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David Cage thinks having two next-gen Xbox consoles is ‘confusing for developers and players’

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Jesus are people fucking stupid... don't answer that because I already know the answer.

Some of the comment is a bit off, I think the Xbox naming scheme is confusing for consumers rather than the multi console issue, the increase in Xbox One sales after the Xbox Series announcement shows that. However when he states that having a less powerful machine is limiting for a generation he is 100% correct.


"Bu-bu-bu-bu-but the PC" I hear all you Xbox preorderes who don't own a PC cry. Yes but I think its pretty fucking well known that the PC despite having hardware on average several times that of a games console does not have graphics on average several generations ahead of the consoles... Perhaps there are negatives to developing games for multiple hardware configurations that result in engines and games being unable to achieve heights they could otherwise have because they have to make sure the minimum spec at least runs even if it looks like shit. This means scalability has to be baked into the game. Its no accident that consoles can pull off amazing technical feats that given there limited hardware would simply be impossible on PC due to its myriad of possible hardware configurations.

Final Fantasy XIV today for example you can still feel the effects everytime you go into a major city of the choice to release on PS3, everytime you hit one of those dotted lines dividing the citys in two, despite both PS4 soon PS5 and PC having access to much more RAM that decision to release on PS3 will always effect these older areas, its no accident the expansion that dropped PS3 has massive open areas compared to what came before. Having a weaker hardware variant at launch will negatively impact high end games, its as simple as that.

Like where are people getting this idea that it doesn't? It was a fucking selling point for generations that having a single machine with a set spec allows devs to invest time in getting that spec running as near perfect as possible.
 
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Woo-Fu

Banned
What questions are left after the strategy was already used this generation, by both players still in the hardware arms race?
 

wolffy71

Banned
This just in... xbox is the only product in the history of the planet that renders humans incapable of telling two things apart. For some reason people are unable to differentiate between words and colors. More news at 10.

So confusing. Two xbox's. One says series X and the other says series S. Literally indistinguishable.
 
What about PCs with Gtx 1070 and 1060. Games still compatible to those systems

But my question here would be: imagine optimising a game for the 1070 and you're at like 1080 or 1440p already because you want to wow people with really amazing graphical fidelity, can you actually still downscale that to a 1060 without going to like 480p or something? In the end I have no clue if the S will be an actual bottleneck ofc but I can see where people are coming from on this.
 

eot

Banned
This just in... xbox is the only product in the history of the planet that renders humans incapable of telling two things apart. For some reason people are unable to differentiate between words and colors. More news at 10.

So confusing. Two xbox's. One says series X and the other says series S. Literally indistinguishable.
What a shit take, do you think such a thing as good branding doesn't exist?
It's on companies to clearly communicate to their customers.
 

CrysisFreak

Banned
It's not confusing.
The Xbox One Series X and the Xbox Series ONE S play the same games but with an 8TF difference playing select Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games and most of the Xbox One S/X games (not Series).
 


“When a manufacturer offers two consoles with different specs, there is a strong chance that most developers will focus on the lower-end version to avoid doing two different versions,” Cage suggested.

“I must confess that I am really not a big fan of this situation. I think it is confusing for developers, but also for players, and although I can understand the commercial reasons behind this choice, I think the situation is questionable.”


What a retarded thing to say. Is it confusing for developers and customers to have different phone models, TV models and so on? I'm pretty sure he knows what phone model he's got. So stupid...

The more options the better the consumer is and why would developers be confused? lol In his mind console gamers should stay locked to the one spec because reasons! Sure, I'm OK with that providing he's also OK with only being able to also not have a choice of phone/TV/car/etc models. Seriously...
 

JimboJones

Member
In a world with multiple skus of mobile phones and yes even PC variability, 2 Skus of Xbox is straight forward.
MS advertising and messaging will have to be a huge fuck up to cause confusion among consumers, and consumers who buy at launch tend to be extremely hardcore buyers too.
 
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LokusAbriss

Member
If you can't differentiate between two models as a customer, maybe it is better to stay away from tech. Much less, work in a tech environment.

Tell that argument to a software developer, who has to programm for different Windows 10 versions. There are a dozen models of one notebook model, thousands of options to configure a pc, countless phone options from one brand.
 

CrysisFreak

Banned
What a retarded thing to say. Is it confusing for developers and customers to have different phone models, TV models and so on? I'm pretty sure he knows what phone model he's got. So stupid...

The more options the better the consumer is and why would developers be confused? lol In his mind console gamers should stay locked to the one spec because reasons! Sure, I'm OK with that providing he's also OK with only being able to also not have a choice of phone/TV/car/etc models. Seriously...
:D
 

SirTerry-T

Member
How could it confuse consumers?

Major Nelson has a couple of times called the Series X an Xbox One X.

Digital Foundry labeled a video of XSX gameplay as Xbox One X.

But how could consumers possibly get confused?

I mean the average mom walking into WalMart to buy her kid a new console at Christmas will surely know exactly all the differences and if not the WalMart worker covering electronics (who usually works the crafts dept) will surely know, right?
"Mum, I want the new white Xbox, not the new black one".

Sorted.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
This is so stupid. Most developers will not focus on the low end version. They want their games to run well on PS5 and PC too. FFS devs know how to optimize games and how to optimize development to reach the most platforms. He is basically claiming the entire industry is run by morons who don't understand what the market wants.
 

Rien

Jelly Belly
How could it confuse consumers?

Major Nelson has a couple of times called the Series X an Xbox One X.

Digital Foundry labeled a video of XSX gameplay as Xbox One X.

