XBox One S vs Series S... for 6 and 10 (and 40) y/os

[Smitters]

Yes. Another what console. But while I understand specs, drive size etc, what absolutely baffles me is how you buy/access games these days. Can anyone explain it to a man who's more used to Gran Turismo on PS1?

Long story short, we have an Xbox 360 with some games, so I get having the ability to play the old games would be good, but equally, maybe we don't touch the old games as soon as we see new stuff! Or can we, by dint of owning a 360 disc, access that game online somehow?

Finally, subscriptions. What the actual F? And given my kids are not going to be playing anything age inappropriate, is there any value in them at all?

I'm erring on a used One S to be able to own games, and buy used games, but I'm a bit at sea with how everything works. Anyone able to supply a simple explanation please?

[CT05 Nose Cone]

A lot of 360 games will work one them, but even if you own the disc you'll have to repurchase it digitally (or buy the X). Game Pass has quite a variety of games so should be something to suit anyone, it's like netflix in that you can play them as often as you want, but if your sub runs out or they remove titles, they're gone.

[gangzoom]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

A lot of 360 games will work one them, but even if you own the disc you'll have to repurchase it digitally (or buy the X).

I presume OP is asking about differences in Series S and One S?

I recently setup my old One S again along with the old 360 for the Kinetc for some family games.



The One S seems to play most old 360 games via disc with no issue, it seems though with the S series even if you copy all the games across on a hard drive it wouldn't work unless you get the X series which is pretty big/ugly compared to the One S/S series.

I'm quite happy the setup, able to play old disc games on the One S, and still able to access 'digital' purchases on Xbox Live, but the graphics on the One S is understandably quite limited compared to current gen stuff. I fired up Dirt 2.0, plays well, but compared to WRC Generations on max graphics settings the graphcis difference is quite marked, especially for shadows and background objects.

F1 2024 on the One S looks worse than F1 2020 running on a PC with graphics settings turned up. So if you are after the most up-to-date graphics the S/X series is the one to get. If it's just playing 360 games, the One S is far cheaper and still works great.

[P-Jay]

Smitters said:

Yes. Another what console. But while I understand specs, drive size etc, what absolutely baffles me is how you buy/access games these days. Can anyone explain it to a man who's more used to Gran Turismo on PS1?

Long story short, we have an Xbox 360 with some games, so I get having the ability to play the old games would be good, but equally, maybe we don't touch the old games as soon as we see new stuff! Or can we, by dint of owning a 360 disc, access that game online somehow?

Finally, subscriptions. What the actual F? And given my kids are not going to be playing anything age inappropriate, is there any value in them at all?

I'm erring on a used One S to be able to own games, and buy used games, but I'm a bit at sea with how everything works. Anyone able to supply a simple explanation please?

Having someone tangible for your money and backwards compatibility with old discs is a mental barrier most of us have had to make in recent years.

TBH, I'd get the Series S, while some might argue that this latest gen of consoles hasn't made massive leaps in terms of games yet. The shift to NMVe SSDs has made a huge difference.

Buying games, you can buy them directly from Microsoft, which is usually the most expensive way to do it, the likes of CD Keys are cheaper, you're just buying a code that will arrive in minutes rather than a disc that comes in the post or from a shop.

Subscriptions, another pain to overcome, you can use some clever tricks to get them really cheap (there's a thread) but even at rrp it's good value IMO. You can download lots of games, proper, big games that cost £70 in the shop at no extra cost, plus you need the to play online.

It's really helpful if you have fast internet at home, some of the games are well over 100GB these days. Internal storage isn't great on the Series S and the official upgrades are expensive.

[sjg]

Particularly for the 10 year old, do they have mates with current xbox consoles that he wants to play with online?

Xbox gamepass is good value IMO, go to cdkeys or similar and you can have ultimate for around £80 a year. If you do that instead of buying games then it's cheaper than a couple of new releases a year, it includes EA play so you get the latest FIFA/FC games too. There's 160 or so games on there with maturity ratings 3 or 7.

[Smitters]

Thanks - really appreciate the time taken to reply here.

He does have mates who have XBoxes, and one or two who use a Switch or pad of some sort to access Roblox, but the reality is XBox is where most folks have spent their money.

I think going for an S Series is probably the best compromise. We definitely don't need an all singing X and in reality, will we ever play the old FIFA and Forza games if new stuff is available? Probably not. I guess I just have to suck up a subscription model as a brave new world.

[gangzoom]

Microsoft is selling refurbished S series for £169 with a controller, I’m tempted.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/d/xbox-series-s-ce...

[Smitters]

gangzoom said:

Microsoft is selling refurbished S series for £169 with a controller, I’m tempted.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/d/xbox-series-s-ce...

Great price, but only a 90 day warranty? Not sure I fancy this bricking itself and MS telling me to jog on! But then, at checkout, lo!, there is a warranty extension for sale!

Mind, you - still a good deal. Purchased!