This makes sense does it not?
While we’re just a few months away from the launch of the Xbox Series X and S consoles, there has been more light shined on how the consoles, specifically the Xbox Series S will handle backward compatible games.
Recently it was brought to light that the Xbox Series S, which is marketed to those who aren’t ready to jump into 4K gaming, will be able to play backward-compatible games but without the Xbox One X enhancements. This makes sense to us and we’re not sure why people are taking this and running it with a negative narrative. This is also interesting as we were trying to understand this just a few days ago on our recent episode of Spectator Mode Podcast.
The Xbox One X is a 4K gaming console, that was the goal from the start and until the Xbox Series X is finally released, it is Xbox’s 4K gaming console. However, this boils down to more than just 1440p vs 4K. The Xbox One X simply has more memory available for usage compared to the Xbox Series S, and this is the reason. While the Xbox One X packs more ram (9 GB) as opposed to the Xbox Series S’s 8GB. Meaning it couldn’t load those enhancements/textures as there isn’t enough space available in the RAM. So it would have to step back to the Xbox One S backward compatibility instead.
Here’s Microsoft’s official statement regarding this, which was provided by Gamespew.
Xbox Series S was designed to be the most affordable next generation console and play next generation games at 1440P at 60fps. To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer’s original intent, the Xbox Series S runs the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games while applying improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR.
However, that doesn’t mean that these backward compatible games will look worse than on the Xbox One X. Far from it, as Xbox has stated that thanks to updated hardware that the Xbox Series S is packing that it will run those games with improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, with some even having HDR. This was apparent when Xbox released the “Inside The Xbox Series S” video, which talked about the features of the Xbox Series X, but also gave us a look at several games running on the console, both up and coming and BC. Games such as Black and Skate, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Dirt 5, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, all looked amazing, as did Gears of War 5 – which was running at 120 frames per second and it looked silky smooth. I’m not seeing an issue here.
Sadly, it just feels like some are running with this, and acting like the sky is falling when all there’s no cause for alarm. The Xbox Series S will still run games at a decent frame rate and is the (Xbox) console for you if 4K isn’t in your future. Though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wish there were more onboard RAM and a slightly larger internal solid-state drive.
Both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will launch on November 10th, 2020. Are you picking up either or both? We’d love to know in the comments below.
https://youtu.be/fYtJWIxt3-M
