(Multiple Retailers) Xbox Series X for $349

SomeoneElse said:
All this arguing about Xbox vs PS sale, PC still owns all gaming. Fight me about it! :)
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Show me that $350 gaming PC? :D

And it's hard to put a price on plug and play for those that don't want to fool with a PC. Plus the fact that you could spend $5,000 on a gaming PC and still have way more issues than a typical console game. For instance, Dead Space runs nearly perfect on the Xbox where it's still a stutterfest on PC.
 
jobert said:
Show me that $350 gaming PC? :D

And it's hard to put a price on plug and play for those that don't want to fool with a PC. Plus the fact that you could spend $5,000 on a gaming PC and still have way more issues than a typical console game. For instance, Dead Space runs nearly perfect on the Xbox where it's still a stutterfest on PC.
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You will never get the fidelity you can get on Xbox or PS5, price doesn't matter, I played games on my last PC for 10 years and 2 gens for consoles. I have an Xbox Series X but ultimately prefer PC over Xbox.
 
SomeoneElse said:
You will never get the fidelity you can get on Xbox or PS5, price doesn't matter, I played games on my last PC for 10 years and 2 gens for consoles. I have an Xbox Series X but ultimately prefer PC over Xbox.
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To me, unless you're putting the games side-by-side and pixel peeping the whole time, the fidelity is mostly negligible between current gen consoles and maxed PC settings on most games (just like usually playing games at medium/high vs maxed is usually not that huge of a difference outside of textures and RT if the game supports it). The bigger benefit on PC is the higher performance at 120+ Hz. But I also have no issue playing at 30 FPS vs 120+ on PC, as long as the 30 FPS is completely locked and consistent, or ideally at 40 FPS (even better unlocked with VRR) as many console games (esp. Sony exclusives) support now on 120Hz TVs. Of course it's jarring going back to 30 FPS initially, but I get used to it in a few mins and am fine with it (again, as long as it's locked).

And yeah there's definitely something to the stability and reliability of gaming on a console; there's nothing worse than a game performing erratically or bugging out on PC because of some stupid background process or service interfering with it. And sometimes I get too distracted playing with all of the graphical options trying to tell the difference and spend 30+ mins tinkering with them rather than playing the damn game, lol. Then there's also times the wife or kids want to hang out with me and watch me play a game on the couch too, and sometimes even join in. I also tend to prefer controllers on anything that's not an FPS or RTS type game, so I also use them on PC a lot of course. So consoles def have a place in my house along with our gaming PCs.
 
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The Diablo IV bundle is back in stock at the same low price.
T4rd said:
To me, unless you're putting the games side-by-side and pixel peeping the whole time, the fidelity is mostly negligible between current gen consoles and maxed PC settings on most games (just like usually playing games at medium/high vs maxed is usually not that huge of a difference outside of textures and RT if the game supports it). The bigger benefit on PC is the higher performance at 120+ Hz. But I also have no issue playing at 30 FPS vs 120+ on PC, as long as the 30 FPS is completely locked and consistent, or ideally at 40 FPS (even better unlocked with VRR) as many console games (esp. Sony exclusives) support now on 120Hz TVs. Of course it's jarring going back to 30 FPS initially, but I get used to it in a few mins and am fine with it (again, as long as it's locked).

And yeah there's definitely something to the stability and reliability of gaming on a console; there's nothing worse than a game performing erratically or bugging out on PC because of some stupid background process or service interfering with it. And sometimes I get too distracted playing with all of the graphical options trying to tell the difference and spend 30+ mins tinkering with them rather than playing the damn game, lol. Then there's also times the wife or kids want to hang out with me and watch me play a game on the couch too, and sometimes even join in. I also tend to prefer controllers on anything that's not an FPS or RTS type game, so I also use them on PC a lot of course. So consoles def have a place in my house along with our gaming PCs.
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Most games being released these days on consoles have huge performance issues. We're going back to the days of 30 FPS 720p gaming on the Xbox 360, and a lot of games even have issues maintaining 30 FPS. What's worse is that with VRR devs have seemed to be getting lazy with frame pacing because they think it's not needed with VRR. And don't think console games are free of bugs. The Series X|S version of Dying Light 2 still regularly crashes when I try to play it using either ray tracing or performance mode. Ray tracing mode starts to completely bug out visually after playing it for more than 30 minutes.

