Ryan McCaffrey Is Wrong About The Xbox One X

Ryan’s article asked whom the Xbox One X is for? The most ludicrous statement in the entire article was when McCaffrey asked what the “X” means while pointing out that he knows what the PlayStation “Pro” means. Mr. McCaffrey, it’s about gamers and that’s what the gaming media needs to focus on.

[cbuc1125]

No you Sir are wrong. Calling a machine X doesnt tell anyone how it is better than the one that came before it. Pro clearly means this device is better than its predecessor.

[nX]

The Xbox defense force really has a tough job these days. Sure the Scorpio is a well made machine but that doesn't change the fact that it has one big problem Microsoft couldn't really solve for 5 years now - they simply don't offer enough games to warrant a console purchase - and certainly not at $499. A 500$ GPU shits on the new Xbox and plays the same games as well as countless PC exclusives with NO SUBSCRIPTIONS so why would anyone buy it?

And please don't comment on how you need more than a GPU for a PC - any 5 year old PC with a new GPU would still be far superior when it comes to gaming.

[Neonridr]

same could be said for a PS4 then (even more so in that case).

but also depends on what you plan on using it for. A UHD drive will set you back a few hundred bucks too. So there is the added media functionality of the Xbox One X (much like the S).

Sales alone show that most people play multiplat titles and I am willing to wager that a good chunk of games in people's libraries are probably 3rd party ones available on other platforms (I am just as guilty of that too). So for people who want the absolutely best visuals or fastest framerates or what have you when it comes to these 3rd party titles, they may gravitate towards the Xbox One X. Lots of people still haven't made the jump to this gen, so there are opportunities for MS to capitalize on. But yes, exclusive games are what set you apart from your competition, and MS has been lacking in that department for a very long time. You would hope that MS is at least looking to turn that around and I guess we will see what comes of light over the next year or so to help their cause.

[zoolabus]

Of course a $500 graphics card will beat the One X. But in reality is it really just a graphics card you are upgrading? Let's say you have a decent system that is two or three years old with 8 GB of Ram. You will probably need to upgrade your ram and if you get ram of varying speeds the faster ram performs at the speed of the lowest in your system. This means you would probably have to upgrade all of your RAM. You are looking at spending at least $100 on RAM. Then you might need to replace your old 1 TB HDD with a 1 TB or 512 GB Solid State Drive. There goes another $100 at least for a quality drive.

By this point you have already spent $200 at least and that isn't counting the graphics card needed to get to 4k. Once you have done all these you have spent upwards to more than the cost of the One X. Let's assume you already have a 4k Monitor, it probably doesn't support HDR because there are very few to no monitors that do support HDR for under $500.

Once you add it all up on getting the new RAM and lets just say you don't upgrade the hard drive and only do the graphics card you are at $600 using your graphics card price. Add in the 4k HDR monitor and you are at $1k minimum.

Take your existing Xbox One and trade it into Gamestop and get $150 credit. This gets you the One X at $350. You need an HDR and 4k TV. You can get one for $500 but lets not be cheap. Let's go with the $700 model. This puts you at $1050 for a 40" 4k HDR TV that you will use for consuming Netflix, Cable Television, Blu-Ray movies and 4k video games. To me it sounds like purchasing the One X for all of your media and gaming needs makes sense.

Now the common argument is a lack of exclusives. You can analyze the sales of exclusives over the past several years and at the end of the year you might see one or maybe two exclusives in the list of top 10 selling games for a console. The majority of games sold are multiplatform. Yes, Sony does have a good stable of games but so does Microsoft depending on the style of games you prefer to play. If you are a JRPG and indie fan then Sony probably fills all of your needs. If you love shooters than Microsoft is where you go.

People will of course disagree with me but hopefully my thoughts provide insight into a different point of view than your own.

[nX]

"By this point you have already spent $200 at least and that isn't counting the graphics card needed to get to 4k."

Of course it depends for each unique case but even if you have to upgrade more - you'll get a far superior system in the end that plays much more (than) games and also saves you the monthly subscription.

"Add in the 4k HDR monitor and you are at $1k minimum."

Well you'll need that for the Xbox as well. Also in my case, I just play all PC games on my 65" 4k TV.

