Xbox Series S/X

Aaron Greenburg: next week's Xbox Games Showcase is all about the games; "no business, devices or similar news, just games."

Xbox Wire: Microsoft intends for all non-Kinect Xbox One games to be backwards compatible with the Series X.

Well that's an edge on the PS5 for sure.

Microsoft has confirmed they intentionally removed the Xbox Live Gold 12 month subscription SKU from the Microsoft Store.

True, but they also said that outside of Halo, We won't see first party exclusives for about a couple years after the console launch (IE, nothing that wouldn't already be Cross Gen).

US Patent Office scheduled to update Microsoft's patent on Banjo-Kazooie on the same day they're holding their Xbox Series X Games Showcase.

Note that their 10 year mandatory update for the patent was back in 2018.

Still take it with a grain of salt just in case.

Edited by tclittle on Jul 22nd 2020 at 9:39:12 AM

The Xbox Games Showcase starts now!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jul 23rd 2020 at 12:02:52 PM

Games shown off:

• Halo Infinite
• State of Decay 3
• Forza Motorsport
• Everwild (brand new game by Rare)
• Tell Me Why
• Special version of Ori and the Will of the Wisps for Xbox Series X coming soon, will run at 120 fps.
• The Outer Worlds: Peril of Gorgon expansion coming September.
• Grounded, new game by Obsidian, looks like ‘’Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’’ but more epic
• Avowed, even newer game by Obsidian. Not sci-fi. Think Skyrim, minus Bethesda.
• As Dusk Falls, new interactive drama
• Hellblade 2
• Psychonauts 2 lives again! Now with more Jack Black singing!
• Destiny 2: Beyond Light
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
• Warhammer 40K” Darktide
• Tetris
• The Gunk
• The Medium
• Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, brand new mega expansion of PSO2 coming soon!
• Crossfire X from Remedy Entertainment
• Upgrades for certain Xbox One coming via Smart Delivery
• More updates coming later this year
• Last reveal: FABLE lives on via Playground Games!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jul 23rd 2020 at 1:00:56 PM

Eh, Nothing special aside from Halo Infinite's gameplay reveal.

And with all of them on Windows Pc, Why should bother getting a new Xbox Console anyhow?

That was a fine showcase. Would've liked more gameplay footage, but there are a bunch of titles there that I'll keep an eye on.

I'm amused at the people complaining about the lack of console information, given that they said up and down this would be games-focused. It's like expecting first-party Nintendo games in their Partners Direct :x

That requires reading past the headline.

Next they're gonna be saying that Windows PCs are Xboxes too, and they'll rename the OS into Xbox OS.

Edited by AngrokVa on Jul 23rd 2020 at 2:43:13 PM

Way back when, 3DO released their system’s architecture on a card so you could play 3DO games on a PC. They won’t do that, but it’s not completely impossible in theory.

Idle thought.

Edited by Beatman1 on Jul 23rd 2020 at 2:52:04 PM

Watching that Fable trailer already had me hoping we can save people for bonus heroism points or whatever.

To be eaten by a frog...that's wrong. Yeah, it was probably a joke, but still though.

Gonna play devil's advocate and point out that a console is way cheaper than a good gaming PC. Also easier to deal with since you don't have to build it.

But yeah if you have a good PC then it's pointless.

That's been a thing for a long while now, the X Box One was Microsoft recognizing how blurred the line between console and PC games had become and was trying to adopt the Steam infrastructure. There was A LOT of outrage over their game DRM management and needing a code to pass the disk around, but it was in anticipation for a massive change to online gaming. Within three years of launch physical copies had taken a nosedive because of the prevalence of digital downloads, which is not something you can pass around in the same way.

Consoles at their core have always been self-contained gaming systems, you never have to worry about not having the right specs or playing with your settings for optimization (of course you could face a system failure and need to get it repaired or replaced entirely). Especially in this era games built for one console tend to be a lot more stable and less buggy; cross-platform games and PC games require a lot more effort to deal with different hardware architecture. A PC build that roughly matches a console at launch would be about twice as much.

Rumor from Venture Beat's Jeff Grub: Microsoft is getting rid of Xbox Live Gold and making online multiplayer free again.

Halo Infinite multiplayer confirmed to be free to play.

Hey I liked the old Dukes!

Internet: Wah, these "Optimized for Series X" stickers are too huge! Either shrink it or get rid of it!

Microsoft: Okay, fine. We'll get rid of it.

An Instagram user managed to buy a Xbox next gen controller from a resaler and leaked the box; the box mentions Series S and includes USB-C and iOS support.

Halo delayed to 2021. Console is still on schedule.

I know Microsoft has been focusing more on Game Pass than hardware but this still isn't a good look for the launch of the Series X.

Edited by Karxrida on Aug 11th 2020 at 12:26:43 PM

Xbox official: Series X launches in November.

That's borderline non-news without a date attached. Everyone has been expecting a November release. Surprised Microsoft even brought attention to this after delaying Halo.

Speaking of: people think the launch date is November 5/6 due to shenanigans concerning a leaked controller and its warranty.

So how long do you think the next generation of consoles will last? Will it be 7 years like this gen is shaping up to be? Or will it be 8 like the gen before it?