Xbox series S: what they don’t tell you in reviews.
Have you noticed how reluctantly the reviews talk about the junior Xbox console? How neatly they try to avoid the questions of her appointment? They are silent about the dilemmas and shortcomings? Talking about the new generation of consoles – they say about the older console? That’s exactly the question I’ll try to address now.
Contents.
The queen gave birth in the night Not a scion, not a daughter; Not a mouse, not a frog, but an unknown beast.
Localization.
How do you feel about games in an unknown language? Do you like it when the main character is voiced in British or French?? And the subtitles? Menu? Naturally, if we are talking about a shooter, where the plot is a schoolboy’s notes after school on 3 sheets. And if we are talking about strategies or RPGs? So there’s this little aspect of. But it has to be. Some games had local translations. And they were only released on discs. Digitally, these games are not. There are only a couple of dozen of them. Only now, with a digital console, you can’t play them. For you will have to enjoy only a unique voiceover and a unique presentation of the material. Bad or great? A quick little inconvenience. But they forgot to mention that.
Games only on discs.
It’s been many, many, many years since the release of the Xbox three hundred and sixty. During this period of time a huge number of events came out. And it happened that many games were removed from the Microsoft store. These games are only available on disk media. This is because of injunctions. Closing companies and unknown product status. Property transfers between companies. Obvious expiration of licensing terms. A large layer of games with music tracks is missing from the store. They were joined by games with licensed cars. Comic book games also went there. But it’s worth talking about the numbers here. As of August two thousand nineteen, when the last game on the Xbox was added for negotiable comparability, there were 607. Now available four hundred and seventy-seven (South American region).
Regional restrictions.
It is no secret that in some regions, some games were not released by the word “at all”. This is especially true for Asian games on the European market. Either the games were banned under the law. In theory, you can set up a VPN, change the DNS server, change the region of the store and buy a suitable game on your own account. Only not everyone will be able to do these manipulations. But sticking a disc with a suitable game in the drive and just run it is not difficult at all. Of course, this only applies to reverse comparability games. Newer games have fewer restrictions.
Games of negotiable comparability.
You love old games, don’t you?? This is the most basic feature of Microsoft consoles. In any dispute between Sony and Xbox, this fact comes out on top. And if we get down to the dry numbers? About one thousand games were released for the Xbox original, of which 38. For the Xbox three hundred and sixty came out about three thousand and 500 games, of which 477. For comparison, in Sony’s cross-gen mode, when you buy a game you get a copy for PS3\PS Vita\PS4 or any other combination of one purchase for several consoles – 500 eighty-two games are available. These games have no reverse comparability, you just get multiple copies of the game.
Resolution in games.
Right now in front of my eyes: “Up to 1440p” and “up to 100 20 FPS” in games! It sounds like! It’s breathtaking to see such a picture. But the truth is that the optimized games for the new consoles only 100 20 seven pieces. And this is taking into account the not yet released, but only announced. Moreover, 100 20 FPS is supported only in one game. About the games “up to 1440p” is not clear in general anything. And this is about new games. About the old – all games developed before the release of the last generation are in the resolution of the original for the Xbox one S. In other words Battlefield 4/Battlefield One in 720p\900p Watch Dogs\Watch Dogs2 720p\900p, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes 720p, in fact all games from Ubisoft or 900p or 1440*1080p, in fact all games series CoD 900p. And it’s at a resolution almost half the size of what we’re advertised. Games from older consoles are even worse. Four hundred and eighty for the Unique console and seven hundred and twenty for the 360. You could think of it as a nagging thing. Only we are talking about 3500+ games. In the next seven years, another 2,500+ games will be added to the console’s piggy bank. In other words, we are talking about 60%+ games over the entire current cycle. Not about his original step. For comparison, the console from the rival two thousand thirteen years of release all of the above games pulls in 1080p. In other words, the rival console from seven years ago indicates the games in a better resolution in most projects than the new console from Microsoft.
Performance in NextGen.