"Now the common argument is a lack of exclusives. You can analyze the sales"

I don't care about sales, I just see that there are dozens of PS4 exclusives I'm dying to play. Sure it's a preference but I wouldn't be surprised if 9 out of 10 gamers think the same.

[lelo2play]

Yep, Sony defence force are better organized then the Xbox defence force.

"And please don't comment on how you need more than a GPU for a PC - any 5 year old PC with a new GPU would still be far superior when it comes to gaming. "

The problem is that a GPU you are talking about is the price of a Xbox One X.

[jwillj2k4]

What a terrible comparison. Are you going to move your GPU under your tv and hook up your wireless controller to it? LOL. No matter how you look at it a console is always more of a bargain than a PC. Doesnt matter if its ps4 or xbox. You're missing the extra $700+ of extra parts needed to get an image on screen.

[Bigpappy]

Well you do need far more than a $500 graphics card

[InTheLab]

Just sitting here trying to figure out how to plug in my new $500 GPU to my monitor...

[ABizzel1]

This article also makes it worse by using significantly better parts PC than needed to outperform this console. Consoles re targeted for 30fps in the vast majority of games which is why their CPUs don't have to be the greatest.

Any AMD FX 6300 / 8300 CPU is more than enough to vastly outperform the consoles CPUs and cost $70 $save $80). They ignorantly tried to give the system 12GB of DDR4 to compare to the 12 GB of GDDR5 in the XBOX which is stupid because 8GB of system RAM was more than enough because the GPU has 6GB of GDDR5 as well (save $30). The GTX 1060 has been floating around $199 for the 6GB card off and on now (save $40). THe Blu Ray drive is completely optional and a stant DVD drive will work since PC games don't run on Blu Ray disc (save $35). The PSU should be $30 for EVGA ($15). and a Wireless Network Adapter for $10 (save $25). That's $225 off this price bringing it down to $617.

By the time the Xbox X launches PC components will be at a much more equal price thanks to Black Friday. AMD's Vega and NVIDIA's Polaris series will be out and the the last-gen cards like the GTX 1060, 1070, and 1080 will all be reduced to likely $179 (1060), $299 (1070), and $399 (1080).

So it'll make building a PC much cheaper and comparable. For just over $500 My friend is buying a pre-built Dell with an i7 4000 series CPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB HDD, and all he has to do is add a GTX 1060 this Black Friday into it and he has a great gaming PC, and that's $500 for the computer + the GPU later this year.

[nX]

^You simpletons really don't understand, or don't want to understand? You don't even need a 500$ GPU to have the same power as Scorpio, 350$ should be enough. Though my point was, most people using the internet already have some kind of PC at home - and those old PC's with a new GPU should be enough to absolutely outrun the XboX. And the money you save on cheaper game prices and your XBL subscriptions can go into upgrading your possible bottlenecks.

[BrettAwesome]

"Xbox defense force" LOOOOOOOOL...I love it. It even makes a bunch of little bitches sound cool. If only they would come up with something better than "ponies" 😂 it's so weak

[BadElf]

Because everyone DOESNT OWN A PC OR EVEN WANT TO OWN A PC.
I seriously don't understand how these comments are said constantly....it's just copyand pasted. How is the concept of people enjoying consoles more so confusing?

[tinynuggins]

How many games does a console need to have before its purchase is warranted? 100, 500, 1,000?

[XanderZane]

Over 1100 XB1 games, Over 375 XBox 360 games and probably over 100 OG XBox games (when the emulation launches). I have over 185 games on my XB1. I have no problems finding something to play. I'm actually backlogged like most gamers. Not just because of my XB1, but also because of my PS4.

If that's not enough games for you, then too bad. Take a hike troll.

[Neonridr]

pretty safe to assume that it at least means something else. I mean How many car companies use the letter S or X for their cars to set them apart from a previous model?

How do you know the Audi S class are better than the A class? If you know cars, you just know. If you don't know cars, you do research. You think that the Turbo model of a car is automatically called a "Pro"?

[Lennoxb63]

"How do you know the Audi S class are better than the A class? If you know cars, you just know. If you don't know cars, you do research."

And that's exactly why the Xbox One X is intended for the enthusiast. If you don't know the difference then you're not into gaming enough, or on a larger scale tech savvy. For example. People who only want to make phone calls likely aren't going to invest in an $800 iPhone.

