Xbox has removed the "Inside the Series S" video with Jason Ronaldo

John Elden Ring

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5 Jul 2022
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Microsoft released a video that takes an in-depth look at the Xbox Series S with Jason Ronald, Director of Program Management. The video in question discusses the goals of the Series S and X and why the console came to be—a next-gen capable console and at a low price point was important for Xbox’s vision of gaming on the many platforms that we use in our daily lives.

The video also entails information about the Xbox Velocity Architecture, the “ultimate solution for game asset streaming in the next generation”, according to Microsoft. We can see the console’s SSD in action as well, with a comparison of the Xbox One S and Xbox Series S loading into The Outer Worlds. Watching the One S struggle to resume a saved game compared to the Series S is key to understanding why an SSD is important for games moving forward.

Backup from IGN
 

FatKaz

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16 Jul 2022
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What are the chances they kill support for the S in the next few months? But It is their best-selling console, isn’t it?
It will start a shit storm too many series s consoles in peoples hands, it won't happen they are stuck with this shitbox.

That fact that they first privated this video a few months ago and now removed it is admission they fucked up with the S.
 

Bryank75

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What are the chances they kill support for the S in the next few months? But It is their best-selling console, isn’t it?

If they do that.... I dunno how any honest person could tolerate it and trust Microsoft by buying another piece of hardware from them again.

All that would be left is their shills and acolytes. But I actually fear how many of these zealots Xbox actually has, cause there seem to be so many online.

Do they have over 20 million fanatical fans? People that barely play games but mindlessly support the company nomatter what?

If series S is cut out, that would leave under 10 million series X consoles... probably 7-8 million.
 

ksdixon

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22 Jun 2022
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XB used to make a stink about true next gen won't come until a few years in. Can't they just say "we're here. Series S is bc/gp machine, but if you want better next gen games get series X or new "Xbox XS" pro model.
 

Systemshock2023

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They can't discontinue the series S mid generation. Besides it's basically the same console with a less powerful GPU and less memory, as long as they reduce resolution and optimize memory usage they should be fine.

1080p 1080p dynamic and 30 FPS is what they should target for current gen AAA games.

Nintendo will release a switch 2 that will be less powerful than a series S and devs will have to support through 2030.
 
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Alabtrosmyster

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yeah, that video is just basically lies.
That giant beard guy is only second to Phil as far as lies go, he must be the next xbox CEO at this rate. First time I heard from him was around the xbone launch, I may be wrong, but I think he was the one that told DF that the 32mb of on die RAM of the xbone was about twice as fast because it could transfer both ways at the same time... therefore the xbone would punch above its weight compared to the PS4 (the opposite is true).

It's almost as if he was always wrong or he lied all the time.
 

JAHGamer

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XB used to make a stink about true next gen won't come until a few years in. Can't they just say "we're here. Series S is bc/gp machine, but if you want better next gen games get series X or new "Xbox XS" pro model.
I doubt they do a pro model, they said the X was the mid Gen refresh. But if they did, devs would have to optimize for 3 largely different SKUs which would cause even more headaches than it already does. If push comes to shove they’ll just tell people to invest in a high end PC
 

FatKaz

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MS set itself up for failure with the S lol
Indeed, it's incompetence top to bottom. Here's a comment by jim ryan on why the series s is a bad idea.

“One thing that can be said is that if you look at the history of the game business, creating a special low priced, reduced spec console is something that has not had great results in the past. We’ve considered that option and seen other executives who have attempted this discover how problematic it is.”
 
24 Jun 2022
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It will start a shit storm too many series s consoles in peoples hands, it won't happen they are stuck with this shitbox.

That fact that they first privated this video a few months ago and now removed it is admission they fucked up with the S.

Absolute facts. They're ashamed of the damn thing and I can't blame them. I have a pretty interesting theory about Xbox Series S & X development timelines.

In short, these systems didn't start full architecting until mid-late 2017. Microsoft bounced their approach off One S & One X, but had to wait until market response before settling in. That means they had to wait not just to see reactions but also sales number (or at least preorder numbers), before deciding a dual-console approach seemed worth doing.

Whatever next-gen Xbox design they had scoped out prior to One S & One X was mostly gutted, with R&D pared back significantly following slowing momentum for the XBO. A lot of that system's concepts were probably only at the broad level and didn't mature to specific technical features and capabilities in discrete performance areas. Since full design work on Xbox Series started relatively late, they had to rely on general AMD RDNA2 features to be matured and finalized in order to have those features available for the Xbox Series consoles. This is why they were so adamant about pushing "Full RDNA2"; outside of some very tiny and relatively easy-to-implement customizations, the Series consoles are highly "off-the-shelf" RDNA2 systems.

