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

[AzBat]

OK, I think I got the soundbar worked out. I had lost my remote(I'm sure the kids had done something with it) & the Vizio app on my phone got reset or something. I couldn't get it to play anything from my 1X or Series X. I ended up uninstalling & reinstall the app. Enabled the HDMI CEC support on the Xbox & now it seems to work fine with my PDP Talon remote. Went through the calibrate TV app on the Series X & forgot to check the TCL firmware to make sure it was updated. Naturally, it found an update that was released last week. Got all that done & now it's time upgrade all my games.

As @BRiT said I was surprised at the shipping box size too. Didn't even pay attention to the seal stickers. Already had my scissors handy. LOL I will say that that unboxing experience was exquisite. Well thought out & a premium quality materials & organization. It wasn't just thrown together with little material & thought.

Setting up the console with the Xbox Android app was cool. All you had to do was type in an 8 character code into your app & you do everything on the phone. It even asked me if I wanted to copy settings from one of my 3 other Xbox systems. Copied the 1X settings & everything was done after a 850mb update. Easy peasy.

You don't realize how small & compact it is until you get it in your hands. "Dense" is apt. You're getting your money's worth. Absolutely silent booting & on the dash. Haven't played any games yet. Never bought anything new yet since I'm still undecided. It would have been either 1 $60 game like AC Valhalla or Watch Dog Legion or 2 cheaper games like Falconneer & Observer System Redux. I would have preferred Cyberpunk 2077 but oh well. Considering the 2 cheaper games, but would like recommendations?

Tommy McClain

 

[Johnny Awesome]

GamePass

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I picked mine up at EB a couple hours ago. Not sure if I'll set it up tonight though. I plan to play only X optimized games on it unless I run out of stuff: Forza Horizon 4, Gears Tactics, Ori WoW, Sea of Thieves, Tetris and The Falconeer should keep me busy for a bit.

 

[BRiT]

So here is one thing I noticed coming from having all of my games on external drives. If a game has an update for the Series X|S, it will install the update on the internal and still keep it copied on the external.

I forgot NoMansSky and The Touryst had updates so I didn't move them from external SSD to internal NVME. When the updates were done downloading, I had the games installed on internal and external.

I have now corrected that by uninstalling on the external SSD.

 

[Pete]

Does this remind you of a movie scene?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1325874648827924480

I think we’re all on the same page.

Spoiler

So here is one thing I noticed coming from having all of my games on external drives. If a game has an update for the Series X|S, it will install the update on the internal and still keep it copied on the external.

Did you have to delete the old copy to play the new?

 

[AzBat]

I have Game Pass Ultimate. Pretty much played all the 1st party X|S Optimized games & wanted to see something new. Decided to go with Gears 5 since I haven't played a lot of it, but I had the same problem as @BRiT with the external hard drive. Basically, copies on both storage devices it didn't what was going on. Said it wouldn't run at all since it was saying it was still downloading, but it was finished. Nothing would work. So Gears 5 had to be completely wiped on both storage devices & redownloaded. So I'm downloading 72gb again. :|

Tommy McClain

 

[BRiT]

I think we’re all on the same page.

Spoiler

Did you have to delete the old copy to play the new?

Definitely on the same page.

I WANT MY $2!

I didn't try launching those games before deleting the external copies. I was playing other titles while those were updating then I thought to see what it had done since I was curious how it would handle it.

Next thing I tried was launching Xbox One X version of Gears 5 from external SSD and it presented a HUGE popup saying an UPGRADE was available then asked if I wanted to upgrade or cancel.

I need more NVME storage. Between the Optimized for Series X|S and those soon to be optimized the space goes by fast. I'm at 75.1% internal NVME used. From what I remember, I have Gears 5, Gears Tactics, H:MCC, NoMansSky, Destiny 2, Grounded, Ori, Sea of Thieves, The Touryst, ForzaHorizon 4, and Borderlands 3 installed and a smattering of Media Apps.

 

[Silenti]

Guys I am sorry. This stuff still isn't completely setup as of 9:30pm CDT (US Midwest). Cords everywhere, furniture everywhere. More work to do. Took forever to get my wife logged in. The servers decided not to accept her password. Until we tried to change it and then it decided that we were already using it. Just a total cluster of security questions for hours.