[Wikkid666]

LOL! the console doesn't even launch til Nov. Plenty of time for them to let the marketing department do what they do.

[XStation4pio_Pro]

So no one should buy it because they don't agree with the name. Stupid. Xbox one x is for people like me who will spend more for a better experience. If don't know what the one x is, you don't need it. Same with the pro. If you're looking for the name to explain what it is before you buy or use it as a reason against the Xbox you are really digging for excuses. Wtf does corolla mean. What does Experia mean. What does the name Bravia tell me about my 4K tv. Is Bravia a lost language translation for HDR? You know the one x is better because you know what the one x is. You know what it is because you're a gamer that wants more spec. If you don't know this you're a casual and the one x isn't for casuals. So much salt this week. Seems like fear.

[optimus]

@nx my desktop PC is a Pentium 3 from like 2003. I haven't touched it in about 4 yrs. Last time I did it could barely run a flash game. I know that upgrading that would cost me well over $500 so I would be the perfect customer for an xb1-x.

[2pacalypsenow]

*Top-notch frame rates and peace of mind knowing my console is more powerful than any other system on the market. *

Its been confirmed most games are running at 30fps,

[Razzer]

"peace of mind knowing my console is more powerful than any other system on the market. "

Wow. Didn't realize owning xbox one all this time was such mental torture.

[DreadGara]

Screen tear and low fps actually made me frustrated when I played XBone at my friend's house.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

The nightmares these guys must have been going through when they were playing their games at 900p-720p resolutions😂😂& #128514;😆😆

[EatCrow]

But its not actually confirmed till it releases. Many games claim to run at 30 fps and then they keep dropping eveyrwhere.

[rlow1]

Its called catering to the lowest denominator with the bigger installed base.

[2pacalypsenow]

Yep, that's why Mid gen upgrades are a bad idea.

[tontontam0]

S= superior
X= unwanted

[oSHINSAo]

The S is for Slim. The X, could be Xtreme, Xperience

[tontontam0]

Lol then microsoft needs to market it like that

For people who don't read gaming news xbox one s and x are confusing.

Class S
Brand X

[DreadGara]

The X for eXpensive actually.

[WickedLester]

more like X-tinct.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Let me get this straight, this is a console for the enthusiast which is supposed to justify the price tag, but Phil Spencer just said that his fan base does not understand the difference between 30fps and 60fps. The enthusiast are the one who are more than likely to know the difference between that so what is going on here? Phil needs to just shut up.

[Cohagen420]

He's one of the biggest Xbox fanboys and he even admitted the name was idiotic.

[Imalwaysright]

I think its cool

Xbox One X

X.B.O.X

[oSHINSAo]

X 1 X sounds cool too

[LexHazard79]

The way I look at it "X" to me= extreme power!
I wish they called Xbox One Elite S or something like that.

[sin7279]

Xonebros.com lol

[Tko1111]

No caliing it premium let's you know who it's for. Letting you know it's the most powerful 4k system lets you know who it's for. Gamers just wanted a $399 price tag which I get but that's asking a company to take a big loss because you're not number 1 although it's worth the price of 499+++

[KingTrash]

I honestly feel bad for the Xbox team at this point. For years, all anybody talks about in N4G is how the Xbox one can't do 1080p when the PS4 can. That was literally the main reason for people choosing the PS4 early on. It wasn't exclusives because Xbox had more exclusives for awhile. So now Sony releases a pretty half ass upgrade with the Pro and Xbox does it right and makes a truly powerful upgrade capable of handling native 4K and now no one cares about power anymore? I mean, come on! It's like whatever they do, it's not good enough.
This is coming from someone who owns both consoles and bought a Pro. I buy most of my third party games for the PS4 now and it is because of the power. When the One X comes out, that will change. I'll be happy to get back to playing most games on Xbox because I like the interface better and I like the controller a lot better. Most importantly, I'll be playing my games on the most powerful console...power which easily justifies the $500 price tag. The Xbox team did the right thing here offering the option of a truly powerful upgrade but they continue to get no respect. It's unbelievable!

