Xbox Series X [XBSX] [Release November 10 2020]

[Deleted member 11852]

Possibly.
My take has been, "we've tried lots of BC games now what."
Their happy with speed etc, and can't go back.

The thing with the speed is how quickly you adjust to everything being quick and it becomes the norm and not novel. Releasing Series X later to the media would a) have less left time for the novelty to wear off, and b) possibly resulted in less issues with pre-release firmware breaking things. It also didn't help with third parties like Ubisoft not allowing reviewers to play Assassin's Creed Valhalla with the Series X patch - that would have been a brand new game optimised for the new hardware. Why, Ubisoft, WHY!?!

I've not seen any negative reviews though, just "There's a huge halo shaped hole in it", i.e missing game/s.

There nothing bad about Series X, it's an absolutely solid console whether your upgrading from an existing Xbox or coming into the ecosystem brand new with a massive library of games and GamePass. Reviewers began receiving the console around 23 September, that's over six weeks ago. Naturally some of the novelty has worn off and it's become the norm.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Yeah. None of this is going to matter. MS sold out. The hardware team nailed it. It's up to those 35 dev teams now.

 

[Jay]

The thing with the speed is how quickly you adjust to everything being quick and it becomes the norm and not novel. Releasing Series X later to the media would a) have less left time for the novelty to wear off, and b) possibly resulted in less issues with pre-release firmware breaking things. It also didn't help with third parties like Ubisoft not allowing reviewers to play Assassin's Creed Valhalla with the Series X patch - that would have been a brand new game optimised for the new hardware. Why, Ubisoft, WHY!?!


There nothing bad about Series X, it's an absolutely solid console whether your upgrading from an existing Xbox or coming into the ecosystem brand new with a massive library of games and GamePass. Reviewers began receiving the console around 23 September, that's over six weeks ago. Naturally some of the novelty has worn off and it's become the norm.

Yep many have said you get used to the speed very quickly and why they couldn't go back.
That's actually usually factored in and mentioned.

But isn't that part of the point, after they are wowed with the system, then what. That's part of the double edge sword of seeding them early, but even people who's only had it a week have the same comments,

I may agree that there's little to mark XSX down for, it doesn't mean people don't have their own priorities. So they may find the evolution of the controller as a big let down in comparison.

Example that may not be for this thread, I also think thy should have released cheap XSX|S branded usb SSD drives, that would have got people reviewing the XSS into the mindset that got cheap usable storage options if required. Where takes 2 min to copy games back. Or sent them 512GB ones even if not branded so they could factor it in to the review.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

But isn't that part of the point, after they are wowed with the system, then what. That's part of the double edge sword of seeding them early, but even people who's only had it a week have the same comments,

Yes, that's what I'm saying. All of the reviews were good but many lacked the enthusiasm of the first couple of weeks when people first received their Series X.

I think Microsoft would have got more enthusiastic reviews had they not given it people seven weeks before release. I'm not saying the reviews were bad, or would have been better. You could argue that in many ways these are more representative views of how day 1 Series X purchasers will feel around Christmas time - although at least will be more games available. We've all followed the impressions of the new consoles, Xbox longer than PS5, we have yet to experience them for ourselves. So we'll all naturally go through that new-toy-joy bubble in the next few weeks.

 

[Jay]

Yes, that's what I'm saying. All of the reviews were good but many lacked the enthusiasm of the first couple of weeks when people first received their Series X.

I've also seen reviews where the person has only had it for a week and feel the same.

What you see as waning enthusiasm, I don't really see it that way.
They are still enthusiastic about the hardware, all the ones that seem that way always say it's due to the games.

Most reviews have made me think maybe I should've considered picking one up. Games side doesn't bother me.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

What you see as waning enthusiasm, I don't really see it that way. They are still enthusiastic about the hardware, all the ones that seem that way always say it's due to the games.

Consoles are indeed redundant without games and if you're not interesting in playing any of the current gen games on new hardware with an improved experience, or any of the games releasing now or soon, then I can see the novelty of SSD wearing off quickly. I also think the DualSense has also surprised a lot of people. It sounded like a load of nonsense when unveiled, just like every other controller with over-promised novelty features, but it seems to be the real deal and is the standout thing everybody notes about the nextgen-ness of Xbox's competition.

