Xbox Series X|S Thread - Power Your Dreams.

There's a possibility that the XB1 & PCs could hold back a few launch games in some way then once Dec 2020 comes along the year will be up so having PC versions with their minimum specs might be a problem from then on. We shall see, hopefully the minimum specs are at the XSX level along with a SSD being needed as well.

I don't get why everyone says building games for last gen holds back progress when PC games have always had to cater for different spec machines. What's the difference?

Kevin McCallister wrote:I don't get why everyone says building games for last gen holds back progress when PC games have always had to cater for different spec machines. What's the difference?

There are minimum specs for PC games and every so often when new tech comes along this will mean that a PC game won't play on older machines. It doesn't happen that often, but its normally amazing when it does otherwise the game wouldn't be made that way. Same for games on new consoles, except not this time on XBox.

There are certain things you will be able to do with the new SSDs in terms of loading in assets that just won't work on old consoles.

The only way this won't cause games to be held back is if the Xbox One is only able to play these games because its using cloud compute or streaming tech to play them with more powerful hardware. As far as I'm aware MS haven't said anything about how these games will work on Xbox One, so it is possible that this will be the route.

HSH28 wrote:
Kevin McCallister wrote:I don't get why everyone says building games for last gen holds back progress when PC games have always had to cater for different spec machines. What's the difference?

There are minimum specs for PC games and every so often when new tech comes along this will mean that a PC game won't play on older machines. It doesn't happen that often, but its normally amazing when it does otherwise the game wouldn't be made that way. Same for games on new consoles, except not this time on XBox.

There are certain things you will be able to do with the new SSDs in terms of loading in assets that just won't work on old consoles.

The only way this won't cause games to be held back is if the Xbox One is only able to play these games because its using cloud compute or streaming tech to play them with more powerful hardware. As far as I'm aware MS haven't said anything about how these games will work on Xbox One, so it is possible that this will be the route.

Maybe that's what xCloud is really for? Buy a game for Series X, but only have an Xbox One? Stream it!

Somebody Else's Presents wrote:Maybe that's what xCloud is really for? Buy a game for Series X, but only have an Xbox One? Stream it!

I don't think they will call them Series X games, they'll just be 'Xbox' games and have some disclaimer on the box that in order to play them on Xbox One you'll need a fast internet connection.

The problem with xCloud is that it will not stream at anything like the resolution and framerate produced by the consoles unless you have a god tier internet connection. So most people will still need the console or a decent PC to get the best experience.

There will still be next gen games as I'm sure there's going to be games where the PS5 (if it's the weakest of the next gen machines) is the base platform.

I’m not expecting third parties to release many (any?) PS5 and Xbox One Series X exclusive games in the first couple of years either, unfortunately. Which is where first party is supposed to come in, to give us those Mario 64, Shenmue and Halo revolutions. What we’re probably going to get initially is a load of Resident Evil 3 and Watchdog Legion ‘Ultra settings’ style upgrades. Which is fine (and something I welcome), but doesn’t exactly get me very excited.

It does seem like a monumental ask for Microsoft to expect their developers to create a game that needs to run on a console from 2013 while also expecting them to simultaneously take advantage of technology from 2020. Sony may of course ultimately be doing the same thing with their launch year/s (while then also expecting people to purchase their games individually on each system, which is where I can understand Microsoft’s philosophy), but I think people want a bit more now than PS4 Pro 2 and Xbox One X 2 when the technology is so vastly more capable. When you’re spending £500, possibly more, I want a clean slate with games ‘only possible on next gen’. Sony has a poor track record here when it comes to launch day but they do come through within a year or 2. Even if it’s just one game, I want to see something built from the ground up for next gen on day 1.

I would hope for at least 1 Series X only game if only to have a flagship title to showcase.
It would seem a bit daft if they didn't.

I expect Halo Infinite to be VASTLY superior graphically to base X1 version and that will be the flagship title.

Maybe I'm way off here but I think people will be expecting at least one Series X exclusive that isn't held back by Xbox One hardware limitations.
Maybe Halo Infinite on Series X can have Series X exclusive features as a simple graphical upgrade just isn't really enough to make most justify spending what looks to be £500 on a new console when many of the people who're likely to get it already have an One X which will give solid results.

