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Microsoft’s Project Scorpio has been intriguing game journalists ever since its announcement at E3 2016 last year. Everyone involved with this new Xbox has been promising great things are in store and now even more has been assured. In a tweet from Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra, an extra gigabyte of RAM has been unlocked on the Xbox Scorpio. The tweet reads “We’ll keep tuning Scorpio to empower creators to share the best versions of their games. Unlocked extra GB of RAM for them now 9GB of GDDR5.”

This is entirely in line with the developer-first approach to the gaming industry Microsoft has had this generation. This is exemplified by how they handle making games backwards compatible on the Xbox One, making sure developers have final say. This is great news for developers since this allows for games to load more at once.

Another Twitter user had a pretty reasonable question about the tweet asking “Does this mean there will be 4GB of RAM disk for Xbox One games?” Ybarra quickly responded with another tweet. “Games that don’t use the full 9GB, the rest of the RAM will be used as a cache (making things load way faster, etc.). All games = better.”

Both of these tweets promise great things for the Scorpio, just as has been promised about it for about a year now. The confidence that Microsoft has when discussing the Scorpio also speaks wonders for whether or not it will live up to these promises. Having experienced insane amounts of backlash before in the past, Microsoft should know by now what they can and can’t be confident about. With issues like the Xbox 360’s Red Ring of Death and Xbox One’s E3 2013 conference behind them, the faith they have in their new console is very reassuring.

So, the console looks pretty good, but will it have enough exclusive games to back it up? This is something that Microsoft has struggled with ever since it first released the original Xbox back in 2001. Scorpio will no doubt be excellent at running third-party games, highlighted by Ybarra’s wording of “their games” in his original tweet. However, if it doesn’t have enough first-party games, it will continue to struggle to regain the fan base it lost with the release of the Xbox One. Microsoft’s E3 2017 conference is 3 days away and hopefully they wow us with some system-selling exclusives and new IPs, the latter of which has been promised by Xbox Head Phil Spencer.

I spend most of my days working towards my Writing and Rhetoric degree at the University of Central Florida, but I spend a lot of my down time keeping up to date on the best TV, movies, and video games the industry has to offer. Here I put all of that extended time to use discussing each of them in-depth.

Consoles

Despite popular belief, PS4 sales in the UK skyrocketed last year

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PS4 sales in the UK climbed by a shocking 633 percent year-over-year in 2023, so apparently the old system isn’t dead yet. The previous year’s very limited supply of the system is likely a major factor in this figure, since the console’s lifespan was drastically reduced because of chip shortages caused by the pandemic. Still, it’s proof that PlayStation’s original platform has unmet demand.

With the very low prices of PS4 software (both in-store and online at the PS Store), this strategy makes a lot of sense. Plus, it’s future-proof, so there’s no harm in stocking up on PS4s while new-gen pricing is still high, since if you decide to switch to a PS5 in the future, you can transfer all of your purchases across. Not to mention that the majority of new releases still come out on the PS4, with several offering free PS5 upgrades.

While the percentage rise may seem huge, real PS4 sales will probably be much lower. It’s a sign that the gadget, which is now a decade old, isn’t completely dead yet, and we expect it to keep receiving maintenance for a while longer. Of course, this is great news for Sony, because the company would rather have PS4 players playing on its last-gen gadget than none at all, even if it would love to have them upgrade to PS5.

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Consoles

New PS5 firmware is available for download!

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A PS5 firmware update on a cold winter morning is unmatched. The latest PS5 system software update is 23.02–08.40.00 from Sony. Does this one add useful features or just boost system performance?

Though closer to the latter, it’s more than Sony’s favorite patch note. It fixes security issues, improves messages and usability, and boosts system software performance. Official patch notes for this 1.185GB update:

  • We updated system software security
  • We improved system software stability and performance
  • Some screens now have better messages and usability

That’s it. PS5 gets another win to recover from its midweek slump. Do you share our enthusiasm for this firmware update? Comment below. To spice things up, make your comment rhyme.

 

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Consoles

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Version Will Help PS5

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Belgian developer Larian Studios’ work on Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Series S version will improve performance on all platforms, including PS5. The game’s fifth major patch, expected to launch this week, will include upgrades and new features. More details will be revealed later today.

Director of Publishing Michael Douse says PS5 performance improvements may be the “least exciting thing” in the title’s next update, so it sounds like a big one. Larian Studios employees are proud of “finally” implementing tweaks, fixes, and changes, Douse says. Later today, we’ll bring you all the Baldur’s Gate 3 update details.

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Those who reached the RPG’s third act have reported technical issues during the narrative’s conclusion, especially in co-op, so today’s update should fix them. New features like a permadeath mode are expected, along with Xbox Series S optimization fixes. What else should be added to the game?

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