Opinion Your thoughts on the XBOX Series X unveil...(plus thoughts on PS5)...

K12gamer

Member
Microsoft unveiled it's XBOX Series X at a recent Game Awards show.
It looks very good to me. It looks to be more than 3x smaller than my PC...but 25+ times more powerful.
Amazed they can fit that kind of power in such a compact design. I honestly wish it came with Windows 10
plus free Microsoft Office...then I could get rid of my (PC, XBOX 360 and XBOX ONE)
Official VIDEO unveil



I'm sure PS5 will have similar power...and I'm excited for both consoles. Even though SONY hasn't
unveiled the official look of it's console...the mock up shown below is the best design I've seen so
far on the internet. See more of this design on this Youtube VIDEO Link

 
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It sounds like it's just going to be a small form factor mid-to-high-end AMD PC with a custom OS. Not that that's a bad thing, sans the custom OS. Pricing will be a huge issue with the power speculators are alluding to. It's either got corners cut somewhere, or people are just pulling wishlists out of their orifices as usual. I really can't see this with a Ryzen 7 equivalent CPU/mid-high RDNA GPU for under $600 unless AMD is taking an absurd loss. You mentioned this a little, but if you could put Windows 10 on it, I think that would make it a fantastic deal. Might be difficult to convince the average consumer that it's a fantastic deal, considering last time a console released for FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE US DOLLARS, it got memed into oblivion.

I have nothing to say about the PS5, since literally all we know about it is that it's being worked on. There's no useful conversation to be had about that.
 
Consoles don't really do anything exciting anymore, just increasing power with diminishing returns.
I don't own an Xbone, but I have used my cousin's system a few times. The interface is soooo bad. So hopefully they can at least improve that.
The design is strange, it doesn't look like they took into consideration existing media centre setups, because I know that thing won't fit in my tv stand...
 
Consoles don't really do anything exciting anymore, just increasing power with diminishing returns.
I don't own an Xbone, but I have used my cousin's system a few times. The interface is soooo bad. So hopefully they can at least improve that.
The design is strange, it doesn't look like they took into consideration existing media centre setups, because I know that thing won't fit in my tv stand...
That's basically been the case for the last thirty years though, if you're not talking about Nintendo. And Nintendo is still doing cool/weird stuff, so it's basically business as usual on all fronts.

Which is fine! More power is always useful for developers, and prettier graphics are always nice. I buy consoles for games! Basically only played the Switch this gen (only beat one game on the Xbox One I think, lol), but I'll probably end up with a PS5, especially if it's backwards compatible.

And yeah, the Xbox One has the most garbage console UI I've ever seen. It's seriously half the reason I never played it, as crazy as it might sound. I just never felt like turning that πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©ing thing on, lol.
 
Yeah, Nintendo are the reason I still hold put hope for gaming.
All this power from the other consoles rarely gets us anything too exciting. Graphics are better, sure, but you don't see that power going to anything else really. In some cases we get bigger open-world maps to wander around in I guess?

Also, I've been staying with my cousinvfor a while recently and he has an Xbone. Whenever we want to play anything multiplayer, we end up on the Switch because Xbone games seem yo less often have any local multiplayer games... but the Switch is just so good for local multiplayer.
So I'm hoping too that these next consoles use some of that power to include local multiplayer more often.
 
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Misty

Guest
Yeah, Nintendo are the reason I still hold put hope for gaming.
All this power from the other consoles rarely gets us anything too exciting. Graphics are better, sure, but you don't see that power going to anything else really. In some cases we get bigger open-world maps to wander around in I guess?

Also, I've been staying with my cousinvfor a while recently and he has an Xbone. Whenever we want to play anything multiplayer, we end up on the Switch because Xbone games seem yo less often have any local multiplayer games... but the Switch is just so good for local multiplayer.
So I'm hoping too that these next consoles use some of that power to include local multiplayer more often.
Couldn't agree more.

