XBOX SERIES. More tempted by Xbox consoles? You made the right choice, the Xbox Series X will be available tonight on Microsoft’s official website.
[Updated May 17, 2022 11:50 AM] Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S arrived on a cold winter night in 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. These two consoles, supposed to bring the Xbox brand to the next-gen era, very quickly met with great success, although they suffered and still suffer from permanent stock shortages. But the two Microsoft consoles are less in demand than their competitor, the PS5, while offering similar performance (Series X), so it is a little easier to get them. The good news is that Microsoft will officially put copies of the Xbox Series X on sale tonight between 6 and 7 p.m.
If you too want to enjoy next-gen home console gaming, you’ll surely want to embark on the quest for an Xbox Series X. Microsoft’s console offers great performance for a price similar to that of Microsoft’s PS5 Sony ($499.99).
But only here, buying a home console in 2022 requires a certain form of responsiveness, as stocks are so limited. The console is only rarely and briefly available on reseller sites, which is why it is strongly advised to follow the following tips to facilitate your purchase:
The launch of the new generation consoles was, to say the least, special. First made when many countries around the world were under partial or national lockdowns, the three machines are still facing manufacturing issues, again due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was therefore difficult for both Microsoft and Sony to manufacture as many consoles as planned for launch. So that explains the shortages Xbox Series X and PS5 are experiencing. However, stock is sometimes available at certain specialized retailers for the S Series.
Unfortunately, it’s Series X that most gamers are interested in. As a reminder, the Xbox Series X is capable of displaying games in 4k with a refresh rate of 60 or 120 frames per second. It also comes with a UHD Blu-ray Disc player as well as a 1TB hard drive storage to store your games. The machine also benefits from the contribution of the Xbox Game Pass, a subscription offering a catalog of more than a hundred games (just like the Series S). It competes directly with the Playstation 5, offering similar performance and price.
The other common point of these two consoles is that it is almost impossible to find on the market. Almost eight months after its release, the Xbox Series X is still suffering from the same supply problems due to the global shortage of semiconductors that affects all markets, from automotive to home consoles, including graphics cards. Although the situation seems to be improving slightly, expect a real cross if you want to get a Series X today. Stay tuned for specialty dealer alerts (following these sites on Twitter is recommended) and keep your fingers crossed. According to some forecasts, semiconductor production should not return to normal before 2023…
First important information: there is not a new Xbox but two. The Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s new flagship for this generation, is the top-of-the-line model allowing 4K performance at 60 or 120 frames per second. The manufacturer promises that it is the “most powerful Xbox ever created”. It is equipped with a Blu-ray disc player and offers, very logically, higher performance than its little sister the Series S, all for a high price: 499.99€. In the first tests published by the press, many have also noted that the Series X was an extremely quiet console.
The Xbox Series S, on the other hand, is built for slightly lower performance, based on a 1440p resolution. Without an expensive Blu-ray player, the Xbox Series S forces players to buy their games online and store them on the hard drive with a reduced capacity of 500 Giga. As such, the Xbox Series S is offered at a price of € 299.99, the price of a Nintendo Switch. At the time of writing, Xbox Series X stocks in France are exhausted but it is still possible to buy an Xbox Series S if the model suits your needs.
Here are the main features of the Xbox Series X: the machine is advertised as being “at least four times more powerful than an Xbox One”. Below, you will find full details of the processor, the graphics card, but also the RAM. As far as memory is concerned, it will therefore be possible to extend it to 2 TB thanks to a memory card.
According to the tests of the specialized press, the console is capable of displaying games in 4K at 60 frames per second, even 120 frames per second for certain titles. The Xbox Velocity Architecture contributes to much faster load times than the previous generation. For the occasion, a video has also been unveiled to testify to the technological leap between the Xbox One X and the Xbox Series X: loading times are considerably shorter, with a high-end console that starts in 10 seconds, when the Xbox One X can take longer than a minute.
