There are certain games that you just have to play because you’re either a fan of some franchise or just know that it’s going to be amazing. This is when Red Dead Redemption 2 comes to mind. If you’ve played Rockstar Games titles over the last decade you probably do realize that their products tend to be more complex, innovative (I hate that word) and bigger than ever with each new installment.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s just a really shitty way to force people to buy on console first and then re-buy on new generation/PC release. I get why they are doing it and I’m… letting them because I couldn’t wait for RDR2.
My second console experience
I got the consoles especially for the game and I got it used, I see no point in getting them new since the new generation of consoles is just around the corner, it’s just a matter of two years.
When Red Dead Redemption came out long time ago in 2010 I couldn’t wait for the PC version but it never came. So I’ve decided I’m going to get PlayStation 3 to play it, which back then was supposed to be powerful thanks to it’s cell processor. Oh boy those lags, I remember roaming around on desert and having fun but sometimes, just sometimes the game would go below 20 FPS and it was a disaster. Still the game was pretty amazing back then and I don’t regret getting it.
Same with Grand Theft Auto V for the first time I played it on PS3. Then I got the PC version which was so much better. Now we could discuss the money making machine – GTA Online but I don’t want to get into that.
Windows 10 PC isn’t that far from One X
If you’re a PC gamer like me you are probably worried that you won’t be able to adjust yourself to the new ecosystem. I don’t know about you but I always used the Xbox controller on my computer, first the 360 version (still works!) then One version. It just necessary to play some games. Shooters are mouse and keyboard no doubt here but racing games, arcade or platformers are better with a pad, it’s just more comfortable plus you can get all vibration you need in your fingers 😁
Windows 10 came with Play Anywhere feature in their store and right now there are certain titles that allow you to play their games on both PC and Xbox and you only have to buy the game once which is really nice. Some latest titles that work with this are Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and Gears of War 4 for example.
Mouse and keyboard support is on it’s way and with Microsoft’s Xbox conference coming this weekend I feel that we might see Age of Empires 4 gameplay on the Xbox. For now I think only Warframe works with mouse and keyboard but they are about to announce more titles on it. To me it’s pretty exciting because for less than €500 you can get a pretty solid piece of hardware capable of playing most new games at decent quality, sometimes at 60FPS (1920×1080) and some games like RDR2 work in native 4K (30 FPS).
UI wise One X looks pretty much like the Settings app screen on Windows 10 with Microsoft Store and some other spammy ads of games combined, problem is it works pretty badly if you keep the Instant-On function for a couple of days which allows you to remotely install games when you’re not at home and auto-update everything while you sleep. Even though it’s super useful the UI lag makes me furious and I had to disable it. The UI itself is UWP based it seems and everything loads from the Internet which means it’s even more laggy when you’re using on slow connection. I mean fucking videos auto-play when you browse games in the store, you can disabled that in the settings.
There are some streaming features and all that community but I don’t like that kind of stuff so I don’t care, I’m more of a single player gamer myself these days.
Is Xbox like Netflix for gaming?
Yes. You have an option to purchase EA Access and Xbox Game Pass which is pretty amazing. With EA Access you get a lot of EA games in a really low annual fee which is like €18 a year for ALL EA Sports games including FIFA 18, NHL 18, NBA Live 18, Madden 18 and more, plus Need For Speed games, Battefield franchise and many, many more. This is ideal if you’re not into really latest sport titles and just want to play them from time to time with your friends on a couch.
Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft’s recent subscription program that gives you access to over 100 games and this month they’ve added a bunch of new titles (like every other month) including Sniper Elite 4 and brand new GRIP game from the makers of Rollcage!
You loose all the access if you stop paying for those. Game Pass is more expensive – around €9 a month for me here in Poland. Still you can play lots of games even if you get it for like a month or two to have some fun, you can always get back to it after a while just like with Netflix.
Looks like a really cool PC case
Really, the console looks like a nicely packed PC, the specification is quite strong for the price but really weak for gaming PC standards, still this is a living room entertaining system which allows you to play Netflix and other apps, attach your Chromecast to it (yes, it has HDMI-In port) and play some game from time to time. I really like how you can put in your headphones to the gamepad and play quietly because the pad actually acts like a soundcard (the mic works too). Just some standard jack headphones that you use with your phone, unless you’re one of those guys.
Xbox One X specs:
- Custom AMD CPU (something like Intel i3 performance wise I guess), 8 cores clocked at 2.3GHz
- Custom AMD GPU clocked at 1172MHz, 6 teraflops of computing power (something like GeForce 1060 GTX+)
- 12GB of GDDR5 RAM
- 1TB HDD (SSD does not make any difference, check YouTube) which works extremely fast comparing to gaming on PC with HDD, I don’t mean loading times but stuttering is non-existent but maybe it’s just my old HDDs in my PC?
Some stuff you might find interesting:
- It only has an HDMI port (no DisplayPort)
- You can barely hear it while playing less demanding games, RDR2 makeas it louder, sounds like a laptop fan I guess
- There is no power supply outside, it’s all in the box
- it’s pretty heavy
- It has a blu-ray drive but in Netflix era I doubt most of people would need it?
- boxed games can be sold later on, you just put in the disk and install it, then update the game and you just gotta have the disk inside for the game to launch – if the game does not have any codes it isn’t assigned to your account which means you can just max it out and get rid of it ✌
- Spotify works, you can listen to music while playing, you can even adjust volumes of games or Spotify on the fly
- even though Instant-On option seems to lag the system on the console it’s pretty cool to get back to game without ANY loading times, just with a press of a button
It’s worth to give it a try.
If you’re not a freak, don’t need to play at 120 FPS or 4K at highest details and play from time to time, especially single player, you might consider getting the One X if your budget is low and you need a gaming rig. I’m pretty sure I will get back to my PC soon, I mean gaming wise. Overwatch is still fun and I do have Shadow of The Tomb Raider to finish up at 100%.
So summing up it’s a good experience, can’t wait for the Microsoft conference, more info below.
New stuff coming up this weekend!
The conference is being held in Mexico City. Microsoft promises “news, first looks, and surprises” during the Inside Xbox show that runs on Saturday, October November 10 (sometime around 22:00 CET). X018 will host both first and third-party announcements during the show. I’m hoping for Age of Empires 4! If you watch the conference on your Mixer account (Xbox streaming service) you will get some goodies for Forza Horizon 4 and more.
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