Heh, I guess I'm not done with this blog yet. The Kbin thing seems to be working out pretty well for me, though... I've got over a hundred watchers at the moment, and I keep it updated on a semi-regular basis. Well, more than this place, anyway.
Anyway! I'm writing here because Microsoft was caught with its proverbial pants down, with tons of last year's internal memos becoming external memos, to the glee of fans. Courtesy of Verge, here's what can be gleaned from this leaked information, provided that any of it remains valid. Microsoft frat boy in chief Phil Spencer suggests that the data is already obsolete in 2023, but I strongly doubt all of it is.
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| Microsoft is firing on one cylinder with its mid-gen refresh, codenamed Brooklin. (image from Polygon) |
NEW XBOX SERIES X
Say hello to the new model of the Xbox Series X... and say goodbye to physical media. Yes, in the distant future of 2024, even the Series X won't have an optical drive. This could be inconvenient for Microsoft, as all of their retail discs up to this point have "designed for Xbox Series X" written on the top. Will Microsoft just stop selling discs from this point forward? Or is this some of that outdated information Phil Spencer swears this leak contains? We probably won't know for sure until next year.
What Brooklin will have is a doubling of internal storage (2TB versus the single terabyte in the Xbox Series X), an ugly but feature-filled controller that adds haptic feedback, and a USB-C port. You know, the small one with the oval-shaped connector that doesn't particularly care which way you plug it into your system. The system itself has a strange cylindrical shape that brings to mind stylish but decidedly low-tech appliances like trash cans or air purifiers (thank Madlittlepixel for that comparison). Also, I'm sure that the cylindrical design will make the system that much tougher to repair or modify. The only way you're adding more storage to this thing is with those hella expensive expansion cards.
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| Meet the new budget boss, same as the old budget boss. Give or take new Bluetooth technology and a USB-C port. (image from GamesIndustry) |
NEW XBOX SERIES S
Yes, the budget-priced game system that every developer hates is back with a vengeance... and with double the storage of the original, thank goodness. I've learned from personal experience that 512GB (really more like 384GB) is nowhere near enough these days, especially when cross-buy games like Mortal Kombat 11 force you to install them on the Xbox Series S's paltry internal hard drive. Beyond that, things are largely kept consistent with the original, with the same shape and (phew) price. Sure, you get slightly faster Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, plus a USB-C port on the front instead of the rectangular port, but past that, it's business as usual. No, they're not bumping up the RAM like they did with the PSP refresh. Sorry, Larian Studios.
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| Sense and Sebile Abilities. (image from TrueAchievements) |
NEW XBOX CONTROLLER
Microsoft plays catch up with its competitors by introducing a game controller with all the features everyone else already had ten years ago. Personally, I like the relative simplicity of the Xbox Series controller, but if you'd like a gyroscope and "precision haptic feedback" to go with your gaming, soon you'll have them. What precisely is precision haptic feedback? I don't fully understand the technology, but it's supposed to offer a more realistic tactile sensation than ordinary rumble motors. When you drive over gravel in Forza Horizon, it really feels like you're driving over gravel. Nintendo calls this "HD rumble," and has mastered it to the degree that there's a game in 1-2 Switch which has you guessing the number of ice cubes in a glass, by shaking your Joycon and feeling them.
It kind of sucks that Microsoft will have to shoehorn compatibility with this controller into its existing games, but I suppose that this isn't so much a problem now that games have downloadable updates. I was still in my teens during that awkward transition between three and six button controllers on the Sega Genesis, and that was oh so much worse. Pressing start to switch between punches and kicks in Street Fighter II was such a load of...
CLOUD HYBRID XBOX PLANNED FOR 2028
So the good news is we won't have to shell out for a next generation Microsoft console for another five years. Hell yes, win one for the cheapskate! The bad news is that it's supposed to be a "cloud hybrid" system, which suggests that the machine will be at least partially reliant on the internet and won't be fully playable while off the grid. Also, the games may not even be directly on your system but instead streamed off a network somewhere, which will have a profound negative effect on lag and visual fidelity. Cloud gaming apparently works in small, tech-savvy nations like Japan and South Korea, and even in large American cities, but what about those of us out in the boonies? Our internet sucks, and it's not likely to improve anytime soon. Please don't make the same mistakes Don Mattrick did ten years ago and tell us to suck it up, or settle for last generation's tech.
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