Talking Point: What's Your Favourite Memory Of The Xbox Series X|S Generation So Far?

Well the deals have been underwhelming: Obsidian, Bethesda and ActiBlizz just really haven't done anything yet (at least worthwhile)...We're still getting screwed on timed exclusives (seriously, why do they even still exist) ...In all honesty - at mid point - pretty disappointing....Still, at least MS didn't try flogging us an overpriced graphics upgrade, so there's that 🙂

It's a difficult one. My favourite time in any consoles life is the first year on the market, where Devs are trying to see what works. The Series X for all its strengths took an entire year to offer any sort of compelling exclusive title. There wasn't really much I couldn't download or stream on the Xbox One.

The launch of Starfield sticks in my mind. Id never really played a Bethesda game before and I found the open ended roleplay to be incredibly compelling.

Starfield and Halo Infinite are my favorite gaming experiences so far.

My favorite memory is probably watching my niece (3) and nephew (4) play the crap out of gamepass games. They love Joyride Turbo from 360 and also enjoy Bluey, paw patrol, disney dreamlight valley and farm sim.

This is going to sound so (unintentionally) snarky, but I think the pre-release hype and its promises? I was a hardcore Xbox guy that mostly sat out the One generation, so I remember being really excited. I remember being really impressed with how Forza Horizon 4 looked, which was new to me since I was absent for its launch.

But as the others above me said, this gen has unfortunately been a bit underwhelming.

This is such a tough question to answer because the promise has been so much greater than the delivery.

I think the Bethesda announcement was pretty mind blowing but I'm struggling for much else.

The ActiBlizz deal was very exciting for me. Thanks to gamepass I am having a blast with Black Ops 6 and Diablo 4 on my XSX. Still hoping for more ActiBlizz titles on GamePass.

when I gifted a Series X to my nephew 🙂⭐️

Backwards compatibility. Microsoft’s BC program is second to none (at least in the console space. PC offers infinitely more scaling options, tweaks, mods etc etc etc). The performance gains in older titles, the boosts to resolution/framerates along with other little bells and whistles is to be highly praised. It is the single ray of light in this bleak and barren generation, at least for Team Green.

It truly is ironic; Nintendo and to a lesser extent even Sony are both sitting on a veritable mountain of gold in the form of prior games and IP, but do little with them outside of endless remasters and the occasional title added to NSO or PS+. Meanwhile there really aren’t all that many games from prior Xbox generations even worth revisiting, but Microsoft’s loving, slavish attention to backwards compatibility blows the other two platform holder’s feeble efforts out of the water.

The one thing that I really loved about the Series X was the significantly improved load times - even for X1 games.

I think I was in the middle of a playthrough of the last-gen version of Control at the time I got the console (Series X|S upgrade hadn't released yet), and it was like a whole new game as the load times upon load, fast travel, death, etc. just felt so long on X1X but were mere seconds on the new hardware.

When you only have a short window of time to play games, spending 1/4 of that in load screens really kills the mood. So, it was fantastic getting those fast load times.

The other fond memory I had was booting up the console some days to find a game got a Series X|S upgrade thanks to Smart Delivery - even without warning.

The Series X was my primary console with the PS5 and Switch being for exclusives-only, so Smart Delivery was fantastic for ensuring I had the best version of the game possible when I booted up my console.

Good times!

Ok I had to think about this. It's not a great generation for consoles. But a couple of the features for the Series I really do appreciate. The 4k/60fps updates for back compat titles is by far my favorite. Smart Delivery was great. Now it's very middling.

I can say my favorite moments in this generation have to be when I was able to play every game in the Yakuza franchise thanks to Game Pass and when I realized I could pay for games entirely with reward points!

"My Favourite Memory" of this generation is not to buy any new console. No "xbox series x" , No "xbox series s", No "ps5". I played the games on "PC", "xbox one s" and "ps4"...
I was waiting to buy "xbox series x - enhanced edition" with 2 TB ssd and no disk driver which is never released, maybe until recently. But as you know, it is too late now. We are not far from next generation consoles. I prefer to wait for new xbox. Not gonna buy any recent generation. It is just too late, besides, my 3,5 years of game pass subscription expired.
So...
I may renew my subscription if I buy a next generation console. Until then, I am good wih my PC.

