Xbox Hardware Director Asks Why Fans Even Want to Know Console Specs Right Now

PS5 all the way for me. I don't need to buy an XBOX 2020 because the only two games I play and will play are cross-platforms. Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport.
 
Do you buy a car without wondering how many cylinders? Do you buy a chair without wondering what kind of wood or fabric it uses?

You're selling something. It is only logical for people to want to know what it consists of.
 
I've owned every generation of Playstation and Xbox and the specs I could name about any of them amount to the Emotion Engine, Cell processor and GDDR5 RAM on PS4, and the One X does native 4K, without checkerboard. Beyond that, I could give two hoots about the GFlops, Cache, Motherboard or SoC.
 
In the end, everybody's gonna buy based on their personal preferences, regardless of specs. Have many people changed from the "fat" PS4 to the Xbox One X just because it was more powerful? I don't think so.
 
Resolution & frame rate are really all that matter, IMO. I could care less how they get there with hardware as long as the console delivers on those 2 promises. Added features and applications are obviously selling points as well, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. It’s like range and horsepower (kilowatts) in my electric car. Don’t care about the battery specs and motor hardware details, just how fast can I go and how long til I need to charge.
 
Suddenly, I feel pity for this director. His statement has obviously triggered a lot of people who are trying to know more about this next generation Xbox.
 
Suddenly, I feel pity for this director. His statement has obviously triggered a lot of people who are trying to know more about this next generation Xbox.

Unless the intended goal was Xbox attention in which case he’s succeeded?
Unlikely and I doubt he’s losing any sleep over this.
I wish everyone would just come over to PC we have thousands of exclusives and will always gladly release hardware specs.
 
Unless the intended goal was Xbox attention in which case he’s succeeded?
Unlikely and I doubt he’s losing any sleep over this.
I wish everyone would just come over to PC we have thousands of exclusives and will always gladly release hardware specs.
I don't exactly know what was his motive for saying all of these. What we know is that a lot of people are disappointed with his statement.
 
I can understand about his statement -- he can be both hardware engineer, and a customer. Because he is a lot of hardware engineer (imagine that working on Microsoft with good paycheck until you dont need to think that $60 games is *not that* expensive anymore according to the wallet) so he may reaches a point where he may *forget* the feeling for being a customer with super limited budget *or* a strict customer which not going to buy something they did not know, thus causing a stigma -- a premium console -- has its own market -- if you cannot afford it then you are not the target market. Forget the "games should be accessible by anyone" because Xbox Series X, include its game and service may be classified as an premium item.

And thats why "no need to rush" thing is enforced on his side and he may want to enforce on us too because, well, when the time comes, everything will be revealed.

Just a rant on my lunch.
 
8K/120fps will be in 2d ingame menues of 3d games, in pixel-art indy rogue-likes, and in Forza 8 with low-middle graphic settings.
But main game profiles for XBSX will be imo:
-1080p/120fps,
- checkered and for some games even real "honest" 4K at 60 fps,
- 8K at 30 fps
 
Before you go to look at a 2011 Ford Mustang you want to know if it has a 8 cylinder or a 4 cylinder.. Pretty obvious..
BMW's CEO, Norbert Reithofer, once very famously shared the survey-generated statistic that revealed that 80% of BMW 1 Series owners thought that the car was front-wheel drive*.

Consumers care about the branding and the price. Some may care about what it can do with headline stats (to give a TV example, UK consumers had to be told the difference between higher definition and high definition televisions - "HD Ready" was 720p and 1080i, "Full HD" was 1080p) about their abilities. Some may know what those stats actually mean. Very few will care what the actual hardware inside that does it all really is.

We're a gaming and motoring community. We're slightly more informed than the average consumer about these things, but most will put snow socks on the front axle of their 2011 BMW 118d and wonder why it isn't going anywhere.


*Of course it is now. That was the point of revealing it, justifying BMW's decision to go with a MINI-derived FWD platform for the current car.
 
Before you go to look at a 2011 Ford Mustang you want to know if it has a 8 cylinder or a 4 cylinder.. Pretty obvious..

