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I feel like the Xbox Series S is a waste of time & I don't understand why Microsoft made such a console like the Series S.

T-Cake

Member
Gamepass is a value but if you have a Series S with Gamepass and are relying on its value doesn't that mean you aren't playing the new Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed, CoD, Cyberpunk or like... any big game this season?

True but I never buy any game at full price. If you've got the patience and aren't prone to peer pressure then time will reward you with mostly-fixed and bug-free games at a great price.
 
True but I never buy any game at full price. If you've got the patience and aren't prone to peer pressure then time will reward you with mostly-fixed and bug-free games at a great price.

Personally I wouldn't try to predict any of those ending up on Gamepass even a year from now.
 
game companies throughout the 80s and 90s had to create games on many different platforms and specs...some great...some spectacularly crap
the argument around a console holding back other consoles due to its specs is a pretty crappy argument...devs can make games work on different systems its just the notion of Parity is something which has been skewered

The best part of the 80/90s gamer was the mystery of the port you got
 

x@3f*oo_e!

Member
The big concern is that - even though the S is capable of running 4k games at 1/2 resolution (1080p), probably flawlessly. What happens if mid gen "4k" games are now 1440p upscaled checkboarded, with variable rate shading .. which puts the S version at 720p and lower .. (or just an inferior gfx version, not just lower res)

Hasn't happened yet, but might.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
About the Series S being sold out everywhere....

So, looking to see if I could snag a Series X, Best Buy has the Series S available, a handful of them. No bots got them so far after 10 minutes. Was able to add one to my cart no problems.

Just a counter point to those saying its sold out everywhere.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Series S has been getting trashed yes it’s not as good as Series X but it was created from iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max pressure. After a while we’ll get a series S pro and a Series X Pro Max Limited Edition Halo Infinite edition.
 

Alebrije

Member
Nobody wants Series S , is the only console avaliable now on retailers. We are talking a next gen launch on Christmast and you can get an S everywhere.

This console is obsolete now and will be worse every year..why waste money now on an S better save money 1 year and get a Series X or PS5 , the wait will be worth than get and S now and forever play low performance games.
 
But if you buy a Series S with 1TB of storage extra then you now have 1.5TB of storage (or ~1.4TB in reality) vs about 800GB on the Series X......so then you have to buy the 1TB storage drive for the Series X and surprise! It's back to $200 difference!


I would have gladly bought my Series X without a controller to get the price down a bit. The new controller hasn't been used outside of the first 10 minutes of setup and having a quick play with it to see if it feels any different. It likely will never get used either, since I have an Elite. If the elite dies, I'll be getting an Elite 2 (or 3 when it comes out).

MS have already announced that 40% of "new to xbox consoles" customers since the S/X release bought the Series S. If that doesn't tell you that they made the right decision then I don't know what does. SonyGAF as usual just showing that they have literally zero idea how the real world works.

"PS Vita will destroy the 3DS! RIP Nintendo!"

"PS Vita TV will sell 100 million!"

"Switch will be bomba! It'll sell less than the Wii U!"

Next up on the hit list:

"Why would anyone want a true next gen console at a cheaper price than the 7 year old underpowered consoles?!"
Yes, it is really annoying to say the least. Also, some people here are trying to down play it by saying pay a hundred dollars more for a ps5 DE. However, the PS5 doesn't have xbox game pass which will save a lot more money than the hundred dollars and it won't have games like Halo, Gears of war, Forza, Fable, Hell blade 2 and possibly all of the big titles from bethesda games like Fallout, Doom and elders scrolls.
 
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Romulus

Member
I agree with the OP. I like the idea of a middle ground console but the GPU power and RAM is far too low in 2020. In 2-3 years itll be dropping resolution often on the dynamic scalers and would not be surprised if newer games keep it in the 720-900p range
 
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Neo_game

Member
Personally I always thought it was a stupid idea. Also SX DE at 400$ like the PS5 DE would make SS a very bad option. Not sure why Microsoft did not consider it. The only advantage of the SS is that it is very compact and good option for someone who is traveling and has access to any 1080P TV for some gaming.
 
