Video: Here's The Official Xbox Series X|S Walkthrough

Awesome walkthrough, seems they put a lot of thought into everything!!

I hope setting up the console with the mobile app is optional, I have no interest at all in using the mobile app.

Only thing new in the video really was how quick the external SSD loads, which is seriously impressive.

Great video, but the "new" visuals didn't look great. Might just be the stream, but nothing seemed particularly impressive. I'm curious to see how Cyber Punk looks on the Series X vs. the PS5.

@Grumblevolcano I doubt they'd force that on anyone.

Awsome video..

I really wish Xbox would upload HDR versions of these videos so people can actually see Auto HDR working.

Digital Foundry did a video showcasing Auto HDR, but it shouldn't be the only one doing HDR.

UI looks good, everything seems really speedy which is nice to see. Dirt looks rotten though, why on earth did they choose that game to show off.

So it looks really well and seems to work really well too. But so does it on my Xbox One All Digital...

As there are no real next-gen games from the start and everything is so familiair, I can imagine spending myself 500 euros for the Series X, play on it for two the first two hours and then think...

I already had this.

The pop-in during their Subnautica gameplay is terrible. Objects pop in quickly, but the draw distance is still short. I hope the devs fix that because pop-in is distracting at any resolution.

@Olliemar28 I didn't think they dwelled on share button it is a nice addition to the best in class controller. November 10th can't come soon enough for my Doom Eternal playthrough before Cyberpunk 2077.

@Zuljaras Likely is because of getting people to sign up for a Microsoft Account, Minecraft is getting an update on non-Xbox platforms (e.g. Switch) next year which forces you to login into a Microsoft Account to play it.

@Medic_Alert umm it’s not the same UI though. The one they are displaying was not the same UI from months ago. Although this UI has been out via “insiders preview”; it is technically a “New UI”. For instance; the store 6 months ago; took forever to load. Granted not sure how much time you spent in the store but the store UI alone has been massively changed. As for the other parts; again they’ve been slowly updating things throughout the year so it feels the same but If you compare Last Years UI to this one; very different.

I am stoked cant wait still deciding if I am going to buy Vahalla as son as cyberpunk comes out that is what I will be playing. I do have one question about download speeds that I can not seem to find an answer to.
What is the cap right now at home my download speed is 400 but my xbox one x does not download any where near that maybe 1/4 of that. I know that is because of either the speed of getting it from the server or the x is capped by its tech. Will the series x be a lot faster downloading games? Has anyone seen them give specifics?

So it’s basically the same UI we currently have on XB1. No complaints though, it’s pretty snappy and a lot quicker than the sluggish UI on my PS4 Pro.

@Zuljaras I imagine on the back-end it "activates" windows, same as any PC. An internet connection is required for any Windows activation as well, however for Windows you can call in and phone in the activation. Probably too complicated to mess with that for a console.

I do wonder if PS5 will have the same requirement though. They still have not said much. With how internet connected their UI seems to be, I expect a lot of policy parity with MS this time around.

Heck WiiU needed internet just to get the version of the OS that was actually functional, performance-wise, and had all the features. AFAIK they never put that on a disc, unlike Wii.

@Medic_Alert fair enough.

Although I find this “console mindset” odd when compared to everything else. But you aren’t not the only person that thinks that way by any stretch. I get that’s how a good chunk of people think. I guess find it odd that people are willing upgrade all their other electronics generally for better hardware and nothing else. It seems that for some reason, it’s just console that need a reason to purchase a system beyond just better hardware. I get picking which console you buy because of games; that’s another thing altogether. But with any other device a hardware upgrade is a hardware upgrade.

Odd to me is all.

@Medic_Alert I'm not sure I like the idea that "you need a new interface every new piece of hardware for it to feel new." I don't like "change for the sake of change." and it infuriates me that websites change annually at least just because "people seem to want it to change." If the UI works, leave it for the next 50 years. Tweak as needed. My windows UI is the same now as it was in 1996, but with some tweaks here and there to streamline and enhance it. The sum of it's parts is quite different, but it's not a radical change. And the time they did try to radically change it it became that much worse for it.

@Medic_Alert @NEStalgia yes I agreed. When you go to get a new phone; I’m sure most are happy the UI is familiar. I, personally, don’t want to relearn a new UI every time ._.

Anyway, I think you said what I was trying to say but better.

@Medic_Alert @mousieone I have to agree with Mousie totally on this - I don't get this fixation with "new console I want it to be a whole new experience that's entirely different so I can start from zero like it's never existed before!" It's a theme I'm seeing this launch that I have really noticed as much in the past. "I don't care about playing old games better, I want to see the new games!", "I want a new UI, this one's the same", "I don't want cross-gen, it's supposed to be a new generation!'

I just don't understand that mindset. I mean, I come from the era where there was no UI at all, you just plug the cart in and there's your game. So the idea of wanting something special out of the interface at all is a little odd - it's just the loader, it should get out of the way.

