I'm thrilled about this. I don't have a PS5 Pro, so I can't judge Sony's AI upscaling, but Nvidia's AI upscaling on Switch 2 delivers unbelievable results. I'm stoked to see which of my Series X games will end up benefitting from this.

Boy I'm glad I don't care about GTA. That's a LOT of space in my Series X's limited storage.

@DonnieTACO It's not 60 fps because of some issue with the game's logic malfunctioning at 60 fps. They would have to rebuild the game from the source code to do that functionally instead of emulating it like all of Microsoft's backwards compatibility.

@Banjo- Yeah, that matches up with what I remember. I hate buying some digital that I already have physical, but it's such a fun remaster of Goldeneye, I just gotta make sure I keep access to that.

@somnambulance Unless it's changed in the past month or so since disc to digital initially rolled out, it doesn't work. I did my disc to digital stuff for every game supported as soon as the feature went live, but it didn't let me use Goldeneye.

I'd love for them to add the 360 or OXbox start ups as options (I haven't updated yet, so if they are options, ignore me).

$1200 to $1800 is insane for a console. I understand why it will cost that much from an economic perspective, but it's still insane. In no world am I willing to pay more for a console that I do for my mortgage. For me personally, $800 would be the absolute maximum, and I would only go that high for a console with physical media; for a digital-only console, I wouldn't be willing to pay more than maybe $600, and that's pushing it. That said, I know I'm in a definitive minority in my obstinate stubbornness on physical media and well aware the majority of the games market doesn't share my consumer priorities.

I, for one, like console exclusives. They're most of why consoles prior to the PS3/360 gen felt distinct. When almost everything became multiplatform in the mid 2000s, Playstation and Xbox stopped feeling different outside of UI and controller. I know I'm in the minority - most folks want access as wide as possible - but I'm an old-fashioned stick in the mud in this regard.

@Millionski I much prefer the console experience, actually. I have my PC connected to both my normal monitor and my TV, but it just doesn't feel the same. All that said, I don't prefer it enough to drop a grand on a console that doesn't support physical media as I also love collecting video games.

@Exerion76 A huge part of what people consider a "great" brand is perception, and a lot of this is aimed at public perception. Is it the thing they should be most focused on? No, and I doubt it is. A corporation as massive as Microsoft is, after all, more than capable of doing more than one thing at a time.

@Millionski I already have a $5000 gaming PC; that's why I would go PC instead of dropping $1000+ on a PS6 or next gen Xbox.

I like what I'm seeing from Sharma. I'm cautiously optimistic for the future of Xbox - emphasis on "cautiously" - but I definitely think she's taking steps in the right direction. Hopefully those steps play out well for the brand and the consumers.

I'll probably skip the next Xbox as I'm expecting it to be digital-only, and if I don't have something to put on my shelf, I'll just get it on PC, but I'm glad to see that they are keeping this approach. As others have mentioned, the RAM shortage will make a Series X-style next gen console prohibitively expensive for most, so a cheaper option will allow for a larger install base.

A studio known for lackluster games releasing yet another remaster. The only thing that excites me less than a new Ubisoft game is a rerelease of an old Ubisoft game.

I am absolutely not a completionist and only a casual achievement hunter, so I'll only have a couple. Most of my 100% completions are on PlayStation tbh as I preferred Sony's hardware prior to the PS5/Series X gen.

Series S version looks passable, but I'm not loving the frame rate. That said, I'm glad that those who opted for or could only afford the Series S will be able to enjoy the game with at least pretty decent performance and relatively minor visual drops. I'm grateful to have been able to save enough money to opt for the Series X. This game looks sick regardless of Xbox model, though.

@Millionski I'm with you; I'm all for options. Digitizing two generations of games doesn't take away my ability to collect and use physical media. An end to physical media for the next Xbox, while something I fully expect, has not been announced, and only a fool would take rumor and speculation as iron clad fact. I choose to stay optimistic, even if naively so, on that front until I have an actual reason not to be.

This should have been a thing ten years ago, but hey, better late than never. Fingers crossed it'll be retroactive as far back as Xbox 360 (although I'm not holding my breath for that one).

Sounds like something that would single-handedly have me not buy an Xbox at retail since the original Xbox (and that was only because I was 9 when it came out).

I almost never go for every achievement, but Fallout 3 was my exception, and I'm proud of that one, so I really hope this is retroactive all the way back to Xbox 360.

A disc drive. Give me a disc drive. No disc drive, no purchase. Why would I? I have a gaming PC, so what would be the point of an Xbox with not physical media?

Only think that makes sense to be as written is breaking cloud gaming and online play only out from Game Pass. I can definitely see dropping day one games at some point, but as mentioned already, it doesn't make sense for 2027 given games already announced to be on Game Pass day one.

Wolfenstein 3D is glorious no matter how old it gets

Between these excerpts and things Asha has said, I'm getting the vibe that Xbox wants Helix to have a disc drive option of some kind but that it's looking increasingly unfeasible no matter what they might want to do. If components are too hard to source, all the good will in the world can't make it happen.

It's Call of Duty. Little of substance actually changes from release to release.

Xbox. All caps is stupid; it's just Boomers' screaming in Facebook coments.

But it's an extraordinarily stupid and pointless thing to debate.

I want a Crimson Sky sequel or remake.

I'm a physical collector, so if there's no disc drive, I have no reason to buy the next Xbox; my PC is already right next to my TV with an HDMI cord plugged in for when I want to play PC games on a screen instead of my monitor.

I like them all, but I'm torn between OXbox and 360. I'm giving the edge to OXbox though.

I used to think Game Pass Ultimate was worth it when it was $15/mo. The price hikes have pushed that cost-benefit analysis for me from benefits coming out on top to costs coming out on top.