This thing will be the first next gen console to hit a $200 price point right when these consoles are hitting their strides in 2022 or so. Enthusiasts not liking low end hardware is hardly thread worthy and we've covered this particular ground before.
This thread is just to hate on xbox. I hear people on this forum praise the Nintendo switch but it has old ports, limited third party support, hardware on the level of ps3/360, and costs about 300 dollars as well.
 
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FritzJ92

Member
Holy crap a website filled with enthusiast gamers can't figure out why a cheaper weaker more affordable version of hardware exists...

Meanwhile, families of low income who want to play next-gen games and only have $300 dollars to spare aren't complaining at all...

Also, for the ones saying well only $100 dollars more is a PS5 DE, must not realize how that $100 could go towards a game to play on the console, or better yet a year of GamePass for the family has something to play, or even better yet, another controller and a few months of GamePass...

Stop being so dense, affordable gaming isn't going to make sense for the person who reads Neogaff, and wants the greatest and best(est) version of any technology.
 

Alebrije

Member
This thread is just to hate on xbox. I hear people on this forum praise the Nintendo switch but it has old ports and limited third party support, hardware on the level of ps3/360, and costs about 300 dollars as well.

The power of great IPs

Microsoft does not has them and combined with a Series S there is no deal. Series X is fine because at least you can play 3rd party games decently.
 

RyRy93

Member
The appeal of the Series S seems very niche to me, I'd buy a PS5, Series X, One X, Nvidia Shield or Stadia before even considering it.

It lacks power and the ability to play physical media. Which means it's essentially competing with cloud gaming which is much cheaper... you can't even say it's for people with data caps because the storage capacity is so small you need to delete and download games all the time.

The worst thing about it is that for the next 6/7 years the Series S will hold back multiplatform titles.
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Holy crap a website filled with enthusiast gamers can't figure out why a cheaper weaker more affordable version of hardware exists...

Meanwhile, families of low income who want to play next-gen games and only have $300 dollars to spare aren't complaining at all...

Also, for the ones saying well only $100 dollars more is a PS5 DE, must not realize how that $100 could go towards a game to play on the console, or better yet a year of GamePass for the family has something to play, or even better yet, another controller and a few months of GamePass...

Stop being so dense, affordable gaming isn't going to make sense for the person who reads Neogaff, and wants the greatest and best(est) version of any technology.

That family is much better served by a used Xbox One X for $150-160 and some used disc games.

This Series S|X strategy had merits and it would have been killer as a pincer movement of the base PS5 had been $449-499 with a premium model at $599 as some people were expecting. The Series S|X strategy at launch also has side effects (marketing confusion, additional complexity for your DevKit tools and libraries and for third party developers, and one more SKU to support and create... modified SoC and all). Oh and min specs matters (either the high end is held back usually [PS4 Pro and Xbox One X not getting maxed out by devs] or the low end is screwed [hello recent futuristic game clearly not being developed with base consoles/last gen HW in mind]):

zEJsC7T.jpg
 
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FritzJ92

Member
On developing contries people get last gen consoles
...like PS4 or PS3....

There is no money even for a Series S.
Well that only exists because next gen was so expensive... mind you the PS4 and PS4 Pro are right around the same price of the Series S
 
About the Series S being sold out everywhere....

So, looking to see if I could snag a Series X, Best Buy has the Series S available, a handful of them. No bots got them so far after 10 minutes. Was able to add one to my cart no problems.

Just a counter point to those saying its sold out everywhere.
You can add it to cart but won't let you checkout. None in stock. Been like that all weekend. Tried it
 

FritzJ92

Member
That family is much better served by a used Xbox One X for $150-160 and some used disc games.

