I have a launch Xbox One and a One X. I have enjoyed owning both. While the OG 'Bone being "underpowered" was massively overstated, it had no chance of doing what the One X can and does.
This generation was weird for consoles because the display tech really changed at about mid-generation with the adoption of 4K/HDR TV sets. Neither launch console had nearly what it takes to deliver 4K, so there's an argument that the half-step was necessary.
For me, I was already in need of a new TV set anyway, so the timing worked out. I would have bought a quality 4K/HDR set regardless of video gaming, but the One X was obviously more tempting once I already had that. I genuinely felt like I got enough out of my launch Xbox One from playing Titanfall, Forza Horizon 2, the MCC, Rise of the Tomb Raider, etc. to feel fine with upgrading.
And after the upgrade? Well, if I'm being honest, 4K res in games is more of an impressive benchmark to hit than it is some game-changer. Yeah, it looks better, but HDR is the real wow factor. HDR, when done right, is fucking incredible. The One X paid for itself the second I fired up the GOTY version of HITMAN 2016 and saw a game that I had put hundreds of hours in look jaw-droppingly better.
Having Netflix and Amazon Prime shows stream through it in 4K HDR has been awesome as well. I opted for a few 4K HDR BluRays of some of my favorite movies as well. I wish more game devs had taken advantage of the One X power this gen, and some big games like RDR2 not having HDR was heartbreaking, but Forza Horizon 4 is an undeniably impressive showcase of what can be done on a console.
As for what it means going forward, it's probably nothing good. The mid-gen upgrades made sense this go-round because the display tech changed. Now I expect that since this ice has been broken, the "cell phone model" will be adopted yet again the next gen, without a need for it.
Honestly, there's arguably not even a need for the next gen yet at all. What are we getting? Ray tracing and faster load times? Okay. I'm sure I'll get one at some point, but the justification is thinner, and I only expect it to be moreso if there's another mid-gen upgrade. 8K/120FPS is pure overkill, so it's hard to make that argument if that's the plan.
I just fear that we're approaching a point where we'll be sold some perception of obsolescence when that's not actually the case. There are precious few games that seem to even remotely stress the One X, and we're about to have something roughly twice as powerful? I guess devs having plenty of extra power to play with will be nice for them, but I'm not remotely buying that the industry took full advantage of the One X hardware in particular or is presently limited by it.
I guess I just don't want the focus to be this arms race from a hardware standpoint and benchmark-seeking from the software. Make a game good. Give it proper HDR. We already hit 4K/60 FPS this gen, so there's no excuse to easily hit that next gen and focus on making games as good as they can be. If I'm told I'm supposed to want/need 8K/120 three years after these new consoles, I'm gonna tell them to fuck right off.
We're very near diminishing returns, if not there already. I'm already questioning if next gen is coming too soon, and I'm going to get really pissed if the "phone model" where some marginal-ass improvement is sold as if it's a must-have, or worse, if consoles adopt Apple's planned obsolescence model where it's forced.
At least the power upgrade is there to theoretically justify the new boxes, but I'm not sure they're entirely necessary as of this moment. The pessimist in me suspects that the industry will only go harder in the direction of trying to sell me on the next thing instead of making the most out of the existing tech, and it might lose me if it does.
That's where I'm at.
Log in to comment