At long last, I was able to buy an Xbox Series X. E B Games had them for order on their website so I immediately ordered one. It came today.
I like this way of ordering. You can pay a deposit and put yourself in the queue to wait your turn.
NOTE ! I see that it is no longer up on the site – must have sold out.
When I enquired about a PS5, the EB Games employee said that they do get PS5 consoles from time to time but they are not sold via their web site. When their shops do get PS5 consoles in stock, they are sold out in minutes. I think I will just wait for when stock is available. Also, they might have a ‘slim’ model by then. My PS4 Pro is more than adequate.
It was quick and easy to set up. I placed it on its side and it fits easily in the space previously occupied by my Xbox One X. I ensured that the ventilation slots were unobstructed.
I also bought the latest Forza game (Forza Horizon 5 for the Series X) to test it out. While the console was quick to set up, the same can’t be said for the game.
There was a 94GB update before it could be played. My internet plan allows for 50Mbps down (the X Box showed actual download speed of around 52Mbps) but, even so, it took a few hours.
I played a little bit of the start and the graphics are spectacular.
I then installed the Xbox One game ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ (4K HDR – XBox One X Enhanced), and it was much quicker – Only a 22GB update – AND you could start play at about the 9GB mark. I did not see this option on the Forza game and I had to wait for the full 94GB to finish downloading.
Dying Light 2 says that it is for Xbox One as well as for Xbox Series X. When I installed this game, it was the usual update of about 35GB with a “ready to start” point at about the 75% mark. (The same as for the Xbox One X when I recently installed it on that console).
I deliberately did not transfer games from my Xbox One X as I wanted to see if installation times had improved. The games load more quickly BUT you still have to install the huge initial updates and that depends on the speed of your internet – not the console.
All the reviews say that the Series X is much quicker loading etc, and to test this, I will play Shadow of the Tomb Raider until I get to a point where I can ‘Fast Travel’. (I will ignore the collectables to get there as fast as possible.) ‘Fast Travel’, takes a long time to load on both the Xbox One and the PS4 so it will be interesting to see the improvement. I will complete another post to report on this aspect.