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Photek wrote:I expect Halo Infinite to be VASTLY superior graphically to base X1 version and that will be the flagship title.

XBO X runs some games in 4K. Xbox EsseX will probably run all games including triple-A games in a near-consistent 4K with 60fps giving everything an extra crispness but don't expect anything better than top-end PC games. The biggest change will come from raytracing and how well it's implemented, it can make game graphics that have an almost real sheen to them.

Peter Crisp wrote:Maybe I'm way off here but I think people will be expecting at least one Series X exclusive that isn't held back by Xbox One hardware limitations.
Maybe Halo Infinite on Series X can have Series X exclusive features as a simple graphical upgrade just isn't really enough to make most justify spending what looks to be £500 on a new console when many of the people who're likely to get it already have an One X which will give solid results.

I get what you mean that people want to experience the unrestricted power of a new-gen console and unique features, but besides graphical improvements what game from this generation was impossible on PS3/360? I haven't played Days Gone but it has many zombies running around independently so maybe its AI couldn't be done on PS3. So perhaps AI will be the literal game changer but it's unlikely to be a feature of launch games.

Things like number of characters on screen with decent AI will be restricted by this gen and games based on physics could certainly be much improved by the better hardware and make for some interesting new game concepts that are not viable now.

As I said I think the enthusiasts who will make up the bulk of the early adopters will be rather underwhelmed if there aren't games built with next gen as a baseline.

Fable 4 and whatever The Initiative are making will probably not be cross gen. I expect all current gen Xbox Studio games to get big upgrades with Series X. Gears 5 has shown how scalable it is but I expect Sea of Thieves and others to follow suit. Not quite sure what more The Masterchief Collection could do as it’s already 4K/60 on X.

Having never encountered an NVME hdd I have no idea how fast they are so does anyone here use one and what are the results likely to be like?
Are we going to see loading times for most games less than 15 seconds or so or is that just wishful thinking?

Peter Crisp wrote:Having never encountered an NVME hdd I have no idea how fast they are so does anyone here use one and what are the results likely to be like?
Are we going to see loading times for most games less than 15 seconds or so or is that just wishful thinking?

It's difficult to say because although games take advantage of SSDs and m.2 NVMEs, I don't think they are made with them in mind (for the simple reason not every PC has them) and so possibly don't maximise their true potential, even though the difference is obvious to see:

A return to cartridge era speeds would be nice, but I'd be happy with speeds quicker than what we see M.2 NVME performing in these videos.

I expect better overall results just because they can fine tune the hardware for them from the beginning and they said something about the connection between the console and the drive being new and even speedier somehow. Something about pipes and data flow which sounded like a euphemism to be honest.

I don't really see an issue. Xbox exclusives will just look like turd on the Xbox One, and will likely be hugely beefed up for next Gen. I don't see how that isn't possible, when you get games like Doom 2016 or The Witcher running acceptably on the Switch for example. Yes those games had their own separate development time, but I don't see why we couldn't get games released on Series X and then a stripped back version for Xbox 1 a couple of months later. In the case of Halo, its been in development for quite some time and 343 have a bit of a history with working on game engines across multiple generations now.

I actually think MS should be praised. I remember when they cut all development for the original Xbox and they came into a bit of flak for it as I recall.

In Theory: Can Microsoft deliver next-gen experiences while still supporting Xbox One?

On the final point, perhaps we'll get some kind of idea of what's possible sooner rather than later. We've seen Cyberpunk 2077 played in real-time on powerful GTX and RTX graphics cards paired with high-end Intel CPUs. It's a game that pushes boundaries in all directions and try as we might, it's difficult to imagine an equivalent experience running on the vanilla Xbox One S and PlayStation 4. However, the game will ship on those consoles just a few short months from now. As an indication of how third party developers will handle the upcoming cross-gen period, this may well be as good as it gets.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digi ... g-xbox-one

8K, 120Hz, Variable Refresh Rate... well, the first one is off the cards but 120Hz support and VRR are already built into Xbox One X and Xbox One S - so what do they actually do? With no games running at 120Hz, is there actually any point? Well YES... and no! Rich has the detailed lowdown - plus a retrospective appreciation of Xbox's support for next-gen display features.

Xbox Series X|S Thread - Power Your Dreams.

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