I've spent a little bit of time with the Series X. If you're in this thread, you've seen the videos, the unboxings, and the breakdowns, so I'll spare the blog post stuff. It's exactly what we've all wanted it to be, right from the console setup onward. It looks and feels utterly next gen.
There's two things I really want to emphasize about the Series X. First and foremost, it's the absolute immediacy of the console. I've seen all the videos, and I know all the load time comparison numbers. But it's something else entirely in person. Coming from the PS4 Pro, an Xbox One S, and even my gaming PC and mobile phone, we've all grown accustomed to the little hitches and halts whenever you want to do something. A slight pause here, a mini-stutter there, it's the price for all the technology, right? Well, not anymore, apparently. Click Gamepass, boom, there's the Gamepass menu. Settings? The cog logo flashes up, and you're in. It's all just right there. Menus are fast, fluid, and responsive. I'm used to the guide on the Xbox One S hitching and stuttering when it comes up after I press the Xbox button on the controller. On Series X, it just pops up, smooth as butter, doesn't matter if you're running a game or not. Jumping between stuff is almost scarily smooth. For a real constrast, after I'd had a bit of a play, I moved my Xbox One S into the lounge for my wife, and even just turning it on and getting her signed in felt like a stuttering eternity... there's no going back from this.
The other thing I want to really highlight is something you won't notice. The noise. People have said its whisper quiet - that's actually maybe a conservative description. It's dead silent. I fired up Oblivion and crawled through the tutorial dungeon. I stopped with the game running, and listened, and all I could hear was the softest sounds of the distant noises in the dungeon. Wind. Had it been on PS4 Pro, it'd all have been drowned out by the jet engine, and even on Xbox One S, the sound of the console just operating would've masked it. But my media room was silent as the grave. It's actually a little eerie - a silent black tower spitting impossible magic onto my TV screen.
I played Forza 7 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Forza 7's flawless image really blew me away, coming from the One S. Pristine. And Oblivion... yeah, that felt like a full remaster. Absolutely stunning. Gears Tactics is my launch game, and its dropping tomorrow. I'm keen as hell to dig into the experience and enjoy something that'll look a little more next-gen. So far, even just running the titles I already own, the Series X is amazing. Money well spent.