Microsoft's Latest Xbox Series S Ad Targets Fortnite At 120FPS

Smart, obviously not aimed at people who frequent this site but a box that can play Fortnite(and other freemium games) at 120fps for free is a big plus. As well as a gateway to playing proper games.

@elpardo1984 Playing proper games? Come on dude, check your elitism at the door. People can enjoy whatever games they want, and clearly millions of people enjoy Fortnite. Get over yourself.

Great add, I don't have cable bit I'd imagine that these will be on YouTube and other social sites anyways. The casual market is the biggest market so the race is on for their wallets. Like @DaveOMac said just enjoy yourself folk's, don't get bothered by what others are enjoying.... there's billions of us and we don't all have to like the same things.

Buy a next gen console to play a 4 year old free to play game in 120 FPS...

@Would_you_kindly the F2P BR games are some of the biggest and most profitable games out there. Not my jam at all, I don't like Fortnite but i don't deny it's a massive title. Faster loads and better frames is the next gen sauce so why not make your favourite game better?

Series S is a little beast of a console..

@Krzzystuff well the series S is the budget console most people don't have TVs capable of 120 FPS due to those TVs being expensive

Well they aren't going to advertise playing games like BF5, BF1 etc at 120fps on Series S - even though you can play these at 120fps on Series X LOL

That being said, there isn't any other hardware at that price that will let you play most (if not all) of the 120fps games at that frame rate. Its certainly a 'beast' for the price point...

@SegataSanshiro Being able to buy a 1080p 120hz monitor doesn't mean that it will offer 120fps with the Series S (or Series X/PS5) out of the box.

A lot of Monitors don't have the required HDMI bandwidth/controller to handle 120hz and could be limited to 60hz through HDMI (if they have a HDMI input at all). Yes they may offer 1080p up to 144hz over DVi but only 60fps through HDMI.

@SegataSanshiro HDMI 2.0 can do 1080/120 - it has the 'bandwidth' but that doesn't mean EVERY TV or Monitor using HDMI 2.0 will offer 120fps - just like not every HDMI 2.0 port has ARC support, VRR, HDR etc.

They can, to save money, just limit it to 60fps because at the time, almost every device with HDMI outputs up to 60fps. That's because consoles, media players etc, until just recently, never had any content greater than 60fps.

PC's have DVi output and that's preferred because it offers things like Variable Refresh rates. Therefore, monitor manufacturers can save money on their HDMI ports, controllers etc knowing that the vast majority won't be using HDMI and if they do, its for a Console (or Media Player) that only offers up to 60fps.

All I am saying is that just because a Monitor has HDMI 2.0, doesn't mean that it will offer 'up to' 120fps with your console. It really depends on the 'features' they have 'enabled' on that port, what HDMI controller that Port is connected to etc. You also have to remember that the Monitor will 'speak' to the device, tell it what it can handle. If its limited to 60fps through HDMI, it doesn't matter if its HDMI 2.0 or not.

How many TV's have HDMI 2.0? How many offer more than 60fps? Even if they can't 'refresh' at 120hz, they could still accept 120fps - and drop every other frame. Its not 'just' for 'smoother' visuals, its about the game 'refreshing' twice as fast so reducing input lag. They don't because the input is limited to 60fps and they tell the device they can't accept 120fps so 120fps option is NOT available - hence they say IF your display can accept it.

The only point I was trying to make is that whilst their are Monitors available for 'relatively' little money, you need to make sure that they will accept 120fps through HDMI. Some may even offer VRR too over HDMI but again not all so be aware that just because a 1080p monitor can do 120fps (or more), doesn't guarantee that it will offer that over HDMI so 'check' first rather than buy and find out afterwards!

@SegataSanshiro my screen is listed as HDMI 1.4 and does 144hz freesync over HDMI and cost me around £200. Though I would question how many would buy a Series S and then a compatible monitor to then play a free game at 120hz, it just seems an odd match

@BAMozzy Well it would be odd if they advertised 120fps games for the Series S that weren't playable at 120fps

@carlos82 Of course it would be odd to advertise games that don't run at 120fps on Series S. The point I was making was that with the recent list of games given a 120fps boosts, and then coming out with this, some may think that all they are missing out on is just resolution across the board.

IF 120fps is most important, currently the Series X has more games playable at 120fps than both Series S and PS5 combined. The Series S has more than double the quantity of 120fps games than PS5 (currently) but if you are hoping to play games like BF1, BF5, Battlefront 2, Mirrors Edge Catalyst, Borderlands 3, Tony Hawkes 1&2 etc at 120fps - like Series X, then maybe they will be disappointed or better off buying the Series X.

@SegataSanshiro I should say it's more the free game part, to be fair I'm curious to see what it'd look like on my monitor or even the Series X, 4K is only really necessary if you're playing on a huge screen and the games I've been playing on my PC at 1080p look just as good at that size and the benefits of the high refresh rate can't be understated

@SegataSanshiro The point I was trying to make is that Monitors are generally designed for PC's not Console gaming as they are mostly used with TV's. They may have a HDMI port to connect a media player or a Console but until recently, these devices are limited to 60fps max. The XB1X, I think, is the first console that could offer 120fps output over HDMI and things like VRR are only available on select TV's even though they all have HDMI2.0. There are 'versions' of HDMI 2.0 too - like 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0b and its all down to the controller on the Board as to what 'features' etc they support.

All I was saying is that you can get monitors to work with these 'new' consoles to get 120fps BUT don't take it for granted that they will offer those over HDMI so CHECK first. There is more to it than just having a HDMI 2.0 port and I have had TV's (and a Monitor too) with HDMI 2.0 that wouldn't do more than 60fps. I had to swap out my first 4k TV because only one HDMI 2.0 port had HDCP 2.2 support - necessary for 4k media players to stop people connecting their 4k media player to a 4k media recorder and pirating content. Out of 4 ports, only one had HDCP2.2 support - certainly couldn't handle 120fps content even at 1080p, no VRR, no HDR10 etc.

I am NOT disagreeing that a Monitor can be a perfect solution to get 120fps gaming at a reasonably low cost - all I am saying is that if people want to go that route, then make sure the monitor can do it over HDMI because not all will. Is it 'wrong' of me to highlight that so anyone who does want to go the 'Monitor' route, know to specific look for monitors that do that over HDMI - inc maybe VRR too rather than just buy a monitor and find out that it only does 120hz over DVI?

Good business. This is certainly the market the Series S was primarily targeted at, and the F2P exception from Live Gold definitely sweetens that pot.

Series S will be the money maker in the long run I think

I have to think Microsoft goes hard core advertising Series S/Gamepass to parents, its the best value in gaming. If I’m a parent on a budget it’s a clear winner.

@SegataSanshiro You are aware the "4" in Streets of Rage 4 isn't the age rating?