"Good graphics" really just mean graphics that are from 1990's cgi movies or documentaries in a museum, being used for game graphics. "Good graphics" are far below even Toy-Story 1 tech because it has to be in real time. "Good graphics" are more about just brainwashing the public to believe that plastic looking specular infested messes are somehow "next-gen".
 
I don't get the point of consoles these days. It's basically just a crippled computer. And I don't mean performance-wise, but interface-wise, and modability, and customization. I have more fun playing PC games that are 25 years old than I do playing modern console games.

A while back I tried to play a perfect dark remake on the xbox. We had to wait about 3 hours for updates. First, the rareware package had to update. Then the game itself. Then the xbox had to update. Then the CONTROLLER had to update! And after all that, the game still wouldn't launch. They need to get real. On the other hand, its why I hate steam as well. Constant updates frequently breaking the game, and very long start times.
 

Jabbers

Member
That's basically been the case for the last thirty years though, if you're not talking about Nintendo. And Nintendo is still doing cool/weird stuff, so it's basically business as usual on all fronts.
Do I misunderstand you? Are you claiming that game consoles haven't had exciting updates (relative to their time) since the 1980s except for Nintendo? That's very obviously not the case.
 
Do I misunderstand you? Are you claiming that game consoles haven't had exciting updates (relative to their time) since the 1980s except for Nintendo? That's very obviously not the case.
Yeah, I guess that was an exaggeration, sorry. Consoles felt pretty colorful until around 2002 to me, I guess.

I do appreciate Sony/MS normalizing online play for consoles. I appreciate Sony looking at the SNES' shoulder buttons and saying "we should add two more!" and then looking at the N64's joystick and saying "we should add one more!" I don't appreciate normalizing πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©ty DLC, micro transactions, and games being broken at launch because patches. I don't appreciate the Xbox's horrible OS.

I'd rather play a PS2 than a PS4.

So...I dunno. "Update" is subjective. I prefer Nintendo making weird ass πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’© and surprising everyone constantly to Sony and MS slowly transforming consoles into janky PCs/media boxes over the last 20 years. Half the replies in this thread are saying "I don't see a reason for consoles anymore." There's a reason for that - they're turning into PCs!

I'm hoping I like the PS5. The PS1/PS2 are two of my favorite consoles ever. I guess I also appreciate Sony sticking with CDs and reaching out to developers better than Nintendo did during those years. =)
 
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Cpaz

Member
Day One buy.




I mean, even if it wasn't all that interesting, in which I think it totally is, I'd have to for Halo Infinite. It's the backwards compatibility that has me the most interested, as it's really the Switch that has my attention the most this generation, mainly due to how it functions rather than the games it supports. I hope that, with it being as powerful as it's supposed to be, it carries proper emulation for at least the original Xbox as a whole, if not the 360, too. Neither of my Xboxes properly work anymore (just due to the disc drives, which I should repair one day) so I'd love to be able to play the games I haven't been able to in over a decade as they were never supported by the 360. I'm dying to play Dino Crisis 3 again, and to actually beat the final boss.
 

Coded Games

Member
I'm much more of a Playstation fanboy than an Xbox one. My top video games on all time is just full of Playstation exclusives.

Because of that, I'm much more excited for the PS5. I don't really care about the Series X at all.
 

K12gamer

Member
You cant take that and play on the go.

* hugs affectuously the Switch *
I think the next version of SWITCH should have phone capabilities.
In the school (where I teach) I see 10x more kids playing games on phones...and rarely see any bringing
a Switch to school. I no longer see any Gameboy DSs or Sony Vitas either. Some of the phones the kids have (Kids as young as 6 with iphones)
probably cost more than Switch. Seems like parents want their kids to have phones these days (I guess for emergency situations)

I might buy a Switch over the next XBOX and Playstation...(Doing more research): I'll need to compare prices of games, controllers etc...
Waiting for Switch to get HD remakes of all the old 2D games I liked:
Ghouls and Ghosts, Castlevania Symphony of Night, Actraiser, Strider, Streets of Rage etc...
Would also like to have a Nintendo Classics collection (Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong etc.) bundled together and remastered in HD

@Siolfor the Jackal Just tell them..."The most powerful one...that looks like a PC tower".
Because of the dramatically different shape...consumers shouldn't be too confused between XBOX ONE X and Series X.
But if MS releases similar looking consoles in the series (Series S, Series N etc)...That's going to confuse the hell out of everyone!
 