Halo Infinite having been postponed to 2021, the two new Xboxes were deprived of a big exclusive release for the end of 2020. However, Microsoft consoles can count on important games from third-party publishers to attract players to the new generation. . We think in particular of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at Ubisoft, the racing game Dirt 5, FIFA 21, NBA 2K21, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War but also Cyberpunk 2077. Also note that Microsoft has long insisted on the backward compatibility of its consoles that support games released on previous machines, which therefore offers an expanded catalog from the launch of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
To distinguish itself from its direct competitor, Sony, which launched the Playstation 5 on November 19, 2020 in France, Microsoft is pushing the Xbox Game Pass, an all-inclusive subscription formula in which you can get all Xbox Game Studios games from the day of their exit. Far from being satisfied with that, Microsoft regularly adds new games from more or less recent third-party publishers for a total catalog of around a hundred games, to which is also added the EA Play catalog made up of the best-known licenses of the Electronic Arts publishers. We will therefore find Anthem, Battlefield 1, A Way Out, Burnout Paradise Remastered, The Sims 4, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, Dragon Age Inquisition and many more… The Xbox Game Pass is offered at the price of €9.99 per month for the console or PC subscription and €12.99 per month for the console and PC subscription.
On September 9, 2020, Microsoft formalized the price of its two future next-generation consoles. The Xbox Series X, the high-end version of the duo, is offered at the recommended retail price of €499.99. Its little sister, the Xbox Series S, is slightly less powerful and lacks the 4K UHD Blu-Ray player, which allows the bill to be lower: the price of the Xbox Series S is set at €299.99.
Another important fact to note, Microsoft has marketed a subscription program called Xbox All Access to allow as many people as possible to obtain an Xbox Series S or an Xbox Series X in a system close to what smartphone vendors can offer by example. For €24.99 per month for 24 months, you get an Xbox Series S as well as an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription which gives you access to a catalog of more than 100 games on Xbox but also PC as well as the catalog of Electronic Arts games through EA Play. For €32.99 per month for 24 months, you get an Xbox Series X in addition to an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.
At the moment, two brands offer the Xbox All Access formulas: Fnac and Micromania. Here is the Xbox All Access section on the Fnac website. Micromania, for its part, offers an online solution available here. Note that you will need to provide a number of documents to finalize your subscription:
For many, the Xbox controller has been the best ergonomics in the world since the 360. Taking up the main arguments of its big sisters, the Xbox Series X offers a thinner model, with a completely revised directional pad. Microsoft also explains that the latency time between the signals emitted by the controller and the console are greatly reduced. The manufacturer promises that all controllers available on Xbox One are also compatible with Xbox Series X. Similarly, the new Xbox Series X controller is also usable with Xbox One.
Since November 10, 2020, players have the choice between two consoles stamped Xbox: the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S. How to decide between the two if you want to join Microsoft or continue with the console? Know that the Xbox Series X is thought of as the top model with the highest performance. It also has a 4K UHD Blu-Ray player and also acts as a media player. There is also a 1 terabyte hard drive which will obviously store more games than its little sister.
The Xbox Series S, on the other hand, is more like the entry level for this new generation. An entry-level, of course, but without denying too much about the performance at stake since the two machines have very similar architectures. Where the difference is most is with regard to the disc drive: the Xbox Series S does not have one. You will therefore not be able to buy boxed games in stores and will have to download all your games from the internet and store them on your hard drive.
We also note that the Xbox Series S has a hard drive half the size of the Xbox Series X. When we know that current games often weigh several tens of Gigabytes without counting their updates, it’s a information that you will need to take into account when making your purchase to consider either the purchase of an additional hard drive or the regular deletion of your games from the hard drive in order to be able to download new ones. Last element to evaluate: the price of course. The Xbox Series X is priced at €499.99 while the Xbox Series S is sold two hundred euros cheaper at €299.99.
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