Getting 3 years of Ultimate for about £94 and a few hundred quids worth of Amazon vouchers thanks to the reward points............the good old days.

@Pigrotto Best uncle ever💪

@EvenStephen7 I second that, i remember when the Xbox series X was first shown. And i was hyped!

Playing Oblivion and Fallout 3 again and looking better than ever on console

Shadow drop of Hi Fi Rush.

First, I started this Gen with the PS5 and left XBox for 2 years. Than suddenly, I missed XBox and realized, it was a mistake, selling all my XBox One stuff.
I felt a need for Halo. And so, I bought a Series X at the start of 2023. I didn't regret it and still love the Series X so much.
It looks great, feels stable, is quite. The selection of games is awesome, the backwards compatibility was another reason for me and it's so damn great.
It could still use a bit more exclusive games, but either way, the XBox One and Series X have a good selection of XBox exclusives.
It's just the best XBox of all time so far.
And that's why it hurts me, that Microsoft is doing so many mistakes with their image.

The series x console itself is brilliant and great features like quick resume etc and the GUI is a lot faster now.

Dam shame about Microsoft’s approach to it and how we will probably never see the true 12tflop game power of the series x with a AAA game to beat them all.
I don’t blame the developers it’s they have never had the chance to make a game ground up for the series x only and no other devices, like Sony and Nintendos studios do.

The hype and the first year. Series X was my first ever Xbox and I loved it. For a year, at least. Now I find myself wanting one again, but can’t really afford it right now. I’ve been using xCloud for the last 2-3 months and may just stick with it instead of buying a Series console midway through the gen that’s been underwhelming, to say the least.

First year was fun, but then it quickly crashed and burned for me.
And since it didn't have any console exclusives, I sold it, and got game pass on my PC instead.
I really thought this gen would become a "360" styled comeback...

Can't believe it's almost 20 years ago, when I brought home my 360, and played the new Dead or Alive. Going from SD to HD, was just jawdropping. It sure was the last console generation, that I REALLY had fun with.

I got my Series X early 2022, right after holiday 2021. Playing Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, and Psychonauts 2 on a new 4K console at 60fps really wowed and stuck with me. Unfortunately, other than Hi-Fi Rush (and to a degree Forza MotorSport), nothing else has really stuck out for me.

My favourite memory is of refunding the console because there was nothing exclusive to play on it.

Mine would come across super bitchy, so I've decided to keep it to myself. 👀

I got my Series X in April 2023 to play Hogwarts Legacy. I skipped the Xbox One generation, so it was quite the experience for me. I look back on that first playthrough with fondness. Afterwards, I found Warhammer 40k Darktide. So this generation has been all Wizarding World and Tertium for me.

I have so many great Xbox experiences, there is no way Sony/PS5 would have been a better choice for me. First off, I haven't played video games much since high school, too busy otherwise, university, career, raising family... When my kids were younger we had the Wii & PS3. Kids are now young adults. Bought my older daughter a PS5 as a birthday gift since that was what she wanted.

1) Best memory is my "Free" Xbox Series S, I got from a big Canadian drug store chain through loyalty points. But it took about 2 yrs after launch for enough availability for me to finally get the Series S. In a way I'm thankful PS5 was more popular & difficult to get "free" through loyalty points.

2) Not being much into gaming or having previous generation console, I lacked content to play. I knew of the Games with Gold stacking then conversion to Game Pass Ultimate for $1. I only did 2 years of Games with Gold conversion (hindsight I should have done 3 years, but wasn't sure I would be that into gaming), but that is definitely memory #2, as now I had lots of great gaming content for super cheap.

3) Game Pass Ultimate is next best memory as now I immediately had lots of content to play & could slowly build up my owned library of games when good sales came along.

