Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5

[Lancer]

Walked into Target last night to get some grocery and talked w the electronics guy. Asked him about XBX and he said they got 2 in on Friday! He had one left and boom I got it!

Will open it up and try to set it up tonight. Exciting stuff!

I

Starting a few weeks ago, I’ve been diligently checking Amazon every day, just in case. They’ve been available there from 3rd-party sellers for about €600-800 for Series X and €900-1,000 for PS5 (with the occasional €540 with €450 shipping sneaky ones thrown in). I had come really close a couple of times to settling for a Series S or even being willing to pay close to €600 to a re-seller but ugh, that is so distasteful to me.


Any good advice you guys can give as far as “this’ll blow your mind” Series X visuals? Or gameplay smoothness type things that some games show off? My TV is 4K and HDR but can only do 60Hz. But still, 4K 60Hz for games is definitely a step up from Xbox One X.

Wait youre in the UK/EU? When did this happen?

I have a 4K TCL TV I got at Costco that can do 4K/HDR/60HZ and the console looks amazing on it. There are so many XBX games to play on gamepass but not sure I have room for it even with 1TB. I probably would have to erase flight sim, that is a big memory hogger.

So far with my limited time w/ XBX, Forza 5 is a must to play. That is the game I was most impressed with gameplay and visually. MLBTS 21 was incredible too but I understand baseball isn't for everyone.

I totally forgot about NBA. I've read that game looks stunning on XBX. Will wait for it to come to gamepass.

[J_Cauthen]

Walked into Target last night to get some grocery and talked w the electronics guy. Asked him about XBX and he said they got 2 in on Friday! He had one left and boom I got it!

Will open it up and try to set it up tonight. Exciting stuff!

Tremendous... I'm more astounded that it sat on the shelf for 2 days before you bought it! My biggest pros with the Series X are the improved frame rates it affords in many games and the faster load times. Forza Horizon 5 looks a little better in its ultra graphics setting, but it's stuck to 30 FPS when you use it. I find the cars so much more drivable at 60 FPS, and you really have to be doing a side-by-side to notice the difference between the two graphics settings.

My two biggest game enhancements are PGA TOUR 2K21, which runs at a fairly solid 60 FPS when you set the vsync to 60 Hz, and Asseto Corsa Competitzione and its (mostly) 60 FPS performance, with some improved graphics sprinkled in. I'm looking forward to playing the Series X enhanced NBA 2K22 when it eventually comes to Game Pass, but I'm just not as much a fan of that game as I once was to make me want to buy it.

I've had my Series X for 14 months now and I still don't take it for granted. It just feels so solid and runs so cool and quietly. I haven't seen anything yet that just screams full next generation graphics yet on it, but I've probably missed a few that might. I have a hunch that EA Sports next golf game will be a real head-turner graphically and will likely look fully next-gen. I just hope they can come up with a swing mechanism that makes me forget the dreadful one they had in Rory Mcilroy PGA TOUR!

[Lancer]

Walked into Target last night to get some grocery and talked w the electronics guy. Asked him about XBX and he said they got 2 in on Friday! He had one left and boom I got it!

Will open it up and try to set it up tonight. Exciting stuff!

Tremendous... I'm more astounded that it sat on the shelf for 2 days before you bought it! My biggest pros with the Series X are the improved frame rates it affords in many games and the faster load times. Forza Horizon 5 looks a little better in its ultra graphics setting, but it's stuck to 30 FPS when you use it. I find the cars so much more drivable at 60 FPS, and you really have to be doing a side-by-side to notice the difference between the two graphics settings.

My two biggest game enhancements are PGA TOUR 2K21, which runs at a fairly solid 60 FPS when you set the vsync to 60 Hz, and Asseto Corsa Competitzione and its (mostly) 60 FPS performance, with some improved graphics sprinkled in. I'm looking forward to playing the Series X enhanced NBA 2K22 when it eventually comes to Game Pass, but I'm just not as much a fan of that game as I once was to make me want to buy it.

I've had my Series X for 14 months now and I still don't take it for granted. It just feels so solid and runs so cool and quietly. I haven't seen anything yet that just screams full next generation graphics yet on it, but I've probably missed a few that might. I have a hunch that EA Sports next golf game will be a real head-turner graphically and will likely look fully next-gen. I just hope they can come up with a swing mechanism that makes me forget the dreadful one they had in Rory Mcilroy PGA TOUR!

