exclusives microsoft?
@SuperNintendoMii I'm sorry, I thought I noticed on several different threads that you believed the lower powered spec Lockhart would hold the series x back. As a result I summarized your thoughts on Lockhart as weak. Sorry if I mistook you for someone else.
@sixrings there has been rumours that it will hold series x back, and now there's rumours that it won't.
Proof will be in the pudding. The real question is where does this leave lockhart if Sony price PS5 in the middle?
@sixrings Assuming the rumours about the ram are correct Lockhart won’t be able to make use of the Xbox 1X in enhancement patches. As it only has 10 GB of RAM and the Xbox One X has 12. I would expect it to run like the One S in backwards compatibility except with solid frame rates. Microsoft focus with the GPU design seems to be to allow advanced affects like ray-tracing at low resolution rather than to allow older games to run at high resolutions.
@sixrings
He has been in lots of threads saying the exact thing you thought he said. I just tend to ignore him now. 😂
@KelticDevil @Grot Right. This is what happens on PC but it's even easier if the CPU and SSD are the same. It's true that Microsoft said that Series X games will run on Xbox One as well but, at the end of the day, those are the typical cross-gen games that will span a year or two.
@Ryall it will be disappointing if the Lockhart runs xbox one games worse then the Xbox one x. In fact it might make me pause and just buy nothing. All I want is to be able to play F1 2020 4k 60fps. Also some original Red Dead with HDR in 4k
@sixrings I don’t know, I think the resolution for Lockhart is supposed to be max 2k, even with older games, which from the sound of it was focused on performance.
Edit: I reread what you posted and hope I understood better this time.
@sixrings As I understand almost all next gen racing games will run at 4k120 max on xbox series x. Series S is a 1080p60/120 machine targeted towards huge 1080p gaming market share and RDNA2 and GCN performance can’t be compared due to IPC improvements in former.
As I've tried to educate people on "all TFLOPS are not created equal". The difference in CPU/GPU architecture will yield much better performance and improvements than incomparable numbers suggest.
Xbox Series S will outperform the Xbox One X versions of games easily. Despite less TFLOPS and slightly less RAM. GPU RAM becomes more efficient for older things as new architecture improves. A quick example:
When I first played Max Payne 3 on my GTX690 at 1080p, it used around 3.9gb of my VRAM to max everything for 60fps. Then using a GTX1080 at 1440p (approximately 77% more pixels than 1080p) and doubling the framerate to 120fps, maxed out would require about 2.4gb VRAM.
So despite the RAM and perceived TFLOP disparity of the X1X and XSS, the XSS will be significantly better in every way. Or at least it is capable of being better in every way, as long as Microsoft and whatever dev in question doesn't do it incorrectly.
That and the Jaguar and GCN have always been absolute garbage.
@KelticDevil this is coming from the biggest fanboy on this site after blue ocean? Lol
@Z3u5000 I expect series s to play next gen games at 1080p but current gen 4k xbox one x games will be scaled down to 1440p?
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