All of the other Xbox One X news at Gamescom, meanwhile, was disappointing on some level. Microsoft kicked off pre-orders of the console by announcing the limited edition "Project Scorpio" model, which has some special branding and a "sophisticated and dynamic" case pattern. Oh, and it's the only launch Xbox One X with a vertical stand. Yay?

As for new games, there's Jurassic World Evolution, the dino theme park builder nobody asked for, and a "Definitive Edition" of the ill-received ReCore. Additionally, Microsoft is remastering its two Disney games, Disneyland Adventure and Rush: A Pixar Adventure as well as Zoo Tycoon, with 4K and HDR support. I'm sure those games have an audience, but they're not the sort who would care about having more pixels. And I wouldn't call any of them system sellers -- especially for a high-end console.

All in all, it's a shame to see that Microsoft's pitch for the Xbox One X hasn't changed much since E3. At the time, I argued that it was too expensive and didn't really have many compelling reasons for Xbox One owners to upgrade this year. That's still the case. Engadget associate editor Timothy J. Seppala called it "aspirational in the purest sense of the word." To get the most of the Xbox One X, you'd need a 4K HDR TV and a fancy surround-sound system with Dolby Atmos support. There's nothing wrong with aspirational tech -- Apple and Tesla have pretty much banked on that. But if you're going to go down that route, you'd best be sure you're offering something nobody else is.

In my brief hands-on time with a few Xbox One X titles at Gamescom, it was clear that the system was pushing out significantly better graphics than the standard Xbox One. Fighting enemies and running around the world of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War was silky smooth in native 4K and 30FPS -- I didn't notice any slowdown, even when I was surrounded by a dozen enemies. The HDR lighting also made my character's ghostly superpowers pop on the screen. Gears of War 4 also looked fantastic, with better texture and model detail than before. It also features HDR, but so did the Xbox One S version. (It remains to be seen if future HDR games will support the older console.)