For the enthusiasts on the forums, yes. For 99% of the buying population, not really. They'll just be happy to have the latest Mustang and won't care about what's under the hood. I know someone personally who was really happy to get a Mustang as her first car, and didn't care that it was the 2010 Mustang with the crappy Cologne V6. The average console buyer is going to be the same way with the Series X. That's pretty much what 8K's point is. Even personally, when I bought my Xbone, all I really cared about was the memory capacity, since at the time the PS4 did not have a 1TB option (which ended up coming out a few months later).

If someone is the type of person that really, really cares if the Microsoft Gamecube has AMD this or Radeon that in its setup, I would honestly ask them if they've ever considered PC gaming, because at that point the Xbox likely won't have what they're looking for, and the PC would offer more options.
 
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Power was 1 of the big issues with the Xbox One and is a noted change for the Xbox One X and the Series X. A gaming machine needs power to wow the gamers. Knowing the specs is knowing the power. A casual gamer may not know the stats of the Xbox but they will pick up on the excitement it will bring.
 
People care because it turned out to really matter last gen as the Xbox struggled to run so many games.

People ended up switching to playstation for that reason above any other and people can't forget something so significant that only happened a few years ago with the current generation.

Seems pretty ridiculous questioning why to me. Even if it does obviously prove to be much less an issue this time. Plus let's face it there's not much else to talk about in January other than pour over all the info as it comes out. It's an exciting time at least in that sense.
 
I think for Xbox creators it should matter a lot. Xbox competes directly with PC and specially on exclusives such as Forza. If for the same price you can upgrade your PC instead of buying an Xbox SX and you're getting more for your money, then why buy the Xbox. It appears as if they are a bit nervous on this gen's launch capabilities. 8K at 120hz? LOL! and the damn TV's can't event push 4K at 90hz yet... (well a couple I know there are, but the money is tremendous!!)
 
I think for Xbox creators it should matter a lot. Xbox competes directly with PC and specially on exclusives such as Forza. If for the same price you can upgrade your PC instead of buying an Xbox SX and you're getting more for your money, then why buy the Xbox. It appears as if they are a bit nervous on this gen's launch capabilities. 8K at 120hz? LOL! and the damn TV's can't event push 4K at 90hz yet... (well a couple I know there are, but the money is tremendous!!)

There are TVs that can do 8k at 120Hz that aren't prohibitively expensive. This one from Samsung is $2,500 and does 8K at 120Hz (240 Motion Rate). 4K at 120Hz is pretty reasonable too, you can score this one for $800. We aren't to the point where they are the norm yet, but they aren't out of reach. I assume by the end of the year, there will be even more choices on the market at an even lower cost.
 
People care because it turned out to really matter last gen as the Xbox struggled to run so many games.

People ended up switching to playstation for that reason above any other and people can't forget something so significant that only happened a few years ago with the current generation.

Seems pretty ridiculous questioning why to me. Even if it does obviously prove to be much less an issue this time. Plus let's face it there's not much else to talk about in January other than pour over all the info as it comes out. It's an exciting time at least in that sense.
If they say it's going to do something, and it actually does what they say it does, than what is knowing about it's guts going to change about what it can do?
 
If they say it's going to do something, and it actually does what they say it does, than what is knowing about it's guts going to change about what it can do?


It doesn't matter. If they show the specs we will know if it can instead of waiting for the proof..... Last gen had a tough time doing what was promised.
 
He has a point here. Most people who will buy either console will already know which they will buy - especially with both consoles now touting at least the entire previous generation's back catalogue - and it won't affect those who will buy both or neither.

Actually, I am buying neither and it does affect me. I am buying a PC with the new MS Flight Simulator in mind. It is supposed to also be releasing on XBox, so I want a PC that is equal to or better than the new XBox to ensure that I can run the game decently. I realise this is a specific case that doesn't fit most people, but for me the specs very much matter and I want to know them ASAP.
 
