But you’d be able to play online with us!

Yeah, but you realise that Sony managed make all of their wireless controllers rechargeable from Day 1? They’re also slightly cheaper to buy too.

Sure. Good for them, buy a Playstation then if that’s your primary criterion for console choice. All I’m saying is, whilst it’s perhaps not the best design choice, it’s not even the remotest of issues unless you choose to make it so. I’ve been using the same set of Eneloops since my Xbox 360 days so probably well over six years and have just had my first cell failure a couple of weeks back.

Actually, that’s a point in itself. What happens in ten years time when current gen is retro and you can’t get a working controller for love nor money because all the proprietary embedded batteries are sodded after spending 95% of their life in a charging dock? Can you use them wired over mini USB? I have a PS3 here and it’s not something I’ve had cause to actually try.

To take advantage of a next-gen console I’d have to upgrade both a high-end-back-when-I-bought-it 42″ 1080p TV along with the AV receiver it passes through as that only supports HDMI 1.4. My back-of-an-envelope sums suggest I’m looking at an outlay of like £1,400 and that’s too rich for me.

Interesting, do you think there’s little point in either without a 4K tv? I cannot justify to myself the waste involved in getting a new tv.

But you’d be able to play online with us!

That’s another compelling reason not to. (-:

Interesting, do you think there’s little point in either without a 4K tv? I cannot justify to myself the waste involved in getting a new tv.

Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that question and it’s one I’ve wondered myself. Console gaming is perilously close to falling into the willy-waving megapixel arms race so beloved of PC gamers and camera manufacturers, the consoles aren’t even out yet so most of this is conjecture. Will next-gen games be better (for some value of) than current-gen at the same resolution? One would assume so – I do rather wonder whether this will be the generation where we jump to photorealistic – but I think I’d rather wait and see for myself. Mostly when I’ve bought a new console it’s been title-driven, ie there was something specific that I wanted to play. Usually with varying degrees of disappointment.

That said, I remain somewhat sceptical about the whole 4k+ thing generally. There comes a point where the question becomes “how good are your eyes?” and you’re simply pushing pixels around because you can. I appreciate a nice-looking game as much as the next spod, but if I’m playing say Forza in an X-class car then I’m not sitting there counting pixels, I’m trying to carefully schedule the next time I can blink. And that’s up close and personal at gaming distance, at TV viewing distance I’d probably not be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 4k without getting a bigger telly.

Mind you, I had the same argument around replacing a perfectly decent, large, fairly high end CRT with the flatscreen and was very, very wrong indeed so…

Rechargeable AAs are an ideal solution for grown adults.

Kids, however, are arseholes.

My 11 year old can’t even be arsed to plug a cable into the battery pack of his controller when he’s sat three feet in front of it. He most certainly lacks to foresight to have a fresh set of batteries on charge and to take the time to put the dead set on when he changes them over.

He couldn’t even be arsed to use the docking station that only requires him to sit the bloody controller on top of it. It only ever enters his thinking when he’s halfway through a game and the batteries die and he runs through the house in a panic to get AAs out of the box.

The mistake there is having AAs in a box in the first place.

“Batteries run out again? Oh dear what a shame never mind, how about a nice game of Monopoly?” I’ll wager his memory might rapidly improve (unless there’s an underlying condition I’m not privy to and I am thus being wholly insensitive, sorry if that’s the case).

unless there’s an underlying condition

Yes.

He’s an arsehole.

It’s hereditary….we obviously need AAs for loads of other stuff. The battery box is as far away from his room as I could get it in a difficult to reach place.
I’ll win eventually because I am a far more experienced arsehole than he is.

There comes a point where the question becomes “how good are your eyes?

Indeed the PS3 was good enough for me really. I remamber going to bed aftera marathon session of Doom and my eyes would be flashing in the dark. The only game I can remember being wowed by the graphics, was the first Farcry game on a PC.

Sure. Good for them, buy a Playstation then if that’s your primary criterion for console choice. All I’m saying is, whilst it’s perhaps not the best design choice, it’s not even the remotest of issues unless you choose to make it so

Ah, you’re starting to soften I see. You *almost* admitted that using disposable batteries was a bad thing then… 😉

Selling a high use device like a Console controller with disposable batteries is a **** criminally stupid and irresponsible thing to do, anyone who hasn’t convinced themselves that it’s not, frankly just because they’re “Team Xbox” can see that the very first time they open their new Xbox and remark “**** me, this thing takes AAs” to themselves.