But in a large way I think that summarizes the difference in mindset between XBox and PS fans in general. (Nintendos' Nintendo....they're their own thing.) PS fans seem to love this idea of this console is unrelated to the last console, and is a self contained world with its own interface, own way of doing things, own library of games, and the 3, 4, and 5 don't mix. And there seems to be active rejection of it not being that way.

XBox embraces the PC mindset, that the games you bought 15 years ago is part of your library collected and here's the newest, best hardware to run it all on. And it's about refining the platform you run that library on rather than reinventing the wheel every 7 years.

As someone that jumped from the SNES & Genesis/Megadrive to PC for a decade ore more and returned to consoles only with Wii+PS3+eventually 360 I'm very used to that way of thinking of games. I bought games in 1999, 2000.....I could still play most of them on any PC today....why wouldn't my console do that? Xbox says it should. Sony laughs and says "but that's old, you don't want that, that is a "PS2 game" - as though the game is locked in time to a past era.

To me that's outdated and frustrating. But there does seem to be a mindset prevalent that expects that. That difference I think is why I gravitate toward XBox. It thinks of games the way I do, and the way I did on PC. I love PS, and I live Nintendo.....but the XBox mindset is the most natural one beyond my Nintendo attachment, for me. I don't want a new UI. I want improvements to "the" UI - the only UI. (And I actively dislike that reddit/pinterest/instagram stuff they've crammed into the PS UI which is hopefully disablable.)

@Zuljaras

@Zuljaras Windows activation keys are an online activation since 2k/XP. You can still phone them in, though.

I can see where for some players the online activation will be a problem or a show stopper. I think people have mostly come to accept one time activations of things (after all, their phone needed activation, their computer needed activation....basically everything except a Nintendo or Playstation needs activation.) It could be a problem in more remote areas, but even dialup customers should be ok for just the activation. I'm not necessarily "defending it" but I also think it's so "normal" at this point, there will be such a small group of people bothered by it, it's not of too much consequence.

And honestly, at this point, given that very few games are truly 100% playable from disc, I hate to say it, but anyone without good internet probably should not be buying any of these consoles. For now there's Nintendo but even their download sizes are increasing such that by Switch 2 they may not be viable for anyone with lousy internet. (I say that as someone that was in that position for half of this past generation.)

@Bdbrady yeah the games don't look fantastic in these videos. Really should have given the RDX guys or Randal tomato a series x as they load all their videos in top resolution so we could actually know what it looks like. I'll be enjoying my series x anyways but it seems they are still off on this side of the marketing....show your best

@Krzzystuff I agree. I don’t care about graphics that much, more art style and gameplay. But it’s frustrating to see them missing easy PR beats. Have fun!

@Medic_Alert The vibe I get from the PS camp is that while some prefer BC, the bulk really just don't care. It's just a very different mindset (your view somewhat echoes it as well.)

As for Series X launch games, I don't think it's so much about they put all the eggs in the Halo basket so much as, that's literally the only game they had far enough in their pipeline following studio acquisitions and fulfilling contracts for multiplat releases that came with those studios to actually have ready yet. They didn't really start getting to work with these studios until after X1X came out. It was a given they wouldn't have much 1st party content this soon. Technically neither does Sony. Most of their tentpoles are held-back PS4 games while they went dormant for 2 years and are multiplat except ratchet and Souls (Which is just a remake of a PS3 game....) Miles, Sackboy, HzD2, GoW2, are PS4 games. Ratchet is new, but without a more definitive timeline than Halo. Souls....kinda counts? Though rumor says it's also coming to PS4, just later, which I believe. So basically, Microsoft has Halo 2021, Sony has Ratchet 2021......and that's kind of the whole next gen stable if you don't want something also playable on PS4/X1X. As we know it so far, anyway. Different marketing, same situation. Honestly it's smart. Who can afford to launch a subsidized console when all your big games are limited to an install base the size of however fast you can produce new hardware? That can't work anymore. Heck, even BotW depended on adding WiiU's miniscule install base.

@Zuljaras That's a good question, though out of any company MS is the one I have the most "trust" for with that. You can still phone in and activate Windows 98...... I can't think of any other company that actually allows activations for out of service products, indefinitely like that. I think for XP they basically let you enter almost any key and generate the token now. They've been friendly. But it still sucks relying on them having to be friendly forever.

@Zuljaras lol, at least rip 7 if you're going through the effort....

But yeah... That'll work too

@Medic_Alert eh it might have been phrased wrong (Not NES to say) but there are a lot of, I think, younger, is a better word, fans that tend to dominate the conversation and vocally don’t care about BC. I know you don’t want to see my reddit/YouTube/browsing history but I’ve gotten into several keruffuls because some people don’t care. However, I think it tends to be more younger fans than older fans rather than platform vs platform.

I do think PS, as a company, has this “looking forward/new innovations” mindset. That’s all about creating “new” experiences for their player base. There isn’t anything wrong with it, it’s naturally to want move forward especially as a tech company.