That all being said, the Series X at $350 is an insanely good deal if you just want a plug and play console to play games on.
 
All this pricing does is highlight how big of a mistake the Series S was to begin with. If Microsoft was willing to sell the S/X at $350 and most likely, take a loss on every unit sold, they should've been willing to do that from the start with the S/S. Now they've unnecessarily crippled XBox and created a barrier to entry for devs for current-gen consoles because the S is such a PITA to optimize down for.

In any case, its a good price point for Microsoft's new strategy of Gaming As A Service on any platform, ideally XBox or Windows for them but as long as you're using XBox Game Pass they probably don't even care that much about the client platform. They just want their $10-15 a month for perpetuity, but a $350 gaming client is a compelling price point especially if you don't have a PC. I personally passed, I fired up my XBox One X literally 3 times total and played maybe 30 mins per session max so that was a big waste for me a few years ago. I only justified the purchase because it was the best 4K UHD Blu-Ray player at the time but now I rarely even buy or watch those.

I'll keep buying Switch/Nintendo consoles but I think I'm done with XBox/Sony wannabee-PCs unless something drastically changes.
 
Armenius said:
The Diablo IV bundle is back in stock at the same low price.

Most games being released these days on consoles have huge performance issues. We're going back to the days of 30 FPS 720p gaming on the Xbox 360, and a lot of games even have issues maintaining 30 FPS. What's worse is that with VRR devs have seemed to be getting lazy with frame pacing because they think it's not needed with VRR. And don't think console games are free of bugs. The Series X|S version of Dying Light 2 still regularly crashes when I try to play it using either ray tracing or performance mode. Ray tracing mode starts to completely bug out visually after playing it for more than 30 minutes.

That all being said, the Series X at $350 is an insanely good deal if you just want a plug and play console to play games on.
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Yeah its kind of funny, I tend to buy "next-gen consoles" to play all the last-gen console exclusives at their max resolution and frame rates. But nowadays, even with Sony, they are typically on the PC at that point and with extra bells and whistles, so that's no longer a driving factor for me either. Once the consoles become current-gen, they struggle to play "true" current-gen titles that are developed for that target hardware, and the cycle starts all over again. But this time, its even more likely those titles are released on PC which I think is the main reason Game Pass is a winner for all gamers, Microsoft releasing big titles on Day1 forces Sony to put out their exclusive catalog, sooner.
 
chizow said:
Now they've unnecessarily crippled XBox and created a barrier to entry for devs for current-gen consoles because the S is such a PITA to optimize down for.
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Not sure about this, as both consoles have the same CPU. It is only the RAM size that is a constraint.

In all other scenarios a well optimized game should scale well between a 1080p series S & 4k series X.

This also helps to downsize the game to 720p windows handhelds

Biggest issue with the S was the reduced storage capacity. Absolutely no justification for a device without optical drive to have half TB. Instead it should have been 2 TB.

I think MS might leapfrog the PS5 pro (to be released next year) by advancing Xbox next to 2026.
 
Marees said:
Not sure about this, as both consoles have the same CPU. It is only the RAM size that is a constraint.

In all other scenarios a well optimized game should scale well between a 1080p series S & 4k series X.

This also helps to downsize the game to 720p windows handhelds

Biggest issue with the S was the reduced storage capacity. Absolutely no justification for a device without optical drive to have half TB. Instead it should have been 2 TB.

I think MS might leapfrog the PS5 pro (to be released next year) by advancing Xbox next to 2026.
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The S is crippled across the board except for the CPU, so yeah pick your poison. No Dev who has to develop on XBox is happy with any of the compromises, it’s just something they have to deal with since Microsoft tried to compel them to optimize for both S and X until it becomes a big enough barrier Microsoft is forced to relent, like in the case of split screen with BG3 delaying launch on XBox because the S was so limited in capabilities.

https://screenrant.com/xbox-series-s-problems-gpu-memory-bg3-splitscreen/

Hopefully Microsoft learns their lesson next time (if there is a Next-Box) and keeps the core specs the same and price differentiates solely on physical vs digital editions, like the PS5.
 