Actually, I am buying neither and it does affect me. I am buying a PC with the new MS Flight Simulator in mind. It is supposed to also be releasing on XBox, so I want a PC that is equal to or better than the new XBox to ensure that I can run the game decently. I realise this is a specific case that doesn't fit most people, but for me the specs very much matter and I want to know them ASAP.

This is a non issue. As long as you buy the most powerful PC you can, it will be guaranteed 2 times as powerful as the Xbox. The Xbox One X is only as powerful as my 2012 I7 with a Geforce GTX 970, while having 4 GB less.
 
This is a non issue. As long as you buy the most powerful PC you can, it will be guaranteed 2 times as powerful as the Xbox. The Xbox One X is only as powerful as my 2012 I7 with a Geforce GTX 970, while having 4 GB less.
A $500 PC will be as powerful as a presumably $500 XBox whatever it's called, good to know! That may be a hard sell. :confused: But then again, we don't know because we don't know the specs. ;) :lol:

But then again, there are some people who don't have or use computers, and play games. And those who do have computers may not have, or want a computer next to they TV. ;) I suppose there are reasons why some prefer consoles.

I have had PC's for nearly 20 years, and have only just put a game on one within the last month. Consoles, mainly, ;) all the way for me. :)
 
A $500 PC will be as powerful as a presumably $500 XBox whatever it's called, good to know! That may be a hard sell. :confused: But then again, we don't know because we don't know the specs. ;) :lol:

But then again, there are some people who don't have or use computers, and play games. And those who do have computers may not have, or want a computer next to they TV. ;) I suppose there are reasons why some prefer consoles.

I have had PC's for nearly 20 years, and have only just put a game on one within the last month. Consoles, mainly, ;) all the way for me. :)

That has nothing to do with my. I was responding to raven 214 specific case of wanting to know the specs to build a similar PC. And I said that that idea is laughable, since my PC which has a processor from 5 years earlier than the Xbox One X is on par with the same. Maybe even surprasing it considering only the GPU is more powerful than mine considering core clock, but there is also the boost clock that is higher than the one in the Xbox One X.
 
That has nothing to do with my. I was responding to raven 214 specific case of wanting to know the specs to build a similar PC. And I said that that idea is laughable, since my PC which has a processor from 5 years earlier than the Xbox One X is on par with the same. Maybe even surprasing it considering only the GPU is more powerful than mine considering core clock, but there is also the boost clock that is higher than the one in the Xbox One X.
It isn't laughable at all. When the PS4 and Xbox one were released you could find YouTube videos showing how to match the performance for the same money. You could, but only with Intel. No reason why you wouldn't be able to do that again. It would be much better idea to go as far beyond that as you can of course.
 
We probably want specs and features so we can price compare, avoid mandatory kinekt functionality, be aware of always online requirements, and evade other weird issues that were the dumpster fire of the Xbox One launch. You know what, just tell us the specs now and we can tell you what we hate and you can fix it before launch.

What a weird sentiment. The specs aren't part of a narrative. I want to know how much wattage a microwave has before I buy it, that's it.
 
It isn't laughable at all. When the PS4 and Xbox one were released you could find YouTube videos showing how to match the performance for the same money. You could, but only with Intel. No reason why you wouldn't be able to do that again. It would be much better idea to go as far beyond that as you can of course.
I am just saying that unless you are being extremely stingy, it is so easy to surprass consoles with a PC that he shouldn't worry to match it.

Besides that the main advantage PCs have is future proofing. I don't see any reason to not buy the console if you are going to build a PC that matches it.
 
We probably want specs and features so we can price compare
I get that what you're meaning, but if both say they're going to do similar/same things, what does it matter at that point?

avoid mandatory kinekt functionality
I don't think this has been a thing as far back as 2016. In fact, I don't think it was ever mandatory, but I believe theygot rid of the ports completely with the release of the One S.

be aware of always online requirements
Unfortunately, you're in an age where this is going to be a thing in a majority of games. This is something that'll be affecting all consoles, not just the Xbox.

and evade other weird issues that were the dumpster fire of the Xbox One launch.
What other issue's where there?
 
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