If XBX fails, what next?

[Mr Puggsly]

Pemalite said:

Mr Puggsly said:

While I agree the Jaguar CPUs are relatively weak, they are also better then theyre given credit for. Also, most games arent extremely CPU intensive unless its a game pushing heavy physics, which can be scaled back for a modest CPU.

Oh. They are weak. Super weak. They alleviated how bad they are by increasing core counts, but even that can only take you so far.

Mr Puggsly said:

The X1X has a pretty significant speed boost and its a custom CPU that can apparently do more work with less overhead. I'm curious to see how that works in practice.

The CPU isn't really "Custom" it's still an x86 processor based upon Jaguar. - What Microsoft has done is made that pathetic CPU do less work by offloading some tasks onto the GPU, lightening up the API and being generally smarter with how they use their limited resources.

And that is the right approach without blowing out costs. Jaguar is a small CPU-Die, it's cost effective and cheap, not high-performing, and that is okay for today, it's good enough when the Playstation 4 is the lowest common denominator in regards to CPU performance.

Mr Puggsly said:

I feel like giving X1X all this extra power was pointless if its not going to be around for the 9th gen. At that rate they should have aimed for $399 and just have a GPU edge. The X1X feels like a more long term plan.

The X1X has a pretty significant speed boost and its a custom CPU that can apparently do more work with less overhead. I'm curious to see how that works in practice.

Yes and no. I mean, even if it doesn't get a good transition into 9th gen... It's main point is being able to play the Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One games at their maximum resolution and framerates anyway.
Games that are 720P, 30fps will still be 720P and 30fps on the Xbox One X, but at-least there will be no variability in their framerate and frame pacing.

Games that employ a dynamic resolution and uncapped framerate will be the largest beneficiaries, being able to run at their maximum resolution and framerate. (I.E. 1080P, 60fps for Overwatch, Battlefield 1 etc'.)

The amount of games that will push the Xbox One X to it's limits and show us a new degree of fidelity will be a rare occurance, it's main game library will be sourced from the Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. But it will also be the best place to play those games... And that is why I am going to be the first in line to pre-order one.

Mr Puggsly said:

I feel like giving X1X all this extra power was pointless if its not going to be around for the 9th gen. At that rate they should have aimed for $399 and just have a GPU edge. The X1X feels like a more long term plan.

In the context of things, the Xbox One X is not powerful. Power is all relative though.
Next to the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the power gap is massive.
Next to the Playstation 4 Pro, the power gap is less impressive, but still impressive.

I am actually happy with the price though, it's what I expected in Australia, in-fact accounting for currency conversion it's slightly cheaper here than in the USA anyway. And that pleases me. Haha.

I am hoping for the best with the Xbox One X, but if it doesn't have much in the way of games that push the hardware, then I am also fine with that... It is worth the purchase for being the best place to play backwards compatabile games.

Regardless, it's not the hardware that is the issue anyway, it's the software. Microsoft has a solid OS with the Xbox One, it has solid hardware with the Xbox One X... And it has the best controllers in my opinion.
They just need to back it up with some new and super impressive games... Hopefully we see that in 2018 as 2017 is not a good year on that front.

I hear they're bad CPUs, but in practice do impressive stuff. If anything, it seems like the GPU that developers struggle with most often.

Well they're calling it a custom and it does appear to have unique features. How that works in practice though, we'll see. At the very least it's a considerably faster CPU.

X1X will improve all the old content via more stable performance and 16x AF, but they could have achieved that with a $399 console as well. I see the X1X $499 upgrade more of a long term plan, 9th gen support. Its possible that won't be feasible but I do believe that's being taken into consideration.

I get the X1X isn't cutting edge specs per se, its still an impressive piece hardware that should be able AAA content really well, even if the OG X1 and PS4 can't.

I'm confident MS is investing in notable software. More importantly though they also have great 3rd party support which is what primarily moves core consoles.