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M

Misty

Guest
Because consoles (used to) run games faster than the same price of PC.

For instance a N64 cost $199.99. But a PC at that time with similar specs cost $5000, for specs that are only a little better. The Gateway Solo's specs are 125 mhz CPU, n64 is 95 mhz. The N64 can be upgraded to 8 GB RAM for a low price, the Gateway Solo comes with 8 GM RAM as default, which you can upgrade to 40.

For instance Mario Kart on N64 runs at 30 fps, without much framedrop, if I remember correctly. But I had a PC I bought after the year 2000, for about $500 dollars. And I tried to run emulated Mario Kart 64 and got lots of frame drop and stuttering. (This was legal, I purchased a real copy of Mario Kart 64.)

Computers are made for multi-tasking. There are a lot of background proccesses that cause slowdown. Consoles (used to) be optimized for gaming, there was no focus on the GUI or anything, it was a small BIOS program from running disks only. There was no OS to lag the game. This is how it used to be, until consoles started turning more into desktop PCs, spamming advertisements and social media in your face 24/7, turning gaming into a consumerist/capitalist cacophony of chaos.
 
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Homunculus

Guest
Because consoles (used to) run games faster than the same price of PC.
For instance a N64 cost $199.99. But a PC at that time with similar specs cost $5000, for specs that are only a little better. The Gateway Solo's specs are 125 mhz CPU, n64 is 95 mhz. The N64 can be upgraded to 8 GB RAM for a low price, the Gateway Solo comes with 8 GM RAM as default, which you can upgrade to 40.
I call BS (no offense), the N64 was a very capable console, but $5000 for a similar specs PC is just ridiculous. Specs are always a bit difficult to compare when talking about console vs PC in terms of raw numbers, especially since you correctly point out that PCs also have an OS and other background processes going on, but I remember having far better graphics on PC when the N64 came out thanks to dedicated graphics cards like the voodoo 1 & 2, and I definitely did not have a $5000 PC (although it probably did cost more than an N64, it was an average machine). Hell, Quake II was around more or less at the same time as the N64.

I think you mean 8mb of ram though, and it actually was 4mb for the N64 until the expansion pack.

or instance Mario Kart on N64 runs at 30 fps, without much framedrop, if I remember correctly. But I had a PC I bought after the year 2000, for about $500 dollars. And I tried to run emulated Mario Kart 64 and got lots of frame drop and stuttering. (This was legal, I purchased a real copy of Mario Kart 64.)
Emulating a system is a really taxing task for a PC, that's why running Mario Kart on PC requires a much better hardware than the original N64 had. You can't measure a console power by using a system running an emulator as a benchmark.
 
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Misty

Guest
I call BS (no offense), the N64 was a very capable console, but $5000 for a similar specs PC is just ridiculous. Specs are always a bit difficult to compare when talking about console vs PC in terms of raw numbers, especially since you correctly point out that PCs also have an OS and other background processes going on, but I remember having far better graphics on PC when the N64 came out thanks to dedicated graphics cards like the voodoo 1 & 2, and I definitely did not have a $5000 PC (although it probably did cost more than an N64, it was an average machine). Hell, Quake II was around more or less at the same time as the N64.

I think you mean 8mb of ram though, and it actually was 4mb for the N64 until the expansion pack.


