Xbox General discussion **No Order Chat Here**

sniper_samurai

Baldur's Gate 3 will be launching on Xbox this year after split screen is removed from the Series S version.

https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1694736685894946925?s=20

https://twitter.com/LarAtLarian/status/1694737127978783157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1694737127978783157%7Ctwgr%5E33fbd148b6bf2f6ae39acad95b54a858a1f4586c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fembed%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1694737127978783157autosize%3D1

Mitch Connor

THis is 100% the right call, imo, but it is still interesting how it will eventually play out, and is this the start of the value proposition of the S being degraded.

Xbox have previously been fairly strong on parity between X and S, and were strong on that messaging when selling the S. They were clear there would be visual differences - resolution, FPS, Ray Tracing being the tradeoffs for the lower cost entry point. Spencer quoted yesterday (or day before) saying differences between the consoles aren't new, I think in either reaction to this news or to get out ahead of it - and that first party titles have had differences, but he used Ray Tracing as the example. To me, ray tracing and split screen are completely different types of feature. One is gameplay, and it is far harder to accept a gameplay feature difference, given their previous messaging.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is the right call. It would be insane for Xbox to miss out on Baldurs Gate 3 on both consoles cause SplitScreen is proving difficult on the S. If given the choice I would assume 100% of S players would say 'give us the option to play BG3 without split screen rather than not at all', but where do Xbox draw the line now? What are acceptable features to drop? Can't help but think we are going to see more and more differneces between X and S versions, beyond 60/120 fps etc for the biggest titles, and how will that impact the perception of the S going forward, or damage the relationship between Xbox and the S owners who were sold a 'dream'. I think most have us have always thought or at least feared the S would hold back the potential of games on Xbox.

cnocbui

No one with any sense was sold a dream in the form of the S, it has always been a lower performing cheap option that was always going to appear ever worse, in comparison, with the passage of time.

I knew this when I bought the X and so didn't for a moment consider the S. I have not the slightest sympathy for people who bought a cosnsole with 4 teraflops of GPU performance when there was an option with 12.5.

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121024291#Comment_121024291

How many parents know the tera-flops as opposed to: All the same games will be on the S, with all the same features, but without 4K,120 - which was the message MS put out.

I went with the X for the same reason as yourself, or similar to it, but to deny that MS's messaging was very different, or that people may have been sold on that messaging, is just silly.

If at the time of the launch you were buying for your kid, and did not have nor planned to have a 4k TV that they would play the console on, the S was billed as a very good value proposition because it was sold as doing everything the X does, but at lower resolution/frames.

sniper_samurai

More footage of the Starfield cover for the Series X.

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1696490204641501361?t=3bwHsp21pR7G8Llfm3YgFw&s=19

EoinMcLovin

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/09/05/xbox-september-2023-update/?ocid=Updates_soc_omc_xbo_fb_Link_lrn_9.5.2

• Stream games from Xbox to Discord.
• Variable refresh rate (VRR) update for Xbox Series X|S consoles.
• New places to view and redeem Rewards and much more.

Nyum Nyum

I finally caved in and bought one of these - €152 all in (€144 + €8 P&P) from Amazon Germany

https://www.amazon.de/WD_Black-Expansion-Compatible-Official-Subscription/dp/B0C44XVWCH/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3CLT5M1P7K44F&keywords=wd+black+c50+xbox&qid=1694084566&sprefix=Wd+xbox+c50%2Caps%2C149&sr=8-3

wassie

Good stuff. You wont regret it.

Jordan 199

Another new controller on the way. Astral Purple.

JimBurnley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101672#Comment_121101672

Did you not make it to a Controllers Annonymous meeting yet? You know the first step is admitting you have a problem... ;-)

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101763#Comment_121101763

I read his post as he was just telling us about a new controller rather than he bought it.

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101763#Comment_121101763

😄

It's no longer a problem for me Jim. I have more than enough Xbox controllers at this stage.

JimBurnley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101780#Comment_121101780

Until the next shiny gem comes along... fair play tho, hope you don't fall off the wagon anytime soon

SuperBowserWorld

I think @Jordan 199 works for the Microsoft store ... and he's advertising their stuff and pushing the FOMO on here 😁

cnocbui

Starfield brings my Series X to it's knees. Low 20s fps in some busy places. I can't see how this would be playable on an S unless the resolution gets lowered a lot.