This Series S|X strategy had merits and it would have been killer as a pincer movement of the base PS5 had been $449-499 with a premium model at $599 as some people were expecting. The Series S|X strategy at launch also has side effects (marketing confusion, additional complexity for your DevKit tools and libraries and for third party developers, and one more SKU to support and create... modified SoC and all). Oh and min specs matters (either the high end is held back usually [PS4 Pro and Xbox One X not getting maxed out by devs] or the low end is screwed [hello recent futuristic game clearly not being developed with base consoles/last gen HW in mind]):

zEJsC7T.jpg
Your logic ignores the part where I said next-gen gaming, that family in 2- years will have to spend money AGAIN to buy a next-gen console as support fades for the One X and any consoles launched before... while a Series S owner would still be getting new games...

Also min-spec matters, but so far I don't see devs complaining and I see the Series S performing in its range of intended performance, and isn't the Tweet deleted also?...
 
Yes, it is really annoying to say the least. Also, some people here are trying to down play it by saying pay a hundred dollars more for a ps5 DE. However, the PS5 doesn't have xbox game pass which will save a lot more money than the hundred dollars and it won't have games like Halo, Gears of war, Forza, Fable, Hell blade 2 and possibly all of the big titles from bethesda games like Fallout, Doom and elders scrolls.
Because people who play these games are intrested in buying a low performance console lol, if your willing to pay $15 a month on gaming, then this is ur hobby, then why would you be intrested in 4tf console, ms have made another expensive mistake.
 
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FritzJ92

Member
Because people who play these games are intrested in buying a low performance console lol, if your willing to pay $15 a month on gaming, then this is ur hobby, then why would you be intrested in 4tf console, ms have made another expensive mistake.

IDK the same reason the majority of PC gamers buy the cheaper tower or cheaper card upgrade instead of the most expensive one
 
The power of great IPs

Microsoft does not has them and combined with a Series S there is no deal. Series X is fine because at least you can play 3rd party games decently.
Halo, Gears, Forza, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Fable, Minecraft, Hell Blade and more are now under Microsoft's ownership and can be use to leverage xbox. Xbox series s will also get all the new third party games and will be the cheapest way to play them all.
 
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I'd be very interested in the S if it had a disc drive and 1tb of storage. I dont have a fancy tv so the lower specs dont bother me but no disc drive and a tiny ass hard drive do. I'll probably just get an X within a year maybe. Not interested in Gamepass either , I'd rather just buy the handful of games i want to play in physical form .
 

Elios83

Member
It's going to bomb in my opinion. You can already find it in stores without much issues in Europe.
People are not stupid. Hardware is seriously gimped, really small SSD as well. Even with cross gen games the results have been disappointing with many sub-1080 games and the marketing promise of "Same as XSX but at 1440p" has been a lie.
What's gonna happen by the end of next year when games are released that are going to make even the PS5 and XSX sweat? Are people really wanting to play these games like Cyberpunk runs on base PS4 and Xbox One S just because it costs 299$? :messenger_tears_of_joy: History tells us that consumers do not buy things just because they're cheap, they buy it only if they see great value in it. Right now this value isn't there since there are no exclusive games and the experience is gimped.
Microsoft tried to make a digital version of the Xbox One as well with the SAD edition and some people said "just wait to see the wonders the lower price will do with mainstream during the holiday season"....and it just bombed.
I expect the same for Series S.
 

Desudzer10

Member
I feel the S is going to be just fine until cross gen support is fully done with. Next gen exclusive games will show enough difference to make the S look like it's old. I'd only get an S if i still have the original Xbone and don't have money for an X. But other than that just get the X.
 
It's going to bomb in my opinion. You can already find it in stores without much issues in Europe.
People are not stupid. Hardware is seriously gimped, really small SSD as well. Even with cross gen games the results have been disappointing with many sub-1080 games and the marketing promise of "Same as XSX but at 1440p" has been a lie.
What's gonna happen by the end of next year when games are released that are going to make even the PS5 and XSX sweat? Are people really wanting to play these games like Cyberpunk runs on base PS4 and Xbox One S just because it costs 299$? :messenger_tears_of_joy: History tells us that consumers do not buy things just because they're cheap, they buy it only if they see great value in it. Right now this value isn't there since there are no exclusive games and the experience is gimped.
Microsoft tried to make a digital version of the Xbox One as well with the SAD edition and some people said "just wait to see the wonders the lower price will do with mainstream during the holiday season"....and it just bombed.
I expect the same for Series S.

