Speed. Power. Efficiency.

The embargo on the preview builds of the Xbox Series X and Series S has been lifted; well, for most of its functionality and Backwards Compatible features (We have to wait a bit more for Next-Gen only games running natively.), but already the impressions have been nothing short of invigorating. 

Media outlets and figure heads such as Digital Foundry, Engagdet, The Verge, Geoff Keighley, Jeff Grubb, and IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey have been chiming in with the time they’ve spent putting the Series X through its paces thus far. Since they were all restricted to certain features such as Quick Resume, specific UI functionality and only able to play Backwards Compatible games they are limited to exactly what they can report, but what they have is overwhelmingly positive. The overall consensus is that the Series X is not only super fast, but it’s also whisper quiet and wholly efficient.

Xbox Series X

Jesica Conditt from Engadget stated after trying out  Remedy’s Control “-booting up a scene on Xbox One takes 30 to 38 seconds, while the same scene on Series X consistently takes just 9 seconds, 10 at the most. This ratio rings true for most games I’ve tested, and it’s significantly changed the way I interact with the new console overall.“. These are just raw improvements thanks to the SSD and I/O solutions as well. Any devs that decide to add a little extra TLC to their existing titles can do so  and really crank up the performance and visual fidelity. 

Tom Warren from The Verge provided a nice breakdown (posted below) of load time comparisons for the games he tested out. Across the board you can see a nearly 50% decrease in load times, with big games like Red Dead Redemption 2 having almost a full minute shaved off. Again, this is all just raw performance boosts from running on the Series X. 

XBOX SERIES X LOAD TIMES

Game Xbox Series X Xbox One X
CoD: Warzone 16 seconds 21 seconds
Red Dead Redemption 2 52 seconds 1 min, 35 seconds
The Outer Worlds 6 seconds 27 seconds
Evil Within 2 33 seconds 43 seconds
Sea of Thieves 20 seconds 1 min, 21 seconds
Warframe 25 seconds 1 min, 31 seconds
AC: Odyssey 30 seconds 1 min, 7 seconds
No Man’s Sky 1 min, 27 seconds 2 mins, 13 seconds
Destiny 2 43 seconds 1 min, 52 seconds

Why is this dedication to a quality Backwards Compatible solution so important though? Don’t we buy new consoles to play new games? Yes, we do. However, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone that games consistently whom does not have an extensive backlog. There will be millions of Xbox owners that have a metric ton of physical and digital games sitting in their backlog. The Series X and S are offering them improved versions of those games at no additional cost beyond buying the console. This increases the value of current and older gen games by virtue of making them even more appealing to the consumer.

I can go on record and say that I have dozens fully sealed and unfinished games I’m holding off on to boot up on my Series X, simply because I know they will play and perform better there. My digital library is another beast entirely that may never be fully conquered. 

On the subject of Quick Resume, IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey had this to say: “I tried out Quick Resume, and Microsoft wasn’t kidding around. It works! I like that they even put a little “Quick Resume” icon in the upper right corner of the screen to let you know that you won’t have to wait for the entire game to load from scratch.” Renowned content creator, Jeff Grubb also confirmed that he was “-able to jump into 4 different games in under 90 seconds. Totally. It was kind of incredible.

Now, for some real meat and potatoes comparisons I wholly suggest watching Digital Foundry’s extensive testing of these features. Games like Dead or Alive 6 saw a jump from variable 30+ fps to a rock solid and consistent 60fps with cleaner visuals. One more time; These are just raw improvements. None of the tested games have been enhanced by the developers. Where Final Fantasy XV’s Lite Mode saw dips within the 40-30fps range, on the Series X it maintained a buttery smooth 60fps throughout.  

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I, for one, am very excited for the performance benchmarks we are about to see for Next-Gen only titles on the Series X. If you want to take a look at the previews, I’ve included the links below!

