Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@Pastellioli Everything you said is right. The fake news and made-up rumours spread quickly, but also when they are denied officially, you barely see anyone referring to the facts! Like the example I posted above, but there are dozens of them.

Microsoft could certainly market Xbox a lot better, but I'm not completely sure about denying every piece of fake news or rumour, because Nintendo and Sony don't address them and being the only one doing so is like accepting being targeted constantly.

Xbox is targeted constantly, anyway. When the "leakers" and "insiders" said that Microsoft was dropping hardware, releasing every game for PS5 and that Call of Duty was not going to be included in Game Pass, Microsoft denied all that around a week later in a podcast. A few days later, more gloomy rumours started showing up already. Some people have made a living out of this.

The agony of Xbox is an online mirage exaggerated by some posters. If you talk in real life (or party chat), 99.99% of Xbox players aren't worried about any of this. I'm sure that Microsoft isn't that worried either when they see their financial reports.

However, Microsoft shouldn't rest on their laurels. Firstly, they need to supervise all their teams properly, because some of them have been working in chaos, like The Initiative until Crystal Dynamics came to the rescue. Secondly, they should improve their current marketing efforts, even if it's as simple as marketing certain games and the platforms where you can play them on. I thought that they stopped doing that because of the ABK acquisition, so we might be surprised by a marketing campaign when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is out come October.

@Yousef I know how that feels.

@Yousef- I beat a few games and posted about them on Last Game You Beat.

I just noticed that Crash Bandicoot N.sane Trilogy is the third most popular title on Game Pass right now, just behind FC24 and Minecraft, sandwiched between them, Forza and Call of Duty. This proves that Xbox users do like platformers. Please, Microsoft, time for Banjo-Kazooie!

@Banjo- Oh golly oh gosh, I would die if a new Banjo game happened…I need one so badly! So many of Rare’s platformers are in need of modern revivals…

@Pastellioli You couldn't have said it better! I was surprised to see Crash so high on the ranking. There are so many great IPs there, especially Rare's IPs: Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, Viva Piñata, Jet Force Gemini and, well yeah, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. I loved that one on Rare Replay (1080p 60fps).

@Banjo- So many of their old IPs had so much potential and a ton of great ideas that could have been expanded upon a lot with new entries. I wish a few of them made it in the modern day...

@Yousef- I do feel the same way as well. I think Microsoft has a lot of stuff to improve on in the Xbox division, but I just realized they don’t really affect me at all, not trying to excuse their bad decisions that negatively impact a lot of their customers, I still dislike the price hikes they did for Game Pass and how they came out of nowhere as I was about to resub. The only sub I have is the Core sub solely for online play, and I do think that price hike made me not really care for Game Pass anymore. I think my selection of owned games (albeit kinda small since I don’t buy games a lot) is keeping me satisfied and playing the Xbox. Maybe I buy one new game and it’ll be a while that I buy another one. It’s maybe my game tastes in older, already released games that make me feel like Microsoft’s multiplatform decisions for their newer games don’t affect me that much, but I can understand a lot of criticisms people give them for how they can badly handle stuff, which they tend to do more often than not, like taking a full week to respond to the rumors that initially came out on them making ALL of their exclusives multiplatform.

Do you think it's worth getting a series S (1tb) in 2024?

I've had S and X in the past so I know both are good but I just wondered if the S in 2024 is still a vaible option.

Is it struggling with new games?

I'm a casual gamer and have a PS5 so unless games become barely playable i'm not going to notice. Most gaming I will do on PS5 but i'm looking at the S so i can play the new flight sim and try call of duty without paying 70 for it on ps5.

@BolkaRover That really depends on 'you' and whether or not you think it's 'good enough' for you. I can't answer whether or not you will get what you want/expect from it - enough to feel like it was a worthwhile purchase or not.

I personally think its not 'struggling' as such - maybe can't always offer the same 'features/modes', but its like the PS4/XB1S from last gen in that regard which wouldn't get 'Performance' or Higher Quality/resolution visuals the PS4 Pro or XB1X could. The Series X is likely to give you a very similar level of experience to the PS5 in that regard and the Series S, by comparison, would seem to be 'struggling' because it maybe can't do the 'couch co-op', maybe won't have a '60/120fps' performance mode or offer the Ray Traced shadows/reflections (but does use alternatives).

So it depends on whether or not you feel its too much of a drop off in resolution for example after being used to PS5 - especially if you have a 4k TV. But the 'games' aren't radically different, still offer the same story etc. CoD for example may not look quite as 'good' on Series S vs Series X/PS5 but looks and plays better than on last-gen... Its also the 'cheapest' Hardware option for being able to download and play games with Game Pass.

It really does depend on you though - whether or not you'll use it 'enough' that you feel it was a worthwhile purchase. Yes it can save you money, but spending money on Hardware and a Game Pass Subscription to save $70 on CoD and maybe play Flight Sim might be more 'expensive' than just buying CoD on PS5. If you really want to play Flight Sim and/or other Xbox exclusives (timed or otherwise) - like Indiana Jones, Stalker 2, Fable, Perfect Dark etc, then you'll get more 'use' from your Hardware/Subscription to get more value and it be more worthwhile..

Thanks for the replies guys. Very helpful. I will def be interested in Fable and Indiana Jones so I think at such a low price the series s is gonna be worth it for me.

@BolkaRover Would personally not get one.. Also I understand some devlopers struggle to get their games running on the Series S so you are not doing them any favors if you buy one.

Believe it or not but I started 2025 by playing a Halo mp match. Dreams anyone?

Not sure it Iam right or wrong but I think that 2025 could be a big year for Halo. Not sure what you ohter guys think.

@VoidPunk huh? I'm no xbox apologist or anything, but avowed is sitting at 80 on metacritic and indy scored an 86. Many people pegged it as their goty, myself included. Doesn't seem like multiple failures in a row to me.

@NintendoByNature Don't feed the trolls mate. With Indy, and Avowed posting great review scores that user has no idea what they are talking about. Just some PS fanboy that wondered in here that's all. Just look at their post history. All they do is post how bad MS is doing and how everything is a failure.

@Tasuki good call 👍

@NintendoByNature With that said I watched my son play about 2 hours of Avowed and it looks good. I posted my thoughts in the Avowed thread. I seriously want to play it but I need to finish Indy first before adding another game to my play list lol.

@Tasuki and I'll be playing it after I finish visions of mana, and then i went to start a quick game like alone in the dark. I just can't do avowed after a long jrpg in visions back to back.

@NintendoByNature Right you need that palette cleanser I understand. That's kind where I am right now. I want to start Avowed but I want to finish Indy first and even then I might play a shorter game after that due to the similar game play style that Avowed and Indy have just one is fantasy and one is set in World War II if that makes sense. But still loving what I have seen from my son playing it. The biggest take away I got from it is they allow alot of freedom with your character build it revolves more about how you play rather them oh you need to play a magic user here or stealth at this point.