The best demonstration of the Xbox One X's 4K capabilities comes from an unlikely, blocky source: Minecraft. Behind closed doors at E3 2017, Microsoft showed off a handful of games it upgraded to 4K just for the Xbox One X, including Gears of War 4, but Mojang's cube-based crafting game clearly gets the most drastic upgrade. When the Super Duper Graphics Pack lands in the fall (for free), those blobs of grass will transform into blades. See for yourself:
Minecraft is getting a lot of love from Microsoft this year. The Better Together update lands in August and it's huge -- crucially, it moves the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of Minecraft to the Bedrock Engine, which already powers the mobile, Windows 10, Amazon Fire and VR versions of the game. This means Minecraft will finally be the same experience across all of these devices, receiving the same updates and DLC, and enabling cross-platform play.
The Better Together update won't apply to the PlayStation 4 -- or PS4 Pro -- version of Minecraft right away.
"It's not for lack of wanting to or effort on our part," senior global communications manager Aubrey Norris told Engadget. "We are in discussions with our partners right now. We want PlayStation and we invite Sony to bring PlayStation players onto Bedrock."
And then there's the Super Duper Graphics pack. Anyone with an Xbox One X or 4K-capable PC will have the option to play an updated version of Minecraft, complete with raised rails on tracks, highlights on the edges of blocks, rippling water, atmospheric scattering and specular highlights.
This is all on top of the year's existing updates, including the Community Marketplace that landed in June, giving players the power to sell and buy their own worlds, texture packs and skins.
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