Emulating a system is a really taxing task for a PC, that's why running Mario Kart on PC requires a much better hardware than the original N64 had. You can't measure a console power by using a system running an emulator as a benchmark.
I couldn't find anything on search when I type $500 dollar PC in 1996

I get only stuff like:
Calculate the value of $500 in 1996. How much is it worth ...

I only get stuff about noteworthy PC's, like that $5000 Gateway Solo I mentioned earlier. And I DID mention that N64 has 4 mb ram and gets 8 mb in upgrade. I made a typo and said gb instead of mb lol.

The Nintendo switch is $299 and you can get a
HP Slim 290-p0043w, Intel Celeron G4900, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Windows 10 Home for $299 at walmart. But somehow, (even though it has more mhz), I don't think it will be able to run games with the quality of graphics of the Switch.
 
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Homunculus

Guest
@Misty the fact that the only machine you found was a 5000$ one doesn’t mean that it’s THE ONLY ONE. It’s from my memory, but I can assure you could get a very decent machine with enough power to run games at least on par with the N64 with a third of that price. PCs at the time did cost a lot more (you won’t find a 500$ pc probably) but not THAT much more, that’s my whole point.

I know the mb / gb thing was a typo, just wanted to point it out.

You are right about the switch comparison, exactly for the reason you posted above: consoles are dedicated gaming machines, they definitely can provide a very good tradeoff between price / specs (no heavy multi purpose OS, known specs by the developers, dedicated hardware etc...).
 
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Toque

Member
As per the Xbox. I’m wondering what all this power will actually do to make gaming better? I wonder if there Will be a bit of a wall. I mean increased power and specs translate into better games?
 
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Roa

Member
Its going to be πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©, because games offer less and less fun, focus more on graphics.
The only 2 console exclusives I've liked since the the ps4/xbone days was breath of the wild, and blood borne. And even breath of the wild really isn't all that great once the presentation of its jarring structure change wears off. Its not bad, just not as refined or as expansive as people make it.

I haven't been able to justify buying a modern console, even at massive discounts on used ones. There is just not enough break-through games coming out as triple A just tries too hard, and suck the soul out of everything with trend chasing and money grubbing tactics.
 

K12gamer

Member
@Roa If they're backwards compatible with all the old games...that will be a bonus.

@appleWolf I want a new: Golden Axe, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Eswat, Altered Beast, Congo Bongo, Space Harrier, Jet Set Radio Future.

Thankfully we're getting a new Streets of Rage...after all these years...

 

Chaser

Member
Interesting thread.:) personally I was quite surprised to see a next gen console release with the way things were going. With cross platform online gaming becoming a thing and the move for phisical copy's of games becoming less and less with a push on digital downloads.

The Xbox series x does look like a desktop and it wouldn't fit on my to stand either, and as for ps5 being quiet on it specs I think that's probly down to Sony being clever with its original archetecture in the ps4, in other words the ps5 is a ps4 with a few supped up graphic specs and additional extras(SSD) to enhance its capabilitys, there's nothing wrong with that, PC users have been doing that for decades which is the way it goes, and as the consoles try and keep up with PC capabilities it's always going to struggle, especially with pricing.

What I will say is this. Consoles will most likely not be consoles in the next 5 years. what they will do is replace your virgin/sky box for multi media broadcasting. With digital downloads becoming the normal, no backwards compatibility, just a stream of games to pick, stream and play. And I predict that in the very near Future you will be paying subscriptions in a 'netflix' like fashion to publishers such as capcom, activision etc to play all thier catalogued games past and present all streamed to you new console/media device(ps6,xboxseries?) just my opinion, :)

I'm not particularly hyped about either console to be honest.:)
 

MissingNo.

Member
Half the replies in this thread are saying "I don't see a reason for consoles anymore." There's a reason for that - they're turning into PCs!
I disagree that is the reason for the fatigue. I think it's more because we are getting older and games and consoles don't seem quite as magical as they once did.
Plus most of us here have gaming PCs so the appeal of consoles is lost on us.

