Xbox Series X review: Boring Is Better

If I judged Microsoft’s new video game console, the Xbox Series X, purely as a piece of hardware, I’d only need one word: boring

[darthv72]

Man... the wait is almost over.

[Shane Kim]

It's going to be exciting. Both the PS4 and Xbox One was kind of outdated on arrival (even though they've managed to put out some great looking games) but this time around we have two great consoles with exciting hardware.

[pedrof93]

I'm really eager to play the games I've missed this gen :D Gears 5 120 fps :DDDDDDD

[LegoIsAwesome]

Once I have a XSX, first thing Im gonna do is fire up that Forza Horizon 4.

[NEXUS-6]

What would stop you haha

[Army_of_Darkness]

@legoisawesome

Do you really have a choice? 😜🤣

[OMNlPOTENT]

I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. I’m getting a ps5 myself, but the series x looks like a monster! Have fun with it.

[ziggurcat]

Next week can't come soon enough.

[Rich1631]

It is weird to review a console itself lol.
Either way. Mine is coming next week. I think Microsoft will bring it this gen. Last gen they got bent over.

[Si-Fly]

I managed to get preorders in for both consoles, and I’m excited for both. I skipped last gen on Xbox so looking forward to all the enhanced experiences and some nostalgia from the 360 back compat. Then there’s PS5 with the Dual Sense and Demon Souls for me to get stuck into. A great end to a really shitty year!

[darthv72]

When I got the one x, it was impressive what it did to many of the games in terms of enhanced performance. The series takes it to a whole other level. So if you missed out then yeah... every game you play on the sx will be a whole new experience regardless of being an existing game.

[willykyu]

Same here. I 100% agree with you. High Tech speaking, 2020 is a blast so far. And ends with fireworks.

[jwillj2k4]

They had 7 years to bring something, and all they brought was another console that’s the same as the last console, this time with absolutely no games.

[FyBy]

They bought many developers so lets hope they dont f*ck up this time.

[chiefJohn117]

Good read, that's why I say people don't care about gimmicks, they may get your attention awe at first then you a few uses later you forget about it and stop using it MS cut the BS and gave us a pure gaming mechine

[Lilrizky]

I don't know.... i'm kinda praying RE8 gets VR support

[StormSnooper]

And I’m assuming by “gimmick” you mean all the innovations that the competition has? 🤦‍♂️

[frostypants]

*eyeroll*

[The Wood]

'And I’m assuming by “gimmick” you mean all the innovations that the competition has?'

Spot on, Laud what you have and downplay what you don't (until you get it)

Seen this talk for over a decade from both side I might add but the ratio of the dismissive speak on exclusives, sp games, sales, features ......the list goes on and will continue forever

[Deathdeliverer]

Amazon finally confirmed my PS5 date of arrival. It’s official. Amazon will have my Series X at my door on the 10th and my PS5 Disc version on the 12th. New router to take advantage of the 1 GB internet speed I have.... Samsung Q90R. I am officially in next gen launch day heaven with the following weekend off, next week.

[chiefJohn117]

Lucky, I need to upgrade my TV for next Gen. How long you've had a Samsung? I heard their screens get burn in so I was lookin g at an LG

[Deathdeliverer]

It’s Qled. Burn in is basically impossible. I’ve had it since March this year. It’s phenomenal, the HDR is soooo bright and nice, the blacks look like the tv is off, and the colors make you want to see old stuff again for the first time.

[Shane Kim]

I just got the LG CX 55". It's phenomenal.

[where-eagles-dare]

John, it's Oled televisions that can be prone to burn in. The television that Death mentions is the Samsung Q90R, essentially an Led with quantum dot technology which produces a wider array of colours and has a higher peak white brightness than Oled & has hdr 10+, which the Oled from LG doesn't have.

This television shines, pardon the pun, in brighter lit scenes. Whereas Oled comes into it's own, in a darker environment with true blacks & 'Dolby Vision' which the Samsung set doesn't have.

I have had the Oled C9 for nearly a year now & it's vitually impossible to get burn in, as there are a plethora of features built in to stop this. For example if you leave a static image on the screen for more than a few minutes, the LG C9 will go to a moving screen saver. You can do all sorts of tweaks in the settings, to lower the colour brightness, of say screen Sports & News logos.

You can't go wrong with either of these televisions as they are both Hdmi 2.1 capable.

If you love watching movies at night in the dark and want 4 Hdmi 2.1 inputs and a far cleaner and sharper image, with better screen uniformity, as well as motion & low latency input lag, then I highly recommend the LG Oled C9. The reason that I don't mention the LGCX (2020) is there isn't much difference between the two & you may be able to snaffle a Black Friday bargain.

The Samsung is also a superb option and can achieve a much brighter and vivid peak image with Hdr 10+. It also handles slightly better in a brighter lit environment, with say windows, as the screen is less reflective.

[chiefJohn117]

Thanks for the info yall I'mma keep my eye out for both

[Popsicle]

You are not going to get burn in an a Samsung QLED because it is a completely different tech when compared to OLED. My LG OLED B6 suffers from burn in that occurred in only 2 years with fairly limited use. However, my LG OLED C8 is still going very strong and has no burn in. I prefer the picture quality of the OLED over the QLED, but others may feel differently.

[ziggurcat]

LED/QLED doesn't get burn-in - OLED will, though, but that's a risk with any brand that uses OLED panels.