After all, if using AAs was such a brilliantly convenient thing, if only we have the self discipline, the mega expensive Xbox Elite controller would use them, but it doesn’t, it’s rechargeable.

Saying that, I’ll still buy an Xbox, I’ve got loads of Xbox games.

Interesting, do you think there’s little point in either without a 4K tv? I cannot justify to myself the waste involved in getting a new tv.

I don’t think there is. The ‘point’ of new consoles is better graphics, lets be honest a lot of the games we have now are the same games we had a decade or more ago with slicker visuals.

I didn’t bother with a Xbox One X because we didn’t have a 4K TV, being that it’s mostly a 4K version of the One S I have.

4K is the new HD though, you can buy a decent 50″, well known Brand 4K TV with HDR for £300 now, if you want that Gaming PC experience you can buy a 28″ 4K Monitor for low £200s and sit a bit closer to it.

I’m sure some Tech Head will explain now why you need to spend a grand for this standard or feature that only matters on paper, but still.

I am not a gamer at all so know nothing. My 7 & 9 year old boys are into games esp. Minecraft at the mo. They have a Xbox 360 which I bought them super cheap last year. I planned to buy an Xbox 1 or Switch for them if they got into it but I’m now not sure whether I should just skip a generation?

Or get a gamer PC?

we obviously need AAs for loads of other stuff.

You don’t need disposable AAs for many things at all.

Ah, you’re starting to soften I see. You *almost* admitted that using disposable batteries was a bad thing then…

Oh it is, I’m wholly in agreement with you here. That’s why the last non-rechargeable batteries I bought were probably over a decade ago. When they run out they’ll be replaced with rechargeable ones for anything that isn’t likely to last in the order of years like an occasionally used TV remote. I plan on never buying disposable AAs ever again if I can at all help it. I’d cheerfully see them banned except for niche applications which require a specific power profile, they really should tax the shit out of them to make recarbs the default purchase.

I have an X Box One, so I will probably replace it with another X Box at some point (after I’ve upgraded my tv). I just wish the Blu-ray app wasn’t so monumentally crap.

What’s more wasteful, selling something with a proprietary battery pack (that can, and will stop working at some point) or something that can take an easily sourced battery?

That you choose not to use rechargeable lies solely at your own door, you don’t even need the fancy ones Cougar has, a pack of 2400mah AAs costs a few quid from Aldi. 20 quid for a smart charger and you’re away. There are precious few devices that need a single use battery.

Oh and the controllers work without batteries if you plug a micro USB lead into it.

Oh and the controllers work without batteries if you plug a micro USB lead into it.

… great point. Five longish uUSB cables, problem solved, you’ll never need a battery again.

The only reason I use Eneloops (and there are equivalents using the same tech from other manufacturers now, generally marketed as “pre-charged”) is my Xbox usage is bursty and the batteries hold their charge. So I’m not going to come to it after a few months hiatus to find that every recarb in the building is flat. If you’re swapping batteries every few days then you might as well get cheapies.

Currently on a One X and enjoying the gamepass. I did get the original One on launch but traded it in for a PS4 Pro, enjoyed some of the exclusives but they didn’t wow me. Then my Step Daughters ps4 og stopped working so she had my pro and I went back to Xbox. Really wanted to have a proper Gran Turismo experience but GT Sport is absolutely gash unless you like e sports online racing.
If PS5 comes with a proper GT and I can modify crap cars again I’ll be straight over, but so far it’s looking like another Xbox 12 months after launch.

One thing I am looking forward to is the Shadowman remaster, just need Zelda Ocarina of time and Majoras mask porting or remastered for the Switch.

I see MS have released pricing for the two new consoles.

I think I need to get my head around the specs etc, I don’t play many games, frankly I’d be happy with a 4K update of RDR2 (I’ve currently got an Xbox One S) and honestly don’t know if the new Series S is on par with an Xbox One X, or even if they’re backwards compatible.