I remember when consoles felt exciting back when I had a SNES, PS1 and PS2. Back then I had a PC but it could only RUN games, it couldn't max out much of anything and you can forget about emulation.
So while I did have fond PC memories it wasn't the center of my gaming habits because of the limitations. Fast forward years later when I started making money and was in a position to start seriously
building PCs and now consoles are mostly useless to me. I can max out any game I want, the vast majority of games are on PC now and for the ones that aren't, I can emulate.

My point is I don't think consoles are getting worse rather we are moving past them, with the strong exception of the Switch. The Switch has manged to become relevant because it found
a use for adult gamers, it can do something that High-end PCs can't, it's portable.
 
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Roa

Member
I think the next version of SWITCH should have phone capabilities.
In the school (where I teach) I see 10x more kids playing games on phones...and rarely see any bringing
a Switch to school. I no longer see any Gameboy DSs or Sony Vitas either. Some of the phones the kids have (Kids as young as 6 with iphones)
probably cost more than Switch. Seems like parents want their kids to have phones these days (I guess for emergency situations)
Its funny you say that. While I was in college. Literally half the lounge and auditorium was people sitting around tables and couches playing Nintendo switches. People who weren't even enrolled would come in to play Lan parties and πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©. It was kinda crazy honestly. Surprised they didn't crack down on it. Every outlet in the place had a TV or console plugged into it and the wireless was πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©πŸ’©ing flooded lol.
 
Looks like Xbox One X has reached the Game Cube era with its design. All people care about are the games. Well that and probably portability at this point since Switch is portable. Complete with a cheaper version to make sure Nintendo thrives at a cheaper price with a bigger library than two ogres who just arrived on the scene. Good news the new consoles have better graphics I guess? Huzzah.
 

K12gamer

Member
I'm not one of these PC gaming purists. I plan to buy a console for whenever it'd be that I'd invite co-workers of my generation over.
I mainly use my PC to play fan made games (from the GM forum, Game Jolt, Itch.io ec). My PC isn't powerful enough to play hyper realistic 3D games...
it can't even handle the 2D Strider remake shown below... without severely slowing down (even after I installed a $75 graphics card in it.)
(Specs: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, intel core i5-2500, 8GB ram, 1023mb Nvidia GeForce GT 710) I'm sure XBOX 360 easily outperforms my current PC.
I'm not tech savvy enough to put together a Super PC to compete against XBOX ONE, PS4...and definitely not the upcoming consoles.
I'm honestly satisfied with my XBOX 360...and think it has enough power to handle the games I like. (I really just want good 2D remakes of games like
Castlevania Symphony of Night, Ghouls and Ghosts etc.) (Will get Switch if it gets some of these games first)
 
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Misty

Guest
I disagree that is the reason for the fatigue. I think it's more because we are getting older and games and consoles don't seem quite as magical as they once did.
Plus most of us here have gaming PCs so the appeal of consoles is lost on us.

I remember when consoles felt exciting back when I had a SNES, PS1 and PS2. Back then I had a PC but it could only RUN games, it couldn't max out much of anything and you can forget about emulation.
So while I did have fond PC memories it wasn't the center of my gaming habits because of the limitations. Fast forward years later when I started making money and was in a position to start seriously
building PCs and now consoles are mostly useless to me. I can max out any game I want, the vast majority of games are on PC now and for the ones that aren't, I can emulate.

My point is I don't think consoles are getting worse rather we are moving past them, with the strong exception of the Switch. The Switch has manged to become relevant because it found
a use for adult gamers, it can do something that High-end PCs can't, it's portable.
A console is only as strong as its game library.

Its going to be ****, because games offer less and less fun, focus more on graphics.
The only 2 console exclusives I've liked since the the ps4/xbone days was breath of the wild, and blood borne. And even breath of the wild really isn't all that great once the presentation of its jarring structure change wears off. Its not bad, just not as refined or as expansive as people make it.