4) After I'm hooked on Xbox gaming, I bought a used Xbox Series X, after the nonsense of ripoff used prices died down a bit.

5) Microsoft Reward Points, despite ongoing nerfing, I'm sure this is still way better than what I could earn by going Sony/PS5. I started with 2 years GPU (from Games with Gold Conversion), and two years later I still have another 1.5yrs of GPU, even though I only paid for another 3 months of GPU. All the rest were rewards points. I could add a few more years of GPU, but now saving points towards the next thing (Xbox handheld or next gen console).

Yeah, so I would say Series X/S generation has been VERY GOOD for me. It has been incredible value. Yes, some things don't meet expectations (eg. Redfall, Starfield for me, etc), but in terms of gaming value there is no way I would be better off in Sony/PS5 ecosystem.

Uhhhh....... You serious? It's the worst console generation to date.

I’d say 2021 Holidays, previously that year we got Phsychonauts 2, Flight Simulator and all Bethesda on Game Pass, then we got a streak from Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite MP followed by the campaign and the Activision buyout announced a month later.

That was a pretty exciting time to be an Xbox user, almost 360 vibes I’d say, afterwards in 2022 they didn’t have a single game and the rest is history…

Gotta say BO 6. First time for many years had cod on day one. Played with friends into early hours few night. Felt young without young kids enjoying online and zombies. Been great

Elden Ring and I don't think it's close.

My favourite memory so far is the day I got undeniable proof the Series X is tougher than the PS5.

Our phone line got struck by lightning which fried the router, but the Series X survived unscathed while the PS5 has had no ethernet since that day despite them both being connected to the same router with the same quality and length cables.

Forza Horizon 5. Xbox’s best game they made this gen and their biggest overhaul success. Critical acclaim and huge sales success. Then Xbox had to go and ruin it by releasing Halo Infinite way too early when they needed more time to make more content for it. But Xbox is gonna do Xbox things and ruin their image by doing dumb things like releasing games that clearly needed more time in the oven.

All the BC support we got and FPS Boost for older games. Also Halo Infinite Multiplayer beta and the first 2-3 months of Infinite Multiplayer.

Otherwise...maybe seeing Flight Sim 2020 actually running at all on console. Also yesterday when Death Stranding came to Series consoles.

That's about it, generation might go down as worse than Xbox One besides much much much better hardware in the Series consoles.

From camp MS: Age of Empires returning to console and the launch of Starfield. (I really enjoyed that game)

EDIT: The 2021 update to backwards compatibility that let me bring a good deal of my 360 games along for the ride. Thanks @kuu_nousee, your comment reminded me.

Flying around Hogwarts was pretty sweet.

The day cloud gaming arrived to my country. I hadn't been playing my Xbox for a while. Was so hooked on my switch. But cloud arrived and I tried it. I couldn't believe it was so good. I had access to so many games right in my pocket. Got a kishi like the next day. Got right back into Xbox again. Made me even go buy a series s. Now my poor switch has been abandoned for years. Oh and also right now. I am pretty hyped to have all my owned games come to cloud. I am away from home a lot with little space but plenty of fast internet so a phone, a kishi and access to all my games. That sounds pretty sweet to me. Oh I nearly forgot, rewards, rewards, rewards. I know they are not exclusively Xbox series, but they have definitely increased my gaming pleasure in the last few years.

Loading times for all series enchanted games. Doom Eternal and Halo Master Chief Collection take a few minutes to load into a level but on the series S the loading time is 2-5 seconds.

Series x to me feels like overpromised and underdelivered. Gamepass is ok but thats not xbox exclusive. Tbh ps5 feels much more worth it in direct comparison and that is with all the nonsense sony has pulled.

My favorite memory so far , would be finally getting my 2nd ever Xbox with the Xbox series s, and exploring around Starfield and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The 600 hours of Halo Infinite I have with friends.

Playing old games at 4K 60fps.

It wasn’t the reason I bought the console, but playing through last gen games like Final Fantasy 15 and Assassins Creed: Origins was a wonderful experience for me.

