The Next Generation is Almost Here - PlayStation 5 v. Xbox Series X | S

[A Black Falcon]

(Is there a way to put a video in-line in the post so you don't need to click a link to watch it? I know we used to have that feature...)

So, some journalists have Xbox Series X systems now, and they are looking at it starting with backwards compatibility. Zero load times looks like it isn't happening, not for BC games on the Xbox Series X anyway, but dramatically reduced load times very much are and it's really exciting stuff. Seeing X1 games running at much higher framerates in 4K when games had unlocked framerates is also pretty cool, but those load time improvements are the biggest thing.

Of course, as this video shows you need the BC games installed to the internal SD or the addon SSD port, or an external USB SSD, to get the really fast load times, as loading from mechanical hard drives like the ones I attach to my X1S will be much slower, but even that 'much slower' is a big improvement over their load times on the X1, and they're a fine place to store ones you use less often or don't mind the loading as much on. I'll probably leave most of the X1 games on the external regular HDD, and put any X360 or OG Xbox games I want to see running in higher resolutions (the ones that are 4K enhanced and such, such as PD Orta!) on that external as well, but put a few with the worst loading problems on the internal. Or maybe I'll buy a USB SSD? Those are expensive and wouldn't work for XSX games so it might not be a great investment, but I guess it'll depend on how much I want to spend to reduce loading times. Again, the video above shows how dramatic the difference is in one example game between an external SSD and an external mechanical HDD in X1 BC games, so just leaving everything on the drive it is on now will see improved load times but not nearly the generational leap that they would from an SSD... but games are large now and SSDs expensive, so I can't keep everything installed on SSDs, that is too expensive. It's just a question of 'what goes on which' I think.

As for the addon SSD port, I will probably wait on that one and not get one those anytime soon, $220 is a lot for 1TB! I hope they add 2TB models, even at a higher cost that would be a much more interesting option due to the greatly increased storage. I will definitely need more storage, next gen games will surely be huge and I'm using like 3.5 or 4 terabytes of storage total on my X1S, and that's without almost any X360 games installed on the thing since I play those on the 360. But I will need to make some space for 4K-enhanced OG Xbox and X360 games...