Series X Refresh and Next Generation Xbox Hardware

Games take time now and are still plenty fun.

All this anti-AAA talk is nonsense. Nintendo gets away with putting out lesser graphics. MS and Sony would get murdered if they brought out all the 600p30 stuff N puts out.

Imagine walking into the boardroom at Sony: "Listen. It's brilliant. We'll fire half our artists. We'll get the next God of War game out in only 3 years. It'll be 720p30 with no optimization and with the exact same story about rescuing a peach or something. Fantastic or what?"

MS upcoming release cadence is better than Sony's. Even better if you're on GP. AAA games are coming. Everyone can stop panicking.

If we're still in this thread to talk about hardware - MS should stick to their original leaked plans. X digital this Fall for $399. Followed by 2026 Handheld S and X2.
 
davis.anthony said:
PS1 was also the only console you could get mod chipped for $20 and then buy games for $3.

That had a lot to do with how well PS1 sold and how popular it was.
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I'd bet less than 5% of PS1 owners ever did anything like that. It did not have 'a lot' to do with how well it sold. Enthusiasts have a terrible habit of overestimating their relevance and representation within the gaming community.

It was the games. It was all about the games. And no, it wasn't all 1st party exclusives, but Sony had so many killer 3rd party exclusives to make up for it. Now in the multiplatform age, basically since the X360/PS3 era, 1st party has to do more of the heavy lifting on the exclusives front.

EDIT: I will say cheaper games did help in general, though. We went from $60/70/80 cartridge games to $50 CD games.
 
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Johnny Awesome said:
Games take time now and are still plenty fun.

All this anti-AAA talk is nonsense. Nintendo gets away with putting out lesser graphics. MS and Sony would get murdered if they brought out all the 600p30 stuff N puts out.

Imagine walking into the boardroom at Sony: "Listen. It's brilliant. We'll fire half our artists. We'll get the next God of War game out in only 3 years. It'll be 720p30 with no optimization and with the exact same story about rescuing a peach or something. Fantastic or what?"

MS upcoming release cadence is better than Sony's. Even better if you're on GP. AAA games are coming. Everyone can stop panicking.

If we're still in this thread to talk about hardware - MS should stick to their original leaked plans. X digital this Fall for $399. Followed by 2026 Handheld S and X2.
Click to expand...
The original leaked plans did not call for a new generation system in 2026. In fact, 2028 was the openly stated initial target. If they do this 2026 machine, it will have been a panic change.

Also yes, MS do have a better slate of games for Xbox this year than Sony does for Playstation. But like......will those games come to Playstation at some point in the near future? These are things gamers are gonna be asking themselves now. It would be the height of Xbox decision making to decide to push on multiplatform releases right when they finally start putting out a more steady stream of great 1st party titles...
 
Seanspeed said:
I'd bet less than 5% of PS1 owners ever did anything like that.
Click to expand...
In my experience, at least in my country, it was close to 100%.
At the time I worked in a computer shop that sold some games too, and people constantly came asking for burned games, even asking why Sony didn't sell just burned games instead of expensive ones.
Original games were just for special occasions, like one for when you bought the ps1, or if you wanted to make a gift. Even if in that case it was more "he would appreciate more 10 burned games, or just one original but cheap?".
At the time I was the dumb one with an N64.
 
fehu said:
In my experience, at least in my country, it was close to 100%.
At the time I worked in a computer shop that sold some games too, and people constantly came asking for burned games, even asking why Sony didn't sell just burned games instead of expensive ones.
Original games were just for special occasions, like one for when you bought the ps1, or if you wanted to make a gift. Even if in that case it was more "he would appreciate more 10 burned games, or just one original but cheap?".
At the time I was the dumb one with an N64.
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So you worked at a computer shop, and because you had people coming in asking for burned games, it meant 100% of people had a modded PS1? I feel like there might be a little sampling bias issue here. lol

But yes, I'm sure it was bigger in some regions, especially like less well off Eastern Bloc countries that were already very used to duplicating/pirating games on PC. Just not overall. I also think it's easy to forget that video games in the mid-late 90's(especially for consoles) was still very much a predominantly 'kids' thing. Things were changing, and people were growing up, but the vast majority of console owners around that time were still kids who wouldn't even have known what 'framerate' is, much less anything about modding consoles.
 
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Seanspeed said:
So you worked at a computer shop, and because you had people coming in asking for burned games, it meant 100% of people had a modded PS1? I feel like there might be a little sampling bias issue here. lol
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I literally didn't know someone with a not modded ps1. They used cheap sony chips to do it, so the conspiracy was that sony was all right. In my opinion, they were at least fine at the time to gain market.
Ps2 was about the same.
They went serious on cracking illegal software only halfway ps3's lifecycle when they scrapped the linux partition.
 
fehu said:
I literally didn't know someone with a not modded ps1.
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Meanwhile, I knew no-one with a modded PS1. I think in the major markets, PS1 was much less modded. If it was 90+% as some people imply, publishers would never have published for it. The piracy factor wasn't enough to deter not only the publishers, but all the exclusives PS1 ended up getting despite Nintendo have much lower piracy.

