Games

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XBOX SERIES X AND S: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEXT-GEN OF XBOX

I kind of like the contrast these two machines offer.

That the Series X targets 2160p60 is pretty straight forward. Having a matching Ultra HD Blu-Ray drive is nice value, much as my original One’s Full HD Blu-ray drive or my PlayStation 2’s DVD player was handy on the wallet.

So in essence if you wanna have the biggest horse power: buy the Series X. If you just wanna have fun or save money: get the Series S.

Seems the Series S basically targets Full HD televisions. Enough oompth to for a 1440p60 target should make anyone’s 1080p HDTV happy whether the resources are pumped into eye candy or only milked for PC monitors in that resolution. You’re not going to find tons of consumer oriented 1440p QHD television.

My main curiosity, I think will be what difference the differences in compute power bring.

Especially as time goes on and on, and games take greater advantage of modern hardware. The focus on the hardware being more like a feature profile has been a positive for the One/One S and One X bit. I expect that it will continue with the Series S and Series X, however long the earlier consoles remain good enough for general gaming. I like the idea of “Xbox games” that scale to your console more than I like the idea of “Generations” and backwards compatibility. Even more so given the relationship to Windows.

Given the goal of being cheaper: cutting both memory and the optical drive make sense.

In all the years that I’ve owned an Xbox One: games on disc have been a waste. Literally, I have had more use for 3.5″ floppy diskettes in the past decade than I have for the buying video games on Blu-ray disc. When I’ve done so: without failure it lead to downloading all the freaking stuff anyway. In effect making the disc little more than a resellable license key, but at least optical discs (probably) make better frisbees than floppies.

Rather the value I’ve had out of the console’s optical drive has been purely video related. I have two Blu-ray drives. One in my desktop PC that I use for ripping content, and the one in my Xbox one that I’ll occasionally use to check the discs. Most times I just rip and later stream to my Fire TVs via Plex.

When it comes to the whole resale and used games front, I don’t think having to put a disc in the drive is worth that for me. Rather I think some system for linking license keys to an account and some kind of cross signature verification between your logged in device, and Microsoft’s servers, would be a better move. I.e. chuck the disc, unlink the key from your account and trade or sell it to a friend. Screw the damned optical disc. Having to download 20 to 100 gigs of shit is inescapable at this point, so you’re basically screwed if popping a Blu-ray in is the only way to get your game on.

I think I’ve had the original model Xbox One since about 2015 or 214. In all of that time the options for getting games on disc or used, surely hasn’t saved me the cost difference between the two new consoles. Hell, subscribing to Game Pass has probably saved me more in the long term than the used games market has saved me since 1993. Yes, I’m getting old.

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 Greedy Fool; noun.

What happens when you reach the end of Central Processing, and instead of rushing through the exit: decide to wipe the last Blinky off your tail before it can chomp your neck off.

And then you realize you just swapped Chaingun -> Rocket Launcher instead of Chaingun -> Shotgun, and blow yourself back to the starting point.

Yeah. Not quite my brightest moment ever. Well, I’m sure the look on my face maybe. On the upside the Spectre didn’t survive the blast either.

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 Here’s Doom Eternal running at 1,000fps with an Intel Core i7 9700K

Being a kid when the original DooM came out, and first experiencing it on console, since our Tandy was more at home with 8088 based than 386 based software, I find that kind of amazing and insane. My old i5-3570K and GTX 780 need the settings tuned just to ensure that the frame rate doesn’t dip in more demanding segments of the game, but does manage to be perfectly playable.

It’s hard to imagine Doom Eternal reaching 1000 FPS on current hardware. Not hard to imagine the first three games doing so, but that’s the virtue of time. I guess if you totally and insanely clock the shit out of a computer until you need liquid nitrogen just to avoid a halt and catch fire condition, some amazing shit is possible, lol.

Also not my fault if I’m suddenly tempted to reach for the 1993 version of DooM…..

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 Once upon a time I used to keep a copy of CD-Keys on floppy disk. On the theory I’d be more likely to lose the slip of paper or the jewel case than the actual disc. Most are still in a container in my closet.

Finally got around to fetching the old diskette out of my closet, and I find the dates interesting. In any case it’s time to migrate the files to modern media.

$ sudo mount /dev/fd0 /mnt

[sudo] password for terry:

mount: /mnt: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.

$ ls -l /mnt

total 84K

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 Armored-Fist3_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 BF2_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 BF2SF_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 CoD_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 CoDUO_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 Commanche4_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 DF1_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 DF2_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 DFBHD_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 DFLW_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 DFTFD_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32 May 14  2006 DFX_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 Nov  7  2008 FEAR_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30 May 14  2006 MW4-CL-MP_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 30 May 14  2006 MW4-IS-MP_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 21 May 14  2006 Quake4_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 48 May 14  2006 README

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24 May 14  2006 RvS_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 SWAT3_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 SWAT4_Key

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25 May 14  2006 SWAT4TSS_Key

$

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Resident Evil 3 is somewhat different ground for me, as far as the remakes go.

