Xbox One X review: a perfect pitch to a demanding demographic

Its creators claim it is one of the most powerful gaming consoles on Earth, now the newly launched Xbox One X from Microsoft is after a new accolade - to beat its rival Sony to dominate Christmas wishlists and the hearts of video game players. Microsoft's new console, a substantial upgrade to the original Xbox One released in 2013, comes almost exactly a year after Sony delivered a similar performance boost with its PlayStation 4 Pro. Things didn't used to be this way. Although format wars between gaming platforms have always raged – Commodore versus Spectrum, Sega versus Nintendo, Microsoft versus Sony – the hardware available in each generation was something fixed and immutable. A new games machine would give developers a set platform to create and optimise software on, sometimes for up to a decade, while players would benefit from having a reliable device they knew they wouldn't have to upgrade, as is common in PC gaming.