As another indicator, we can compare sales of games on PS1 versus PS3. The best selllers sold from 5-10 million on all PlayStations. One can math the relative proportion based on install base, but then you'd have to factor in at what lifecycle period as sales drop, and compare across platforms and general consumer spending to account for potential changes in how people spent on games.

In short, the success of the platform for Sony and publishers proves that the piracy impact, though not measurable as a percentage, wasn't an overpowering factor. Arguing over whether that was 5% or 25% would be futile, not to mention you'd have to break that down to modding rates by region and relative fiscal impact (100% piracy in Croatia would have not made a dent in total platform earnings and value, for example). Piracy wasn't an issue and didn't drive the platforms, and it'd take a Masters thesis to fully analyse it's actual impact.
 
metacore said:
Leaked pics of adorably all digital Series X... Same chassis, looks like they gave up even on cylinder design.

https://imgur.com/u8EfXUY
https://imgur.com/yeqv5Ow
Click to expand...

This is a different unit.

The cylindildo looking thing was a shrink and redesign, with lower power consumption and no doubt cheaper cooling etc.

This is just a quick and dirty conversion where nothing else - including the USB ports - seems to have changed. And while it will reduce BOM by eliminating the optical drive, there is also likely another important reason: component inventory and contracts.

Series X sales are behind where MS wanted by millions, and they'll have inventory or orders for millions of chips and boards and chassis etc. They have to do something with these, and given that game sales are going increasingly online making a cheaper unit with a different case is probably the best way to mitigate losses. Going white at least differentiates and will help shift some units to people who prefer it and don't care about physical games.

There's already plenty of optical equipped Series X sitting in inventory, no point adding more to that than they have to.

This won't be to replace the Series X refresh, this will be to make the best of the current situation. If there is no real Series X refresh MS are either planning to come early with their next machine or not release one at all.
 
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fehu said:
They went serious on cracking illegal software only halfway ps3's lifecycle when they scrapped the linux partition.
Click to expand...

IIRC the linux support have nothing to do with enabling piracy.

IIRC it's the leaked service dongle jig and custom firmware that make ps3 piracy galore
 
Seanspeed said:
The original leaked plans did not call for a new generation system in 2026. In fact, 2028 was the openly stated initial target. If they do this 2026 machine, it will have been a panic change.
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My mistake, but the latest leaks are 2026 and I wouldn't call 3 years (from the time of the leak) a "panic". LOL
Seanspeed said:
Also yes, MS do have a better slate of games for Xbox this year than Sony does for Playstation. But like......will those games come to Playstation at some point in the near future? These are things gamers are gonna be asking themselves now. It would be the height of Xbox decision making to decide to push on multiplatform releases right when they finally start putting out a more steady stream of great 1st party titles...
Click to expand...
I don't think most console gamers are even thinking about that.

MS believes that putting Sea of Thieves etc... on PS and getting people engaged with their games will help them in the long run. If they turn around and put Gears 6 on PS on Day One then you know they're panicking. If they're putting Gears of War Ultimate on PS in 2025 10+ years after it came out on Xbox you can take your finger off the panic button. :)

The way forward is treacherous I'll admit, but it's way too early to panic about Xbox and GP.

I know that you're really against the idea of a 2026 console, but I think it can work for the hardcore Xbox fan that wants Gears 6, Fable, Forza Next etc... with all the latest graphics. They have the studios now to make it a solid launch. There's no reason they can't support S, X, and X2 skus and move into more rolling generations. PC devs support 20 skus. What's the big deal? Everything is coming to PC eventually now anyway. Even Sony 1st party.
 
This white model will be Arcade Series X, no drive and 1TB SSD ~ $300
And there will be a Premium Series X with drive and 2TB SSD ~ $400-$450

Series S ~ $200

I bet.
 
Frenetic Pony said:
And cylinders suuuck to build computers in, dumb traschan mac pro checking in. Trying to jam roughly squares and cubes into the round thing is an exercise in frustration and wasted space. Only designers ever think "round shape cool" here, everyone else gets to suffer for it.
Click to expand...

you also loose the ability to lay it on its side unless you add in some weird stand or sell it separately ... or 3d print it
 
QPlayer said:
This white model will be Arcade Series X, no drive and 1TB SSD ~ $300
And there will be a Premium Series X with drive and 2TB SSD ~ $400-$450

Series S ~ $200

I bet.
Click to expand...

I believe there will be no Series systems with drives during the refresh.

Microsoft is moving forward with an all-digital medium, and cutting cost where needed.

Series X $399
Series S $199
 
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