Am hooked up an running. 4k, 120, HDR on the Vizio and 4k, 60, HDR on the TCL 6 series. Will say, damn this thing is as dense as a brick. Load speeds are just stupid. Love the grips on the controller.

Destiny 2? Don't think we've seen much of the 4k/60hz patch.

(I'm not familiar with Gamepass, but think D2 is free)

Gears 2 & 3 please?

Still kinda miffed about them not saying which games get the double framerate enchantment ala Fallout 4.


Are Doom and Wolfenstein still on Gamepass? (I care less about Doom Eternal tbh haha).

I will look into Destiny 2, Gears 2 and Gears 3. I never got to play 3 onwards so.

While the LG OLED TV's have made image retention mostly a non-factor except in extreme cases, the Vizio has a ways to go in that regard.

That should be timestamped (around 6 minutes in). While the LG sets had no problems with this test that they did, the Vizio held that image for a few days. Hopefully, Vizio can address this in a firmware update or something. The panels should be the same so it just comes down to how the firmware handles long periods of static images. LG for example uses pixel shifting along with other techniques to mitigate temporary image retention. It's been so effective that temporary image retention is rare on modern LG sets.

So, might want to reconsider using it as a gaming display. Or at least be watchful for any potential negative effects.

Also it appears to potentially have problems with 120 Hz and VRR, although hopefully, again, there'll be a firmware patch to address this.

Regards,
SB

Yeah I read this. Already knew about the VRR issue. An update is coming. The image retention shouldn't be a problem for me. I run this thing at the bottom of the luminance scale. Dark game mode. Warm colors. The works. For most people this would appear dim, but I have a room I can basically blackout as I see fit and my eyes are sensitive enough I have to wear sunglasses inside some commercial establishments. If anything does go wrong. 5-year Best Buy warranty that covers burn-in.

Sorry all. Been a day. Wanted to stop by and say I will get to it tomorrow, but for now, sleep.

 

[BRiT]

Sorry all. Been a day. Wanted to stop by and say I will get to it tomorrow, but for now, sleep.

Sorry to hear about your issues. Hope you have a better day tomorrow.

I didn't get mine until later, around 4:45 pm which is earlier than I expected based on history from previous console launches. With that said, there is so much I want to try out but I am too exhausted. I had one of those mentally draining day with work projects. Sleep sounds so great right about now.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Alright, I gave in and hooked it up. I can't believe how powerful it feels when you take it out of the box. It's cool that it automatically moves your profile and settings over. I'm downloading everything right now. Testing the quick resume with some non-optimized games on the external SSD I have hooked up and it's really cool to switch so quickly between games.

 

[xexuxjy]

I got a chance to go down and actually have a proper play last night (convinced my son that he _really_ needed an early night <g>) .Series X ,hooked up to a JVC X7900 projector, and Dolby 5.1.4 speaker config. Made a start on AC : Valhalla , looked pretty but sound seemed a bit off, realised I needed to re-install the Dolby ATMOS app , after that _so_ much better. Really good use of surround sound. Game seems pretty good so far, don't think I've played an AC game since the second one so was interesting to see the new incarnations. Noticed a fair bit of pop-in, mainly when sailing but overall it looked very nice indeed. Also went back to some old 360 games like Hexic and Mutant Storm reloaded which were ok, but Mutant Storm looked rather fuzzy. Impressed with the new controller, especially the d-pad, big improvement. Only 2 big issues I really want sorted : The ability to throttle download rates, I set a load of stuff updating yesterday afternoon and it hammered my broadband, I was even less productive remote desktopping into work then I normally am! The other thing is some form of per-app HDR setting, it's a pain to have to switch modes , coming from Valhalla back to the dashboard and some 360 games with just an assault on the eyes. Still overall a pretty good start!

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Guys, I found out what the Series X really is:

- An addon to the Gamecube.

 

[VitaminB6]

Agree with everyone that you have to see and hold the XBSX to realize how small it actually is. Looking at pictures and reviews I was expecting it to be bigger. It's heavy, compact and everything about it feels like a premium device. I did notice the easy peel stickers As an Xbox guy who suffered through the XB1 launch I can definitely say that Xbox is finally back. I skipped the XB1X so this is my first experience playing XB games at 4K. The first game I downloaded was Forza H4 because it has the X/S upgrade and even my wife was trying to get next game haha. It doesn't take Digital Foundry to see how much better games look on the SX compared to the XB1 . Especially for those like me that skipped the XB1X the SX definitely feels like a big upgrade. Can't wait to see how other games look but unfortunately I have to work today.