I haven't been able to justify buying a modern console, even at massive discounts on used ones. There is just not enough break-through games coming out as triple A just tries too hard, and suck the soul out of everything with trend chasing and money grubbing tactics.
I agree, however there is one thing I disagree. I think there is more than one or two console exclusives on Nintendo that are good. But there is no console exclusives on Xbox or PS that make me say, "hey, I want to buy this console".
 

MissingNo.

Member
A console is only as strong as its game library.
Yeah pretty much, they don't have much beyond that to make you want to buy them. I don't hate consoles but I think the fatigue I'm seeing from users here on the forum is from them subconsciously
realizing consoles never did much. I suspect most of the fatigued users also have PCs.

Now for those who aren't in a position to PC game I'm sure consoles still seem amazing to them purely for the amazing games and online experiences with their friends.
I don't judge though.
 
Well to be fair, back in the day, PCs were big and expensive. It was much easier to justify a small console you just hooked up to your TV, especially as an entertainment device. Games weren't any cheaper, but I felt like we had greater access due to video rental stores. I didn't actually own any games for my N64 the first year I had it, but every Friday I would rent one or two.
Now that computers are smaller, cheaper, and more common in households(from no PC, to having a "family" PC, and now everyone having their own PCs or laptops), it's harder to justify buying a system that mostly just plays games. That and like mentioned, the exclusive libraries are shrinking. PCs have a lot of the same games now, and they can also be used for work/school or procrastination.
So my relationship with consoles has slowly dimished over time, and now I only really get excited for Nintendo ones, because on top of always having a great library of exclusives(especially compared to PS and Xbox), they also provide a unique experience. Games that really took advantage of the Wii and Wii U's controls were special experiences that I'm grateful for. And whilst the Switch has eased back a little on that kind of thing, having such a powerful handheld that's also really a hybrid home system is crazy. And the detachable controllers that split into two controllers? That's crazy, and so useful for impromptu multiplayer.
Whoops. Rant done. Sorry, I just woke up after almost no sleep ^^'
 

MissingNo.

Member
Well to be fair, back in the day, PCs were big and expensive. It was much easier to justify a small console you just hooked up to your TV,
Yeah and even if you could afford a PC years ago it still wasn't a great idea because PCs tended to get out of date really quickly, nowadays you can play modern games on hardware you
bought several years ago. I used to have a GTX 970, I didn't need to upgrade that, If I wanted I could have kept gaming for a few more years on it. And even aside from hardware
another reason you wouldn't have wanted to PC game back then was that a lot of great games didn't even come to PC, I'm thinking of the PS1 and PS2 days specifically.
And even if the games did get a PC release it was often either a completely different game or a really sh*tty port.

(from no PC, to having a "family" PC, and now everyone having their own PCs or laptops), it's harder to justify buying a system that mostly just plays games
Haha, I remember having the family PC and I remember having the family television too. But there is still a few reasons I can see someone preferring to game on console, one is up front cost but PCs tend
to be cheaper in the long term and the other reason is ease of use "It just works", I can't tell you how many times I have run into issues while PC gaming. From issues like "blah.dll is missing" or missing a version
of Net Framework or games being incompatible with the operating system. games being incompatible is the worst issue because there isn't always a prefect solution, most of the time
you can work around it but other times you can't. Not sure if you or anyone else likes the Tropico game series but I found out that Tropico 5 (A game released in 2014) is not compatible with
Windows 10 because of a change in the way Windows handles audio, and the game works fine on Windows 8.1 but suddenly going into 10 I'm screwed. Issues like this aren't uncommon
and while most are easy to deal with like (DLL is missing) it's still way more hassle then using a console, but consoles come with major tradeoffs.

So my relationship with consoles has slowly dimished over time, and now I only really get excited for Nintendo ones
Yup same with me.

Whoops. Rant done. Sorry, I just woke up after almost no sleep
Haha no problem, it was a enjoyable read.
 
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