1. Xbox one SAD edition wasn't hundred dollars cheaper and didn't improve hardware in any way. In fact, it was worse than the regular xbox one s.

2. Nintendo Switch hardware was weak but still sold well. In fact, sold faster than the PS4.

3. People do buy one product over another because its cheaper. That is why outsourcing became a thing because people will sacrifice quality for price.

4. Hardly any next gen console have exclusives when they launch. PS5 only "exclusive" is a ps3 remake. Sony first party games will come to PS4 for the first few years.
 
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Derktron

Banned
I agree with the OP. I like the idea of a middle ground console but the GPU power and RAM is far too low in 2020. In 2-3 years itll be dropping resolution often on the dynamic scalers and would not be surprised if newer games keep it in the 720-900p range
That’s my main issue, I could see this console being a major problem with developers when developers get more comfortable with making their games using extreme technology where I think the Series S won’t be able to handle it well enough. That’s my main concern. It’s a good console for the pricing but I think Microsoft should’ve done more.
 
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ReBurn

Gold Member
That’s my main issue, I could see this console being a major problem with developers when developers get more comfortable with making their games using extreme technology where I think the Series S won’t be able to handle it well enough. That’s my main concern. It’s a good console for the pricing but I think Microsoft should’ve done more.
Microsoft is probably just going to replace it in 3 years with something else at the same price, anyway. By the time developers get to that point a slightly more powerful $300 box will take its place.
 

pasterpl

Member
Nobody wants Series S , is the only console avaliable now on retailers. We are talking a next gen launch on Christmast and you can get an S everywhere.

This console is obsolete now and will be worse every year..why waste money now on an S better save money 1 year and get a Series X or PS5 , the wait will be worth than get and S now and forever play low performance games.
Not exactly


and the on on amazon us is from some scalper
 

sainraja

Member
Microsoft shouldn't have created the Series S in my opinion. It's a pointless option to give people and have to support (regardless of streamlined they've made that.)
 

Alebrije

Member
Halo, Gears, Forza, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Fable, Minecraft, Hell Blade and more are now under Microsoft's ownership and can be use to leverage xbox. Xbox series s will also get all the new third party games and will be the cheapest way to play them all.

With all those great IPs wonder why Series S is not sold out everywhere....
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
That family is much better served by a used Xbox One X for $150-160 and some used disc games.

This Series S|X strategy had merits and it would have been killer as a pincer movement of the base PS5 had been $449-499 with a premium model at $599 as some people were expecting. The Series S|X strategy at launch also has side effects (marketing confusion, additional complexity for your DevKit tools and libraries and for third party developers, and one more SKU to support and create... modified SoC and all). Oh and min specs matters (either the high end is held back usually [PS4 Pro and Xbox One X not getting maxed out by devs] or the low end is screwed [hello recent futuristic game clearly not being developed with base consoles/last gen HW in mind]):

zEJsC7T.jpg
Sampler Feedback Streaming says hi.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Your logic ignores the part where I said next-gen gaming, that family in 2- years will have to spend money AGAIN to buy a next-gen console as support fades for the One X and any consoles launched before... while a Series S owner would still be getting new games...

In two years they may be able to buy a used XSX and in total they will have spent about the same or less and got tons of cheap used games (God bless discs ;)).

Also min-spec matters, but so far I don't see devs complaining and I see the Series S performing in its range of intended performance, and isn't the Tweet deleted also?...
Tweet deleted because his company got bought out by MS 😒.
 

