A Few Months With the Series X ( a mini review)

    

    The Series X from Microsoft and Xbox is a fabulous piece of technology with some not so fabulous short comings. I will explain the short comings further later in the review, but first an initiation for those not familiar and a refresher for those who are.

The Series X is the more powerful of the two latest generation of video game consoles from Microsoft's Xbox division, it brings to the table a sizeable upgrade to the current consoles the Xbox one and Xbox one X. This upgrade is accomplished by moving to more powerful Zen 2 cores and a full RDNA2 architecture from the under powered jaguar cores and GCN architecture of the consoles they are replacing. This additional power along with the familiar architecture of the consoles (current and previous console generation are X86_64 architecture) allows for increased backwards compatibility, a strong suit of the Xbox ecosystem. This is also where one of the more glaring short comings is realized, while the backwards compatibility is remarkable and immediately provides the user with a ready supply of games none of these titles actually showcase what the console is truly capable or incapable of. The Series X and by extension it's little sibling the Series S have no next generation titles to showcase any of the advanced features the consoles provide. This is a huge misstep especially for a device that costs as much as a cell phone in some cases. The same can be said of the consoles controller which other than an additional share button is largely unchanged from the previous version. Same can be said about the systems UI which has fallen victim of the insistence to unify the experience across all "Xbox" devices. 

Series X|S UI note the only change is the dynamic backgrounds

 

    It's not all gloom and doom for the Series X it has huge potential and once it starts to be realized in the form of compelling and truly next generation content I am positive that the console will shine. Recent moves by Microsoft hints to this potential such as the recent studio acquisitions and title announcements. They are also very focused on improving the gaming experience, constantly taking and responding to customer feedback as well as quickly addressing issues with the hardware software and peripherals as well.

    As it is currently the Series X is like a Hyper Car with no track nearby to fully explore it's power. This may change in time but for now it's pretty much stuck using regular city roads and highways.