CatInABox

Posted this in the general gaming forum, but deserves to go here too.

Rather hilariously, MSs acquisition has resulted in a load of leaks throughout the industry, and now the FTC has accidentally leaked the entire Series mid gen refresh strategy, like almost everything.

New consoles coming in 2025 2024 (I got confused by their financial calendar year), with a focus on sustainability, a connectivity upgrade (better WiFi and Bluetooth), and a move to all digital. That last one will be controversial, but that's clearly the way the industry is moving, despite loads of people complaining about it.

New controller coming too, basically copying the PS5s best feature with the increased haptics. Includes a rechargeable, removal battery.

Looks like a can of coke.

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1703994120937869528

New gen aiming to launch in 2028, with all you'd expect really, like ML & AI, along with "the power of the cloud", essentially.

Jordan 199

A Club Orange skin or cover would be great for that 😉

wassie

Interesting enough. Disappointing if they go purely digital but unsurprising given physical media is slowly becoming obsolete. If there is a digital only mid-life refresh for the X then at least I wont be debating if I should upgrade or not until the next gen console in 2028.

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121128552#Comment_121128552

Nah, it's definitely a leak, it's from their court case with the FTC over the ABK acquisition. The FTC basically subpeonaed everything that MS had going into the future, in the attempt to prove that they planned to withhold Call of Duty from PlayStation.

It's not the first leak from that court case, in fact, it's been a veritable treasure trove of confidential information.

Anyway, it's very much an internal doc, this is stuff that you'd never want to get out into the public. Codenames, pricing discussion, marketing points, release dates, all stuff that you'd want to keep internal. Like, the hype/marketing cycle for this has been completely ruined, it's a massive cost that they just have to suck up now.

wassie

Yep - I misread your post and thought it was FCC not FTC! Edited my post to delete that reference.

SuperBowserWorld

Didn't Nintendo do gyro controller first. Anyway, it needs decent developers to make to most of it. At least now, all the main consoles will have it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121125561#Comment_121125561

You need to get the new Xbox, coming into 2024 😁

wassie

Not really. Refreshed Xbox X wont offer any improved gaming performance going by the core specs, other than improved efficiency which may help it run cooler - this in turn may give some improvement on frame rate.

In fact, the current Series X could become more sought after when the digital only version is released.

wassie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121128700#Comment_121128700

It's not the first leak from that court case, in fact, it's been a veritable treasure trove of confidential information.

Your bang on. Fascinating stuff for any fans of Xbox. Will be curious to see if they follow through with this strategy or pivot, now the world knows, including Sony, Nintendo & NVidia! The launch timelines makes more interesting reading.

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121128983#Comment_121128983

You'll find Microsoft did it first, they had gyro controls in some of their Sidewinder controllers for PC in the 90s, they were awful.

wassie

Thats right. They also had a version Sidewinder Dual Strike in the 2000s which was actually "a blend both mouse and game pad functions into a single unit." Took a bit to get used to but was actually quite good for FPS games. But it wasnt very robust and broke easily.

I remember using this to play Unreal Tournament (successor to Unreal), which was the first game series to use the Unreal Engine.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121129118#Comment_121129118

Ok.

I do love gyro control in BOTW/TOTK for fine adjustments. But as I said the developers also need to implement it right in games, otherwise it's trash.

That new console looks like the cylindrical Mac that came out a while back. Looks pretty nice.

I think the Xbox hardware designers do a great job.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121129038#Comment_121129038

I was kinda joking about Starfield performance after such a long wait. And then MS "drops" a new console.

I didn't really check the specs. Good to know it's much the same. I won't be upgrading. I think a disk drive is very useful for getting games cheap on XBox.

Potential-Monke

First a block and now a cylinder. The next gen xbox will be a triangle. I don't like it. Good that they're finally bringing a haptic controller. Hope it's a bit softer.

DeSelby83

Kinda looks like a Sonos speaker, maybe that's the look they were going for so it can sit along the TV or on a shelf beside a TV.

wassie

Someone got paid a fortune to come up with that too I bet, after holding several design workshops with focus groups.