Microsoft's Xbox 'Project Scorpio' will be the most powerful games console ever

Continuing to steal Apple's WWDC thunder, Microsoft has been using its E3 press briefing to make some major announcements.

First up, the tech giant unveiled the Xbox One S, a slimmer, much improved Xbox One, but the real excitement is not that games console, but a future device.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced the Xbox One successor, codenamed "Project Scorpio", and described it as "the most powerful console ever".

That’s a big claim, and Microsoft didn’t offer much to back it up, but as the console isn’t scheduled to arrive before the Holiday season 2017, it’s fair to say that unless Sony rushes out a PS5 at the same time, it should be able to live up to its hype.

Microsoft did say the console will have a 6 teraflop GPU, and offer true 4K HDR gaming and high-fidelity virtual reality, so that all sounds very promising.

Perhaps even more excitingly, "Project Scorpio" will be backwards compatible with all Xbox One games and accessories -- a very smart move.

More details will be revealed in due course.