StryderxX said:
IMO the problem with Xbox not selling as well as the PS5 is that they don't have any true exclusive titles. Every major release is available on PC day one. Sony first party games are only available on the PS5 so you're forced to buy the console if you're interested in those titles. I wont be shocked if the Xbox Series X stays at $350 going forward.
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It's more like the Xbox exclusives just suck. Starfield, Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, etc. are all pretty much memes at this point. They don't have anything that can compete on the same level as The Last of Us, God of War, Bloodborne/Demons Souls, etc. Whenever the Xbox ever gets good exclusives they're Indie games that are also on PC or Switch and will eventually make it's way to PS.
 
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The guy in electronics said they are flying out the door when I talked to him last week. I noticed alot of the games are cheap too like Calypso Protocol was like 10.00 if you look at the bargin bins.
Pretty soon the cylinder version is just going to dominate which I don't think people really want Xbox should be a box plus the disk drive thing.
 
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Comixbooks said:
Pretty soon the cylinder version is just going to dominate which I don't think people really want Xbox should be a box plus the disk drive thing.
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Oh, the "adorable" Xbox O / Xylinder??

I am hoping Microsoft dropped that idea & this sale is just to get the market ready for the 1 TB S (already released) & a 2 TB X (in the wings maybe)

( They would need to stop the 7nm models & move on to a 6nm version too, like the PS5 slim. )
 
Armenius said:
The standalone console is back in stock.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-Series-X-Video-Game-Console-Black/443574645
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That sucks

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Use these links or carefully search directly and click that "add button" directly.
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When I click on the Forza deal it takes me to a more expensive one, but if I click add it does the 350 one. Some are also local pick-up only so that's annoying...

https://www.walmart.com/search?q=series+x

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-Ser...ole-Black/443574645?athbdg=L1800&from=/search
 
MikeTrike said:
That sucks

View attachment 620358

Use these links or carefully search directly and click that "add button" directly.
View attachment 620360

When I click on the Forza deal it takes me to a more expensive one, but if I click add it does the 350 one. Some are also local pick-up only so that's annoying...

https://www.walmart.com/search?q=series+x

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-Ser...ole-Black/443574645?athbdg=L1800&from=/search
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Huh, when I click on the link I posted it shows $349 for me.

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Marees said:
Oh, the "adorable" Xbox O / Xylinder??

I am hoping Microsoft dropped that idea & this sale is just to get the market ready for the 1 TB S (already released) & a 2 TB X (in the wings maybe)

( They would need to stop the 7nm models & move on to a 6nm version too, like the PS5 slim. )
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I think the design is to make it more like a cigarette so when you blow smoke into it looks like a cig or a smoke stack.
 
Bankie said:
It's more like the Xbox exclusives just suck. Starfield, Halo Infinite, Sea of Thieves, etc. are all pretty much memes at this point. They don't have anything that can compete on the same level as The Last of Us, God of War, Bloodborne/Demons Souls, etc. Whenever the Xbox ever gets good exclusives they're Indie games that are also on PC or Switch and will eventually make it's way to PS.
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I agree with this 100%. I'm into PC gaming but if I had to buy a console it would the PS5 for the games you just mentioned. Also, 99% of the xbox games can be bought for the PC for a couple of dollars on Steam, CD KEYS, GreenMan Gaming, etc. The xbox has hardly any exclusives and Halo is like 23 years old at this point.
 
Armenius said:
Standalone console is now selling for $349 at Amazon. Diablo IV bundle is $400, but out of stock at the moment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H75RTZ8
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I jumped on the deal last night only to cancel it a couple of hours later.

Once you game at 60, 90 or 144Hz it's so hard to go back to 30Hz. I was on YouTube and was watching what kind of games to get for the Xbox and almost all of them had some kind of fps drop in certain places, as in stuttering which means it's way less than 30fps, probably like 20fps.

Keep in mind the Xbox X has a 6700XT level based GPU based on tflops rating. I'll rather spend $350 plus an additional $150 or so and play the same games at 60+ fps.
 
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Hulk said:
I jumped on the deal last night only to cancel it a couple of hours later.

Once you game at 60, 90 or 144Hz it's so hard to go back to 30Hz. I was on YouTube and was watching what kind of games to get for the Xbox and almost all of them had some kind of fps drop in certain places, as in stuttering which means it's way less than 30fps, probably like 20fps.

Keep in mind the Xbox X has a 6700XT level based GPU based on tflops rating. I'll rather spend $350 plus an additional $150 or so and play the same games at 60+ fps.
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I became a filthy casual around five years or so ago...

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Hulk said:
I jumped on the deal last night only to cancel it a couple of hours later.