@RadioHedgeFund Totally agree. I haven't seen any miracles this gen aside from BG3 on Series S and Cyberpunk on Switch 2.

This is a nice improvement for achievement hunters. Glad to see it finally getting a polish.

I've gotten at launch:

3DS
New 3DS XL
Wii U
Xbox One
Xbox One X
PS4
PSVR
PS4 Pro
Switch
PS5
Xbox Series X
Switch 2

I'd say all were worth it except the Xbox One. There just weren't any compelling games at launch, for me anyway. Every other console had something at launch I wanted to play. I bought the Xbox One at launch more in a wave of hype than because there was anything at launch I wanted to play.

That's not an Xbox; that's a TV. This isn't an Xbox; this is a cell phone. I can emulate Link to the Past on my phone; that doesn't make my phone a Super Nintendo.

Good. It was a stupid campaign with a stupid premise. If you go the full-streaming route with phones, PCs, smart TVs, etc and get out of the hardware market, then it's not really Xbox anymore. You can't have Xbox without the box. Then you just have X, and that's basically nothing but incels and Nazis these days.

@Lup I, on the other hand, would love a tier that gives me online play but no game library. A cheaper tier for each of our needs would be great.

I think they may sell an external drive like the PS5 does or the 360 did with HD-DVD, but I also wouldn't be at all surprised if they went all-digital. If I had to guess though, I'd reckon the PS5 external drive route.

@Zenszulu Legit I'd have preordered if Ringo had reprised his narration role. That he's not is why it's on my Amazon wishlist waiting for a sale instead.

Xbox Series 720 Two.

Idk I think the last three Xbox consoles have had stupid naming schemes - especially Xbox One, that was just abysmal - so I'm not expecting much. But I'd love to see something like Xbox Xenon, as someone in an earlier comment mentioned, or Xbox Quantum. Something scifi and futuristic sounding.

I reckon it will be a niche device aimed exclusively at enthusiasts and that they'll keep games coming to Series X and Series S as well for more casual gamers who want a lower price tag. Nothing I've read suggests that, but that's my guess.

@Banjo- We knew there was going to be a next console because all of the hardware manufacturers start development on a new console as soon as one launches. If they were going to cancel, they would have done it early in the lifecycle like Sega did with Dreamcast before they sank much into R&D.

We knew it would support PC games because both Steam and Epic have all but said it would with Epic making an official statement that they'd be on board "if possible" - something they'd never have said if there weren't solid information of PC support - and we know for a fact that Microsoft and Steam have been in talks for about a year about Steam support on the new Xbox. So even what we technically didn't "know" was still a foregone conclusion.

As for the people who said it was cancelled, that's just asinine given how long the Series X has been out without a credible whisper of a cancellation.

I'm guessing somewhere between $700 and $1000

So...they announced nothing new. They announced that a new console is coming. We knew that. They announced that it would play PC games. We knew that. They announced its codename. That's useless because it won't be the final name. They didn't give an actual name. They didn't give us a price. They didn't give us a release date. They didn't give us any idea of the specs. They didn't say whether it will feature a disc drive or not (I'm assuming no, but that would have been useful to announce). They didn't actually tell us anything of any import that we didn't already know. What a useless "announcement."

@Gemini53 Yeah, my most recent playthrough of Fallout 3 was on PC and HEAVILY modded, and it was a revolutionary experience compared my first playthrough almost 15 years ago back on PS3.

@Balaam_ Perfectly said. Bethesda makes some of the most immersive and addicting RPGs around, but no one has ever accused their games of looking good or performing well.

I have Fallout 4 for every platform. I have no issues with the Switch 2 version. Does it fall short of Series S? Sure. But it's also comparing a handheld to a home console. They may be roughly comparable in specs, but Series S still has areas where it definitely wins out. Bethesda also isn't always the best at porting and optimizing; let's not forget their 7th gen games where Fallout 3 ran significantly better on 360 than on PS3 despite the PS3's having objectively stronger hardware. Any version of a game will only be as good as the team developing or porting it.

Ugh ANOTHER battle royale....

I think the integration with PC that Xbox has been going for is great, and the development of their cloud support is a good move, but I'm glad she realizes that Xbox, first and foremost, is a home console. I feel like Phil Spencer got so caught up in branching out into the cloud arena and integrating Xbox with the PC space that he forgot that for a bit.

No one buys a Switch 2 for amazing graphics or high frame rates. You buy a Switch 2 because you either have brand loyalty for Nintendo (we can mock it all we like, but you know Xbox has folks who are just as irrationally loyal to Microsoft) or for the portability. I've got the game on Switch 2 and PS5, and it's definitely a better experience on PS5, no doubt, as it sounds like it would be on Series S, but I like to whip out my Switch during my lunch break and play. That's not something Series S would let me do easily.

The question is not which version is better; the question is which console fits your specific gaming needs better? The drop to fps in the 20s handheld is definitely a problem (I haven't personally encountered that, but I'm still very early on Switch 2 since the PS5 is the version I'm mainly playing), but that's hopefully something Capcom can fix with updates down the line. As for 30 fps in docked...anyone who says 30 fps is unplayable is a snob who's blowing hot air. 30 fps definitely isn't ideal in 2026, and an abrupt drop from 60 to 30 would definitely be jarring, but to pretend that 30 fps - the standard for 3D games for over 20 years before the PS5 and Series X - is unplayable is asinine.

I, personally, would rather it stay exclusive because I love console exclusives; I think it gives each console a unique feel, and as a collector who always buys all three consoles every gen, I like that. As a business, move, though, I think it would be much, much smarter to put Halo on PS5. Most people who buy an Xbox do it for the ecosystem and PC integration, not the exclusive games.