Digital Foundry

The Verge, Tom Warren  

Engadget, Jesica Conditt 

Jeff Grub 

IGN, Ryan McCaffrey  

Geoff Keighley 

Adventure Awaits

First announced back in 2019, studio miHoYo’s Genshin Impact has finally arrived for iOS, Android, PC, and the PS4. While a Switch version has been confirmed, a specific date is yet to be set. The game features vibrant, detailed visuals, an open world to explore, fast and stylish combat, and a wealth of quests to complete along side what is to be a grand and engrossing narrative. Oh, and it’s also Free-to-Play. If your first impression is “Hey…This reminds of Breath of the Wild…” trust me, you’re not alone. The aesthetic is strikingly similar, but that’s where the similarities end.

Genshin Impact is a much faster and over the top experience with flourishes, big special attacks, a wide variety of enemy designs, and multiple unique characters to take into combat. I’d be hard pressed to believe that many people won’t actually enjoy this more than BOTW (myself unabashedly included). Either way, it’s F2P and is absolutely worth trying out.

Available on: iOS, Android, PC, and PS4

Bring a Towel

Scorn has been in development for many years now. It usually pops up via a short gameplay snippet, media blurb, or mention on social media then sinks back into the shadows where development continues. Today, YouTube channel GameClips has provided us with a disturbingly satisfying 7-Minute reel of gameplay and sweeping vistas to wet our palate before launch.

If you haven’t heard of it before, Scorn is an H.R. Giger Inspired First Person Horror title coming exclusively to the Xbox Series consoles and PC. The obsessive attention to detail in the world and its inhabitants is unnerving and at once, captivating. The droning and foreboding music only lends to the chill inducing atmosphere. Everything twitches, slithers, skitters, and breathes with unsettling life; constantly making you question what may be friend or foe, if such concepts even exist in this twisted world.

Check out the full video below. Scorn doesn’t have a set release day yet, but is scheduled to launch in early 2021.

https://youtu.be/mOOu3tUyB3o

The Next-Gen Storage Solution

Director of Program Management, Jason Ronald has spoken with Xbox Wire  regarding the portable NVME Storage Expansion Cards that will be usable with both the Series X and Series S. Aside from confirming how easy the cards will be to use (simply plug it into the expansion slot on the back of the console.), he goes into great detail about why and how the SSDs were necessary to deliver the smoothest and fastest data transfer solutions possible.

Of very important note is the reaffirmation that you can still use your existing USB HDDs, up to 3.1, to play your existing library of games as well as to swap Series X/S specific games to and from internal or expanded memory. It’s just another quality of life that continues to drive home Xbox’s Generational focus, something that long time fans will greatly appreciate.

It was also discovered that the Expanded 1TB drives will run a pretty $219.99 USD. Pretty hefty, but to no one’s surprise. NVME drives are still fairly expensive, but will slowly drop in the future. Check the attached Twitter post for more details!

Sculpting Next-Gen Hardware

Xbox Wire Editor in Chief, Will Tuttle has written up a very lengthy and very informative piece of just how much care and thought went into designing the Xbox Series X and Series S. From the get go the design philosophy has been to make the consoles “more accessible, more flexible, and ultimately to seamlessly fit in to the modern lives and living rooms of Xbox fans around the world.”. You can this coming in the simple but functionally impressive structure of each console. With the amount of power and speed humming under the hood, cooling and efficiency were at the top of the list of priorities.

You can read the full article right HERE .

Bethesda Joins the Xbox Game Studios Family

Announced quite literally, moments ago, the official Xbox Twitter account has announced that Microsoft has acquired Bethesda studios. Many have insinuated and guess that this deal may have been on the table for quite some time, but today we have the official verdict. So, what does this mean? Well, any forthcoming IPs coming from the legendary studio will be exclusive to the Xbox Ecosystem and will likely release Day and Date on GamePass.

Bethesda has had some missteps (most recently Fallout 76, which has thankfully seen plenty of positive refinements and updates), but the studio’s pedigree is irrefutable. Dropping news like this just before pre-orders go live tomorrow is a strong, momentum building move and will definitely pay dividends down the road. The next big question is whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will become exclusive or release as a multiplatform title since it’s already in development. You can read more official information on the acquisition right here!

