Xbox Series X - The next Xbox that's boxy but sexy xXx

Ok, but they only really offer 30 Mbps? Mind you, bits, not bytes.

edit:

Iā€™ve seen much higher. But it does seem to vary a lot.

Playing any game slows it down it seems, and oddly Iā€™ve found that having the store app running at all slows it down.

When I make sure to ā€˜Quitā€™ the store app, it sure seems that my download speeds are faster.

You should definitely be getting better download speeds than that, I would think. I get between 200-250 mbps and Iā€™m on a wireless network. Youā€™ve probably done a fair amount of troubleshooting but here are a few more tips:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/super-slow-download-speeds-on-xbox-series-s/7f638103-a697-4b8a-b0e5-8868bb3ffdd4

Anyway, Colt Canyon looks kind of like Hotline Miami but a western. Might be cool but Iā€™m caught up in Vampire Survivors so, not today.

My Series X (less than a year old) has started acting oddly in regards to being online. The last week or so I would boot it up and jump into CoD but kept getting errors saying either I wasnā€™t connected to the internet or needed to be logged in as the owner. But when I backed out of the game and checked, I was on online (tests were good too) and showed as being logged in too. After a few restarts of the game it worked fine. But today CoD did this so I tried other stuff and even Game Pass app said I wasnā€™t connected, even though I was. And freaking Galaga too just sat there at the start screen (I assume there is some sort of online component that it timing out). Reboots of the Xbox havenā€™t helped (settings shows onine, testing confirms good connection, but trying to get to most anything times out or gives network or account errors). A basic search didnā€™t turn up too much specific to this problem.

Oh, Iā€™m hardwired into my closest Mesh unit for connection. Which Iā€™ve been doing since I installed my mesh setup. Soā€¦ATT modem/Mesh base/Mesh satellite/cable to Xbox.

Hey, weā€™re getting another indie demo event this week! The 3 games metioned in the Xbox Wire article donā€™t sound that interesting, UT there will be more than 20, so maybe thereā€™ll be something there to kick around for a bitā€¦

I realized last night that this demo fest thing is still on. There has been no advertising for it anywhere in the Xbox system that Iā€™ve seen. It seems to me that youā€™d want to make people aware of it, no?

So I looked, and thereā€™s not very many demos compared to similar things in the past. But I downloaded a few.

Clash: Artefacts of Chaos: Hey! I wishlisted this on my Steam Deck a while back. I had no idea it was coming to Xbox. Itā€™s a long demo. I didnā€™t get to the actual end (but I think maybe the last boss of the demo?). Kind of a third-person brawler? With some interesting mechanics, some, uh, really wacky character/world design, and a cool euro-comic-book art style, all crosshatched textures and whatnot. Iā€™ll probably look into it on release

Inkulinati has been mentioned around here before, I think. Again, I had no idea it was coming to Xbox. Cool turn-based strategy game about drawing pictures in the margins of medieval manuscripts. It was lots of fun.

The Wind Road: kind of a weird Chinese martial arts thing. It was not good/buggy? All the text was only half-visible (the top half!), some of it was Chinese characters, and all the voice over was Chinese. I got to a weapon selection bit? Or maybe just weapon stance? And then training where they wanted you to execute this combo perfectly, which I could never do. Turned it off.

Dadā€™s Monster House: old school point-and-click adventure game. Nice aesthetic. Wandered around, collected items, solved puzzles. Yawn. Not really my thing.

Gori: Cuddly Carnage: Third person platformer worth a cute/violent thing going on. Youā€™re an anthropomorphic cat with goggles on a hoverboard in a neon city. Pretty on-rails, at least for the demo. I found it nearly unplayable since, while there is a setting for inverting the y-axis, it does nothing. Ditto for the x-axis (not that I use that). The setting for switching the thumbsticks works, however.

I think thereā€™s only a few hours left on the deal, but Best Buy (USA) has the Series S Holiday Edition for $240 right now.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/microsoft-xbox-series-s-512-gb-all-digital-disc-free-gaming-holiday-console-white/6510817.p?skuId=6510817

Series S for $240 is pretty close to being the best value in gaming.

Itā€™s still $249.99. They have them in stores too. I saw them in the wild on Saturday.

The best deal this holiday season was the $250 Series S at Target, since it came with a $50 Target gift card. But I donā€™t think thatā€™s valid anymore, that was the weak of Black Friday.

The Best Buy price on that holiday bundle is now down to $239. Looks like that price expires at midnight.

So yeah, there you go. I mean maybe theyā€™re awesome, Iā€™ve never heard of them, I donā€™t know.

I have not recognized a GWG game the last 3 or 4 months. They need to call it IGWG or OGWG. You know, ā€œIndieā€ or ā€œObscureā€.

Interesting article with Justin Roiland on why he chose Game Pass for High on Life.

The podcast article is based on: Justin Roiland and High On Life - YouTube

Just got an email from Microsoft that a new Developer Direct showcase will be happening on January 25 at 12pm PST. Specifically mentions Arkane Austin, Mojang, Turn 10 Studios and Zenimax Online so I expect theyā€™ll be talking mostly about Redfall, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport and maybe some new Elder Scrolls Online content? Hopefully new info about Starfield too.

edit: ok, maybe not Starfield -

On the Xbox 360, it was possible to make offline profiles on your 360 that you could play under. I wanted to do the same for my five year old on the Xbox One and Series X, but I couldnā€™t find a way to do it. The first thing it asks me is for an email. He doesnā€™t have an email!

Does anyone know if offline profiles are still a thing?

Doesnā€™t look like it. From Xbox support:

  • Select Add to family > Add new.
  • When the member is prompted to enter an email address, enter their existing email. If they donā€™t have one, select Get a new email.
  • Create a new Outlook email address that the member can use, and then enter their first and last name. Pick a password and confirm it by entering the password again. Enter the memberā€™s date of birth, and then add a security proof to protect their account.

The sales are worth checking out this week. Lots of BC stuff, and a few things that are rarely discounted.

Yeah, couldnā€™t pass up Jade Empire at $3.29, one of the few BioWare games I havenā€™t played.

Could you mention what those rarely discounted games are?