Welcome to the Next Level, More or Less

There comes a time in every gamer's life when he must leave the past behind and look to the future. No no, I'm not quitting this hobby and doing something more productive with my life, that'd be crazy! I meant leaving the last generation of game consoles behind and stepping up to the fertile fields of more powerful hardware. I think I've found a sneaky back door into the next generation that even I can afford... but it comes with its own hidden and uncomfortable cost.

A classic case of wicked X-S.
(image from IGN)

You see, Microsoft has taken a different approach with the latest installment of its Xbox brand of consoles. Instead of releasing a more powerful version of its flagship console a couple of years after its launch as a bonus for cash-flush fans, they've split the Series into two separate systems... the budget-priced S, and a luxury model called the X. After all, you can't spell "sexy" without an X. Then again, you can't spell it without an S, either. Maybe Microsoft should have considered that fact before using those letters as quality designations.

Wait, what was my point again? Oh yeah... separating devices into pricing tiers is a business model in consumer electronics that dates back to the home computer market of the 1980s. Can't afford an Atari 800? Just buy an Atari 400, which is more or less the same thing. Can't spare the shekels for a Commodore Plus 4? Grab the economy model, the Commodore 16, instead.

Of course, you'd be far wiser to shun the whole
Plus-4 line and just stick with the C64. Too
bad nobody at Commodore could figure that out.
How many computers did Commodore have
competing against each other at one time? Yes.
(image from Retro Gamer)

It's not as simple as I'm making it sound, of course. When you pay less, you get less, resulting in a less than ideal user experience. That Atari 400 had half the RAM of its more costly cousin and a flat membrane keyboard that would give Mavis Beacon nightmares. Similarly, the Commodore 16 had significantly less memory than the Plus 4, no suite of home office software available at the touch of a button, and an ugly breadbox shell borrowed from the VIC-20 and early models of the Commodore 64. When you pinch pennies for the sake of your budget, unfortunately, the pennies pinch back.

And so it goes with the Xbox Series S. There's no optical drive, roughly half the RAM of its big brother, and hardwired restrictions on its resolution. The Series X can take its games all the way to 4K, while the Series S is stuck puttering at the foot of the high-definition hill, limited to 1080p or, if it tries really, really hard, 1440p. 

Not to get all "get off my lawn" up in the joint,
but I remember playing games in stunning 102p
on my Atari Lynx. There was no thrill like playing
Blue Lightning and watching the system's
hardware scaling turn big, chunky pixels into
even bigger, chunkier pixels! It was like your
little brother was throwing his Duplos at you!
(image from Retro Gamer)

Okay, so you're probably thinking, "If I can't afford a 4K television set either, what's the point of emptying my wallet for features I can't use?" Ah, but that's the other issue. Buying a low-octane console brings with it a nagging sense of uncertainty about its future viability. "Will this still be supported two, three, four years down the line?," you wonder to yourself. "Even if Microsoft keeps supporting the basement model of the system, will its limitations restrict the full potential of the Series X? Will my Xbox owning friends hit me because they can't play the absolute best possible version of Mega Super Hyper Street Fighter 6 Turbo... with Almonds?" 

Sure, the Series S seems like a good idea now, but as anybody who's followed technology for a while can attest, today's cost-conscious purchase could become tomorrow's regret, consigned to the dusty corner of the basement or garage. So I'm conflicted about a purchase, even with the massive discount I've managed to find on a used model.

Another motivating factor in my wanting an Xbox
Series S is King of Fighters XV. Does this look
like something beyond the scope of the last generation
Xbox One? Not to me. Then again, maybe SNK didn't
want to wait fifty years for the damn thing to load.
(image from Xbox Wire)

What will likely clinch the deal is not how well the Series S will handle the games of the future, but how much better it will run games from the past. I've been more or less happy with my Xbox One S, but even a woolly mammoth would concede at this point that the system has gotten long in the tooth. Sure, it plays games well enough, but actually getting to them with the system's agonizing load times and constipated interface has become a trial. 

Worse yet, video streaming apps move with all the steady grace of a rhinoceros with a drinking problem. If you listen to Don Mattrick (and I suggest you don't... it didn't help Microsoft much), the Xbox One was designed with video playback as a focal point, with an episode of The Price is Right playing on the system during its 2013 unveiling. Try doing that on the One S now. You'll grow older than Bob Barker and collapse into a pile of dried bones before the damn show even begins.

Prepare to enter the stage of history! After
you've waited through the entirety of history
for your match to start.
(image from Steam)

I've asked around, and have been given every assurance that the Xbox Series S makes short work of tasks that would buckle its predecessor. Streaming apps start up right away, and load times get hacked down to a reasonable amount. Imagine, Soul Calibur 6 matches that start at some point in the temporal continuum, instead of never! Welcome to our shiny new SSD-powered future!

It's all relative, man.
(image from Roni Kurniawan)

Is the Xbox Series S less powerful than its beefier big brother and both flavors of the competing Playstation 5? Sure. Is the lack of an optical drive, with no apparent peripheral planned to remedy that omission, a hassle? Of course. Will I get as frustrated with the Xbox Series S five years down the line as I currently am with the Xbox One S? That's certainly possible. But right now, in the waning months of 2022, the Series S might be just good enough. Heaven knows the One S is no longer cutting it.