More than the hardware though, the pricing is a bit of a surprise. Seeing a downgraded ‘next gen’ console for £250 is more than a surprise, that’s usually mid-life cycle at best and £450 for the X is cheaper than expected, but I don’t think either RRPs matter, I can’t see many people looking past £21 or £29 a month including Gold / Game Pass, that makes the hardware ludicrously cheap.

Even if you still need to buy a lot of AAs 😉

(I don’t know if you do).

Oh, seems the S doesn’t have a disc drive, that’s a deal breaker for me. Download games are always inexplicably more expensive and I’ve got a load of Xbox One discs.

I did some sums on the Xbox All Access deal for Another Place(tm)…

UK pricing for Xbox All Access:

https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-all-access

An Xbox Series X is 28.99 for 24 months, including Xbox Live and Game Pass Ultimate. So all in, £695.76.

Knock off the console cost, that’s £246.76 for 24 months of Live and Game Pass Ultimate, or equivalent to £10.28 per month.

1 month of Game Pass Ultimate is currently £8.99, or 12 months for £99.99 (£8.33/month) from CD Keys.

So overall, using the All Access scheme would cost you £46.80 more over the term than buying the console up front and getting 12 month Game Pass subs from CD Keys. Actually, not a bad deal I’d say, from a convenience point of view. If you compare it to Microsoft list prices for Game Pass, as I suspect most people will, then it’s cheaper.

The lack of a disc drive doesn’t really bother me, I can’t remember the last time I actually bought a physical game. I’d also prefer a smaller from factor. Its a bit poor if it can’t output native 4k though, there are version of the current console that manage that.

From the sounds of it the upscale from 1440 to 4k on the series S is good, adn to be honest I’ll be happy enough with that for £250.

We’ve two xboxes at home, and I used to have one in my work flat (had to donate that to the family room for lockdown as both kids wanted to be on at the same time) so I’ll prob just get myself one for there. I can’t recall the last disc I bought (as we have it set up so the main two xboxes share purchases, and the other just plays gamepass games as we did the 3 years live via cd-keys and upgraded for £1).

It’ll get a little more complex when the eldest wants to buy CoD as he’s going to do that on his account, but for me gamepass games are really all I play these days anyway

So buy a One X then. There’s no suggestion so far that it’s not going to be supported for some time yet anyway.

honestly don’t know if the new Series S is on par with an Xbox One X, or even if they’re backwards compatible.

The last I heard, all Xbox One series (so both current-gen and “Series,” goddamn stupid confusing name) games were cross-compatible and MS were pledging to give you the best experience for what you have.

So for example historically if you had say GTA5 on the 360 and wanted to play it on the One, you’d have to play it in Xbox 360 Compatibility mode – assuming it’s a supported title – or you’d have to buy it all over again. Whereas now if MS release an Series X enhanced version of GTAV your existing One copy means you get it upgraded for free.

AIUI, anyway.

Releasing the XBox Series S at the same time as the Series X is a good idea for MS, a lot of people won’t be able to afford a Series X or PS5 so the series S fills that requirement (it shouldn’t take many sales away from the Series X IMO and PS4 owners on a budget might be persuaded to buy it). Wonder if Sony will come up with an equivalent PS5-lite any time soon.

As for Series X vs PS5, I can’t see they’re different enough to sway many people to switch from XBox to PS or vice versa, as for current gen stuff the choice is mostly down to what games you have/want and what your friends are using. If neither of those are a differentiator then PS5 gets my vote.

Wonder if Sony will come up with an equivalent PS5-lite any time soon.

That’ll be the interesting thing for me. MS really want to ‘win’ this round, coming out at the bell with a sub £500 RRP on the Baller Special, plus a £250 S AND well priced lease options is very competitive.

With the ‘way things are’ I’m sure there’s more of an appetite then ever for new home entertainment, but at the same time lots of nervous consumers who might not want to spend the money, I think MS have it well covered.

I’m sure Sony, if they didn’t yesterday will have something similar to offer soon, I don’t know if it’s collusion or spying, but they always seem to have a measure of each other, despite long life cycles they always seem to release their stuff about the same time.

liking the idea of a games subscription service. whoever has the cheapest will get my next purchase i guess.
Or I’ll just upgrade my PC. who knows.

liking the idea of a games subscription service. whoever has the cheapest will get my next purchase i guess.

