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But what we’d really like to know is if the Xbox Series X can run Linux. Or Tetris. Is "but can it run Crysis?" too trite these days?

But its specification is impressive and it looks like it would make a great workstation.

*Nodding enthusiasticly*

Great sounding specs, except for that proprietary memory expansion dingus. Rip that out & replace it with another 16Gb of RAM & a second drive for use as the user file repo, then I'd love to have one...

Just after you give it Linux instead of whatever crapware MSHQ decided to shite all over it.

.. Can it run Quake? Quake RT 4k @60fps that is..

Can it run Pong?

My PS3 could run Crysis.

was cheap on PS Store

Can it run MUD?

a much tougher test for a console, does the keyboard work?

see " in stuck in mud"

It's impressive, although a little expected (as who wants just a slightly better console for the next gen?).

The main problem though is that games that come out on both the Xbox and PlayStation aren't exclusive. So these days there really isn't any reason to buy one console over the other. And the worst thing of all is the lack of local multiplayer going in to games for these consoles now. Sure we can do it online but what if you've got your friends around for a drink and you want to cause merry hell locally?

Oh yeah, we've got COVID19 to stop that. I forgot.

Not true at all. I really like the overall aesthetic of the new Xbox, but would I buy one? No. The reason for that is because Horizon Zero Dawn 2 and The Last of Us 2 will be PS4 / PS5 exclusives.

I do agree with you that the underlying hardware these days however is much of a muchness. Give it a couple of years and I think both Playstation and Xbox will just be games optimised PCs.

That's already what they are. There's just a little hardware chippery added to make sure you can't just plonk Windows in it and use it as a PC.

I'm pretty sure the components are mainly off-the-shelf stuff. It's probably just the motherboard and BIOS that are a bit special, in order to enable the OS restriction and prevent tampering.

> The main problem though is that games that come out on both the Xbox and PlayStation aren't exclusive. So these days there really isn't any reason to buy one console over the other.

The PS4 exclusives of this generation sold that console to me. The Xbox exclusives on the other hand.. well, what exclusives?

I'd be happy running full Windows 10 and "Windows Subsystem for Linux 2" on that hardware if it were atractively priced.

About time consoles started ditching mechanical hard drives.

Assume the Blu Ray Drive will be for movies since most content on console is downloaded anyway.

Did you notice this bit "1 TB Custom NVME SSD"?

I think it's a bit premature to announce that, Microsoft. You have no idea how game developers can bog down a top-of-the-line system with the latest titles.

There's a simple rule of thumb actually : a new game will require 180% of the resources your high-power gear has. It's only three years later that that year's high-level gear will be able to run said game properly.

Also, sometimes loading time can actually be used intelligently and be a valid part of the gaming experience.

Quote: sometimes loading time can actually be used intelligently and be a valid part of the gaming experience.

Mass Effect elevators.........

running on a high end PC made them a LOT faster........

I strongly suspect that some games (I'm looking at you, Civilisation) deliberately put delays into loading, just to make it a bit more difficult to reload when you fuck it up.

Civ6 seems particularly bad for this. I have plenty of time waiting for loads (from my RAID0 SSDs) to sit there and try to work out how much data is actually being loaded. A few bits per unit, ditto per tile, probably a couple of bytes per city, plus lookup tables and a bit over overhead, all adds up to, er, very little. And I've still got time to wander off and push the button on the coffee machine.

Of course, it may just be really shitty coding and/or data design...

I generally prefer the cockup rather than conspiracy explanation.

If it's backward compatible with 360 titles, it'll be one of the only consoles able to run a home version of Tetris The Grand Master (so worth it just for that!)

That could be tricky, as the Xbox One dropped 360 compatibility as technically infeasible at the time (different architectures--POWER versus x86--and not enough horsepower to make up the difference in emulation).

As for Tetris, ask EA (I think they currently hold the rights).

I think EA hold the rights to mobile versions only—the Tetris Company can still release on consoles and PC. Puyo Puyo Tetris and Tetris 99 on Switch are pretty good (the latter is by Arika and is actually superb) and Tetris Effect, designed by Tetsuya Miziguchi of Rez fame, is an incredible piece of work on PC.

I really, really like Tetris.

If it runs on the Xbox One, it will run on the Xbox Series X, but it looks like "Tetris: The Grandmaster Ace" is not a back compatible title.

Unlike Crysis, so, unfortunately it wont run Tetris, but it will run Crysis.

Comes down to games and what can run them.

My money will be going to the same company as who made my 1982 portable VCR.

"My money will be going to the same company as who made my 1982 portable VCR."

Are Ferguson making consoles now? ;p

No tractors

Personally I'm more worried about what happens when the internal SSD starts to reach it's very finite number of writes.

With the use of SSD as additional RAM for the GPU, number of suspend states and constant autosave writes I do have concerns no matter how good the write levelling is (and with the size of games the drives will be sitting pretty close to full most of the time)

At least with a PC you can replace an SSD easily, not so with a console.

It maybe custom, which is a shame and in my mind daft. but the SSD will well outlive the console... Ive had less SSD's fail on me than spinning disks, even had a bunch of consumer ones in a RAID on a production HyperV server, after 2 years they were still 98% health - 4 years later one is still the main drive in my home server.

as for easy to replace a console drive? im not sure about the XBox, but the PS4 is a user replaceable part.... it just slides in the side, no funny screws, seals or firmware.

Have you tried? I found replacing the internal drive on a console easy PC, and doesn’t need third party software.

Will it run linux?

Well doubtful MS will support this officially, but the more console manufacturers try to lock down their kit to not allow 3rd party code to run, the more the hacker community will try and defeat it.

The PS3 was not jail breaked until after Sony removed the 'Other OS' option possibly because hackers could already run Linux on it and saw less of a challenge to hack it.

> The PS3 was not jail breaked until after Sony removed the 'Other OS' option possibly because hackers could already run Linux on it and saw less of a challenge to hack it.

Sony literally sued one of the guys (" [1]Geohot ") who did the jail breaking.

Stopped using my PS3 the day Sony did that, and haven't bought a Sony product since. Nor planning to, ever.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz#Sony_lawsuit

How much power does this thing use?

What will it do to your monthly electric bill if there's an obsessive-compulsive gamer in the house?

You're asking for your friend the O-C gamer, clearly?