The Xbox Series X controller looks very similar to its predecessor, but has a few key changes, including new buttons, ergonomic changes for those with smaller hands, and better compatibility with non-Xbox devices. In an interview on Xbox Newswire, senior designer Ryan Whitaker went through some of the differences on the very familiar controller. That similarity is key - people are very used to the Xbox controller design, so changes were meant to be evolutionary, rather than wholesale. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=xbox-series-x-controller-6-new-images&captions=true"] The biggest difference is in how the controller will now be easier to hold for those with smaller hands. While not immediately noticeably smaller, the team has achieved that effect by "rounding the bumpers, slightly reducing and rounding parts around the triggers, and carefully sculpting the grips." Bumpers and triggers now also have a "tactile dot" pattern not found on standard Xbox One controllers. The new D-pad is designed as a hybrid between the two swappable designs on the Xbox Elite controller. It has a slightly deeper lowest point, allowing the thumb to sit more comfortably inside, and will apparenly allow for easy pressing of up, down, left, right, while also making it easier to perform sweeps or diagonals. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-quick-resume-tech-demo"] As previously seen, the controller now has a Share button between and below the View and Men buttons. It's not clear exactly how it will work in practice, but Whitaker explains that it's designed to allow screenshots or video to be recorded without the need for onscreen menus. The controller will now remember multiple Bluetooth devices to allow for faster connections, and includes Bluetooth Low Energy that should make pairing more simple. The controller now has a USB-C port for pairing and connecting, but wireless latency has also been worked on - "Essentially," says Whitaker, "information is sent more frequently from the controller and matched with exact frames of your game on-screen." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-loading-times-tech-demo"] While we already knew that Xbox One controllers will work on Xbox Series X, the reverse is also confirmed to be true. More PC, Android and iOS devices will be supported by the new controller, too. It's been a big day for Series X news, with the full (and impressive) specs list revealed, a size comparison shown off, and the annoucement of a Gears 5 Series X port (which will be a free upgrade for those that already own it). [poilib element="accentDivider"]

Capcom has announced that the Resident Evil 3 Demo will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 19, and that the Open Beta for Resident Evil Resistance will begin on March 27. More details were revealed on a blogpost on Capcom Unity, and it appears to not have any restrictions like Resident Evil 2's 1-Shot Demo that gave players one chance and 30 minutes to try out its remake of the 1998 classic. The Resident Evil 3 demo will begin on March 19 at 12am ET on Xbox One and 1pm ET on PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam). The Resident Evil Resistance Open beta will start March 27 at 3am ET on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and 1pm ET on PC (Steam). The Open Beta will end on April 3. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/resident-evil-3-demo-and-resistance-open-beta-trailer"] The demo will be a "slice of the full game" that will have players attempting to escape Raccoon City as Jill Valentine. Capcom also warns that even though Resident Evil 3 has a bit more of a focus on action when compared to Resident Evil 2, make sure to "conserve your ammo and items if you want to stand a chance of surviving." In our hands-on time with Resident Evil 3, which will be released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on April 3, we said that "not only does Resident Evil 3 feel as fresh and clever as its predecessor, it adds enough to potentially exceed it." The Open Beta of Resident Evil Resistance will allow players to try out the asymmetrical co-op take on the horror franchise. Each round consists of four Survivors that must work together to survive the traps and monsters that the player-controlled Mastermind puts in their way. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=resident-evil-3&captions=true"] In our hands-on time with Resident Evil Resistance, which will be included with Resident Evil 3, we said that it very much feels like a mix of Resident Evil 7 and Friday the 13th: The Game. For more on these upcoming titles, check our Capcom's comments on how Resident Evil Resistance is not canon, everything you need to know about the original Resident Evil 3, Nemesis, and the Best Resident Evil Bosses of All Time. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/25/resident-evil-3-preview"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The upcoming Mortal Kombat movie will feature “grounded realism” and characters you can connect with, as well as the expected ultra violence, according to starring actor Mehcad Brooks. