Xbox One X is not the console for everyone
MICROSOFT’S Xbox One X delivers on its promises to bring gorgeous gaming into the living room. But after spending a little time with it, I still need a little convincing that the highend console, and it’s US$500 (RM2,150) price tag, will appeal to most people.
Microsoft is trumpeting that it is the world’s most powerful console. It’s packed with impressive technical specs: triple the memory of the Xbox One S console Microsoft released last year, graphics that top the PlayStation Pro, a terabyte of storage. The list goes on.
Aesthetically, the Xbox One X isn’t much to look at - it’s essentially a smooth black box. It is the smallest Xbox the company has ever made - at 11.8 x 9.4 x 2.4 inches, which is good news for those with limited space on their television stands. It’s currently only available in black, and goes on sale in November.
And there’s no denying that the games look great running on 4K. Even if you don’t have a 4K television, the console will use a technique called supersampling to enhance the clarity and colour of whatever it’s showing.
A demonstration of the racing game Forza Motorsport 7 illustrated how in-depth graphics can now get. There was finely rendered stitching on the interior of the race cars, but the additional graphics power also gave developers the ability to flesh out the experience with such detail that you could see the windshield wipers rattling.
The demos showed off that games look fantastic on the Xbox One X, and offer developers more options to make games even more immersive down the line. But that’s down the line. When looking at this console in the context of what’s out right now, I still think US$500 is a lot to pay for prettier games, even if they are much, much prettier.
You may remember that Microsoft last year announced the Xbox One S, a US$249 console that can also show games in 4K, though not natively - meaning it’s not quite as fluid. If your Xbox One or even Xbox 360 is on its last legs and you can’t justify the price of the Xbox One X, that’s
The demos showed off that games look fantastic on the Xbox One X, and offer developers more options to make games even more immersive down the line. But that’s down the line.
probably your best option.
Given the components - the graphics cards, the processors - that have gone in the Xbox One X, the price tag is actually fairly reasonable looking purely at its build cost. But it is US$100 more than the competing PlayStation Pro, from Sony. When it comes to that decision, however, most gamers probably either have their console allegiance set or will be relying on exclusive games to decide which of those two machines is right for them.
On that front, Microsoft is touting a launch line-up with breadth - it showed off 42 games at the Xbox One X’s launch news conference, 22 of which are exclusive to Microsoft at launch. Those include the latest Forza, “Crackdown 3” and “Sea of Thieves.” For a niche market of gamers, those games plus the Xbox One X’s power and future potential will make it worth it. For the rest of us? I think Microsoft still has some selling to do. — Washington Post