The $299 Xbox Series S is just too good to pass up

The Xbox Series S offers excellent value with its $299 price tag compared to both the previous-gen Xbox One and the brand new Xbox Series X and PS5.

[MadLad]

Eh.

It's a great value system. They're targeting 1440p at 30/60 fps, which is highly respectable for the price and the content on offer, but I'd still push people to spend the few extra hundred for the best next gen has to offer.

[parkesy78]

It says targeting 1440p ,that will resolution will be hit very rarely in a years time when devolpers are scaling down there games too a 4tf machine microsoft are making a mistake they should be advertising it as a 1080p 60fps machine that is capable of 1440p

[morganfell]

“I highly doubt it will even be able to do 1080p/30 in 2022 when most devs drop current gen completely.”

They will, from the beginning scale games to suit this unit. Scale as in adjust the game on every platform to suit this one. People are only thinking small, how this console will run games now rather than what developers will imagine a year or two from now. Imagine...but not be able to fulfill that vision on this unit. It’s why I am bookmarking these joyous articles and comments by the shortsighted. I’m not above waiting and then saying, I told you so.

[Unspoken]

Maybe 1440p with dynamic resolution and also maybe with a reprojection method. It should be able to hit 1080p 60fps no problem.

[DiRtY]

The best next gen has to offer would be the Xbox Series X. It is the most powerful console.

[pwnmaster3000]

Like how Xbox one X is the best this gen has to offer... oh wait.

[averagejoe26]

People don't care about the most powerful console, as we can see the Xbox One X got DEMOLISHED this gen by the ps4 and switch...even though it was the most powerful console.

People want good games. Sony and Nintendo seem to understand that.

[pwnmaster3000]

Honestly I wasn’t interested in series x but with series s, I might look into. It might be used for all my sports related games.
Game pass with EA pass or what ever you call it seems like a pretty good deal.
Won’t buy it right away maybe next year or something.

[DJStotty]

Gamepass Ultimate is what you want.

Includes EA play for free come November 10th.

[fr0sty]

PS4 Pro often hits higher resolutions, and it likely too will soon be in the same price range, and it has a much better game library to boot. Xbox One X hits higher resolutions. This was a dumb choice that is going to hold back multiplatform next gen games.

[DJStotty]

You display your misunderstanding of tech.

PS4 Pro and Xbox One X can not support ray-tracing, nor can they do anything above 60fps.

Series S can do both.

[DJStotty]

@therealtedcruz

"They're targeting 1440p at 30/60 fps,"

No they are targetting 1440p @ 60fps, up to 120fps, with ray-tracing, with 4k upscaling on all games, but the max resolution is 1440p.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us...

[TheProblem]

“ The $299 Xbox Series S is just too good to pass up”

It is if you actually want a next gen console

[DarthSocio]

If Xbox exclusives are all coming out on PC, what's the point of the console?I know it's a cheaper option than building a decent rig, but I might as well put that $300 toward the PS5 instead, given that I already have a PC. PS5's exclusives are a primary reason why I want the console

[roadkillers]

I'm really excited about the $35 a month instead of full out paying for the box. Gamepass is legit too. All Microsoft exclusives are on there. My disappointment was PSNow where they took God of War off.. Why? They have plenty of new exclusives to show off on now, but they keep taking them down.

PS has exclusives on par with Nintendo, it would be nice if Sony used PSNow to their full advantage

[averagejoe26]

You could have always made monthly payments by just using a credit card. How is this any different? This is still subject to a credit check, so if you don't have great credit, you're not going to pay by month anyway.

[roadkillers]

^ What are you 12? Nothing like buying with a credit card. Credit card companies add interest every month items are not paid off fully... With the $35 or $25 monthly plan, you will pay less than you would buying the console right out with 2-years of Gamepass Ultimate.

I know you hate math, but please try it once in a while.

[parkesy78]

I think one thing people are forgetting is exclusives ,every generation there are games made for 1 console that then get ported to the other console a year later ,so if a developer makes a ps5 and a year later ports too series x no problem similar specs but being forced to port to series S with a 1/3 gpu and only 8 gb of ram will cause issues i think there gonna be alot of unhappy customers in 2 years time

[Manic2014]

I think it won't be an issue - they basically explained that with Series S it will have the same next gen game experience except in a lower resolution. I think that's a big win.

[Sieden]

I was onboard with that line of thinking until I seen multiple developers tweeting that the console will be a problem and bottleneck the generation for 3rd party games.

[averagejoe26]

Except big name developers are coming out and saying it's going to be worse than that. You people really need to stop believing Microsoft's PR speak.

[Manic2014]

@siden @averagejoe26

Like this https://twitter.com/fourzer...

It all depends some dev's are complaining but others are not - if you are doing a multiplat game this is nothing new, however with platform exclusives it is more work.

[Charal]

I am really fed up about all these articles praising Serie S on thin air.
Price wise, there is nothing mind blowing for 2020: it’s a 4TF machine with 512 SSD, priced in line with One X and PS4 pro which are in the same range of power, and price

Game wise, we have no clue at all about how next gen titles will run on it vs SX and PS5.

Serie X is the box to talk about and to praise right now for the green team: technically very solid for the whole gen cycle, very good price.

[rainslacker]

Series X is the machine to praise, but that wasn't gaining any traction in the market, so the new thing is to praise this as if it's the best thing ever, despite the fact that most people around here said they want the best experience possible, which is why they were going with the XSX in the first place.

If you haven't noticed, what people or MS are trying to get attention with and hype up is changing weekly. When one thing doesn't work, they move onto the next.