When I figured out I’m not a developer but I could install developer mode and get my neighbours kid to install retro arch turning my Xbox into a Dreamcast.

Easy: Starfield. That first time taking off was magical.

I got into this generation at the end of the last one, and I remember how I liked the pro consumer stuff of Xbox and Phil Spencer, the open gaming centric attitude, and at a time when Sony seemed to be about nickel and diming, I liked the pro-gamer image of Xbox. I also remember getting it during the pandemic, and how easy it was to transition to the new console.

@Lofty1985 See, the problem there was that the PS5 is just a giant router (look at it!), and routers are prone to getting fried by surges.

But how many times have you heard of a well-ventilated mini fridge getting zapped during a storm?

Finding out that FPS Boost was happening. Such a great feature, and pretty well unprecedented in the industry. I don't know if Xbox knows how important this and back compat in general are (safe to assume MS HQ doesn't!), but back compat was the thing that really sold me on the Xbone, and FPS Boost almost got me to buy a Series X as well.
If only it didn't cost $650 up here.

But yeah, this is an area where MS is really leading the industry (barring PC, obviously), and they should be doubling down on it, while their competitors should be following suit. At least in my opinion (and if they want me to buy more of their stuff).

I guess it's very much a niche game still but Microsoft Flight Simulator is my favourite part of this relatively underwhelming generation thus far. It is game optimization as it's very best. Something that shouldn't be possible on console but with a good Internet connection, this is an astounding experience - the whole planet in glorious 4K with some of the best weather and lighting effects to date. Can't wait for MSFS 2024 (and it's miraculous file size this time!).

The next gen update of the Witcher 3 is my most played game this gen which is saying something (not least that that game is still magnificent almost a decade later). Of actual current gen games, I thought Hogwarts Legacy was an absolute triumph. I'm a Potter nerd so a bit biased but it's been my game of the generation so far.

Special mention to SSX3 which is a great advert for backwards compatibility. At 4k and 50fps then it is not far off feeling like a current gen remake. All these years later and it's still about as fun as gaming gets. Surely that series is ripe for a reboot.

A highlight was also the drop of Mafia onto Gamepass the other month. Never played them before but immediately bought the next two games in the series and it's now a favourite series of mine.

Starfield, Cyberpunk, Forza Horizon 5 (actually preferred 4 to be honest but both great) and Halo Infinite also great. I tend to enjoy games that get crapped on a lot it seems, but whatever; I like what I like.

Been a lot of highlights for me. There seems to have been a lot of belly-aching about this generation but I've just been getting on with playing games and enjoying them.

When I bought my first XBox ever (series X) and discovered Forza Horizon 4 and 5.

So far…that’s about it. Still definitely much more of a PS/Switch guy, but Forza Horizon is fantastic. Once MS dips out of the console market, I look forward to playing it on the PS5/6!

As much as I hate to say it, the key memories I have of these gen's consoles are pretty much all negative

Only positive thing was being able to secure two Series X preorders.

But even that, in hindsight, would have been better if I hadn't been able to. That way I could have seen the direction this generation was going before buying them.

Getting Series X and the first game I put in was Sega Rally Revo from the 360..,its when I learned everything is not backwards compatible 🤣

Then proceeded to play DQ11 on gamepass 🤙

Forza Horizon 4. What a game.

It feels like this generation has been underwhelming across all platforms

Forza 5 launch on series X. It wasn't perfect, but I thought that would be the start of loads of technically awesome Series X exclusives. Sadly, I've been waiting since for any more. Hopeful we will get some next year...

Having had my PS4 for 7 years, and it sounding like a jet engine every time I used it, I decided it was time for something new, so I jumped on the XBOX S-Train back in 2022 😁 and subscribed to Game Pass. I've played so many great games over the last 2 years, it has definitely been a great move.

1) Elden Ring
2) Psychonauts 2
3) Lies of P

Bonus mention: Dark Souls 3 getting FPS Boost support.

Playing the original F.E.A.R. at >=1080p 60fps after having recently beaten the PS3 version