[frostypants]

Burn in is not much of a concern with any TV these days. OLEDs are the most prone but even there you gotta be super careless.

[StoneyYoshi]

You got your email confirmation?? :( i hope i get mine soon. Still waiting on them to tell me if im getting mine day 1 too.

Edit: Nevermind. i have confirmation now on my order page. they just haven't sent an email yet. 🎉

[Deathdeliverer]

@Stone
Yeah it’s on the orders page. My PS5 second controller can finally leave the box and get felt up now that I know I won’t be teasing myself for long. Had it for days unopened waiting on the confirmation to not make things more unbearable.

@eagles and popsicle
Yes, the QLED is exactly as you guys say BUT I’ll say this. The black levels that I guess aren’t quite “black” on other QLEDs cheaper QLEDS I do not see on the Q90R. The screen literally looks off in the letterbox of movies or a dark scene. Also, as I play fighting games low latency matters tremendously. The Q90 automatically knows the system that’s hooked up and goes to game mode. If there’s ANY latency when I’m counting on hitting a move within a 3 frame opening, I can’t feel it. Almost 3k at the time, but as a gamer it is worth every penny.

OLEDs at the high end take up to 4000 hours to burn in, your mileage may vary, but unless you’re marathoning the same game hours on end day after day you might never experience it. Cheaper OLEDS might be better off avoiding gaming all together.

[Kaedro]

"Boring Is Better" - Is Polygon describing itself?

[AngelicIceDiamond]

The x1 got a 7. 8 with kinect and a broken UI at launch. They also had cable Jack for live TV and two screen experience. Play games and watch TV. Innovative sure it's different but nobody asked for those things. As I mentioned the UI was broken right out of the gate and had none of the features the 360 had. You can argue that the launch titles for x1 were better. Considering they have almost Most none witch Series.

Point is MS stripped back those features and focused internally. Which is to make a fully capable gaming machine that hopefully highlights next gen gaming to its highest (console wise anyway). It's a pure gaming focused machine. No, kinect, TV stuff, two screen experiences just pure gaming.

[Thundercat77]

Xbox series X feels more like a mid Gen hardware update than a real next Gen console.

No killer app, horrible launch lineup, practically the same UI and controller from previous Gen. Doesn't feel next Gen.

Also, first time in my life I see a console review where they say "boring is better"

[Sitdown]

Just out of curiosity, did you go into ps2, ps3, and ps4 articles talking about the controller not really being next gen?

You all are trying too hard to make it seem like console releases are often night and day during their launch from previous generations.

[Chronichero]

meaning it looks dull and they are praising it because its dull.....means less expectations for the future if this does well.

[Charlieboy333]

PS3 added motion controls and PS4 added the touchpad and speaker. So something new each generation. Now even more additions with PS5. Do you see a pattern yet?

[Sitdown]

How often were motion controls really used? How often was the touchpad really used? Yes, I see a pattern of things added that were underutilized. Do you see the pattern? Playing Ghost of Tsushima, I actually forgot how to call the guiding wind, because I forget about the touchpad. And let's not talk about the sixaxis removing rumble.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I know you're not complaining about. Controller from previous gens with minor upgrades.... You're right no killer line up. Luckily EA play will make it's rounds to game pass to help bolster their offerings. Practically the same Dashboard is needed for compatibility reasons so games, apps and features can switch over automatically as soon as you plug in the console. They completely re-did the X1 UI not only did nothing from the previous console moved over (except your profile ) the UI was terribly built. Everything was missing, clunky and hardly anything worked. MS got backlash for that.

If MS made it through with the X1 in which you yourself and everybody here declared it was their last console. They'll be fine this gen, trust me.

[AnotherGamer]

The comments on twitter about this is bit amusing, they don't get what this guy is trying to say.

[RgR]

I get what they're trying to say.
But to me, exciting is better.

If you place this same statement when referring to a game it is not a good thing at all.

We don't like sequels being more of the same. So why would we like it in consoles. Each console has tried to innovate and it seems the xbox has dropped the ball.

[Einhander1971]

Ps5 for me:) 19th

[Destiny1080]

some reviewers have had there series x just sitting idle for two weeks because its so boring

how much boring can you handle

[Rich1631]

As an Xbox guy, Microsoft needs to bring the exclusives this gen or just throw in the towel. I'm talking proper AAA 90+ metacritic games. C tier stuff like State of Decay or Crackdown, or B tier stuff like Sea of Thieves, Quantum Break ain't gonna cut it. The tail end of the 360 and the entirety of the Xbone was a barren wasteland of exclusives.

*Fingers crossed* I really want to see them succeed.

[anast]

boring is the bane of entertainment

[Binarycode]

Boring af.

[gold_drake]

Boring is better. wow haha.

[TheOtherMoon]

I acknowledge the lack of games releasing with the console -- totally a fair and legit argument. The reviews that call the hardware boring are simply laughable. Any review that considers EITHER system boring is laughable. No matter what side you are (why are there even sides?) you can acknowledge that both systems take what was and make it faster, smoother and more immersive. I am excited for both of these systems to be released.

[S2Killinit]

Jesus, the amount of spin on this... yes everybody, its now 2020 and boring is a good thing.

[GrmpyolGamer]

The Ps5 looks like it was designed by a 12 year old