It wasn't even on the shelf. I had to ask and they had it in the back. The electronics guy at target told me they won't put it on the floor. You can only buy it online unless you get lucky like I did.

I totally forgot about PGA2K21. I hope it comes to Gamepass because I think the previous years game was there for a while. And Im looking forward to the EA golf game as well.

And let's not forget NCAA Football!

[MERACE]

I finally broke down and purchased the Xbox Series S (which is readily available almost everywhere). I traded in my Xbox One X and my PS4 (with MLB The Show on Xbox I never use my PS4) at GameStop so there was no out of pocket cost for me. I had some money left over so I used that and $75 to purchase the 1T storage expansion card.

The game (simulation) that motivated my purchase decision was Microsoft Flight Simulator. I was an avid flight sim (mostly combat flight sims) on the PC so MFS was in my wheel house. If any of you guys have even a slight interest in flying games I highly recommend you check out MFS on Gamepass. Make sure you go through the excellent training lessons.

Along with the super fast load times I love the resume feature. I can immediately resume where I left off in Red Dead Redemption 2. Unfortunately, resume does not work in MSF.

I know John is going to wonder what I think of my experience with PGA Tour 2K21 on the 60 fps setting. It does run a bit smoother but not enough for me to play with tempo swing on.

Like John I’m looking forward to seeing what EA and 2K will do with their upcoming golf games.


-MERACE

[J_Cauthen]

it wasn't even on the shelf. I had to ask and they had it in the back. The electronics guy at target told me they won't put it on the floor. You can only buy it online unless you get lucky like I did.

Okay, I wondered if that might not have been the case. I think sometimes when they put one back like that they're holding it out for a friend.

I totally forgot about PGA2K21. I hope it comes to Gamepass because I think the previous years game was there for a while. And Im looking forward to the EA golf game as well.

I bet PGA TOUR 2K21 will find its way to Gamepass once their next game featuring Tiger Woods releases, somewhere in August I'm suspecting. I forgot to mention earlier that the "Auto HDR" works really well with PGA TOUR 2K21. I find that there are lots of courses whose Default lighting conditions are too dark for my tastes. I can set the HDR to "Bright" and it perks of most of the darker courses to something I want to play. But the fact that HB Studios actually enabled a means 60 FPS animation makes it play so much better. I'm hoping in HB Studios Tiger Woods golf game, they'll have an option for simply turning vsync OFF, so that Series X/S gamers with VRR capable HDTVs can play the game without judder at whatever frame rate the course being played can support. I'd like to have that option for the next EA Sports golf game as well.

And let's not forget NCAA Football!

That's huge on my wish list as well, but it seems like a looooong time until 2023.

[J_Cauthen]

I finally broke down and purchased the Xbox Series S (which is readily available almost everywhere). I traded in my Xbox One X and my PS4 (with MLB The Show on Xbox I never use my PS4) at GameStop so there was no out of pocket cost for me. I had some money left over so I used that and $75 to purchase the 1T storage expansion card.

The game (simulation) that motivated my purchase decision was Microsoft Flight Simulator. I was an avid flight sim (mostly combat flight sims) on the PC so MFS was in my wheel house. If any of you guys have even a slight interest in flying games I highly recommend you check out MFS on Gamepass. Make sure you go through the excellent training lessons.

Along with the super fast load times I love the resume feature. I can immediately resume where I left off in Red Dead Redemption 2. Unfortunately, resume does not work in MSF.

I know John is going to wonder what I think of my experience with PGA Tour 2K21 on the 60 fps setting. It does run a bit smoother but not enough for me to play with tempo swing on.

Like John I’m looking forward to seeing what EA and 2K will do with their upcoming golf games.

Well kudos to you Mark and welcome to the "Series" generation. You made a very smart move picking up the 1 TB storage expansion card, which puts you now at 1.5 TB total. I find that I'm continually moving games and apps on and off my Series X, as I'm prone to experiment with a lot of games I ordinarily would not have thanks to Ultimate Game Pass.

I knew you'd be all into the Flight Simulator. I need to take your advice and work my way through all of the training sessions... I've only done two. I just wanted to go sight seeing and did enough to get airborne and use the basic controls. I think I'd do a lot better with it if I had a flightstick. Do you have any thoughts on the more affordable flightsticks?