Once you game at 60, 90 or 144Hz it's so hard to go back to 30Hz. I was on YouTube and was watching what kind of games to get for the Xbox and almost all of them had some kind of fps drop in certain places, as in stuttering which means it's way less than 30fps, probably like 20fps.

Keep in mind the Xbox X has a 6700XT level based GPU based on tflops rating. I'll rather spend $350 plus an additional $150 or so and play the same games at 60+ fps.
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Everyone has their "standards", but I have no issues going from 120+ hz to 30 for most games (esp. non-FPS games) as long as it's locked and consistent. Which I'm curious as to what you were watching, because I watch pretty much everything from Digital Foundry and NX Gamer who do thorough analysis of popular games on consoles and rarely do any of them have issues dropping below 30 FPS on any consistent basis.

Boulders Gate 3 had moderate drops (in quality/30FPS mode, with moderate drops in performance/60FPS mode that are mitigated with VRR if your TV has it) in the 3rd act only that were improved considerably with recent patches and now it barely drops frames at all. And I'm sure there's a few others that have legitimate issues, but otherwise most games that may have had performance issues at launch typically get patched pretty quickly to fix any performance issues they may have had. Most games still have performance 60+ FPS modes as well, although I would expect that to trend down as the generations continues and more demanding titles come out.

If you have a decent PC though and no friends or fam to play games locally with, then I really see zero reason to have an Xbox and would be more inclined towards the PS5 or even the Switch for their exclusives that I play more of than anything else across any platform. Of course you can pirate/emulate Switch on PC as well, but since I'm not a poor teenager on a budget anymore, I buy all my games to support future iterations of them now, and I actually play it portably half the time as well.
 
I updated the thread title and top post since the deal on the Diablo IV bundle appears to be dead. Original post is in spoiler. Links to the standalone console that have been shared were added.
 
One thing nice with xbox is that cloud saves are standard. You can fire up a game on a new series X that you last played on the Xbox 360 and it will pick up where you left off.

BTW I thought selling my Xbox series S would be easy but nobody wants this thing.
 
jobert said:
One thing nice with xbox is that cloud saves are standard. You can fire up a game on a new series X that you last played on the Xbox 360 and it will pick up where you left off.

BTW I thought selling my Xbox series S would be easy but nobody wants this thing.
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Yeah just use it as a Game Pass machine or Netflix machine in another room. I don’t think they’re even especially that great for media playing (at least versus a Roku or Apple TV).
 
jobert said:
One thing nice with xbox is that cloud saves are standard. You can fire up a game on a new series X that you last played on the Xbox 360 and it will pick up where you left off.

BTW I thought selling my Xbox series S would be easy but nobody wants this thing.
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I posted above that BB was offering $150 in trade in credit or gift cards with controller or $135 without. Not sure what price you were trying to sell it for.
 
brennok said:
I posted above that BB was offering $150 in trade in credit or gift cards with controller or $135 without. Not sure what price you were trying to sell it for.
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That's impressive since they've retailed for $150 to 200 a bunch of times!
 
GoldenTiger said:
That's impressive since they've retailed for $150 to 200 a bunch of times!
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A bunch of times? I thought the deal at Costco was the only time it had ever been 150 and even that can vary from store to store. Before that the cheapest I'd ever seen it was 239.
 
jobert said:
A bunch of times? I thought the deal at Costco was the only time it had ever been 150 and even that can vary from store to store. Before that the cheapest I'd ever seen it was 239.
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Verizon, target, Costco, and more have had it for $150 to 200 per slickdeals posts. EDIT: Dell had it for $250 with a 75 gift card I think too.
 
I wish I jumped on the Forza bundle when it was live. That's literally the only reason I want a Series X, just not the same playing it on PC. Definitely a couch game. Still might grab an X for 350 then just buy the game. Wife might hurt me.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Verizon, target, Costco, and more have had it for $150 to 200 per slickdeals posts. EDIT: Dell had it for $250 with a 75 gift card I think too.
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Well I guess I should pay more attention. Mine looks like brand new so I went ahead and filled out the Best Buy form and will swing by on Sunday to drop it off. On facebook marketplace there are some on there for less than 150 that have not sold for months so Best Buy gift card seems like the way to go.
 
I only have a console to play dvd/blu rays. It was cheaper than high end units and much better than its cheap rivals. The S fits that bill, and maybe only that these days.
 
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