Microsoft will bring its ray tracing technology to Minecraft on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. Currently in testing for Minecraft Preview on the Xbox Insider Program. This preview is limited but shows that Microsoft is bringing the technology to its consoles.
This is a connection of two existing capabilities. Specifically, the Xbox Series X already has support for ray tracing, which Minecraft on Windows also supports the feature. Now, the two will combine with Minecraft on Xbox consoles getting ray tracing capabilities.
Ray tracing is a technology that allows hardware acceleration on the new consoles. With ray tracing, the Series X has better dynamic shadows, physics-based lighting effects, and dynamic shadows. Nvidia’s RTX graphics card with path-traced ray tracing is now part of Minecraft on Windows.
It is surprising how well it works in Minecraft considering Microsoft’s title has never been about realism. However, there’s no doubt the reflections on water, the dynamic shadows, and different intensities of light make a big difference.
Minecraft with raytracing on Xbox? The latest Minecraft Preview is optimized for Xbox Series S / X and has early raytracing support 👀 pic.twitter.com/cqH0cuGbtS
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) March 28, 2022
Getting Starte
Xbox Series X|S users will now also see those benefits. In the current preview, you need resource packs in Minecraft to enable ray tracing. This involves downloading and installing the packs, which is not easy on Xbox. Instead, users can how a Minecraft session on Windows and allow an Xbox player to join the session.
Yes, that is probably too complicated for the average Minecraft user, so I hope Microsoft makes enabling ray tracing more efficient when the feature matures to full release.
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