I've got a burning question concerning the Series S, but I think only a Series S owner using a 1440p monitor would be able to answer. In my mind, the Series S, when connected to a 1440p display, theoretically should be able to run PGA TOUR 2K21 at a higher overall frame rate than a Series X connected to a 4K display. Why? I read that the Series S renders natively at 1440p. If it's connected to a 1440p native display, wouldn't that prevent it from trying to do any upscaling? With that much processing power being capped at 1440p on the processing side, I'd think it would allow for smoother performance.

I know for a fact that PGA TOUR 2K21 looks good enough for me at 1440p on my PC, that I would be fine at putting that limit on the resolution if I got smoother and faster frame rates!

I still have long range plans for a Series S in my bedroom, but I'd have to buy a new TV to really benefit from the S there. I've got an XBox One X hooked up to a 55" 2010 vintage LCD there now, but that 65 ms input lag on that TV makes PGA TOUR 2K21 very difficult to play.

[Lancer]

it wasn't even on the shelf. I had to ask and they had it in the back. The electronics guy at target told me they won't put it on the floor. You can only buy it online unless you get lucky like I did.

Okay, I wondered if that might not have been the case. I think sometimes when they put one back like that they're holding it out for a friend.

I totally forgot about PGA2K21. I hope it comes to Gamepass because I think the previous years game was there for a while. And Im looking forward to the EA golf game as well.

I bet PGA TOUR 2K21 will find its way to Gamepass once their next game featuring Tiger Woods releases, somewhere in August I'm suspecting. I forgot to mention earlier that the "Auto HDR" works really well with PGA TOUR 2K21. I find that there are lots of courses whose Default lighting conditions are too dark for my tastes. I can set the HDR to "Bright" and it perks of most of the darker courses to something I want to play. But the fact that HB Studios actually enabled a means 60 FPS animation makes it play so much better. I'm hoping in HB Studios Tiger Woods golf game, they'll have an option for simply turning vsync OFF, so that Series X/S gamers with VRR capable HDTVs can play the game without judder at whatever frame rate the course being played can support. I'd like to have that option for the next EA Sports golf game as well.

And let's not forget NCAA Football!

That's huge on my wish list as well, but it seems like a looooong time until 2023.

One thing I noticed w XBX is that the system automatically makes my tv switch to game mode. Is this good to leave on? If no, how do I turn it off?

[J_Cauthen]

One thing I noticed w XBX is that the system automatically makes my tv switch to game mode. Is this good to leave on? If no, how do I turn it off?

You definitely want your TV in Game mode when in use with the XBox Series X. It yields an input lag that would probably be 1/3 to 1/5 of what it would be in other picture modes. I'd never noticed whether my TCL would switch the display mode to "Game", as I'd set it for that from the get-go. You've got me curious now; I'm going to switch it to another mode to see if the Series X forces it back to Game. Report coming...

[Lancer]

The 1TB is way too small. Those SSD cards are like 200+ bucks. Sheesh. So you can't just guy a external HD and hook it up to XBX for more storage? There are so many more games I want to download but afraid i'm going to run out of room.

You can get a regular external hard drive for games that aren’t series x/s optimized. You can only play last gen games from it. That’s how I’ve gotten around it. Just move games to and from the internal drive when you’re playing the next gen versions. Better than redownloading all the time.

And don’t get your hopes up for next gen Fifa. Last years looks better than this years. It’s pretty disappointing.

FIFA 21 ON XBX Looks amazing! So crisp. I like this new camera angle too that's default. Don't recall it on the xbox one.

[dbdynsty25]

FIFA 21 ON XBX Looks amazing! So crisp. I like this new camera angle too that's default. Don't recall it on the xbox one.

Try FIFA 22. It's a gross, blurry mess. If you're really playing FIFA 21, then it makes sense why you like it.

[Lancer]

I got to read up on the features of this thing this weekend. I've heard about quick resume but not sure what it really is and how to activate it. Any other cool features I should know about?

I did notice no load times for Madden and FIFA which were amazing to experience!

[J_Cauthen]

One thing I noticed w XBX is that the system automatically makes my tv switch to game mode. Is this good to leave on? If no, how do I turn it off?

