Xbox One X is the Perfect Representation of the Tech Industry's Existential Crisis (mashable.com)

A reader shares commentary on the newly launched Xbox One X gaming console: Fundamentally, Xbox One X is the same machine that Microsoft released in 2013. It plays the same games, runs the same apps, depends on the same operating system. You can still plug your cable box into it and watch OneGuide magically sync with your local TV listings. Most of the things you can do look a little better and run a little faster/more efficiently, sure. The actual casing is smaller than the previous iterations, too. It's a gorgeous $500 machine. That's why I keep eyeballing it. My brain screams, "Why do you exist?" The Xbox One X does not answer. This is a familiar problem in 2017. Look around at all the tech in your life and do a quick, informal poll: How many of those items become outdated every year or every few years when a newer, shinier version of the same thing comes along? I'm talking about your iPhone and iPad. Your Amazon Echo and Kindle. Your Pixel and Daydream VR headset. Your Apple Watch. Your Roku, your Apple TV, your Chromecast. Incremental upgrades that push features like 4K! HDR! Wireless charging! Slimmer design! No headphone jack! (Wait, no, that last one is awful.) Breathless bullet point after breathless bullet point. Some of these additions have genuine utility and add value to the product. Many don't, or depend on you also possessing some other piece of incrementally upgraded tech (like the kinds of fancy-shmancy TVs that play the nicest with Xbox One X).

Comments

It's only a crisis if you're dumb enough

[jeff4747]

You don't have to buy every new generation of every product.

For example, I've got an iPhone because I got in the walled garden before there were other good options. I don't buy a new iPhone every time a new one comes out. In fact, I usually wait 2 to 3-ish full generations to upgrade. By that time the upgrade has enough improvements for it to be worth it for me.

But Apple has no reason to follow my personal upgrade schedule and only release new versions when I am ready to upgrade. For one thing, there's probably plenty of other people who follow a similar plan but are one generation ahead or behind me. For another, there is a pool of idiots who want the latest because it is the latest.

For the XBox One X, there's going to be a lot of people who did not buy an XBox One for whatever reason, and are upgrading now. There's also a set of people who want 4k resolution. But it's not like the XBox One was suddenly rendered inadequate for the vast majority of people merely due to the existence of a more advanced version.

Don't see the point of an XBox One X? Then don't buy one. That applies to every product on the market, no matter how long the feature list is.

Re:msmash assumes our lives are as empty as her's

[EndlessNameless]

you're probably bang-on with your target audience of Millennial Ameritards.

Stop being a Boomer twat. (Normally I wouldn't be so blunt, but if you're going to start with generational ageism then I'm sure you can cope.)

Conspicuous consumption has a long history and is not limited to the Millennial generation. There are entire classes of vehicles that exist primarily to serve as status symbols, and those cost considerably more to produce or purchase. Arguably, the same is true of houses... and let's not forget the yachts.

So before you blame this waste on the new generation, maybe look to see if their parent generation did the same thing. Of course they did.

So, by all means, stop pointing to a young generation as the harbinger of civilization's end when their behavior is nothing more than a new tune on an old harp.

Alternatively: WHHHY DON'T THEY UPDATE?

[enjar]

So this new Xbox has updated graphics, updates on RAM, processor, GPU. But it also will play all XBox One games (aka "full backwards compatability"). If Microsoft hadn't done this, people would have been whining about the XBox being "out of date" and "old" and "not powerful enough". So they update it, don't dick over people who bought XBox one games, and it's an "existential crisis"? I have an Xbox One, it's a fine machine. Whenever my 360 dies (which is mostly a video streaming machine at this point), I'll replace it with whatever's on the market.

Re:4k Gaming

[Anonymous Coward]

These types of arguments are completely ignorant and devoid of truth. Subjective lack of perception.

First of all let me say that after the HD revolution took higher resolutions away from us (remember always buying the newest monitor to get the highest resolution? 1600 x 1200 being no where near the highest? I remember what would be called 1440p now existing before HD came out? .. Try to find them in stores AFTER the 1080p craze. Everything is 720p, 1080p. that's it. Nothing more. Until 4k came out.

The problem with 4k is that for some dumb ass reason they chose to make a crap ton of devices that are so small you can't actually USE THE SCREEN REAL ESTATE of 4k.

But a 55" 4k? You can use it AT 4k resolution with 100% scaling in Windows (or actually native res in Mac OS X) you can actually make use of the screen real-estate without having to be super close to the monitor.

In terms of gaming it's a godsend because it brings the higher resolutions back to gaming in a world that went psychotic after HD came out and stopped striving for resolutions above something that was LOWER than the maximum resolution available when it came out.

from 800x600 to 1080x768. From 1080x768 to 1600x1200.. from 1600x1200 to 2xxx x1440 .. from 2xxx x 1440 to.....1920 x 1080. Wait what? Going backwards?? .. now with 4k it's great.

Only caveat is that the PS4 Pro won't go lower than 4k, so for example.. No playing PS4 Pro games at 2k. The 4k TV I had would let you use a 2k resolution on it, which was great. I hope they don't "take that feature out" as a lot of tech seems to be doing these days.

Re:4k Gaming

[BronsCon]

Huge difference between HDR and non-HDR color and contrast. Certainly noticeable from more than 3ft away on practically any size screen.

There's really no reason for HDR to be tied to the 4K standard, but it is, so... If you want it (and a lot of people do), you need 4K-capable gear.