The Xbox Series X

So the new Xbox console has finally been revealed. There’s really very, very little to go on other than pure cosmetic appearance at the moment, so this article isn’t going to be in-depth or anything, just me offering my very first impressions on Microsoft’s new console.

I don’t like it. Told you this wasn’t going to be in-depth.

Honestly, I think it’s lazy and ugly. For me, when a new generation of console is released, I want it to be new. Just sticking with Microsoft for this rant, take a look at all their machines up to this point. The Xbox 360 looked radically different to the previous Xbox and the same could be said about the Xbox One/X over the 360. They all had their own unique look, style and identity, they represented a whole new generation of gaming. But this Xbox Series X just looks like an overweight Xbox One X. All they have done it take the previous console and make it look like a fridge…

Given the fact that the Xbox One has suffered relatively poor sales, The PlayStation 4 has sold around 91 million units this generation with the Xbox One selling closer to 43 million… oh dear. Things have been pretty bleak for Microsoft this generation and I’m a proud owner of an Xbox One X. I think they came up with the design for the Series X because they had loads of left over plastic from the One/X they had to use up. It’s just ugly.

Then there is the name itself. The Xbox Series X? It just does not sound right. Remember when Nintendo released the Wii U after the success of the Wii and it sold poorly? A lot of that was because the name made the new console sound like a slight upgrade to the old one and it seems to me that Microsoft are just repeating Nintendo’s fatal mistake. This does not look or sound like a whole new console and I think people will assume it’s just another upgrade to the Xbox One X.

Project Scarlet was the name for this console while it was being developed and that sounded pretty great, just drop the Project bit and call it the Xbox Scarlet, sounds much better and like a whole new machine.

There really is very little shown of the new console other than a few pics and this video…

No games are shown other than some pre-rendered videos. A bit of what may be a Forza game, a spot of footie (so either FIFA or PES) and a taste of Halo. Again, these are not actual games or gameplay footage, just videos. So until we see what this console can actually do, there’s really not much to talk about. But at least one game was shown with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 which was said to have been running in real-time on the new Series X. But to me, it still just looked like video and not actual gameplay.

But I do want to say how the Xbox One launch was a total disaster, what with Microsoft forcing the useless peripheral no one wanted with the Kinect onto people, the talk of having to always being connected to the internet, DRM and all the other gubbins they mentioned. It made a lot of people angry and this was where Microsoft lost the sales. Then after launch and the exclusive games were just not there and are still lacking now. If Microsoft really want to get the upper hand this new generation, they really need to have much better 3rd party support, better exclusives and a better launch price over Sony’s PlayStation 5. We can only wait and see what both Microsoft and Sony have planned for the full launches of their new consoles next year (more to see at E3), but for me just looking at this Xbox Series X… I’ll not be rushing out to buy one.

But this whole thing does remind me that I need a new fridge…