Either way. Awesome gaming news to start the day with!

Talk to us, Sony

It seems that all the juicy gaming news is breaking over night these days. Coming in the evening hours yesterday, Bloomberg’s Chinese division’s original report stated that due to an unsteady production yield (a concerning 50%) of the console’s custom-designed system-on-chip, Sony has decreased its projected hardware allocation units to 11 million worldwide for the first fiscal quarter. 

Supposedly yields are gradually improving, but are still facing problems reaching satisfactory levels of stability. So, what does this potentially mean for Sony and the Playstation 5? A few things. 

  •  Hardware will be scarce and difficult for the average consumer to secure come launch day. This was already suspected after Sony’s imposed e-mail pre-order lottery, but coupled with production issues and hardware stability, it could spell sad times for a lot of fans.
  • We know the PS5 was initially developed and intended to launch in 2019, but was then reworked and clocked up once data on the Series X was finally available. This means that the PS5, for all intents and purposes, is a patchwork of software and hardware solutions hurriedly fit together so as not to fall behind the competition. 
  • They will be as aggressive as they financially can with their pricing to match Microsoft, but undercutting them is just no feasible at this point.
  • In a very worst case scenario we might get a delay roughly a few weeks after this weeks Playstation Event and the Tokyo Game Show.

Now, should we be playing a Requiem for the Playstation division and wallowing in all the Doom and Gloom? Not in the least. My personal take is that Sony is going to push forward with tomorrow’s event where we will get a date and pricing (I’m going to sit on $500 for the Standard Edition and $450-$400 for All Digital at best) and we’re going to get a launch date that will fall at least a week or so after the Series X and S. The week of Black Friday sounds about right.  

What IS concerning to me is the biggest question; What exactly are we playing on day one? Right now we have Godfall (which can only be pre-ordered on the Epic Game store for now), Spiderman: Miles Morales (no official date, but still slated for Holiday 2020), Bugsnax (Holiday 2020 again), Astro Boy’s Playroom (The only one I can confirm at launch at this time), and a serving of 3rd party games you can view here. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the PS5’s launch, and if there is more trouble brewing beneath the surface than we are aware of, I’d much prefer for Sony to delay and focus on ironing out all the kinks while building their allocated units in the process.

All told, we should get most of our answers during tomorrow’s presentation. Fingers crossed, people! 

PS5 Event Announced Ahead of Tokyo Game Show

Just when the silence was becoming palpable, Sony has finally thrown us a bone and announced earlier this morning via its official blog and Twitter that there will be an event held this Wednesday, 9/16/2020 at 1:00PM PDT. According to the blog post, the event will be focusing on “the latest titles from Worldwide Studios and our world-class development partners.” and a “look at some of the great games coming to PS5 at launch (and beyond!).”.

The omission of anything insinuating the announcement of pricing and release date is disappointing, but not altogether unexpected. Following the Xbox’s recent information blowout, Playstation fans have been chomping at the bit waiting for any kind of information. I for one, am looking forward to hopefully a handful of surprise announcements at the very least and maybe some more gameplay of previously announced titles.

No matter where your preferences lie, it’s an exciting time for gaming and we should all spend more time sharing that energy and excitement. See you on the 16th!

By the way…What do YOU hope to see at the show? Any particular IPs you want to make an appearance? Any particular game you want to see more of? Accessories? Sound off in the comments!

What’s Going on at Team Blue’s Home Base?

In what can only be described as one of the most random and iconic gaming moments of 2020, the public was leaked not only confirmation of the Xbox Series S, but also it’s price, release date, and full spec sheet in the middle of the night last Tuesday. Microsoft’s PR team gracefully dove into action and not only met the leak head on by confirming it hours later with their own official announcement, but they did so while meme’ing and having fun with the whole situation. Literally over night we were given the full breakdown of the Series S and Series X’s pricing and release dates. Not only this, but developers began springing forth with confirmation of games releasing with the consoles on launch day, as well performance specs. Most notably being Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla confirmed to be running at 4K 60fps.