Romulus

Member
Microsoft is probably just going to replace it in 3 years with something else at the same price, anyway. By the time developers get to that point a slightly more powerful $300 box will take its place.

But what about all the people buying it now and the next 3 years? Just buy another console in 3 years? The console will still get game releases in 5 years from now.
 
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x@3f*oo_e!

Member
That family is much better served by a used Xbox One X for $150-160 and some used disc games.

This Series S|X strategy had merits and it would have been killer as a pincer movement of the base PS5 had been $449-499 with a premium model at $599 as some people were expecting. The Series S|X strategy at launch also has side effects (marketing confusion, additional complexity for your DevKit tools and libraries and for third party developers, and one more SKU to support and create... modified SoC and all). Oh and min specs matters (either the high end is held back usually [PS4 Pro and Xbox One X not getting maxed out by devs] or the low end is screwed [hello recent futuristic game clearly not being developed with base consoles/last gen HW in mind]):

zEJsC7T.jpg
Odd that the tech expert uses BVH trees as an example of why he needs more RAM - when it's a relatively tiny additional memory cost, and could(/should) be a zero additional memory cost since standard rasterization scene graph already should be in a BVH tree ..

Not saying it 100% has enough RAM. just saying I find his reasoning example odd.
 

soulbait

Member
Let me be clear, I'm in no way hating on Microsoft or the console I'm just stating my own opinion on what I experienced from using the console for a couple of months.

For me, the console feels like any other Xbox system that has been out when it comes to the Xbox One. It feels just like the Xbox One and plays like it too. I don't see any difference in performance and visuals, maybe that's because I still don't have a 4KTV yet maybe that's the main issue I'm having but let me be clear. If that's the case then I don't find it fair to those who still haven't upgrade yet to 4K. I thought the Series S was meant for both 1080p and 4K tv and monitors. I played games that are meant for "next-gen" and I don't see anything brand new, not even 60fps. I can understand the lack of 120Fps because you are supposed to have a tv or monitor that supports 120hz. Even my gaming PC does that, in order for me to see beyond 120fps, I have to activate 144hz which is what my monitor has running.

I don't know maybe I'm doing it wrong and really need to upgrade but I feel like having the Series S is a waste of time and I don't understand why Microsoft made it. Hardly anyone talks about it and that to me is a big turn off because it feels like I made a mistake in buying it.

As of now, yeah it's just going to feel like a Xbox One with maybe some visual upgrades vs the Xbox One playing the same game. However, in a year or so when games are built to take advantage of the new CPU and are not also playable on the Xbox One, then the advantage of the less expensive next-gen hardware will become more clear: you can play games on it that you cannot play on the Xbox One.

Sure, the resolution will not be as high as the Xbox Series X and some of the graphical effects may have to be scaled back, but it will still allow you to play these games at a lower cost of entry. In a year or two the advantage will be made more clear.

Also in a year or two the possible disadvantages might be clear as well: unable to truly deliver 1440p gaming and maybe holding back Xbox Series X games. Another possible disadvantage could be if it does not sell enough, MS might go back on what they said, and no longer require Xbox Series games to work on both X and S. Time will only tell though.

I like what MS has attempted to do with the S. I think it is a good option for those who have a limited budget or want multiple game consoles in the house. Multiple game console households becomes even a better deal if they get GamePass family plan going that has been slightly hinted at.

Time will tell if this was a good move by MS or not. For me, I am optimistically cautious about it. I might buy one as a secondary console for myself, due to only having one 4k TV in my house. Then again, I might buy a new TV, so then a second Series X becomes more tempting 😂😂.
 
About the Series S being sold out everywhere....

So, looking to see if I could snag a Series X, Best Buy has the Series S available, a handful of them. No bots got them so far after 10 minutes. Was able to add one to my cart no problems.

Just a counter point to those saying its sold out everywhere.
You're right! I can add it to cart and it tells me it is not available at any stores within 250 miles from me and I can only do in store pick up. I guess the XSS can be snagged no problems!
 
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