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/04/22/mortal-kombat-11-full-movie-all-cutscenes-in-4k"] Talking to podcaster Duncan Trussell on a recent episode, Brooks - who plays Jax in the film - explained that the Mortal Kombat movie is grounded in reality. He likens it to how Tim Burton’s Batman turned the comic book genre into “something dark, and grounded, and real, and based in physics.” “When I approached Jax I was like okay, well, he’s an assassin, he’s a killer, and he kills monsters, so he has to be a monster,” said Brooks. “And I was stuck on this Ernest Hemingway quote, and I’m sure I’m gonna f—k it up, but it goes along the lines of ‘Once you’ve hunted and killed trained men long enough, you have very little taste for anything else in the world,’ and that’s who Jax is.” “That’s how I found this grounded realism in him,” he added. “Who was he before he was hunting monsters?” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=meet-the-cast-of-the-mortal-kombat-reboot-movie&captions=true"] He went on to explain how finding that grounding helps make a film that’s not what people would traditionally expect from Mortal Kombat, although he reassures that all the classic MK elements will still be present. “Yes you’re gonna get all the fatalities that you’re used to, all the fight moves that you wanna see - of course, we had to put all that stuff in there,” he said. “But you’re also getting a real story about real people that you can connect with and identify with, and identify with their struggles, and that’s the part that’s gonna be really unexpected." For more Mortal Kombat, check out the response from the cast as they wrapped up filming, and the full cast list to see who’s playing who. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Nintendo has announced that it will present a brand-new Indie World Showcase livestream tomorrow, March 17, at 10am PT/1pm ET/5pm GMT. Announced by Nintendo on Twitter, this newest Indie World Showcase will feature "roughly 20 minutes of info on indie games coming to #NintendoSwitch!" This will be the first Indie World Showcase since December 2019's that featured such titles as Sports Story, Axiom Verge 2, Streets of Rage 4, and many more. This newest showcase will give fans a another look behind the curtain that is Nintendo Switch's future, as there aren't too many confirmed titles past Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which will be released this Friday, March 20. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/17/the-biggest-nintendo-games-coming-in-2020"] Despite the lack of knowledge on future titles, Nintendo Switch is still performing very well, and was the best-selling console in February 2020. Earlier this year, Nintendo revealed that it had sold over 50 million Nintendo Switch systems, and that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling game on the console with over 22.96 million units sold. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=top-25-nintendo-switch-games&captions=true"] While Nintendo has claimed we will not see a Nintendo Switch Pro this year, we are expecting to see such titles as Trials of Mana, Minecraft Dungeons, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can't wait and is so excited he just can't hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Microsoft has revealed the size of the Xbox Series X, and Xbox and The Test Driver and This Is Guy's Austin Evans have shared a photo of a fridge and a banana for scale, respectively. The Xbox Series X's size, which is 151mm x 151mm x 301mm (5.94in x 5.94in x 11.85in), was revealed alongside a ton of new details on Microsoft's next-gen console, including its full specs. For comparison, the Xbox One X is 299.7mm x 238.7mm x 60.9mm (11.8in x 9.4in x 2.4in) Perhaps in a nod to a previous tweet by Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, Xbox gave its fans a look at how the Xbox Series X compares to one of the kitchen's marquee appliances - the fridge. However, that's not all, as Austin Evans, who was one of the first people outside of Xbox to get hands-on with the Xbox Series X, shared with the world how the new system compares to the potassium-filled banana. The Xbox Series X will include 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz, 12 teraflops, 16GB GDDR6 RAM, 1TB of internal storage with the option for expandable storage through a 1TB Expansion Card, and much more. The Xbox Series X's processor has enough power to run up to four Xbox One S game sessions at once and its dedicated hardware-enabled Ray Tracing can harness "the equivalent of 25 teraflops of power, despite the console's GPU having 12 teraflops. Microsoft has also released two new tech demos, which you can see below, that showcase the improved loading times and the Quick Resume technology packed into each and every Xbox Series X. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-loading-times-tech-demo"] [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-quick-resume-tech-demo"] It was also revealed that Gears 5 will be getting a launch day next-gen upgrade for Xbox Series X, and it will be available for free (If you own Gears 5) via the Smart Delivery system that will ensure players have the best possible version to play. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can't wait to play Ori on the Xbox Series X. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Gears 5 is getting a next-gen upgrade for Xbox Series X, and it will be available free to existing owners via the new Smart Delivery system when the new console launches later this year. Talking to Digital Foundary, Coalition tech director Mike Raynor said an "optimised" version of Gears 5 will be "available at launch on Xbox Series X." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/09/13/gears-5-final-review"] He adds "The title will support Smart Delivery, so if you already have the title in whatever form you'll be able to get it on Series X for free." The Coalition currently has a working next-gen version of Gears 5 that it produced in two weeks. Working with Epic Games, the studio has upped all of the quality presets of the console version to be equivalent to the PC's 'ultra' settings. The team has also added improved contact shadows and software-based ray tracing, as well as improving the frame rate of the cutscenes (up to 60fps from the Xbox One's 30fps). This has all been achieved in a fortnight, and reportedly runs akin to a PC with an expensive Nvidia RTX 2080 graphics card, despite being currently optimised. The great news about all this is that the improved version of Gears 5 will be available free thanks to Smart Delivery. This new system from Microsoft means any Smart Delivery supported game in your library from current-gen will be automatically available in its next-gen version for free when playing on an Xbox Series X. It's effectively 'forwards compatibility', for lack of a better term. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="legacyId=20084888&captions=true"] Interestingly Raynor says that Smart Delivery will be available "if you already have the title in whatever form", which suggests that perhaps even PC Gears 5 owners will be able to access the Series X version should they invest in the console. For more, check out the newly revealed Xbox Series X specs, which reveal not only every internal hardware specification, but also the mystery behind that strange slot on the back of the console. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

The full specs list for Xbox Series X has been released. The specs were revealed in an Xbox blog post, and you can see the full list below. Those specs also confirm what the Series X's mystery port is for - as Digital Foundry reports, Microsoft and Seagate have made a proprietary external 1TB SSD that can be plugged into the console for extra storage. Essentially, it's a giant memory card. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-loading-times-tech-demo"]

• CPU: 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT)
• GPU: 12 TFLOPs, 52 CUs at 1.825GHz, Custom RDNA 2
• Die Size: 360.45mm2
• Process: TSMC 7nm Enhanced
• Memory: 16GB GDDR6
• Memory Bandwidth: 10GB at 560GB/s, 6GB at 336GB/s
• Internal Storage: 1TB Custom NVMe SSD
• I/O Throughput: 2.4GB/s (Raw), 4.8GB/s (Compressed)
• Expandable Storage: 1TB Expansion Card
• External Storage: USB 3.2 HDD Support
• Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive
• Performance Target: 4K at 60fps - up to 120fps

Digital Foundry's testing includes some impressive reading. The Series X processor, for instance, is powerful enough to run four Xbox One S game sessions simultaneously. Ray Tracing - a major point of pride for both Xbox Series X and PS5 - is also delivering apparently incredible results. Dedicated hardware inside the Series X seemingly means that the console can handle more intensive Ray Tracing than expected, harnessing the equivalent of 25 teraflops of power, despite the console's GPU having 12 Teraflops. The Quick Resume feature continues to sound impressive, too, storing game states in the SSD and allowing you to turn off, unplug, or update your console, then boot directly back into the game, where you left it running. Per the Xbox blogpost: "One of the testers on the team unplugged his console for a week, then took an update, and was still able to continue right where he left off without so much as a loading screen." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=9-new-xbox-series-x-images&captions=true"] One major point covered in today's news is the benefit of Series X on older games. We've already learned that Gears 5 will have a Series X port, free to those who already own it; however, Microsoft has also discussed a curated list of Xbox One games that it will work to improve on the new hardware, upping resolutions and potentially doubling frame rates. The Series X is also seemingly capable of applying convincing HDR effects even to games that weren't designed with that functionality in mind. Digital Foundry was shown both Halo 5 and original Xbox title Fusion Frenzy (released well before HDR was a going concern), running with what was apparently a real-looking HDR effect. This is system-wide, and should apply to any game capable of running on Series X, no matter its age. This tech can also be used to add colourblindness modes to games that didn't support them at the time. We also got a true sense of the console's size today, using a banana for scale (and a fridge, just for the fun of it). As pointed out by Austin Evans, the console's internals include a Master Chief Easter egg - which the Xbox One X also did. It's becoming a bit of tradition. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/xbox-series-x-quick-resume-tech-demo"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News, and has rarely been as pumped for chips he can't eat. Unless you can eat them, and that's a whole other groundbreaking feature. Follow him on Twitter.