But how could consumers possibly get confused?

I mean the average mom walking into WalMart to buy her kid a new console at Christmas will surely know exactly all the differences and if not the WalMart worker covering electronics (who usually works the crafts dept) will surely know, right?

Microsoft nails it so many places but why can’t they come up with better names for their Xbox products?
I always get the “how are you doing fellow kids” vibe with their names.
 

FunkMiller

Member
It's not really that confusing to consumers, but his point about developers always developing first for the weakest console is spot on. I expect a lot of third party games this generation to be a load of shit.

Microsoft nails it so many places but why can’t they come up with better names for their Xbox products?
I always get the “how are you doing fellow kids” vibe with their names.

XBox
XBox 2
XBox 3
XBox 4

If they'd have gone with that naming philosophy, they would have sold more. But instead they always - always - have to compare themselves to Sony, hence the ridiculous names for the XBoxes, just so they aren't one number behind Playstation. It's a child's way of doing things, and its cost them dear down through the years.
 
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Wait until he hears about PCs and how much the specs vary.

While many people say what you are saying as "hahaa noobs, pc world works so this evidence that slow+fast console works too!"

In reality you and others just prove what is said: many systems equals into lesser games.

Please list all PC games that are optimized fully to rip every performance drop that is possible from high end PC with 16core CPU, nvidia 3090, 128Gb of ram and super fast SSDs on raid setup with 50Gb/s speeds.

Here is the list
-
-
And
-

PC games are made for those slow ass systems as most gamers play on low-mid end machines.

It equals into games that brute force the high end systems and doesnt come even close to the theoretical performance vs graphics ratio.

So, saying that you just prove that series s+x games are never as good on series x, than if games would be only done to series x. Fundings are limited after all.

While s+x are kind of similar, it is still big cap.

Just like the games on pc that have to run on potato with 4 cores, hdd and 8gb of ram, it wont be optimized for that high end pc

If you are a developer and changing the res to 1440p after finishing X build is hard for you to understand... Go work in a hot dog booth

What if devs would like to make 1440p/30fps game for series x and upscale it to 4k?

Hint: 720-900p, next gen experience.
 
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Gorki247

Member
What if devs would like to make 1440p/30fps game for series x and upscale it to 4k?

Hint: 720-900p, next gen experience.
So in your hypothetical scenario they would target a game for Series X, and downscale it for Series S? Got it, thanks.
 
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Maxwell Jacob Friedman

leads to fear. Fear leads to xbox.
Wait until he hears about PCs and how much the specs vary.
But dont pc's have atleast minimum specs where as sure people know what the series s is but the yakuza game for an option runs at 900p, at what point do we say just do away with the S and focus on the X especially mid gen when games get more advanced and complex.
 

M16

Member
Concern trolling.
We already know the series s has the same cpu, and they chose the gpu to scale series x games to series s based on its target resolution.
 
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FrankWza

Member
The thing about series s is how will it make it through this entire gen? I think it’ll end up being discontinued once a pro model of x releases. Do you think they’re going to have 3 different specs? I don’t
 
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David Cage’s games suck and if a lower tiered Xbox is an issue, then he should stop putting his games on PC.

Not to mention, if more people start talking about how confusing the Xbox Series X|S naming convention is, the less confusing it becomes as now there are articles based around it and educate people as not to be confused any longer. Lastly, just look at the box, there’s a clear difference between One X and Series X. Same goes for the S variants.
 
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wolffy71

Banned
What a shit take, do you think such a thing as good branding doesn't exist?
It's on companies to clearly communicate to their customers.
Yeah and its pretty clear. One is "X" and the other is "S". Idk how much simpler you need something to be.
 

Breakage

Member
One thing I'm noticing is the increasing use of “Xbox Series X/S”. The consoles are referred to as a pair which helps to mask the technical differences between them. I can see how “Series X/S” could cause confusion.
 
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martino

Member
David Cage’s games suck and if a lower tiered Xbox is an issue, then he should stop putting his games on PC.

Not to mention, if more people start talking about how confusing the Xbox Series X|S naming convention is, the less confusing it becomes as now there are articles based around it and educate people as not to be confused any longer. Lastly, just look at the box, there’s a clear difference between One X and Series X. Same goes for the S variants.
but my narrative !
giphy.gif

can't see a difference now !
 

H . R . 2

Member
The same way an Xbox one s and an Xbox one X is confusing or a PS4 and a PS4 pro?

Shurrrrup David.


except that PS4 was always the base console and Pro came out years later not alongside it

Wait until he hears about PCs and how much the specs vary.

even on PC there's a minimum requirement which is up to the developers and also determines how the game will be designed
they'll never focus on the recommended settings, rather on getting the minimum to run the game

Don't tell this fella about phones, might have a break down.

phones are not meant for AAA gaming, mate. so they won't need to compete
 
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What about PCs with Gtx 1070 and 1060. Games still compatible to those systems

These kinds of posts are so tiring. Yes, I'm aware that PCs exist. But consoles are not PCs, and the dynamics are different. You're in denial if you think the existence of Series S will not have an effect on how next gen games are designed. Developer have to ensure games look and run WELL on the Series S, because it will sell in the millions, which will obviously compromise the ambition and scope.
 

Tmack

Member
pro and one x didn't confuse anyone, why would this be any different?

Because they came out late gen?

We all know every gen there`s a learning curve.... when devs are on cruise mode and you introduce a new system late, there`s no big deal. Specially since it`s a niche product mostly for hardcore gamers. AAA titles will target to max on the upscale version but most games won`t.

In general that`s a bad choice overall.
 
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