Hopefully Microsoft are working on a third gen Elite controller with similar licensed tech.

 

[BRiT]

Hopefully Microsoft are working on a third gen Elite controller with similar licensed tech.

But first with user replaceable battery.

 

[Jay]

Consoles are indeed redundant without games and if you're not interesting in playing any of the current gen games on new hardware with an improved experience, or any of the games releasing now or soon, then I can see the novelty of SSD wearing off quickly.

They also never had access to AC:V,
Watchdogs:L, etc to play on it.

Only games they had was dirt 5 and Yakuza which may be a good game but doesn't look or play like anything special. Could it run so well on current gen, no, but that's due to the engine not because its amazing. I'm not saying it isn't a great game that's a different point.

The funny thing is, this release is a rehash of 1X, amazing hardware and services, just lacked a couple games to really push it over the line in style.

I'm not holding out much hope that they will update the controllers with dualsense like features anytime soon.

 

[iroboto]

They also never had access to AC:V,
Watchdogs:L, etc to play on it.

Only games they had was dirt 5 and Yakuza which may be a good game but doesn't look or play like anything special. Could it run so well on current gen, no, but that's due to the engine not because its amazing. I'm not saying it isn't a great game that's a different point.

The funny thing is, this release is a rehash of 1X, amazing hardware and services, just lacked a couple games to really push it over the line in style.

I'm not holding out much hope that they will update the controllers with dualsense like features anytime soon.

GamePass is their feature for now, but they may get around to it next gen as a way to continue to evolve the GamePass experience.

all that money is being invested towards studios, games, services and cloud right now.
I think given their situation with games, this is the right call for them.

 

[Jay]

GamePass is their feature for now, but they may get around to it next gen as a way to continue to evolve the GamePass experience.

all that money is being invested towards studios, games, services and cloud right now.
I think given their situation with games, this is the right call for them.

GP may be an amazing service, but we was discussing why people felt that their initial enthusiasm seemed to have waned.

GP wasn't giving them anything new or different to experience.
They also talk up the benefit of GP in many reviews.

I'm not saying their mid to long term plans aren't correct. I'm talking about the here and now, and in my eyes the lack of forward thinking considering its same thing that happened with the 1X launch. Lucky Tales just wasn't the game to hang the launch on.

 

[iroboto]

GP may be an amazing service, but we was discussing why people felt that their initial enthusiasm seemed to have waned.

GP wasn't giving them anything new or different to experience.
They also talk up the benefit of GP in many reviews.

I'm not saying their mid to long term plans aren't correct. I'm talking about the here and now, and in my eyes the lack of forward thinking considering its same thing that happened with the 1X launch. Lucky Tales just wasn't the game to hang the launch on.

everything has a cost though right. Even with unlimited funds, doesn't mean you have unlimited resources or unlimited talent. I would say, in a boardroom, their focus right now is studios, games, and their services and far in the backburner is trying to innovate on game controllers.

even if they wanted to innovate, they have larger issues to resolve. At this moment in time, yes, it would be great if they innovated, but they are innovating elsewhere.

enthusiam is just that, hype. Over time it may wear off. A good service, is a good service. People will find recurring value it in for a lot longer if ti's good.

As for controllers. They've done Elite series. With a price point much higher than DS5 and still incredible sell through. I don't think they had data that necessarily told them people wanted those things, but they had data that people wanted customizable controllers.

It would have been great for them to time everything at once, but the reality is, that's not their business model anymore.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I agree both MS and Sony have pretty weak software lineups going into next gen, but I'm still looking forward to Gears Tactics, The Falconeer and The Medium as I'm sure Sony fans are looking forward to SMMM, Demon Souls and R&C.

I'm also lucky in that I'm WAY behind on current gen and haven't played Ori 2, Forza H4, Gears 5, and a number of other things I'm looking forward to catching up on.