Contrasted with Sony, who not only began prototyping/scoping PS5 shortly after PS4's launch, but never pulled back on R&D or development time, and didn't predicate PS5's design predominantly off the PS4 Pro, the way Microsoft did Xbox Series off of One S & One X. Sony also had more time to R&D custom solutions so they weren't as reliant on AMD's RDNA2 roadmap; they therefore could more precisely customize aspects of their GPU & APU to fit performance targets, and leave out unnecessary features related to gaming. They didn't need to rely on "Full RDNA2" taglines the way Microsoft did, as a result.

It's one thing to develop a mid-gen refresh in 2-3 years but developing the base console platform & associated technologies in that contracted a time frame? It isn't going to be easy, or pretty, and that's why the Series X and S are the way they are. At least the Series X has raw power to overcome most of its potential drawbacks; the Series S doesn't. Add on the amount of time it's taken for the GDK to get up to speed (and keep in mind there are still issues, mainly with there being too many options for API calls in DX12U, which the GDK uses), and no wonder the Series S has been performing as badly as it has.

RedFall is 30 FPS because of Series S. Starfield is 30 FPS on Series X, because of Series S. There is no way Microsoft would let that game run at sub-HD on Series S just to push 40 FPS or higher. It was a neat short-term solution that's become a long-term bottleneck. This dual-system approach with mostly off-the-shelf RDNA2 designs is also probably why Microsoft can't effectively cost-reduce the Series X that well; perhaps in knowing that they internally justified a strategy to dual-system at launch: you can't really cost-reduce the X with your approach so why not just design a cheaper, weaker system outright to pair with it?

Welp, now we see why that approach doesn't work.
 

historia

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Absolute facts. They're ashamed of the damn thing and I can't blame them. I have a pretty interesting theory about Xbox Series S & X development timelines.

In short, these systems didn't start full architecting until mid-late 2017. Microsoft bounced their approach off One S & One X, but had to wait until market response before settling in. That means they had to wait not just to see reactions but also sales number (or at least preorder numbers), before deciding a dual-console approach seemed worth doing.

Whatever next-gen Xbox design they had scoped out prior to One S & One X was mostly gutted, with R&D pared back significantly following slowing momentum for the XBO. A lot of that system's concepts were probably only at the broad level and didn't mature to specific technical features and capabilities in discrete performance areas. Since full design work on Xbox Series started relatively late, they had to rely on general AMD RDNA2 features to be matured and finalized in order to have those features available for the Xbox Series consoles. This is why they were so adamant about pushing "Full RDNA2"; outside of some very tiny and relatively easy-to-implement customizations, the Series consoles are highly "off-the-shelf" RDNA2 systems.

Contrasted with Sony, who not only began prototyping/scoping PS5 shortly after PS4's launch, but never pulled back on R&D or development time, and didn't predicate PS5's design predominantly off the PS4 Pro, the way Microsoft did Xbox Series off of One S & One X. Sony also had more time to R&D custom solutions so they weren't as reliant on AMD's RDNA2 roadmap; they therefore could more precisely customize aspects of their GPU & APU to fit performance targets, and leave out unnecessary features related to gaming. They didn't need to rely on "Full RDNA2" taglines the way Microsoft did, as a result.

It's one thing to develop a mid-gen refresh in 2-3 years but developing the base console platform & associated technologies in that contracted a time frame? It isn't going to be easy, or pretty, and that's why the Series X and S are the way they are. At least the Series X has raw power to overcome most of its potential drawbacks; the Series S doesn't. Add on the amount of time it's taken for the GDK to get up to speed (and keep in mind there are still issues, mainly with there being too many options for API calls in DX12U, which the GDK uses), and no wonder the Series S has been performing as badly as it has.

RedFall is 30 FPS because of Series S. Starfield is 30 FPS on Series X, because of Series S. There is no way Microsoft would let that game run at sub-HD on Series S just to push 40 FPS or higher. It was a neat short-term solution that's become a long-term bottleneck. This dual-system approach with mostly off-the-shelf RDNA2 designs is also probably why Microsoft can't effectively cost-reduce the Series X that well; perhaps in knowing that they internally justified a strategy to dual-system at launch: you can't really cost-reduce the X with your approach so why not just design a cheaper, weaker system outright to pair with it?

Welp, now we see why that approach doesn't work.
Also they can't make another thin Series X without making a different Series S because they shares the same fab.

So essentially they handicapped themselves.
 

CloudStrife

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9 Jul 2022
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The S was/is a mistake. Devs don't want to have to develop for a lower spec'd console, which in some ways makes it easier for Sony when it comes to getting exclusives and securing talent. The S is also probably the reason why MS is not doing a mid-gen upgrade. Adding an additional console would just add to development times.
 
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CloudStrife

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Also they can't make another thin Series X without making a different Series S because they shares the same fab.

So essentially they handicapped themselves.

Yep.....I don't know why MS likes to handicap themselves like this. lol
 

Alabtrosmyster

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It will be Sarah Bond. She's already being propped up, just like shills already were inserting Spencer into the conversation long before Mattrick stepped down.
I remember those, and I was wondering what was wrong with prepping up Spencer, the guy that looks like he somehow found a way to fit a whole broomstick up his ass.