If you're into Godzilla movies or shows like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, you're a fan of the Japanese tokusatsu genre. And now tokusatsu lovers have a streaming service to call their own. We can exclusively reveal the first details of TokuSHOUTsu, a new streaming channel being added to Pluto TV. A joint effort between Pluto TV and Shout! Factory TV, TokuSHOUTsu is aimed at making Japanese shows like Ultraman and Super Sentai (the basis for the many incarnations of Power Rangers) more widely available to US audiences. Perhaps the biggest selling point is that TokuSHOUTsu will bring the wildly popular Kamen Rider to US shores for the first time. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=tokushoutsu-brings-kamen-rider-and-ultraman-to-america&captions=true"] Beginning at midnight PT on Tuesday, March 17, TokuSHOUTsu can be found on Pluto TV Channel 681 (in the Tech + Geek section). The channel will offer a mix of live, curated content and on-demand episodes of Kamen Rider: Season 1, Ultraman Leo and Super Sentai. The channel will include other original content such as Let's Talk Toku, a weekly talk show hosted by Squall Charlson, and relevant episodes of the documentary series Backlot that provide behind-the-scenes looks at franchises like Godzilla and Power Rangers. We had a chance to talk with both TokuSHOUTsu Channel Manager Ari Schonfeld and tokusatsu expert/former Mighty Morphin Power Rangers star Jason Narvy about what this new service has to offer fans of the genre. "TokuSHOUTsu came about because Shout! Factory is always looking for ways to diversify how fans enjoy content," said Schonfeld. "After all of the success we’ve had with physical releases of Super Sentai, this is just the natural progression. When Pluto TV reached out about wanting to collaborate on a new streaming channel, basing it around tokusatsu became a no-brainer because of our mutual interest in the genre." Narvy told us how exciting it is to finally have a resource making previously hard-to-find tokusatsu material accessible for American viewers. "Much more than other genres, toku fans outside of Japan had to work just to get their hands on the material. It has not (until now) been easy to acquire. The fans really were explorers who had discovered something unique. And there's a real desire to know Japanese culture as a result. Coming from America, where we tend to think the world revolves around us, it's refreshing to see fans who make their fandom something akin to being cultural ambassadors." Despite premiering way back in 1971, Kamen Rider didn't need much in the way of restoration or remastering work, according to Schonfeld. "TOEI did a great job keeping Kamen Rider in fantastic shape, so we did not need to restore the series, but we did add brand-new subtitles. It’s the first time the series has ever had English-language subtitles, so for American audiences, the series is going to look truly fantastic." Check out an exclusive clip from Kamen Rider's first episode below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/03/16/kamen-rider-comes-to-america-exclusive-episode-1-clip"] In addition to having major toku cred after playing iconic bully Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and several follow-up series, Narvy also happens to be a certified expert on the subject. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies and currently teaches at Chicago's Concordia University. That expertise is what led to his current collaboration with Shout! Factory, and fans can look forward to his presence on upcoming episodes of Let's Talk Toku. "Look, I'm a fan of toku, as an actor I've become a storyteller of toku, and outside of that I'm an academic who deals with both pop culture heroes and canonical tragic ones--from the Gene Autry to Hamlet," said Narvy "Shout! Factory wanted me involved because they know I'm the crazy professor who could frame this genre as important, cross cultural, mythic storytelling in a fun as hell package. We have talked about future collaboration and just this morning I did my first appearance on Let's Talk Toku!" We couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask if Narvy has any plans to reprise his role as Skull (with his most recent appearance being in the series finale of Power Rangers Super Samurai in 2012). He told us, "Man, there's a guy you want out of your life, isn't he? Look, to see Bulk and Skull together again, to grow that character would be too much fun." Narvy continued, "It was strange when I did that cameo for Samurai and Paulie [Schrier] and Felix [Ryan] and I had that one little scene together, we really thought the scene gave more questions than answers. I mean, how do you do a comic moment between two best friends who are no longer hanging out? That's too close to depressing. And preparing for that scene, I thought it was really odd to think of those guys grown up. They were such juvenile delinquents. And it was hard to envision that those idiots could survive into adulthood. Shouldn't they have suffered some horrible accident that only the truly Walking Braindead would have? Or if they survived, would they be just middle aged criminals?  And what does that say about Darwinism if the dumbest survive? No one from the old days in Angel Grove is around except Bulk and Skull???  I guess it's like Paulie and I always say: Heroes come and go, but idiots are forever." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-episodes&captions=true"] Finally, we asked Schonfeld why he feels the tokusatsu genre has seen such a resurgence in popularity lately. What's fueling the renewed obsession with all things Power Rangers or demand for that lavish Godzilla box set from The Criterion Collection? "I think the Internet plays a big part in it," said Schonfeld. "It’s easier than ever to find others with mutual interests and whenever that occurs, fringe movements that might have been shunned in the past have a chance to see more light. It’s just natural for barriers to erode over time when you have a product that is as special as tokusatsu is. It’s also a genre where even if you’ve never seen the original shows, you’ve seen the influence of them because it’s absolutely everywhere.  The truly great always finds a way to shine through." TokuSHOUTsu will be available on all platforms that support Pluto TV, including Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV. Let us know if you'll be checking out this new streaming service in the comments below. For more on the ever-shifting streaming TV landscape, find out everything coming to NBCUniversal's Peacock and everything coming to WarnerMedia's HBO Max. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.