[Slowbro]

Other reasons people went with the ps4
No drm
No always on line
The price
Cheaper online
The e3 that year for xbone was TV TV TV with little games presented.
Kinect 2.0
There are others but they were smaller

[Sevir]

Lol! MS's biggest Journalist supporter gave his opinions on the Xbox one X and you have a problem because it doesn't exactly paint the the One X as necessary? Someone get this baby a bib! 😂

He isn't wrong, he didn't state facts he gave his opinion! Go buy your Xbox one x and go play your Xbox One X enhanced games and call it a day!

[corroios]

He is rigth the average consumer doesnt know its better. Xbox turbocharged ir something like That, but X doesnt mean nothing. The perfect nAme would be Xbox Xxx, because this is only for hardcore gamers

[Vasto]

Sorry but Microsoft nailed it with the Xbox One X.

I will be getting mine on Nov 7!!!

42 games with 22 exclusives

The people have spoken.
https://twitter.com/geoffke...

[Eonjay]

Enjoy

[bluefox755]

"exclusives", lol. Do you feel validated now?

[Allsystemgamer]

Those exclusives that I can play on my pc? Why would I buy an Xbox again?

[super_cuddles]

The s sounds more premium than the x, like sport or swish model, x sounds like xibit or xtasy or x rated porn

[bluefox755]

Xonebros.com? Seems legit. Surely no bias in this article. As far as the article though, it's nonsense, their "comparable" PC build is not only over-priced, but would also substantially outperform Scorpio. The CPU is substantially more powerful than xb1x's. The build has 12gb of RAM + 6gb video memory (xb1x only has 12gb shared). Optical drive is almost useless on a PC these days. They could have also cut costs with the case and OS.

[InKnight7s]

X means nothing and not give you any statement. Even in X men the "X" person could be boring or nah one.

[feraldrgn]

X means Windows X (10).
It's the most obvious thing.

How do you make PC porting & development easier for the console? Make it as similar as you can to PC programming.
Remember the Steam Machine, remember how MS said they were keeping an eye on it.

[bellyboy]

For the guys here saying a PC would need a $500 GPU to match the Xbox one x, that's very overpriced, the Xbox one x is a 6TF GPU clocked at 1172 MHz, you can buy, today, an Rx 580 card clocked at 1392 MHz for £249.99, the Rx 580 is a 5.9TF card, Xbox one X GPU is heavily optimized though digital foundry compared forza performance to that of a GTX 1070 but that base clocks at 1792 MHz, so id say that's ambitious, but for arguments sake a 1070 on sale right now is only £349.99 so a PC compare price for GPU is 249-349. 500 is too much. Comparing a console GPU to a pc GPU isn't black and white so just bare in mind that.
* I think xbox one x is a great machine, bit pricey, but it will sit well with my pro, not dissing the console, just trying to put a fair price on a comparison to a equivalent pc part.

[Allsystemgamer]

You can build a stronger pc for $600.

[xxGamerxx]

If you have to have a name that explains it to you, you truly are a moron. Educate yourself.

[zen_hydra]

MS really should have stuck with the Scorpio code name. Xbox One: Scorpio sounds a whole lot more interesting than cramming another meaningless 'X' on there. Seriously, didn't they learn anything from the criticism for the bad decision to call their third gaming console the Xbox One?

[Fearmonkey]

Xbox One X is just a stupid name as Xbox One was a stupid name. I think MS would have been better off calling it Xbox One Scorpio but they already used the Xbox One S moniker. Xbox Pro or Xbox One Pro would have been better too.

With no Fable 4, No Crimson skies-Mechwarrior-FASA games, no Rare classic franchises like Perfect Dark, Banjo, Conker, Viva Pinata, GoldenEye (a spiritual successor would have been required), No Halo for Xbox One X graphical showcase, it was left up to poor Forza to excite with the graphics. They needed some heavy hitters, even a video showing what Halo could look like with the power upgrade would have been nice. None of the games at the MS conference really wowed me, though many looked good, none of them amazed me.

[Tyrantt2005]

To all Xbox flag wavers just remember that articles like this came out when the PS4 pro came out. He asks whos it for because hardcore Xbox fans who would pay would 500 should already own an Xbox 1. Newcomes to the console are gonna look at the price tag and select the cheaper model. Same story as the Pro. Reviewers said if you got the TV for it and dont already own a Ps4, then maybe its for you. If you already own a PS4 its not really worth it. Same story, now it's Xbox's turn to try to make it worth the price tag.