The HD/Remaster of the first game kind of retained the feel of the original, but because it was based on the GameCube version instead of the original PlayStation: it’s not my childhood. Or should we say the main thing that irked me about the game was virtually all my vague-memories of where the key items are, and the various puzzles, were rendered useless. As a kid, my brother bought Resident Evil when it first came out.
Needless to say I remember when the the Dual Shock and Director’s Cut editions were released as well, lol. More than a bit of my childhood went to watching my older brother play video games, and getting to try them as well.
Resident Evil 2 is a more stable territory for a remake of sorts. I watched my brother play part of the game’s RPD portion, and got filled in by a friend about the rest of the story with the Birkins and such. But I never played it much myself. So I kind of approached the remake with more open eyes, and a curiosity for how it turned out. Was glad for the modernized action, but it still retaining the strong emphasis on survival/horror that Resident Evil spawned as a genre. Not to mention the obtuse puzzles and hidden items, lol.
I enjoyed the RE2 remake enough to create pretty extensive notes. Largely built from wandering around trying to remember where an item was and which you need to acquire in order to reach that key item.
So we can say that I didn’t care for the first but loved the second remake. Enter Resident Evil 3!
When Resident Evil 3 came out I was already done. My brother was hyped at the demo but I didn’t get involved, and he having moved out by then, I didn’t watch either. Most of what I remember about the game comes from thumbing through his strategy guide like twenty years ago. Seems like the greater focus on action was retained. Having not played the original beyond the demo disc, I don’t know if the “I’m too busy running from freaking zombies to be worried about puzzles” style aligns that well but it creates a very different experience from RE2 despite much the same technology and mechanics. I was really shocked when I found the use for the jewels hidden around the city was more like cash for a vending machine than a key plot device.
Must say that I loved the weird assed door comments when Carlos first sees one of the RPD special key doors. Whoever designed the Racoon City Police Department with the puzzle defense in depth would probably have gotten along with the security group at the Spencer mansion from the original game. Encountering the violating effects of the spiders at the power substation, also made me reflect upon both the super sized sewer mutants in RE2, and on how Jill’s original campaign was crafted. I remember well that Chris was stronger, sturdier in a fight but Jill began with useful tools and received more help (and occasional sabotage) along the way.
I kind of wonder if some of RE3’s campaign reflects upon how she was designed to be the “Easier” route in the mansion, and jack things up because only a Bad Ass Jill Valentine could survive Racoon City. And with my luck by the time I reach the hospital phase it’ll either be knee deep in the dead, or designed by the bastard that did the Chess plug puzzle in RE2.
Actually reading the note about the portable generators in the city was kind of nice. Seems the electrician’s guild is less full of pricks than the engineering company that did the sewers in RE2. Yes, I really hated the fuse puzzle. RE3’s giant battery packs the size of a cordless phone are practical for the sewer’s electronic security system. The magic fuses shaped like chess plugs however is just far too damned much work to be practical, on top of it being a bad idea for maintenance. But video game puzzles don’t have to reflect real life, lol.
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Microsoft Just Showed An Uncomfortable Truth About The Xbox Series X And PS5

Not a commentary I ever really expected to see published, given the norm is closer to frothy mouthed eye candy and marketing spiel. But surprisingly well noted.

Something I would also add to this is the implications for developers has evolved as well. For a damned affordable price, the Xbox One delivered some impressive gaming hardware that would be difficult to match for the price; those of us who build gaming desktops, or buy laptops for the purpose, know how painfully expensive they are. Meanwhile for the price of a laptop that doesn’t suck, you can get a game console that can pump out stellar graphics.

I feel that with the evolution of hardware, we have reached a point where decent graphics is now more in the hands of the art and engines under the hood. Not the hardware. That is to say, the modern console has the resources that you don’t need to worry—the same way as melting laptops that shouldn’t even be running your game to begin with, lol.

The last several decades were full of “Holy crap, how can they do that and not melt the machine?” leaps in fidelity, and performance. Even in my childhood, we had massive graphic leaps like DooM and Resident Evil. Games whose graphics today, we would hardly get impressed over without a realization of what limited  they had to run on. Pumping out awe inspiring graphics is still a lot of work, and doing it in a performant way is still challenging, but it’s still impressive what you can do with a humble Xbox or PlayStation at this point. The next generation will just bring more headroom 🙂.

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Possible signs that I have strange, or at least varied tastes: when my debate of what to cycle back to reading includes:

  • Cow boys, writers, cyborgs, and interdimensional adventure.
  • Gothic love-horror, and a side of witches and gaslighting.
  • Horn dog comedy with a side of heart rending drama.
Also on that note: 
  • The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree is an excellent series of novels, enough so that started reading it a second time. Enough years have passed for details to start to fizzle.
  • The House in Fata Morgana is one of the better executed long form visual novels, but it’s story has plenty of twisted shit.
  • Edelweiss is both a hilarious visual novel, and one that may leave a lasting impression on your tear ducts.
I’m also pretty sure that combing reading, and snacking, would cause massive death glares from the hounds…lol.
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Thumbing through my Steam library, my brain eventually floats off in various directions.

One is the reminder that Love In Space recently released their follow up to Shinning Song Starnova, and remember that last time I had checked their Patreon, and active projects post, the next installment of Sunrider was next on their road map. Much to my joy, it seems like Sunrider 4: Captain’s Return is elevated to current project. Just as previously scheduled.

I remember playing Mask of Arcadius, and enjoying how they combined turn based fleet + mech tactics with a visual novel setting. Because who doesn’t want to laugh your ass off between being out numbered like 80:1 in a space battle? I think MoA is still free, and it’s worth playing both for the intro to Sunrider’s story, and for the campaign.

When Liberation Day came out it was a rather shuddup, and take my money response. Excellent improvement on the mechanics, and enjoyable for the same reasons. But of course the damned thing ends with a cliff hanger end on par with Old Ben Kenobi, so it’s been a long wait to see what happens next.

The purely VN based expansion with a side story / alternate endings for the crew was also pretty amazing. Give or take how many jokes you can make about the story twists that Claude aka miss boob rockets presented in the campaign. Won’t spoil the details, but let’s just say between her attempts on Captain Shields, and what she turns out to be, you can probably enjoy that lark a lot more than the other plot twists. Because it totally fits her personality, and should make you revisit some of your beliefs in religion and science :P.

Ahh, in a few years perhaps we will have Sunrider 4….hehehe.