Xbox Series S/X: Thread 03

[dataDave]

Stacks of Series S consoles at my retailer yesterday.

Their PS4s are almost sold out. Two people were buying one in the 10mins I was there.

The Cyberpunk One X is still there, too. Without as much as a whiff of a price reduction. Not even for Black Friday.

[Atticus]

Demons Tilt pinball disappeared from game pass yesterday, I tried to play it again and it doesn’t work anymore.

Bah, that was one of the only games I played on GP.

[Lebowski]

Stacks of Series S consoles at my retailer yesterday.

Their PS4s are almost sold out. Two people were buying one in the 10mins I was there.

The Cyberpunk One X is still there, too. Without as much as a whiff of a price reduction. Not even for Black Friday.

I think the Series S is a bit to much of a hobbled Machine next to the powerhouse that is the series X. That it cuts corners in so many ways was never going to be a winning strategy. on paper. I was tempted to get a machine for game pass as its a wallet friendly price, but the fact that your not only taking a resolution cut but a fps cut with a lot of games as well its just a bridge too far for me.

[CMcK]

I think the Series S is a bit to much of a hobbled Machine next to the powerhouse that is the series X. That it cuts corners in so many ways was never going to be a winning strategy. on paper. I was tempted to get a machine for game pass as its a wallet friendly price, but the fact that your not only taking a resolution cut but a fps cut with a lot of games as well its just a bridge too far for me.

That’s starting to change already for example with the latest Assassins Creed patch. Dirt 5 even supports 120fps mode on series S.

[Cassius_Smoke]

That’s starting to change already for example with the latest Assassins Creed patch. Dirt 5 even supports 120fps mode on series S.

Not really... Dirt might get 120fps but the resolution dips as low as 600p to do it.

[Lebowski]

That’s starting to change already for example with the latest Assassins Creed patch. Dirt 5 even supports 120fps mode on series S.

it still leaves the question how long will it be able to keep up for though?

whats to stop this happening again when the spotlight of the launch is off Microsoft? for me and a lot of others that aren't actively following it anymore the damage is done the cut in FPS on certain games was widely documented the fix to specific games you mention above wasn't.

[nonny]

It's a game by game thing right now and I'm hoping that it improves.

Watching Borderlands 3 on DF the Series S version looks great but then other games don't fare so well.

I think it doesn't help that MS is clearly still fine tuning dev toolkits which may be adding to the difficulty of getting the most out of the wee machine.

I sold mine and I'm taking a wait and see approach. It's certainly a great machine for the price but agree it's not quite delivering on the original promise.

[Neon Ignition]

MS needs to get its devtools up to speed pretty much yesterday. The working realities of the Series S will only be truly known once it's properly pushed with next-gen titles that are benchmarked against PS5 and Series X but by the looks that won't be until Xmas 2021 at the earliest due to MS having zero key titles lined up for the system. In their absence every single news making piece will be based on the games that are out, like Valhalla. Trouble is, for example, it being patched ends up not changing perceptions because the initial news will have been that the new Series S cannot run a resolutely last-gen title as well as it should be doing out the gate and the devtool issues will gain no traction with the average consumer. As long as it isn't shipping with the right experience out the box it means pretty much the most critical period of its life is being built on the perception that the Series S is a compromised experience compared to every other option on the table. The price remains attractive but I think the slightest wobble in confidence and most will be moving their money Nintendo's way instead.

To be honest, launch hasn't changed my suspicion that Xbox's survival in terms of the form of a console rests more on getting Series X to become the next Series S more than it rests on the current Series S model. There's never, ever been anything close to a generation where all three formats have enjoyed runaway universal success simultaneously. The closest was arguably the Wii/PS3/360 era but in reality the PS3/360 traded audiences halfway through the generation. Console sales as a whole have also been falling so with Playstation and Switch both enjoying immense, staggering rates of sale I don't think the market exists for Xbox to enjoy that same success regardless of what MS does. That would definitely make sense of MS's talk about focusing on Game Pass and methods of play outside of the console market which may or may not work but in either case, regardless of their intent of dedication to gaming and Xbox as a brand, I just don't see the console hardware units changing squat for MS.

[nonny]

I've been really enjoying the Series X the past couple of days with the new TV.

Tried Rainbow Six Siege and Halo MC collection running at 120fps and my goodness it's really nice (putting it mildly). Also really nice to see they put a FOV slider in for Halo now so you can tweak it a little and get the most out of it, plus Auto HDR is working some crazy magic here again. After several years of tinkering I think we've reached a pinnacle for Halo backward compatibility... Now we just need a new game.

Also tried Ori Will o the Wisps using the 60fps 6K super sampling mode. Absolutely incredible how slick this game looks now. It's just gorgeous and possibly the stand out for me right now.

I'm going to try Star Wars Squadrons at 120fps tonight as there's a 10 hour trial free via game pass. These high frame rate modes are becoming my new favourite thing!

[Jaz]

Quick question for Game Pass owners. If I download a game to my console, and it then leaves Game Pass, does it still run as I downloaded it or no?

[nonny]

Quick question for Game Pass owners. If I download a game to my console, and it then leaves Game Pass, does it still run as I downloaded it or no?

Nope. It will check and display a message saying you no longer have access to it.

[Jaz]

Nope. It will check and display a message saying you no longer have access to it.

Well that sucks. Thanks mate I thought it might be like that.

[nonny]

I don't know what would happen if you went offline and didn't authenticate but I'd assume you'd get a warning either way and get locked out.

[randombs]

Yet more controller-related issues, but this time it’s the headphone socket.

Today when I was using my earphones plugged into the controller, the sound would get quite choppy and there was static. I had just booted up Halo MCC so I tried YouTube but that was doing it, too. I downloaded the Dolby Atmos and DTS trials out of curiosity but still had the same issue - this was with both my Series controllers, and was regardless of whether they were wireless or wired using the USB-C cable(I’m not sure if the USB-C cable switches the controllers to wired like PS4 controllers, but the sound would drop for a few seconds and come back when I switched so I guess they do switch).

After much fiddling - including a few reboots/full shutdowns and re-syncing both controllers - I realised the only thing different today was that the Xbox was using wifi instead of the usual Ethernet cable. I hooked it up and bam, the audio was perfect again!

I’m not sure why it’s happening now. A few weeks ago I was using the Xbox in another room(wifi turned on) with earphones for 3-4 hours without a single hiccup.

Weird...

[nonny]

Could be a mistake but I'm now getting the option to install flight simulator to my Series X? Says it's still only PC but don't remember it giving me the option before and it's appearing under the console section....