Xbox Finally Reveals One Of Its Most Hyped Features

Following months of speculation, the Xbox Series S was finally officially announced yesterday. That was quickly followed by a price point and release date announcement for the Xbox Series X and the Series S. Now that fans have confirmation that the all-digital next-gen console exists, everyone wants to know more about the capabilities of both systems. Luckily, Xbox has just given fans a look at how one of the new consoles' most anticipated features will work. It's starting to look like Xbox's new Quick Resume feature is a video game fan's dream come true.

Xbox has been hyping up the Quick Resume feature for quite a while. The feature was discussed during a tech breakdown of the Xbox Series X from earlier this year. The idea behind Quick Resume is that it would allow gamers to drop in and out of a title at any time, with next to no loading times. This would also allow gamers to leave a game to download the latest update and then come back to the point where they left off without having to close the game fully. Quick Resume is made possible through the Xbox Series X's Velocity Architecture technology, which allows for the virtual elimination of load times and has been described as the "soul" of the Xbox Series X. 

However, the first clear look that fans have gotten at just how smoothly Quick Resume will operate has come in the form of a video breaking down the Xbox Series S. A video called "Inside the Xbox Series S" was recently uploaded to the official Xbox YouTube channel. 

In the video, Xbox's Jason Ronald covered the similarities and differences between the Xbox Series S and the Series X. In discussing similarities, Ronald came around to the topic of Velocity Architecture. As Ronald explained, "Both consoles are powered by the Xbox Velocity Architecture, which means you can expect the same next-generation benefits from Xbox Series S, including faster load times, consistent and higher frame rates, and new features like Quick Resume."

Ronald continued, "Next-generation games will load much faster, texture quality can be significantly increased, and quick cuts between scenes are now achievable, keeping the player immersed in the game world."

The video then showed an example of just how quickly the Xbox Series S was able to load up a game. Two side by side screens showed The Outer Worlds being loaded up on an Xbox One S and an Xbox Series S. The player is already into the game by the 12-second mark on the Xbox Series S, while the Xbox One S copy is still loading nearly a minute later.

Ronald commented, "This is important, not just when players launch a game for the first time, but every time. Whether it's time to load in a new level or restart from a previous checkpoint after a momentary setback, Xbox Series S gets you back in the game faster than ever."

In what might be the most exciting moment of the demo for gamers who have a large library, the video shows the user swapping between multiple games with ease. This shows the versatility of the Quick Resume feature. Imagine playing something like Red Dead Redemption 2 and being deep into a side mission or a particular questline. All of a sudden, a friend asks you to pop over to Gears 5 for a couple of quick multiplayer matches. Now you don't have to scramble to find a stopping point in the game and can just swap over at ease.

With Quick Resume, players can drop out of one game and into the next with zero lag and without losing their game currently in progress. Applications can be juggled without any issues in maintaining high frame rates and fast load times. It seems almost too good to be true. While the demo shows four different games being swapped between, Xbox has not yet announced any specific cap on the number of applications that can be used with Quick Resume, if there is one.

The PlayStation 5 may end up featuring a function quite similar to Quick Resume. A recent patent surfaced for a "unified user interface" that would essentially allow PS5 gamers to treat separate applications as different tabs, much like with Quick Resume. However, considering the fact that this patent only recently surfaced, it's unclear if such a feature would even be available for the PS5 before its holiday launch date. Quick Resume could be one killer feature that gives the Series X and Series S a leg up on the upcoming PS5 consoles.