(gentle music)

I've been testing the Xbox Series X for a few weeks now

and the smaller Xbox Series S over the past week.

I played old games, new games and even optimized ones

to get a feel for what the next gen actually means for Xbox.

The larger Xbox Series X,

comes closer to a PC like experience for consoles

than we've ever seen before.

Everything looks and feels like an Xbox,

but it all feels a lot smoother

and a lot faster without being radically new.

If you're upgrading from an Xbox One,

the dashboard looks the same.

All of your controllers and accessories will work just fine

and all of your existing games will run just fine,

except they'll just run a lot better.

It's like upgrading a PC to get faster frame rates,

better load times or just prettier graphical settings,

except this isn't a PC

so you don't get any of those Windows update problems

or driver issues or any of that sort of really bad PC stuff.

The $499 Xbox Series X looks like a miniature PC,

but hardware isn't the whole story here.

This next gen Xbox

is missing out on the truly next gen games

that really show off the performance of the console,

and just the thrill that you get from something brand new,

at least for now.

The Xbox Series X is a big and boxy console.

It looks best standing vertically like a smaller PC tower.

And if you set it down horizontally,

it kind of looks like it fell over

because you can't remove the stand.

Up top there's a green color underneath the grill,

which isn't actually an led.

It's where the fan sits to push out warm air.

Now I've never heard this fan at all, not even once.

I felt the air exhausting out of the top,

but it's pretty much the same as my Xbox One X,

never really been an issue and not too hot to touch.

I think most people are going to have to carefully consider

how and where they slot this into their existing TV stands,

because you won't want to enclose this console in

due to air flow,

but it's spotty size might make it difficult

to fit into most TV stands,

especially if it's standing up vertically.

It's also a massive fingerprint magnet.

My review unit already has plenty of smudges.

At the rear there's an ethernet port,

two USB ports, a HDMI 2.1 port, the power connector

and a expandable storage slot

to increase the one terabyte of storage that comes built in.

Both of these new Xbox consoles

also come with an updated Xbox controller.

The key difference is a USB-C,

a new share button and an updated D-pad.

You'll still need to use the same AA batteries

or purchase a rechargeable Play and Charge Kit separately

for 24.99.

There are also one terabyte expandable storage cards

to increase the storage capacity.

These are priced at $219

and you'll need them for games that are enhanced

for the Xbox Series X and Series S.

You can of course, just store games on cheaper USB storage

and then copy them across to the console

when you want to them.

You'll even be able to play older Xbox One games from USB

as long as developers don't update them with enhancements

for the Xbox Series X that require the SSD.

(gentle music)

If you were hoping for a brand new dashboard

on the Xbox Series X,

then I'm sorry, it's the same one from the Xbox One,

but with some minor tweaks, and new animated backgrounds.

Microsoft has mostly cleaned this dashboard up

so it's less of a hassle,

but I still find the guide a little bit cumbersome

to use at times.

The real changes I started to notice for the Xbox Series X

are with the games that you play on this console,

everything just feels faster.

Frame rates are higher in certain games,

load times are better,

and everything just feels

just genuinely smoother in gameplay overall.

Warframe loads in around 30 seconds on the Xbox Series X,

while on the older Xbox one X,

it takes almost a minute longer.

I mean just look at how long this takes

to load on a Series X.

I usually have time to grab a drink

you know, check some emails or run around the block

before the Xbox One X had even loaded a game.

But now, you know, the Xbox Series X it's just,

everything's a little bit faster.

(gentle music)

I've been to play some of the optimized patches

for Xbox Series X games,

and I'm blown away by how much existing games can change.

Sea of Thieves has jumped

from taking more than a minute to load,

to loading in less than 30 seconds.

It's also moved from a sluggish 30 frames per second

to 60 frames per second.

And it feels like I'm playing on the PC now.

It's that much of a radical jump.

I've also been testing out Dirt 5 and Gears 5,

which both include a new 120 Hertz mode.

In Dirt 5 the resolution drops into 1440p rather than 4k,

but you get nearly a constant 120 frames per second

and buttery smooth gameplay.

It makes a big difference to input latency.

So when I'm cornering,

the car just feels that much more responsive.

It's the same in Gears 5,

which also has 120 frames per second mode

in the multiplayer version of the game.

Running around the arena feels really smooth and responsive.

These modes also had similar options

in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, a great for player choice.

There are even more games,

coming with 120 frames per second support.