 

[Jay]

everything has a cost though right. Even with unlimited funds, doesn't mean you have unlimited resources or unlimited talent. I would say, in a boardroom, their focus right now is studios, games, and their services

Well the fact that their already doing 1 of the things I felt they should have, shows they could do it.
The only thing is we and the reviewers know nothing about it yet, which is the gears dlc.

I have said many times I'm not talking big games or even many. It doesn't take a lot.

Gears DLC developed with the XSX as the target. (fingers crossed)
Forza/Horizon DLC since no new Forza game this year. Once again with next gen as target.

Even if there wasn't a new gen console release these would be smart plays and hardly breaking the bank.
But with a new console gen they would have been the sprinkling on the cake that is missing, and what every review seems to highlight.

You may relegate it to just hype. In that case they should've got their hype man working.
If hype and marketing wasn't important they wouldn't be doing all the shows, interviews, seeding consoles, markerting etc.
As without any of that this year the console would've still sold out. Yet yea still did it for a reason.
May seem unfair to some, but the reality of the situation is xbox has more to prove than Sony and in most regards their doing very well.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

If the UI is 1080p then it's probably staying that way I'm thinking...

Maybe. It doesn't feel a big ask to give the user an option unless Microsoft have not designed their UI to scale. And it'll save the HDMI resolution switching flickery thing and save valuable seconds!

 

[JPT]

I agree both MS and Sony have pretty weak software lineups going into next gen, but I'm still looking forward to Gears Tactics, The Falconeer and The Medium as I'm sure Sony fans are looking forward to SMMM, Demon Souls and R&C.

I'm also lucky in that I'm WAY behind on current gen and haven't played Ori 2, Forza H4, Gears 5, and a number of other things I'm looking forward to catching up on.

How was the transition to PS4/XBO and PS3/XB360 compared to PS5/XSX? I think its better this time around, at least that is the memory/feeling I have.

 

[turkey]

How was the transition to PS4/XBO and PS3/XB360 compared to PS5/XSX? I think its better this time around, at least that is the memory/feeling I have.

We probably had more new IP and exclusive launch games.

Would be interesting to see the lists again but I feel this generation change had been played very safe because of BC. No forced need to buy from a small pool for next gen making risky new IP safer.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

For how long do you think BC will keep people interested in the console?
Wouldn't it have been better to release the SeriesX/S some 2 or 3 quarters later?

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Is there any information on region locking for games on XSX? My understanding is that on xbox one physical games are region free and this will most likely be the case for XSX as well as MS hasn't said otherwise. But how about digital games? Japan can be a bit of a PIA when it comes to games getting released and language support (I believe MS doesn't even have the common sense to list to supported languages on the store page?). If I have a CC/xbox prepaid card from my home country, will I be able to use that in Japan and download games from my home countries store? and would a single account support both stores?

For example on Switch you can easily buy games from a different region though you do have to create to separate Nintendo accounts for that to work. Once you do that every account on the console can play that game.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

For how long do you think BC will keep people interested in the console?
Wouldn't it have been better to release the SeriesX/S some 2 or 3 quarters later?

I think the vast improvements to the vast majority of current gen games will be really compelling. I am someone who does re-play games, and whilst I'm now holding off on getting a Series X until after Christmas, on PS5 I will be finishing off Ghost of Tsushima and I'm also looking forward to my next replays of Horizon, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II and God of War - games that are purely gratifying to play. From the PS+ Collection I missed Bloodborne and The Last Guardian and I've gotten into JPRGs (FF XII, Tales of Vesperia, Ni No Kuni) so I'm looking forward to dipping into FF XV and Persona 5.

Different games from what's on Xbox but the principle is the same. As I've said before, I think b/c is more compelling now. Last gen graphics still hold up well and with boosted, solid frame rates will be better than ever.

 

[Janne Kylliö]

Maybe. It doesn't feel a big ask to give the user an option unless Microsoft have not designed their UI to scale. And it'll save the HDMI resolution switching flickery thing and save valuable seconds!

Don't quite understand. The X1X UI is 1080p as well, and I haven't noticed any flickering when launching 4K games?