Xbox Series S/X: Thread 02

[nonny]

If the games output is as shat as it has been this gen, I couldn't give a flying fanny about specs this, tf that, ram spam thank you mam. Naff off!!

Mained the XB ecosystem the last two gens, 360 stunning, XB0 gashest since I've been gaming.

I had a weak flutter when seeing the, frankly, absurdly good hardware prices.

But if all you have are shat games to play...

With all the development teams they now have you'd expect more exclusives this gen but agree it's barebones at launch...

There's going to be Gears Tactics and maybe Flight Simulator hits somewhere in the launch window... Plus 3rd party stuff.

MS have had more exclusives this year than in the past 2-3 to be fair but not massive AAA.

Bleeding Edge
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Battletoads
Grounded (preview)
Gears Tactics (PC)
Flight Simulator (PC)
Plus Minecraft Dungeons...

Yes that's available on PC and with Minecraft all platforms but it's a lot more output than last year which had just two releases.

Bringing Gears Tactics and Flight Simulator to Series X will be great for people like me who don't own a PC good enough to play them... They're not launch exclusives as they've hit PC first but still will be console exclusive when they come out.

[Neon Ignition]

That's why MS should have announced the Series S alongside the X. I bet many more casual followers of gaming tuned in thinking 'oh, there's another new Xbox coming out?' after hearing about the X for 9 months only to then get confused that its not as good, but then it's cheaper, but then it is as good, but then it's not again. If MS had simply announced the two units at once as a simple One S/One X are being phased out for these two it'd make clearer sense.

[Dogg Thang]

This is exactly why I don't think MS are truly aiming at the most casual end of the market, just as Apple don't pitch the iPhone to the plebs even though they'll offer cheaper ones. This naming system only has meaning to those who keep in the loop with these things or are willing to do their homework.

[MartyG]

I'm pretty sure anyone that was able to tell the difference between the Xbox One X and Xbox One S (which have been available to buy side-by-side for ages) is equally going to be able to deal with the difference between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S - it's just an evolution of that naming convention and they've made the designs and pricing of the different models very very distinct.

[Brad]

I'm pretty sure anyone that was able to tell the difference between the Xbox One X and Xbox One S (which have been available to buy side-by-side for ages) is equally going to be able to deal with the difference between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

Agreed. What they won't expect is that the next gen Series S isn't as powerful as the last gen One X. They won't immediately go Oh yeah, like with iPhones.

[Dogg Thang]

Am I the only one who feels the real naming problem here isn't just in the X and S but is, instead, in the move from One to Series? That tells us precisely nothing about these models unless we go and look up what is a successor of what. Yes, it's further complicated by having both the X and the S carried over from the One and so put these things together and it's just a bunch of words and letters.

As for anyone who can tell the difference between the One X and One S being able to tell the difference between these, I haven't kept track of the figures but, last time I was aware, this didn't seem to be a high enough benchmark to be aiming for.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Like I said before, you can't use the IPhone as an example because I phones use numbers to indicate the next upgrade. Xbox seem to use the same letters.

[CMcK]

The only confusing thing for me is whether then Series S is more powerful than the One X. I've had conflicting messages. If it isn't more powerful (in every way, not just it has an SSD) then that is confusion because no new gen console has ever come out that wasn't more powerful than the generation before it. so that would be a new things for people to deal with.

The series S doesn’t need to be more powerful than the 1X that’s what the series X is for. The series is S is superior to the 1X with regards to the CPU, SSD and graphics feature set. The GPUs are roughly the same. The S has a little less memory available to the developer but that mitigated by not aiming at 4k.

[Neon Ignition]

But people that casual will probably see the Series S priced at a similar ballpark as One S, the PS5 models in the middle and the Series X at the top similarly pitched as the One X and see the same thing they have for the last few years and come away with the same purchasing decision. I still maintain, best case scenario is Xbox does as well as the One did unless there are huge software changes.

[Cassius_Smoke]

The series S doesn’t need to be more powerful than the 1X that’s what the series X is for. The series is S is superior to the 1X with regards to the CPU, SSD and graphics feature set. The GPUs are roughly the same. The S has a little less memory available to the developer but that mitigated by not aiming at 4k.

With this in mind I can't help but feel it's going to be like an anchor around next gens necks.

[Neon Ignition]

You could argue that the fact it's even a discussion on a board like this shows it is a naming convention that doesn't work. There's been no discussion of confusion going from 4 to 5 because there is none. MS probably would have been better off picking something more distinct from the One era titles, this is reminiscent of the confusion when Nintendo slapped a U on the Wii name.

[MartyG]

Am I the only one who feels the real naming problem here isn't just in the X and S but is, instead, in the move from One to Series?.

I don't think it's any more of a problem than having a Nintendo Gamecube, Wii, WiiU and Switch, which are just a bunch of letters - it's just a matter of explaining it in the marketting material.

Wii -> WiiU was initially confusing because of the poor job Nintendo did at revealing / explaining it - is anyone confused on here about that now?

I think Microsoft is being far clearer with their marketting.

[CMcK]

With this in mind I can't help but feel it's going to be like an anchor around next gens necks.

The series S has as much CPU power as the PS5, same graphics features and is aiming at 25-33% of the graphics workload with 40% of the graphics power. I’m pretty optimistic the series S won’t be a anchor for the big boy consoles.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, it’s like the WiiU all over again only adding that it’s two gens deep into that confusion and with several models and one might not be as good as the Wii.

I think if you need to do that much explaining in the marketing materials (and they do), it’s a problem. It’s not a clear system.

[hudson]

I don't think the naming will be a problem. The kids ain't daft. They'll be telling Santa "Peeee Esss Fiiive"!

Nah but seriously, they will know and make sure mom and pop knows. I hope.