Xbox One X: 9 Ways Microsoft Can Avoid A Total Failure

Taking a play out of Apple's book, instead of waiting a full generation before announcing more powerful consoles, both Microsoft and Sony have gambled on breaking conventional by releasing upgraded versions of their hardware only a few years after dropping the original iterations.

With Sony's PS4 Pro releasing last year to a lukewarm response at best, November is finally Microsoft's chance to get in on the action. Billed as "the world's most powerful console", Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One X is primed to be a premium upgrade that will spearhead the company's core principles going forward, and will no doubt be the final world on whether players will see mid-generation console refreshes in the years to come.

Thankfully, the first signs seem positive. It's clear that after the disastrous launch of the One, Microsoft and Phil Spencer are dedicated to turning the image of the Xbox brand around, and have confidently put together two showings already boasting about the capabilities of their new machine.

While there's been a lot of market-friendly buzzwords being thrown around, the Xbox One X isn't going to be a guaranteed success unless it learns from past mistakes. As well as recognising where the PS4 Pro went wrong, the following needs to happen to avoid a complete disaster.

It might not seem like a huge improvement, but if the Xbox One came out with a brand new UI that was responsive and easy to use, it would actually be a huge win for Microsoft.

At the moment, the interface of the original Xbox One is a shambles. Unresponsive and incredibly laggy, the sheer act of getting into games or using apps can be enough to make you want to pull your own hair out.

The PS4 was never quite as bad, but even then the interface of that console was similarly slow. Thankfully, the most recent update has hugely improved the responsiveness of Sony's system, and players are absolutely smitten by it.

It's not a huge feature, but it would be a vital improvement that sets the Xbox One X apart from the One, and would be one of the best uses of the console's impressive horsepower. Hopefully the still-mostly-under-wraps dashboard coming later this year will be the one to fix everything for good.