Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

My Early Thoughts on the XBox Series X

Not counting Nintendo consoles the last “hardcore gamer console” I owned was the PlayStation 3. I decided on the PlayStation 3 over the XBox 360 because of the enhanced media playback it had and it’s incredible DVD playback as well as Bluray support. I ended up playing a lot of games on it, but I didn’t start out playing much more than a handful of downloaded demos. In a world where consuming media was all on CD, DVD and the fresh new Bluray format the PlayStation 3 really was a great system. Online streaming and YouTube started picking up around that time and I remember getting a Netflix streaming disc so we could try that out. All that to say, I haven’t owned a “... Read All Not counting Nintendo consoles the last “hardcore gamer console” I owned was the PlayStation 3. I decided on the PlayStation 3 over the XBox 360 because of the enhanced media playback it had and it’s incredible DVD playback as well as Bluray support. I ended up playing a lot of games on it, but I didn’t start out playing much more than a handful of downloaded demos. In a world where consuming media was all on CD, DVD and the fresh new Bluray format the PlayStation 3 really was a great system. Online streaming and YouTube started picking up around that time and I remember getting a Netflix streaming disc so we could try that out. All that to say, I haven’t owned a “hardcore gamer console” since as I felt like the PS4/XBox One era just wasn’t for me. That said, with the prevalence of 4K streaming and Bluray along with the new generation of consoles now seemed like a good time to reevaluate that.

Why Get A Next Generation Console Now?

I’m going to start out and say, for most people, you really shouldn’t get a XBox Series S, X or PlayStation 5. If you get along just fine with your 1080p TV there really isn’t a reason to upgrade and frankly, 1080p is good enough for most folks. This isn’t a dig at anyone, I just think that 1080p might be good enough for most people such that sticking to your XBox One or PS4 might be the best choice for the time being. I’ve planned on getting a 4K tv for a couple years now and have slowly built up a reasonable 4K Bluray library when a new film hit I wanted to buy, I’d put in a few extra dollars and get it in 4K. I also enjoy watching stuff in the highest fidelity possible. Again, this isn’t a thing most people care about, but I really do.

And wowee wow do 4K Bluray films look incredible on the Series X and my LG tv. The biggest difference is the color and the increased resolution really amps things up considerably. Streaming 4K off apps like Disney+ is awesome too but 4K Bluray has quite a bit more available to make things pop even more. It might seem like a somewhat expensive way to watch a movie, but the Series X seems to be one of the only things that supports Dolby Vision and for the films that do it’s quite the sight to see.

Yeah Ok Fine, But Isn’t This A Game Console?

Thanks for reminding me! I’ve been looking up what televisions pair well with consoles and the one I went with was the LG CX. The LG CX is a 4K tv that’s claim to fame in the gaming world is it supports 120hz or 120 frames per second. Film clocks in at 24 frames per second and for a lot of games in this current generation 60 FPS is quite the feat so if a console and TV combo could push 120 FPS that’s pretty wild. The Series X can push 120 FPS on certain games and one such game I picked up was the Halo Anniversary collection. I’ve never really sunk anytime with the series, so picking it up seemed like a good idea and also a good way to see how 120FPS felt. And yeah, 120FPS is really incredible paired with the fact that it’s also in 4K. Everything is so smooth, clear and vibrant it almost doesn’t seem quite possible. That said, even though Halo looks and plays incredibly that’s not really the game I’ve put the most time into.

One Big Reason I Chose The Series X Is Because Microsoft Does Compatibility Better

I love retro games and coming back to play games I love. It’s sad when a new console can’t play the old games and it’s awesome when a new console can play a lot of old games which is what Microsoft is doing with the XBox. The Series X can play original XBox games, 360 games and XBox One games. Now the classic compat doesn’t work with everything but it’s quite a few games more than nothing, which for other consoles and past generations is what they offer. The game I’ve been sinking is Plants VS Zombies on the 360. Plants VS Zombies is a classic game that I originally played on PC that I also played on my phone. I’ve never played it on console but the 360 version is superb and the Series X adds HDR to it making it look more incredible than I remember. In fact, the Series X adds HDR to every classic game it runs and for some offers a speed boost and upscaling to increase the games performance.

I’ve enjoyed playing Plants VS Zombies and the other Popcap games that came on the disc so much (Zuma and Peggle) that I picked up a few other 360 disc collections to get nearly each classic Popcap game that came to the 360. My son has also been enjoying watching me play Plants VS Zombies so much that we actually completed it the other night. I never owned an XBox and plan to revisit a lot of it’s classic catalog through the 360, XBox One and also some modern upcoming games (the Diablo 2 remaster might look awesome in 120FPS 4k).

My First Thoughts Summed Up

The XBox Series X might be one of the best consoles I’ve owned for all the things I care about the most. Does it have a slate of incredible cutting edge games? I honestly don’t know and don’t care, it’s not really why I bought it but some day I do plan to get some current gen games made for it. I don’t regret getting it at all and for me it’s a really great way to watch movies and play some games.