Microsoft has been promising that Halo Infinite will get ray tracing since way back in 2020. The news comes from chip giant AMD. It seems Microsoft is finally confident enough in the progress of ray tracing to bring it to the latest instalment of its flagship shooting game.
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. When implemented properly, the tech provides realism to game scenes.
However, it has been difficult to get ray tracing working as it should. The Xbox Series X has capabilities to support the technology but so far there are no games that offer it. A preview of Minecraft with ray tracing was on the Microsoft Store in April before being removed.
Because of the intensive processing required to run ray tracing, there have been too many compromises in quality across other areas of the gaming visuals. However, the recent improvements in machine learning mean ray tracing is improving too.
AMD Confirmation
According to a stream from AMD, it has finally devised a ray tracing system for Halo Infinite that works without compromising performance. The company was hosting its advance_gaming event and showed Halo Infinite running with ray tracing.
Of course, we will have to take AMD’s word for it. While the company displays the game with ray tracing, compression from the stream will not show us the real thing. That kind of quality you need to see with eyes on a 4K display.
Either way, AMD says the feature works and reports suggest players will get it with the launch of Halo Infinite Season 3. Microsoft is expected to roll out that season sometime in 2023.
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