It has been a long time, but Microsoft has finally revealed more information about its upcoming Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles.
Both consoles will have a worldwide release date of November 10th, 2020. Due to the New Zealand timezone, we will be the first country in the world to usher in a new generation of gaming.
The Xbox Series X is the more powerful machine that will cater to people that have 4KTVs and want to see the best gaming performance yet. The most powerful console ever made will be available for a price of NZD$799.
From my memory, the Xbox Series X costs around NZD$49.99 more expensive than the Xbox One when it launched in November 2013. If you are short on money, EB Games is offering trade deals if you want to swap your Xbox One X or Xbox One S consoles for the newer hardware.
If NZD$799 seems outside of your price range, you'll be happy to know that Microsoft will be releasing the lesser powerful Xbox Series S console. This is a cheaper alternative that is a digital-only console, and comes with lower specs than the Xbox Series X.
The table posted below gives you an indication on the specifications for both consoles.
| Xbox Series X | Xbox Series S |
|---|---|
| 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT) | 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with SMT) |
| AMD RDNA 2 GPU 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz | AMD RDNA 2 GPU 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz |
| 12.15 teraflops GPU power | 4 teraflops GPU power |
| custom 7nm Enhanced SoC | custom 7nm Enhanced SoC |
| 16GB GDDR6 RAM | 10GB GDDR6 RAM |
| 4K @ 60fps, up to 120fps | 1440p @ 60fps, up to 120fps |
| 1TB PCie Gen 4 NVME SSD | 512TB PCie Gen 4 NVME SSD |
| 1TB expansion card | 1TB expansion card |
| 4K UHD Blu-ray | Digital only |
| HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 |
To save people even more money, the Xbox Game Pass subscription is also getting an upgrade later this year. This is because at no additional cost, the EA Play subscription will be available to Game Pass subscribers. You can play a host of EA released video games both new and old.
While Halo Infinite has been delayed until 2021, the Xbox games we will see at launch include the likes of Gears Tactics, Assassin's Creed Vahalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Tetris Effect: Connected and more.
Now we will have to wait for Sony to finally reveal the price and release date for the PlayStation 5 console. Will you be getting an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console later this year?
The Xbox One X and Xbox One S will be available to pre-order from September 22nd, 2020.