Microsoft makes the Xbox Series S official, priced at $299

[HEXUS]

It decided to reveal "the smallest Xbox ever" after a flurry of leaks.

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[Spudbynight]

I wonder if this will see the introduction of PC like graphics settings into games for the Xbox. Will gamers be able to tweak quality settings in return for reduced framerates?

[cheesemp]

That black grill is awful. What were they thinking???

If they can do an all black/white design with game pass thrown in for a set monthly amount it could do well (£20 over 2 years?). They did similar with this gen recently and it's a really cheap way to game.

[LSG501]

Yeah can't say I like the black grill either, it would have been quite nice as a totally white design imo.

Kind of tempted by it as a 'media streamer' but also think it's a tad too expensive for what it is.... hopefully there is a 'black version too because white just doesn't go with ANYTHING in my media kit...

[Steviepunk]

I thought there rumours were that this would have 10GB of memory? I think the 7.5GB is how much would be usable by games (2.5GB being used by system), similarly the X will have 16GB memory with 13.5GB usable by games

[Steviepunk]

That black grill is awful. What were they thinking???

If they can do an all black/white design with game pass thrown in for a set monthly amount it could do well (£20 over 2 years?). They did similar with this gen recently and it's a really cheap way to game.

Indeed, I think a light grey would have been better, or even just go for a '2 tone' style with the whole top half being a vent (rectangle rather than a circle).

[[GSV]Trig]

I can't tell if that grill is black or grey, seems to change in the pictures..

[simonpreston]

I wonder if this will see the introduction of PC like graphics settings into games for the Xbox. Will gamers be able to tweak quality settings in return for reduced framerates?

I wouldn't think so. There is still just the 2 hardware configurations to develop for. More likely the game will detect which hardware it is running on and set accordingly.

[Tabbykatze]

If it's not bad then that price is very tempting as I'm a game pass subscriber for the games on PC.

[excalibur1814]

As above... the price IS very tempting. I'm not remotely bothered with gaming at 4K (mainly a pc gamer).

[KultiVator]

The specs also probably make a lot of sense for making the X-Cloud aspects of GamePass attractive to more gamers - and further broaden Microsoft's success in pushing GamePass subscriptions.

Bundling this together with GamePass on a cell-phone-like 24 month contract could be a nice little earner.

Agree that the black fan grill looks at odds with the otherwise clean lines of this and the X Series... but MS will almost certain be putting out re-skinned special editions with nicer paint-jobs in time.

For the first time in years, I'm not sure I'm going to jump on the console wagon - at least not right away. Mixture of not much time for gaming and the limited time I have going into Flight Sim 2020, C&C Remastered and Call of Duty.

Who knows, perhaps some compelling next-gen games will turn me back around before Xmas.

[mtyson]

UK price confirmed at £249
https://twitter.com/xboxuk/status/13...519984129?s=19
And - Releases on 10th November

[rave_alan]

4k performance for a price of the midlevel card, it will be a hit for Xmas.Microsoft definetly didn't bother too much again about design, just practical box with holes, reminds JBL loudspeaker.

[Output]

To quote myself from the other thread on the subject (I didn't realise I wasn't posting in the HEXUS article one until afterwrads):

I epected them to price it more highly, but it wouldn't surprise me if they subsidised the cost of the hardware due to it being a digital-only edition as they can make their money on selling the games themselves through the Xbox digital storefront and/or subscriptions such as GamePass.

[Spudbynight]

I wouldn't think so. There is still just the 2 hardware configurations to develop for. More likely the game will detect which hardware it is running on and set accordingly.

Is it just 2 configurations? There seems to be a lot of backwards/forewards compatiblity between the current gen which has two models and the next gen. From what I can see as well, the current gen Xbox One X seems to have higher specs in some areas than the Xbox One Series S. Will developers be able to release a game that works on all 4 models?

[kalniel]

Would be interesting to find out about the specs of this one.

They claim 1440p at (rather than or) up to 120fps so despite not targeting 4k gaming like the full fat one, that's still an impressive performance.

A half height version of the series X would have been cuter but I guess require a lot more custom work than doing it this way.