 

[BRiT]

One thing I'd like to know is how will it work if you set an external USB (not the storage card) as Default Installation location. Will it use that even for Series X|S optimized titles? Or will it use the only available NVME if the title is optimized?

To be clear for the user, I wish there to be 2 "Default Install Locations", one for Optimized Titles and one for everything BC.

 

[Ike Turner]

Agree with everyone that you have to see and hold the XBSX to realize how small it actually is. Looking at pictures and reviews I was expecting it to be bigger. It's heavy, compact and everything about it feels like a premium device. I did notice the easy peel stickers As an Xbox guy who suffered through the XB1 launch I can definitely say that Xbox is finally back. I skipped the XB1X so this is my first experience playing XB games at 4K. The first game I downloaded was Forza H4 because it has the X/S upgrade and even my wife was trying to get next game haha. It doesn't take Digital Foundry to see how much better games look on the SX compared to the XB1 . Especially for those like me that skipped the XB1X the SX definitely feels like a big upgrade. Can't wait to see how other games look but unfortunately I have to work today.

I'm a big Forza fan...but the FH4 update is straight bollocks. It's just the 1080P/60 Xbox One X perf profile (with slightly better draw distance & LOD) running at 4K/60. It lacks the SSAO & headlights casting dynamic shadows of the 4K/30 profile (which is what everybody assumed would be the version running at 60fps on Series X). Microsoft even mandated reviewers to only compare the XSX @ 4K/60 vs the One X @ 1080P/60 (because the One X @ 4/30 still looks better than the SX @ 4K/60...SX @ 4K/30 is identical to One X @ 4K/30)

 

[Silenti]

AISpark:
I am playing Gears 2 at the moment. What are you looking for? Framerate? Appearance? I can say the opening cinematic had me worried. It looked grainy and terrible. The game itself however, including in game cut scenes, best description I can think of is when you play a game that is a touch older on your PC and it is pushing up the resolution and framerate so far that it feels like a different game. That is what this feels like so far. Like I took a game 5 years old or so and slapped it in a monster PC. PS - Damn do I suck. I cannot aim for shit. I am getting a crash course in just how different aiming was in the Gears games. Never really did get all that good at it.

Pissartist:
Let me know what you are looking for from Destiny 2. It is installed, but I haven't played in years.

I can try for streaming video later. Haven't done that in a long time either.
Oh, and the controller, holy shit it is so nice. Compact, heavy, everything sticks to your fingers in just the right way and you know damned well when you hit a button. Very sharp, if a bit heavy, on the face buttons.

 

[Jay]

Not sure where to put this, nothing particularly new from what I heard (had it on in background), but decent enough interview with Phil. Some interesting titbits though.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I got my unit today. Yeah and just like about everyone has said, it feels premium, sturdy, dense and very high build quality. Very very quiet and the foot print really is quite tiny. I played a bit of Jedi Fallen Order and been downloading plenty of games. Super happy with the purchase so far.

 

[Silenti]

Destiny 2? Don't think we've seen much of the 4k/60hz patch.

(I'm not familiar with Gamepass, but think D2 is free)

You sir have cost me about 4 hours of my life in the first morning of having this thing. Thought to myself, well let's go see Gears. It's been awhile. I should look into Shadow of War since I never got to play it and don't know when it is leaving the service. Then I thought - oh, go check out Destiny 2 real quick for PIssartist..... 4 hours later........Seems I will be going back down the deep dark hole that is Destiny.

I can tell you fast travel is just that. Basically instant. Going to orbit and going to the tower, the animation of your ship braking to a stop in front of you.. it hardly reaches a stop before dropping from orbit. I will have trouble speaking to any graphical upgrades. I haven't touched Destiny since playing the hell out of The Taken King. A lot of this is different to me already. It is entirely familiar, yet somehow not.. Anyway. Let me know what you might want to see or have me look into. Looks like I will end up there anyway

 

[Silent_Buddha]

...it hardly reaches a stop before dropping from orbit.

Man, DirectStorage can't come to PC fast enough. Even on SSD, it can take FOREVER to drop out of orbit into the next "level" in Destiny 2 on PC. Granted a part of that is obviously matchmaking and player load, but even at the best of times it takes for freaking ever.

Regards,
SB