Forgot to get back to you with my answer on this the other day... it does seem now that the XBox Series X does indeed force my TV into Game mode in the TV's picture settings. I can manually switch it to another mode, if desired, and it will stick with that mode until I turn the XBox SX off and on again. I don't recall this being the case when I first got my Series X, about 14 months ago. It may have been a change they made to the Series X firmware between now and then.

The only time I don't use game mode is when I'm watching 1080p, or higher video content.

[J_Cauthen]

I finally broke down and purchased the Xbox Series S (which is readily available almost everywhere).

Mark, I'm curious... does the Series S have a display resolution option of 1440p in its menu? I'm just curious if it does since that's its stated native display res. I'm thinking that what the S is doing is natively rendering at 1440p and then upscaling to 2160p when it's set to 4K display res. If you had a native 1440p display and could set the Series S to 1440p, you'd get some perceptible frame rate improvement out of it.?

I did set my XBox Series X to 1080p and ran PGA TOUR 2K21, and I could detect improved frame rate performance on a couple of courses that have been sluggish. Either my Series X or my HDTV is upscaling that to 4K, but I can both see and feel a difference with the Series X display res set to 1080p. I'm not sure the slight boost in frame rate is worth the loss in video quality. It really depends on what game I'm playing or on PGA TOUR 2K21, what course I'm playing. Pinehurst #2 (L) is a case in point. I find it more playable at 1080p.

[jLp_VaKer0]

If anyone’s willing to pay for shipping, they’re a ton of XSX at one of my local Best Buy as of yesterday. The console +tax (11.5% ) is $557.

[jLp_VaKer0]

If anyone’s willing to pay for shipping, they’re a ton of XSX at one of my local Best Buy as of yesterday. The console +tax (11.5% ) is $557.

Even better, it’s available at Walmart right now (5:06pm EST):


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-Series- ... /443574645

[MERACE]

I finally broke down and purchased the Xbox Series S (which is readily available almost everywhere).

Mark, I'm curious... does the Series S have a display resolution option of 1440p in its menu? I'm just curious if it does since that's its stated native display res. I'm thinking that what the S is doing is natively rendering at 1440p and then upscaling to 2160p when it's set to 4K display res. If you had a native 1440p display and could set the Series S to 1440p, you'd get some perceptible frame rate improvement out of it.?

I did set my XBox Series X to 1080p and ran PGA TOUR 2K21, and I could detect improved frame rate performance on a couple of courses that have been sluggish. Either my Series X or my HDTV is upscaling that to 4K, but I can both see and feel a difference with the Series X display res set to 1080p. I'm not sure the slight boost in frame rate is worth the loss in video quality. It really depends on what game I'm playing or on PGA TOUR 2K21, what course I'm playing. Pinehurst #2 (L) is a case in point. I find it more playable at 1080p.

Hey John,

I’m in Florida this week visiting friends. I’ll check it out when I get home and get back with you on it.


-MERACE

[Lancer]

If anyone’s willing to pay for shipping, they’re a ton of XSX at one of my local Best Buy as of yesterday. The console +tax (11.5% ) is $557.

Even better, it’s available at Walmart right now (5:06pm EST):


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-Series- ... /443574645

Seems like in the last 2 weeks XBX has been more available in retail stores that previous.

[Lancer]

Can I take my external HD that I have plugged into my Xbox One S and plug it into my XBX and it'll automatically work? Or will it ask me to reformat and wipe everything out?

[AcemanPR]

Can I take my external HD that I have plugged into my Xbox One S and plug it into my XBX and it'll automatically work? Or will it ask me to reformat and wipe everything out?

Yes, just plug it in to your new Xbox and it will work seamlessly.

[Lancer]

Sony's version of gamepass announced.

https://blog.playstation.com/2022/03/29 ... than-ever/

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ ... to-ps-plus


Seems like the response is not too favorable - https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/t ... _with_700/

[Teal]

It's pretty pathetic.

[Danimal]

https://www.amazon.com/Xbox-X/dp/B08H75 ... slink=true

In stock at Amazon right now

[Lancer]

Lot of places XBX readily available. Amazon, Walmart

[jLp_VaKer0]

Lot of places XBX readily available. Amazon, Walmart

Yep, hopefully Sony can get there eventually.

[MizzouRah]

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is another gem from Gearbox.