Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[QualityChimp]

Xbox Scarlett/Streambox Rumors: Microsoft’s Continued Overcomplicating Of Gaming Is Alienating The Casual Market

[fishbowlhead]

Xbox Scarlett/Streambox Rumors: Microsoft’s Continued Overcomplicating Of Gaming Is Alienating The Casual Market

Yet again this something dreamt up by some twonk in a suit trying to justify his pay cheque.

Looks at PS4, oh look exclusive games not available anywhere else, buys PS4.

War over. It’s really that simple.

[wakka]

Rumours that a game company might do something other than iterating directly on previous hardware with as few changes as possible.

Bordersdown:

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6Mbsv3wXbIS3dpNS/giphy.gif

EDIT: Actually that's unfair quite a few people interested in the idea. Personally I don't love the idea of not having the physical hardware, but I think it would be interesting if MS brought this out.

A massive advantage of streaming, for me, would be that it is instant-access. No installing. No downloading. No updates. No need to manage and clear hard drive space.

That's a huge one, as those things have become a real pain this gen as file sizes have ballooned.

[dataDave]

You have touched on something there... What if MS just said 'if you own a one X, you already own the next gen' and then gave access to the streaming service. There is no reason why not to be honest.

That would be excellent, and would completely negate my thoughts of the One X being their 32X moment.

[teddymeow]

My goodness the menu UI on this is still woefully bad.

[Colin]

My goodness the menu UI on this is still woefully bad.

Is that on your new X? It's what puts me off owning another xbox, when I bought an XBO I couldn't stand it.

[teddymeow]

Is that on your new X? It's what puts me off owning another xbox, when I bought an XBO I couldn't stand it.

Yeah. It's fast but cluttered and unintuitive.

[QualityChimp]

Oh, it's rubbish isn't it?!

I don't think the PS4 is amazing, but it's neater than the One.

It must be part of Microsoft's ongoing drive to wind me up with rubbish and unintuitive operating systems.

It handles video files better, though, and the universal remote can talk to it.
I showed my wife how, with one button, you can power on the Xbox One, projector, screen and HDMI switch and show the kids some films on a USB stick.

[Neon Ignition]

Personally, I don't think there's much chance of the XBX being much more than a niche novelty addition to the Xbox line of consoles. They probably could add the streaming element and say 'there you go' but all that would happen is a repeat of this gen where Sony unveil the more powerful PS5, grab the PR baton and annihilate them (not that that won't happen anyway).

The thing with the streaming box approach is more that I just don't see it working the same way as they probably hope it will. It won't harm them in anyway, but I think it's contribution to the Xbox 4's success levels will be fairly minimal as I think MS will think:

1 - It's a cheap entry point to the world of next gen gaming!

But more likely for consumers is:

2 - It's gimped or they wouldn't have also released a proper console
3 - I don't live somewhere with a good enough connection
4 - I'm not paying $125 to then have to commit to $X per month for the next 5-10 years

GamePass is a genuinely great move from MS but it's going to be really, really easy for them to make alterations that seemingly ruin that current good will and the streaming unit will live or die on that element. It also doesn't get them out of the issue of delivering a significant improvement on the XBX with the next console for $100 less.

[QualityChimp]

You sound like Blockbuster laughing in the face of Netflix and their silly streaming idea.

[fishbowlhead]

You sound like Blockbuster laughing in the face of Netflix and their silly streaming idea.

Even Netflix have had to give into offline viewing.

Games need an order of magnitude better internet performance for a smooth experience.

[Neon Ignition]

That's the thing, the streaming box won't mean much to the majority of world gamers because the tech isn't where it needs to be. PSNow is okay but even then that's speaking as part of the first world leading territories. A streaming box option is a nice low ball perk to their line up but it won't make or break Xbox 4, the traditional console will be one of the three big factors (Hardware, Software and Marketing) in deciding how they do next gen and it'll be curious how having a cheap streaming option colours how they pitch the main console given how poorly their online message was conveyed last time.