But MS has more “refine and reclaim” approach. They want to “smooth” out the experiences for their players. Again nothing wrong with either.

That said my issue isn’t with platform vs platform but rather system vs system.

For me I’d rather have the UIs on all my MS devices be similar; less confusion. I upgrade based on hardware not software; so it happens when I choose it.

But plenty of people see gaming devices differently than say phones. I don’t because no one needs an IPhone 12, you could get by with an old IPhone 6, but many do anyway.

@Medic_Alert It seems endemic to the environment though. Xbox promotes the full library concept heavily, so naturally anyone that aligns with that thinking will choose it. PS actively resists it, so it will be the choice of those with no interest in that. To a degree is people wanting what they're told to want, but it's also people aligning themselves with the brand that matches their own mindset.

Though that "it's about the games" thing is part of what I mean. I've never bought an xbox to get access to Microsoft games. I don't dislike their games, but they've never been been a selling point. I buy it as the nicer platform to house an my other games if I'm not going to build pcs. That's been their stated appeal for some time. I like Sony's games, enough to buy their consoles as a third console to play them, so I can't say I entirely don't get what you're saying, but if I were choosing one non Nintendo platform, between them, my choice would land on which one is the better overall PLATFORM for 90% of games. For a digital player thats XB hands down. For physical only ....maaaybe the edge goes to PlayStation. And that was a big factor in my decision to go ps4 first last time even beyond football drm. But only if library preservation isn't so important.

I obviously can't say "I wouldn't buy a console just to get the exclusives" considering I'm buying ps5 for precisely that purpose. But i guess I'd say i wouldn't choose my primary platform based on a handful of exclusives. I'd have to pick which is the better platform/ecosystem overall for me. Then if i have the money and still want the games from the other, then buy that, too.

this gen is complicated though. We don't know long term which system will run third parties better. We do know which one has better policies though. And other than r&c, most of Sony's franchises, although good games aren't particularly special to me (horizon, gow i can take or leave, I'd rather play assassin's creed) and all the zombie games and soulsborne aren't for me. I'm counting on new ips and classic ips and Japanese Sony loyal devs. Whereas with Bethesda and obsidian. ..xb probably has as exclusives my top non Nintendo products of the past 20 years..... Which i can certainly didn't expect. So ironically if I'd picked Sony due the exclusive first, I'd have HAD try get zb as an exclusives machine ..... Weird times.

@mousieone Good point about age. I always forget protohumans can come across as experienced on the internet.....

I still think of Mario 64 as "new"..........
.........
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#notmymario

Sony has a general corporate culture of trying to force "innovation" where there wasn't demand for it. Nintendo innovates by inventing things nobody asked for and seeing if it sicks to the wall. Sony tends to innovate by replacing something that worked and telling you that it's what you want. Remember minidisc? . Well Japan liked it a little.

But mostly with ps they like each iteration to be it's own microcosm separated and standing alone. Maybe it's about new experiences. But mostly i think it comes from being a legacy product company. Every year every dvd player gets a new ui! Every PlayStation is a new product so new ui! They think in CES terms, not in platform terms. And they've never done well with platform products. But arguably consoles weren't platforms until ps360. And that's where we see the divergence. Sony kept doing a ui for the machine unique to it. Ms has 3 different uis per console over the years as os upgrades. It's that platform mindset vs. av component mindset. Just a different way of thinking about it.... And customers clearly align more behind one mindset or the other.

Still no series S gameplay 🤨. Would be nice to see how it performs

I just came here to say I can't wait for next gen to start. There's plenty to be excited about, regardless of whether you buy a PS5 or XSX/S. Despite that some guys prefer to nitpick, look for reasons to be worried (55 fps instead of 60... FFS). Let's just try to enjoy this moment, especially during a time when there is enough doom and gloom around us. Oh and Microsoft will make Game Pass work. If not, what do you care? There'll be another type of service available. Microsoft won't go bankrupt

This video has helped me with my decision in sticking with my current Xbox. There’s not much difference to warrant me spending an excess of £500 to play the same games and have a lot less room in my media unit

@WesEds This, precisely this. Microsoft improved everything on the current Xbox as well. The new Xbox doesn't feel new yet, I have no temptation to buy it - yet.

But my current Xbox has seen a lot of fantastic updates. Hurrah!

@hallower1980 That was pretty disturbing. You'd think the next-gen consoles could easily run Subnautica. Perhaps because they had 3 games on quick resume.

@Bartig exactly I can see why they discontinued the One X, luckily I picked up a new one the end of April for £160

@Rjak No, I think the problem is just the particular game's settings. Digital Foundry has shown how some games are locked at 30fps so no amount of power can improve the framerate unless the game's developers update the code. I think Subnautica locks the draw distance. Maybe the devs will eventually make a Series X/S patch.

Not all games will benefit from Quick Resume either. Multiplayer games like Destiny won't remain logged in long after you exit them. The SSD will still load the games quicker, but a lot of games requiring an online connection will have to reestablish that connection. Even Hitman saves rely on a server connection.