Jordan Lund
Hey, he’s like, just this guy, you know?
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Microsoft required 10% of system resources be reserved for Kinect support, even in games that didn’t support Kinect features.
https://www.eurogamer.net/how-the-xbox-one-gpu-reserve-unlock-actually-works
That reduction in horsepower for the actual games showed up in reduced resolution and framerate.
Lifting that restriction allowed the Xbox One to reach parity with the PS4.
One evolution went like this:
At launch, it came with Kinect and 10% of system resources were reserved for Kinect processing, even on games that didn’t support Kinect. That resulted in lower framerates and resolution than equivalent PS4 games.
Then Microsoft, wisely, removed the Kinect requirement and released a Kinect-free version of the one. With that extra performance boost, the One gained parity with the PS4.
Sony announced the PS4 Pro for 2016, but while it had more power than the stock PS4, it lacked a 4K Blu Ray drive.
Seeing the opportunity, Microsoft added a 4K drive to the Xbox One and launched the Xbox One S one month ahead of the PS4 Pro.
They also pre-emptively announced the Xbox One X which would be the powerhouse machine of the generation with 4K gaming and 4K physical media.
The idea being that hopefully people would choose the One S over the Pro due to the 4K drive, or would at least wait on buying anything until the One X dropped a year later.
Last generation was really weird as to one company having both the weakest and strongest hardware in the same generation.
Xbox One W/ Kinect
PS4 / Xbox One No Kinect
Xbox One S (same hardware + 4K Blu Ray)
PS4 Pro (stronger hardware, no 4K Blu Ray)
Xbox One X (strongest hardware + 4K Blu Ray)
Historic generations were about 5 years…
The big problem with the Xbox One was that it was underpowered because of the Kinect requirement, so they ditched Kinect then rebranded as the Xbox One S, throwing in a 4K Blu Ray player.
Still wasn’t enough, so the One X had full 4K capabilities.
If they had launched with the One X things would have looked a lot different.
Makes sense:
Xbox - 2001
Xbox 360 - 2005
Xbox One - 2013
Xbox One S - 2016
Xbox One X - 2017
Xbox Series S|X - 2020
4 years, 8 years, 3 years, 1 year, 3 years.
2028 would be on the long side but not unheard of. The reason for the big gap between 2005 and 2013 was the 2008 economic crisis.
2020 was the covid/supply chain crisis.
Lost me at “the first consumer product we’re aware of to use nitinol”.
There were nitinol eyeglass frames back in the 1980s.
I don’t know that it’s THAT confusing, since by definition we’re talking consumer grade products, not professional grade.
Amd that’s a distinction consumers have been making for years.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36125131/2022-hyundai-santa-cruz-pickup-revealed/
I mean, yeah, technically it’s classified as a pickup truck… but nobody will ever confuse it for:
I don’t expect a journalist to know, I expect an editor or fact checker to at least Google “4k resolution”.
Or how about “red dead redemption xbox” to see what the BC version runs at…
Pro-tip: Xbox One S / Series S - 1440p
Xbox One X / Series X - Native 4K
https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2018-red-dead-redemption-4k-xbox-one-x-analysis
No, I don’t. It’s a hot take… :)
But since you asked… pretty much every fighting game is better than Smash. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken. If you take power-up platform battlers as it’s own genre, then it’s also beaten by Powerstone.
Racing games better than Mario Kart? For pure racing, Gran Turismo, Project Gotham, Metropolis Street Racer. For racing with powerups, bombs and such? Wipeout.
Again, Nintendo games are great intros to a genre, and if it’s your first game you’ll look at all of them with warm fuzzy glasses on.
But as an adult, who has played hundreds of RPGs? Breath of the Wild was an empty world that bored the shit out of me.
Nintendo games are great FIRST games.
If Zelda is the first action RPG you ever played, it will forever hold a warm spot in your heart.
Same for Smash Brothers and fighting games, Mario Kart and racing games, or Pokemon and turn based RPGs.
But if you aren’t 10 years old or have played literally any other games, they really aren’t very good.
It’s all fun and games until your launch day install looks like this:
I made a flow chart for this ages ago…
Will it be legitimately hard to find? (Think Steel Battalion on Xbox.) No? Do not pre-order.
Do you get anything for pre-ordering? No? Do not pre-order.
Cosmetics only? Yes? Do not pre-order.
Is it from a developer with an established track record? No? Do not pre-order.
Is that established track record full of buggy launches (Bethesda)? Yes? Do not pre-order.
Online only? Yes? Do not pre-order.
The amount of time it’s going to take for mods will depend entirely on how similar it operates to previous games.
If experienced modders look at it and go “Oh, this is just like Skyrim…” or “Yeah, this bit from Fallout will work…” then modding should be pretty fast.
If it’s more different than previous, it will take longer.
There’s no real way to know until it actually comes out.
I’m old enough to have hand coded a precursor to this on the Commodore Pet.
“Gaming”
“Sub $1,000”
My gut reaction is “choose one”.
You might be able to get a gaming laptop under $1K but get ready to replace it in 2 years.