[EvilBoris]

Yeah. It's fast but cluttered and unintuitive.

It's just the whole IOS / Android thing, you just become used to one thing and trying to switch to the other takes time and practice and both OS's do some things, better than the other.

I don't use the PS4 lots and I find the PS4 interface just as bizarre to use when I do, trying to find my downloads always catches me out, why is the download queue in notifications?

You've also go the issue of the OS's becoming increasingly complex, needing option upon option and setting upon setting to do everything that gamers what them to do.

[Team Andromeda]

Personally, I don't think there's much chance of the XBX being much more than a niche novelty addition to the Xbox line of consoles. They probably could add the streaming element and say 'there you go' but all that would happen is a repeat of this gen where Sony unveil the more powerful PS5, grab the PR baton and annihilate them (not that that won't happen anyway).

The thing with the streaming box approach is more that I just don't see it working the same way as they probably hope it will. It won't harm them in anyway, but I think it's contribution to the Xbox 4's success levels will be fairly minimal as I think MS will think:

1 - It's a cheap entry point to the world of next gen gaming!

But more likely for consumers is:

2 - It's gimped or they wouldn't have also released a proper console
3 - I don't live somewhere with a good enough connection
4 - I'm not paying $125 to then have to commit to $X per month for the next 5-10 years

GamePass is a genuinely great move from MS but it's going to be really, really easy for them to make alterations that seemingly ruin that current good will and the streaming unit will live or die on that element. It also doesn't get them out of the issue of delivering a significant improvement on the XBX with the next console for $100 less.

The tech is there now , Nvida shield game streaming is very good and and when you have a compatible GPU it comes into its own for streaming content around the house with ultra gfx in 4K off your PC GPU . If MS follows that model it’s on to a winner, more so it’s cloud system is better too.

Also I very much doubt MS is going to make the Xbox II less powerful than anything Sony got planned. MS not going to make the same mistake again.

[wakka]

Personally, I don't think there's much chance of the XBX being much more than a niche novelty addition to the Xbox line of consoles. They probably could add the streaming element and say 'there you go' but all that would happen is a repeat of this gen where Sony unveil the more powerful PS5, grab the PR baton and annihilate them (not that that won't happen anyway).

The thing with the streaming box approach is more that I just don't see it working the same way as they probably hope it will. It won't harm them in anyway, but I think it's contribution to the Xbox 4's success levels will be fairly minimal as I think MS will think:

1 - It's a cheap entry point to the world of next gen gaming!

But more likely for consumers is:

2 - It's gimped or they wouldn't have also released a proper console
3 - I don't live somewhere with a good enough connection
4 - I'm not paying $125 to then have to commit to $X per month for the next 5-10 years

GamePass is a genuinely great move from MS but it's going to be really, really easy for them to make alterations that seemingly ruin that current good will and the streaming unit will live or die on that element. It also doesn't get them out of the issue of delivering a significant improvement on the XBX with the next console for $100 less.

I think it could work, personally. It's definitely the way things are ultimately going, and the tech isn't perfect, but crucially it's at the 'good enough' point.

In terms of people feeling it's gimped versus the X4, well, yeah, it is gimped in the sense that it's just a streaming box. But people are used to the idea of streaming, and if they'll save £300 up front then I could see it being quite popular.

Again with the subscription thing, I think people are so used to the idea of paying subs for all you can eat services now. It's how people mostly consume home entertainment. Average consumers are totally familiar with Spotify and Netflix and the inherent benefits of them.

And there's no reason why the streaming box couldn't have the feature of purchasing games in perpetuity, too - so even if you cancel your sub, you can still stream the games you paid extra to own permanently.

At the the end of the day, this is happening, and pretty soon. Even if the StreamBox v1 isn't the one that makes it take off. The quality difference between streamed games and local games is still quite wide, but it'll get slimmer and slimmer until most consumers barely notice it.