It’s usable, but again, if you’re selling the new hotness, most people want that, not the also ran.
For historical nostalgia purposes.
Menzo
1728
Of course people want the high end model. Most people would prefer to drive a Mercedes or other high-end luxury car. But some people can’t afford that, and Microsoft is giving them an option.
Having a price/feature differentiated lineup is absolutely 100% standard in the tech world. Every line of PCs, TVs, laptops, phones, DVRs, tablets, smart assistant, and set-top device has multiple price/feature options. In fact, consoles were laggards in this area.
This is absolutely the future. Even Nintendo is doing it with the Switch and Switch Lite.
Here is probably a stupid question. Why couldn’t Microsoft make a system comparable to the Xbox X but running Windows. Basically a custom powerful PC that is a really good price but can’t be upgraded other than maybe the Hard Drive. As someone who is looking at building a new PC I would much rather buy this than spend $700 on a inferior system.
I guess we’ll see if new game consoles are as important as phones to people, then?
Menzo
1731
The answer is: they absolutely could, and then all their OEM partners would go apeshit. Right now their devices are generally high-end or form factors that other companies aren’t making. The only one that breaks that mold is the Surface Laptop.
But there was a rumor a long time ago that the Xbox One was going to be a trojan horse for Windows 10, and Microsoft was going to surprise everyone by announcing that every Xbox One could turn into a Windows PC with a flip of a switch or something.
The vast majority of current consoles are base PS4’s and Xbox Ones. Only a tiny percentage own One X’s or Pro’s. Again the NeoGaf elitist types thinking their world is the only one.
There’s rumble that the next generation of Surfaces will shift away from Intel to AMD. Basically using the same tech as the Xbox Series consoles. Look at the direction that Microsoft is going. It’s quite possible you could be looking at some gaming-capable Surfaces soon.
You realize that doesn’t support your argument, right?
The actual next gen consoles are PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Those are the new PS4 and Xbox One of their time, not this Series S. The reason so many PS4s specifically and Xbox Ones more generally were sold is because the base unit was a big leap from the prior generation.
The Series S is a next gen console whether you like it or not.
The market will make that determination. It’s kind of next gen, kind of not. That’s the whole point of its existence. It’s a stopgap sold at a lower price to seemingly persuade a portion of console buyers that it’s “good enough” for them for next gen.
When the Digital Foundry videos start coming out, you’ll know much better how next gen it actually is.
Menzo
1737
I’m really perplexed by your take on this. It sounds like you’re making an argument that more choices are bad.
We’ve seen this before multiple times and yes, for that console maker, it has almost always turned out to be bad. It dilutes your market and creates problems for developers. It causes your games to be dumbed down to your lowest common denominator and thus makes it so your upper end product, the one you initially introduced specifically because more power is needed/required by the market, sells less and becomes less desirable.
@stusser would have you believe this is all ok in the name of Game Pass, but ultimately if Game Pass is full of all the same level of game you played on your Xbox in the last generation and nothing forges forward due to your lowest common denominator holding you back, you are the loser, and people will not subscribe. People want the best when it is affordable, and it’s likely that $499 is plenty affordable in 2020 even within a pandemic.
EDIT: To add to this… the reason the 360 succeeded in spite of the red ring and the Core system is because ultimately they had both the games and the system horsepower alongside the Xbox Live Effect (all your friends were playing Oblivion, so you needed to play it too… next month is was Crackdown, etc.) to weather that awful storm. They seem to have given up on the games thing given what we’ve seen coming to this system for launch. Without games there is no Xbox Live Effect, and hopefully they have no red ring fiascoes with their top end hardware. Certainly I don’t expect that. But now they have two systems to support… and that is something Sony learned in the PS3 gen that they didn’t repeat in the PS4 gen at launch. Nintendo didn’t do that either. Two consoles out of the gate is not a good idea.
stusser
1739
Next gen doesn’t exist. Games won’t improve in any transformative manner, they’ll just look better and run/load faster. No game pass on PS5 and that applies there too.
Cool, at least they aren’t dragging out this whole Series X pricing business. Well, I mean, more than they have already.
Menzo
1743
They’re probably right, but this is definitely not confirmed. Microsoft certainly didn’t confirm the price of Series X by confirming the price of the Series S. That’s a misleading headline.
Paul_cze
1744
So if most devs target XSX with 4K, the XSS should run such game in 1440p or 1080p without much issue at the same framerate, right?
And if some devs target say, 1440p/60fps on XSX, the XSS should be able to run that same game at around 1080p/30fps.
(I am assuming CPU power will be same with only GPU and bit of memory cut down)
I assume nobody will be targeting 1080p/30fps on XSX. If they did, then XSS would be in trouble, since going to 720p or lower would probably be unnaceptable. But these days most games even on XOX run at 1440-4K.
So theoretically, XSS should not really limit games much, when the CPU is the same. Its lower memory might be a problem though. That does make the common denominator weaker.
Also, is it confirmed that if developers choose to target Xbox, they will be mandated to release the game for both console SKUs?