Or I’ll just upgrade my PC. who knows.

It’s worth noting, that whilst they’re pushing it at a subscription service like 365 etc, it’s actually funded via a personal loan in the UK, well if you want to lease the Hardware anyway.

I actually bought a Game Pass last year, apart from the latest Horizon game, it wasn’t exactly wall to wall AAA titles.

Have you looked at geForce now? It’s only £5 a month and will allow pretty much any PC (or some devices) to play at highest graphics setting (limited to 1080) including Ray Tracing.

Wonder if Sony will come up with an equivalent PS5-lite any time soon.

They already do a digital PS4 there is going to be a disc and digital ps5. No release date or price yet but they usually undercut Xbox.

I’m torn.

Tempted by the Xbox ecosystem as I already have a gaming PC and Microsoft accounts for me and the kids to handle family safety etc. So that would be less hassle.

BUT…

So far the PS5 seems to be far more powerful. Plus I quite fancy having a play with VR (Sony has new versions coming out for PS5, Xbox still doesn’t seem keen to support VR for some reason).

I’ve been discussing the relative merits of sX over sS with a mate and then said “Oh who are we kidding. We both know we’ll both go big or go home.”

Then something occurred to me. If Sony respond with a similar product then £500 could net you a Series X… or a PS5… or a Series S AND a PS5 Lite. That’s got to be a compelling option.

So far the PS5 seems to be far more powerful.

I’ll doubt it’ll make any practical difference. We’ve seen this argument with PS4/XBOne and PS3/X360 and aside from a couple of outliers if you hid the console then the only way you’d know what platform it was on would be if the controller had letters or shapes on the buttons.

There’s variously compelling arguments for one over the other but raw power is unlikely to be a factor IMHO. Heck, MS were flirting with handling heavy lifting in the cloud a little while back (is that what that Nvidia thing is too?), the next generation might well be thin clients.

Then something occurred to me. If Sony respond with a similar product then £500 could net you a Series X… or a PS5… or a Series S AND a PS5 Lite. That’s got to be a compelling option.

Not for me, but then I’ve really gotten into Halo, I can take or leave Horizon and Grand Tourismo always felt like it was to driving games what Powerpoint is to meetings, it’s very polished and all that, but it’s a bit joyless.

Anyway, in short they both do the same thing, any performance differences will be negligible (or “COMPLETE GAME CHANGERS” for the fanbois) the only difference being a few exclusive titles I’m not interested in.

the only difference being a few exclusive titles I’m not interested in.

You dismiss that, but it’s probably something that sells consoles. I expect there’s plenty of folk who’ve chosen one over the other because they really want to play Forza over Gran Turismo or vice versa. I bought a second-hand PS3 relatively recently purely to play the titles I couldn’t get on the Xbox.

Due to my financial situation with small kids ten years ago, I now exist in a 2 years late bubble wherein I’ve got all the latest consoles and games, just 2 years after everyone else. It works out cheap as chips.
I look forward to excitedy discussing the the latest XBox with you all in 2022.

There IS a benefit to buying a new gen console even if you haven’t a 4k TV.

The graphics won’t just be higher resolution – there’ll be more polygons, more detailed models, and greater draw distance. Better all round, in fact, even in plain old HD. And after a while new games will only be out on the new platform anyway.

I switched to PS4 from the 360 but the Series S and gamepass is tempting me to switch back this gen

I said I wouldn’t but it’s inevitable that I will get a series X. I’ve just got a 4k TV and already got game pass ultimate – so I think I’ve been lining myself up for it.

Given the hardware is basically a platform for flogging subscription then I guess there will be done good stuff on the gamer pass.

For those who were tempted by the lower spec Xbox.

You may want to read this

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-series-s-likely-wont-be-able-to-run-xbox-one-x-content-its-claimed/

That article is clear as mud, not helped with MS’s barking naming scheme.

I do rather worry whether they’re dropping the ball here. The whole point of a console is a standard platform, if I wanted a stupidly fragmented userbase I’d buy a PC.

Anyway enough of Xbox.