[Elda]

This is cute for folks on a budget,casuals & parents who want to buy their little Johnny a budget new next-gen console or IMO buy the cheaper new XB next-gen console just to play the upcoming indies/AA timed exclusives & cross-gen multi-plats that'll release with the console until the bigger first-party AAA exclusives release. Once true next-gen multi-plats & the first party AAA next gen exclusives release folks wanting more power can trade the S in for the X.

[Traecy]

I agree.

[xetiro]

After 7 years playing an amazing PS4 Library, I don’t see how this Series S is that much of attractive as a next-gen product.

While I am a still enjoying Ghost of Tsushima in 2020, I am ready to fully jump to a next-gen cycle.

That will only truly happen with the likes of the PS5/XSX as base platforms, not XSS. And for obvious reasons PS5 will take the lead, but that’s just a detail that shouldn’t matter for the discussion.

Honestly, XSS is only attractive for the ones who missed the current generation and have a huge gap on their gaming experience and/or only intend to play casually from an “apparent” low-cost investment.

[Hedstrom]

I se no problem on passing it up!

[DiRtY]

Being able to play all next gen games at 1440p for the next 5-6 years is incredible for 299€.

[averagejoe26]

*up to 1440p. Not all games. Just like the PS5 can do *up to 8k. Obviously not all games are going to be in 8k.

[Father__Merrin]

You will get unstuck with the storage in no time a 512gb means 370gb - 420gb out of the box. Same as with sonys machine there's no budget option to expand storage

[Magatsuhi]

If you're a normie who only plays fortnite and cod then why even upgrade? Just stick to your current console. Also, aren't the new Xbox games coming to current Gen systems?

[Bathyj]

I honestly don't see how people are so easily blinded by one good selling point and then blind to the faults. Yeah it's cheap. It sounds cheap.

The SSD is a big issue. This is a digital only console and it's half the storage. Did no one think that was a problem? So by the time you buy the rumoured $200 memory card is the same price as the series X with a third the power. SMH.

Ram is the bigger issue. It's not just cut to 10gb. It's slow as crap. And split. The small part is laughably slow as I get only assume that reserved for the OS. What is it 56gps? My God. Leaving 8g of 224gps O handle the game? And your expecting a lot of 120fps? Why would they change the ram the cheap bastards. Ram is not that much.

They should have just sucked that up and absorbed the cost. They are going the hamstring this whole Gen like they did when they stuck to DVD over Bluray. This is a terrible move for next gen just so Microsoft can wave their dix around and say we have the most powerful and the cheapest.

Bottom line even kids won't want this. People think they will but why? kids don't know about money and they will want Spiderman. For an extra 100 bucks gamers will get a real next gen machine with PS5 digital where the only compromise is a disc drive. Plus, there's the games.

Series S is just a trap for people that don't do their research. Don't get me started on financing where you're locked in to 2 years of paying for gamepass while you wait years for games because you can't afford a $300 console.

[rainslacker]

There are a lot of people who just want things cheap. Doesn't always matter if it gives them what they want. If one isn't expecting anything impressive then it's fine. If one is expecting acceptable next gen performance for the long haul, then they're going to be disappointed.

I used to buy the cheaper options of things. I found that I was usually more disappointed in the purchase than when I just brought something that had what I wanted, but cost more. Now I tend to weigh the cost versus what you get at that price, and decide how important different features are to me and if it's worth the extra costs.

[Nuclearmoon]

The lack of a disk drive is whats holding it back for me personally, the lack of disk based backwards compatibility as i skipped the xbone is a disappointment. The xsx is too expensive for me but if the xss was £50 more with a disk drive then it would be a no brainer.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Now, this is the very definition of over hype.

First, it was all about teraflops. How Xbox Series X had an extra PS4 in every box compared to PS5. How Halo was the mega exclusive that will turn everything around. Then, Halo premieres GIMPED by the current gen Xbox one. Then it was all about Game Pass.

We then get this GIMPED next gen console that has to be taken into account when making games for Xbox Series X. Where at first, uncompromised 4K was all the rage. But now, GIMPED 4K is acceptable with no major launch title to speak of. All about Game Pass. Let's look at Game Pass and this amazing VALUE.

PS Plus, PS Now and EA Access ring up to $150 dollars a year. 100's of games to choose from and free games from Plus.

Game Pass Ultimate with *free EA Play a year normally is $180 a year. With less games than above. Somehow, paying MORE and getting Less equals more value. That don't make no sense.

All this time waiting for next gen, 7 years actually. And now GIMPED is okay after Xbox One X. No BC for this system or Blu-ray is now acceptable.

"Can't wait to pre-order this system." The flip flopping is enormous.
"It will sell like hotcakes." To who? Hardcore usually buy at launch. Casuals don't. The core usually wants the best version. But not now. Cheap half steps to next gen is extraordinary. A game changer. The system we need at the right time.

Tons of hype for no big launch games. Hype for paying more and getting less. And Hype for gimped gaming. Totally hilarious how the fans flip and flop and just don't stop.

"Why are you here Apocalypseshadow? To call out the flip flopping and hypocrisy.

[GamingSinceForever]

Wait I’m confused.

Is the Series S weaker than the XBox One X?
If true this is a bad idea on MS part.

[jBlakeeper]

Nah, PS5 is just too good to pass up.

[Melankolis]

Let's say a title runs 4k/60 on Series X, and 2k/60 on Series S with same setting.
For now, it's just marketing hype. I'll believe if it really deliver the promise.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

Except that when you see that developers are already voicing their concerns about the hardware limitation you realize that it isn't really a true next generation console.

[CaptainObvious878]

Could you people wake up and use 2 of your brain cells for 2 seconds.

This console is going to hamstring the whole of next generation and all you care about is saving a few extra bucks...

I'm done.

[BlaqMagiq1]

I have no problem passing on this. Very meh to me.

[RCslayer]

Sure if you want subpar next-gen.