And I'm hoping we see more titles,

continue to let players choose between 4k

or performance modes,

or just lots of flexibility in between.

I love this freedom of choice

and it reminds me of the graphical options you get on PC.

The Xbox Series X also has a new quick resume feature,

and this is one of my favorite additions.

It actually quickly swap between multiple games

and they all individually resume in around 10 seconds or so

of swap time.

This feature takes advantage of the SSD on the Xbox Series X

and I was able to quickly swap between five games freely.

The limit will depend on what type of games you're playing,

but it still works

after you've powered down the console fully,

or even rebooted it for updates.

This means you can quickly continue where you left off

in a variety of games,

which is great if you're busy tackling

a single player campaign,

and then a buddy invites you to play some Fortnite.

You can just tap on the invite

and you don't have to worry about save points.

When quick resume works,

it works really well, but not every game supports it.

I haven't been able to use it in Forza Horizon 4.

Even new titles like Watch Dogs: Legion

and older titles like GTA 5.

It's really disappointing that not every game supports it,

and Microsoft hasn't really said why.

(gentle music)

The Xbox Series X isn't the only next gen Xbox though.

There's also this tiny $299 Xbox Series S.

Unlike the larger Xbox Series X,

the Series S is really designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming

up to 120 frames per second.

Now you can hook it up to a 4k TV

and games will be upscaled,

but I think most people are going to be buying this

for a bedroom TV or for their kids to play Fortnite.

You could position the Xbox Series S vertically,

or lay it flat down horizontally.

And I think the Xbox logo at the front,

shows you that this was clearly designed to lay flat.

That's a good thing

because this should fit in most TV stands,

unlike the bigger Xbox Series X.

I also just love the size of this thing.

It's just so tiny and compact.

Microsoft is promising that the biggest changes

between these two consoles are down to resolution.

If you don't care about 4k or you play on a 1080p TV,

this little Xbox feels like the one to get.

I've been playing games like Sea of Thieves

or Forza Horizon 4, both at 60 frames per second 1080p

thanks to new optimized patches

that are slowly rolling out.

These feel like a big upgrade over what's possible

on current Xbox consoles.

Most existing backward compatible games will run essentially

as if it was an Xbox One S.

While that's not ideal,

new games and existing ones that are still very popular

should get updates for things like 120 Hertz modes

or higher resolutions, better frame rates

and even faster load times.

We're already starting to see that with Dirt 5, Gears 5

and games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

that will all have 120 Hertz modes

on both the Series S and the Series X.

Even Destiny 2 is getting updated next month

to deliver 60 frames per second, at 1080p on the Series S.

This smaller Xbox,

can deliver the PC like smoother gameplay experiences,

and all of the load time benefits

that you get on the Xbox Series X.

And while I've not been able to test enough optimized games

or truly next gen games, to really tell you exactly

what this Xbox Series S is capable of.

The ones I have been testing with the optimized patches

they feel like an Xbox Series X, just a lower resolution.

Now I've been impressed with the 4k upscaling

from this tiny Xbox Series S,

but I think most people

should be pairing it with a 1080p TV anyway.

If you really want 4k,

the Xbox Series X is really the console for that right now.

The Series S uses the same CPU

found in the larger Xbox series X,

but it's clocked slightly slower

and there's 512 gig of SSD storage.

I think both of these are key additions here

and make the biggest difference in games right now.

It also has the same ports as a Series X, but no disc drive.

So you'll need to use the same expandable storage

found on the Series X.

And this storage situation on the Xbox Series S

is the biggest problem I see right now.

You only get 364 gig of usable storage here.

So if you go and install a game like Call of Duty: Warzone,

then you're left with just over 250 gig.

Realistically, that means only five or six games

before the drivers full, or maybe even less

if you're playing games like Call of Duty.

The only option for storage,

is a one terabyte storage card priced at $220.

Now if you go for this, that puts the total price up to $519

for the Xbox Series S, which is more than the 499

on the Xbox Series X.

Now I'm hoping Microsoft brings out

more of these storage cards

with different sizes in the coming months,

but for now,

I feel like the storage situation on the Series S

could be a problem for a lot of people.

(gentle music)

Both of this next gen Xbox consoles,

deliver some key improvements to existing games

and just a general boost to speed.

They feel closer to a PC experience

than I've ever seen from a console before.

That seems like a very deliberate choice by Microsoft,