The Xbox Series X has already been tried by some people. However, the reports focus little on the special graphics but much more on the “Quality of Life” improvements. These give the new Xbox a better “console feel.”
What are these reports about? Selected individuals, such as the authors Chris Plante from Polygon or Alanah Pearce, who writes for Inside Gaming, have already had the opportunity to handle Microsoft’s new console for a few days. They have now shared their experiences with the Xbox Series X.
What do they report? Plante emphasizes right at the beginning of his text that the uniqueness of the Next-Gen is (still) not in the graphics, but in the many improvements surrounding it. This aligns with the statement from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who describes the Next-Gen as the biggest leap in console history. He also initially sets aside the graphics.
Particularly highlighted are the fast loading times and Quick Resume. The latter allows players to switch directly to another game while playing and then return to the original game, resuming at exactly the same position – without long loading times.
According to Alanah Pearce on Twitter, this even works when the console is turned off or unplugged in between. She also shows a video there, in which the game Ori and the Will of the Wisps loads in less than 5 seconds:
The “true feel of a console”
Why is fast loading so interesting? Chris Plante from Polygon praises the simplicity of consoles compared to PCs. He describes this as a true highlight:
- There are no difficulties with installation, no driver issues, or incorrect hardware
- You simply plug in the console and it works
- With fast loading times, you can start playing right away and maximize the time spent gaming
- Nevertheless, you get high quality in hardware and graphics
Similar to Randy Pitchford, he also believes that games with better graphics will still be released in the coming years.
One factor could be Unreal Engine 5, which is expected to be released in full version by the end of 2021. It looked stunning in an early demo.