Social and Gaming Media were absolutely abuzz for the past 48 hours, and the fire is showing no signs of being put out. So, what does that mean for Sony? Surely they would seize the opportunity to leverage all the excitement and make their own announcement. Surely they would want to capitalize on the fact that all eyes would subsequently on them, especially on the day of the PSX’s anniversary, right? So far, the answer has been a disappointingly loud NO.

Not only has there been no response, reveal, or announcement of any kind during the height of the buzz, but it has recently come out that the PS5 was potentially going to be more expensive than the Series X. The sudden reveal of Microsoft’s hardware seems to have pushed Sony back to the drawing board to reevaluate their pricing and marketing strategy so that they can find something to One Up Microsoft with. The PS5 being the more expensive console was always within the realm of possibilities. Sony’s Bill of Materials was outed to be as high as $470 USD, meaning that if they were to try undercutting Microsoft anywhere below $500, they would stand to lose substantially more per console sold.

 

Now, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that regardless of what happens between now and launch day, the PS5 will sell and sell well. The Playstation has an immense amount of Mindshare built up from the PS4’s wholly successful run and their marketing team is diabolically talented at roping in the average consumer with their messaging. However, I can’t help but feel that this particular moment in time has been one huge missed opportunity for Team Blue, and has put them under further scrutiny by their fan base and shareholders. Remember, there is still plenty we don’t know about the PS5’s functionality, pricing, release date, capabilities, and exactly when 1st party games will be available.

Insomniac’s Spiderman: Miles Morales is slated to be a launch game,  but as of right now, the official date still says Holiday 2020. Ratchet and Clank:  a Rift Apart is set in the PS5’s launch window; Same as Horizon: Journey to the West. After having multiple successful presentations that got consumers excited and eager to know when they can get their shiny new PS5s, it seems as though Sony is inadvertently trying to quell expectations. First we have their limited pre-order system that was presented not too long ago. The parameters for being selected give the the pre-order process an air of being in the Cool Kid’s Club, when in reality it only creates confusion for the average consumer. 

Follow this up with Sony’s peculiar silence after their last presentation and you have a fair bit of people scratching their heads. Sure, Sony doesn’t really have to meet Microsoft head on in this scenario. They are still the most popular of the two brands after all. What’s concerning is that with the very real implications of the Global Pandemic affecting production and marketing, one has to wonder if Sony will actually be able to make it to market for a Holiday 2020 release. While they have increased their initial production allocation from 5-6 million up to 10, we still have no confirmation of what the retail unit truly looks like and whether they’ve even begun full production. Their absence from the recent Hot Chips Symposium   has also raised a few eyebrows. Where the Series X has been stripped down to the very last CU, the PS5’s overall internal composition is still far from having substantial and concrete data available beyond Mark Cerny’s presentation earlier in the year. 

If it sounds like I’m lighting the Signal Fires and raising the alarm…Well, I think I am. Again, the PS5 selling well is not in question. It’s Sony’s seemingly lackadaisical demeanor and response to the demand for info on their product. I plan to purchase a PS5 for myself whenever Blue Point Studio’s Demon’s Souls: Remake is released, but prior to that…Well Sony is doing a pretty swell job on not reaffirming that purchase. 

As of this writing, news has surfaced that Sony has plans to make some kind of announcement today that was indeed planned for yesterday’s anniversary, but moved for obvious reasons. There is also an event scheduled for the 14th, so hopefully all the concerns raised above will be addressed. Fingers crossed, everyone. 

Your Move, Sony

 Microsoft and Sony have been engaged in what is irrefutably the longest game of chicken the gaming industry has ever seen. Neither side has been willing to play their hand and announce pricing and launch date(s) first. That is, until last night. Tech enthusiast Brad Sams fundamentally broke the internet by unveiling not only the physical design of the Xbox Series S, but its price point as well. Shortly after, Windows Central Gaming confirmed via Twitter not only the information for the Series S, the Series X as well!

Series S: $299.99

Series X: $499.99

Both launching November 10th, 2020. Continue reading “Your Move, Sony”