Not a lot of graphically intense games have been released so far. In the reviews are often hammered “If you do not have 4k TV – this console is for you” But the truth is such, the older console is not always and not everywhere works in 4k. And when it comes to the “high graphics” settings, not always constant 1440p. And what to say about the junior console? Here’s a catchy example from Digital Foundry. Newly optimized game Control Ultimate Edition. S does not support modern Ray Tracing, comes in 900p with drops in languid moments. Not the right option? Take other games. For example, Watch Dogs: Legion or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Similarly – not the regular 900r. And that’s without the latest tricks. And if you want a reflection?
Heating and noise.
Not the most vital and fundamental parameter. Only there is one subtlety – the older console is positioned as an ultra-quiet and mega-cool console. But this does not apply to the junior console. And they are silent about it. I purposely ran two consoles with the same game in the cabin. My non-critical eye quietly reacted to the fact that one was noticeably noisier than the other. All within the bounds of what is permissible. Only the emphasis of the marketing company says “Very quiet console” without mentioning that this applies only to the older model.
Promotional discs.
In large retail chains (Amazon or GameStop) quite often, games are sold with additional exclusive content, which is available only on the discs, designed only for these retailers. Weapon skins, additional missions, in-game currency, additional characters. Nothing major. If you’re not a fan of the game series. But for fans, it’s very rare content that you can’t get any other way. Or, for example, discs with add-ons for the game. Only these discs without a discount are $ 60, and in a digital store the content will not be sold together, and separately will cost markedly more.
Working offline.
TiViTiViTiTiVi 🙂 Binding of disks to the console, prohibition of exchange. You remember? It’s no good rubbing old wounds? Have you tried playing Game Pass games with the web off?? So, with the web turned off for you will pop up an error like this. You have a good web and you never have any problems with it? I also had such thoughts before the recognizable events of August, 1920 in Minsk. And what to say about the breakage of cables, accidents… Trips to the cottage? Without a connection to the web and an indispensable check you can not play games from the subscription. Maybe… some manipulations have to be done… But it’s not clear to me about them, as well as for the 99.99% of users.
A lot of words for pathos.
Jason Ronald Quote: " We did tests that could take anywhere from sixteen to twenty-four hours for one game. We had a whole army of testers, about 500 people" In the same interview, “Xbox has been working on backwards compatibility for Xbox Series X and S games since two thousand sixteen,” one of the news.
And now the numbers are dry. In a negotiable comparability of about three thousand 500 games. With a staff of 500 people, that’s seven games per person. At 20 four hours per game, that’s 7*24. Plus the reporting of games – well, let it be another 40 two days. Total – it took three months to test all the games from start to finish with reports. MAXIMUM. But as it sounds in the interview 🙂 5 years of hard work.
FPS Boost.
I pulled it all in. What would it be. A lot of pathos, but not enough help. Development that allows you to increase the frame rate in older games by half. Sounds like fun. Only there are three huge BUTs:
1.In almost all games the game is tied to frame rate. Reload speed, jump time, run speed, etc.д..
2.TVs have had TrueMotion, Motion Plus, Perfect Natural Motion, RealCinema etc. for about 10 years now… While PC geeks are fighting for sixty FPS and laughing at console players, the latter are playing at 120-200FPS just by checking a box in the TV settings. Just shhhh.
3.Increasing the frame rate has no effect on the resolution of the game. For TVs it’s not really important, because many of them quietly upscale, but in the context of the technology in question – the picture does not get better. Frame rate is vital only in fast-paced games… But in shooters and without this technology 60FPS and increase will not change the perception of the game.
Afterword.
Here it would be necessary to summarize all of the above. But that would be superfluous. When asked, “Is the Xbox series S a good console?? there is only one answer – it’s a complete scam. Worth the sacrifice of saving $100 is a rhetorical question. If you don’t currently have $100, where are you going to get $180 for subscriptions? Every year?
Off topic, but a very fundamental question – do you remember that Microsoft promised to cancel the Gold subscription for those who play free games? Well, she didn’t. You could say, “Wait a little. But the gist is this – GOLD subscription cards with the new price tag appeared online the day before the announcement of the increase. In other words, it had to be from one day to the next – in seven days at the most (from February 1) and the question “Wait” was not. And here it’s been one February and one March. There is no mention of the cancellation on the official website. It’s not just a scam – it’s the very essence of Microsoft.