Category: X Box

X Box Live Gold to be replaced with Game Pass Core

Reports are everywhere about the end of X Box Live Gold – (XBLG). In September 2023, it will be replaced with a version of Game Pass.

The main function of XBLG was access to on-line multiplayer. There were also other benefits like free games.

I pay for XBLG but I have only ever downloaded a couple of games mainly because of my former slow internet. Now that I have fast internet, all the good free games are gone. Also, I now rarely use on-line multiplayer. I am old and have all but given up playing Call of Duty on-line. My reflexes are just too slow and I am now nothing but cannon fodder.

Still, I kept paying for XBLG (just in case/not all that expensive) but did not upgrade to Game Pass Ultimate due to the extra cost.

I have again thought about cancelling XBLG, but as Game Pass Core is the same price and, in mid September, XBLG members will be automatically transferred to Game Pass Core.  As Game Pass Core includes both multiplayer and access to 25 “high quality” games, I will delay cancellation.

Later, at next renewal, I will reconsider cancellation if the “high quality” games do not interest me.

UPDATE  – I gave it more thought and decided to cancel XBLG. I don’t use on-line multiplayer so I am paying for something I do not use.

X Box Series X/S Expansion SSD – Continued

Refer to previous posts:

https://whysun.com/x-box/xbox-series-x-exapnsion-ssd/

https://whysun.com/x-box/xbox-series-x-update/

I have weakened and purchased a 1TB Expansion SSD for my X Box Series X.

Prices have been reduced at retailers and the 1TB card is now for sale at AUD$289 (down from AUD$429-95). Retailers also have a 2TB SSD for $529 down from $749-95 but I am not paying that much.

I was given gift certificate for $130 at JB Hi-Fi so I only had to spend $159. Still expensive but, as I have said before, I have more money than sense. Also I could not think of anything else that I needed from JB Hi-Fi.

It was easy to install but I have kept my old USB 2TB external drive to store games. It is quicker to transfer games from an external drive rather installing again. An additional 1TB taking the total internal storage to 2TB is still not enough bearing in mind the size of new games. However, my set up of internal 2TB plus external 2TB (total 4TB) is a reasonable compromise.

XBOX SERIES X/S – EXPANSION SSD

I have written about the cost of Expansion Drives for the Series X previously.

When I was listening to Windows Weekly recently, Paul Thurrott advised that the price of expansion drives on Xbox Series X/S had been reduced.

Refer https://www.thurrott.com/games/282761/seagate-storage-expansion-card-xbox-series-x-price-drop

In addition, he said that Western Digital will also have an expansion drive. To date,  Seagate has been the sole manufacturer.

The drop in price for Seagate will be:

1 TB – USD$70 (From USD $219-99 down to USD $149-99)

512 GB – USD$50 (From $139-99 to USD$89-99)

2 TB – USD $120 (From $399-99 to USD$279-99

I could not find any pricing for Western Digital, but Gamespot.com said that there was a leek that the price of a 1TB WD Series X/S Expansion SSD card was USD$180 (AUD$270).

EB Games have the following prices:

1 TB AUD$429-95 (USD as at date of post USD$286-47)

512GB NOT ADVERTISED

2 TB AUD$749-95 (USD as at date of post USD$499-74)

As can be seen, prices have not come down here. The Western Digital reported price is more than the reduced price of the Seagate 1 TB Card. However, Western Digital might reduce their price to compete.

You can buy an ordinary external USB 1 TB drive for under AUD$90, and a 2 TB drive for a bit over AUD$100. The convenience of being able to play from the expansion drive might be worth paying more – PERHAPS!!

REFER NEW POST https://whysun.com/x-box/x-box-series-x-s-expansion-ssd-continued/

Xbox Series X–Update

I have now had the opportunity to play with the Xbox Series X for a short period of time. These are my initial thoughts and experiences.

FIRST THINGS

The first things to do are: (Care you can do some of this on the Xbox App on your phone)

Connect to Internet – Settings / General / Network Settings

Update – Go to Settings / System and run the update for the console

Set up your TV – Go to Settings / General / TV and Display options

Attach controllers to your account – Settings / Accounts / Sign in Security and Passkey

Update all controllers (including the controller that came with the console) Settings / Devices and connections / Accessories

CONTROLLERS

You get one controller with the console. There are upgrades to this controller, but it is very similar to the previous controllers. The main differences are the addition of a ‘Share’ button and a USB C port. Xbox One controllers had a USB A Micro port and, unlike the Xbox One, there is no long USB charging cable included. The Series X is fully compatible with Xbox One controllers.

I have tried a controller that I was using with my old console. It works.

If you use any controller for the first time, go to Settings / Devices and connections / Accessories, and check for an update. Even the controller that came with the Series X had an update.

Also, if you want automatic sign in with a particular controller, go to Settings / Account / Sign in and security passkey to link the controller to your Xbox account so it signs you into your account automatically.

My existing recharge kit is the slot in type.  The rechargeable battery pack fits the Series X controller and, therefore, this recharge kit can be used with the new controller. The recharge kit does not work. The re-chargeable battery fits but the battery cover does not and it won’t sit in the slot correctly. I will have to buy a charge and play kit. See the final section ‘More Info – USB Ports’ for comments about charge and play kits.

EXTERNAL / EXPANSION DRIVES

The Series X has a 1TB internal drive and about 800GB of that is available to the user.

I now have 6 games installed – 1,3,4 & 5 were installed from the disc. No 2 was downloaded from the store as a previously purchased game and 6 was transferred from the external drive formerly attached to my Xbox One X.

1. Forza 5

2. Far Cry New Dawn

3. Dying Light 2

4. Rise of the Tomb Raider

5. Shadow of the Tomb Raider

6. Far Cry 5 – Transferred from external drive used on One X. (See below)

The internal hard drive is 34% used with 528 GB free.

The console has a slot for an official expansion drive plus three USB 3 (type A) ports.

The official Seagate Expansion Drives are expensive. Prices on JB HiFi Web site as at the date of this post:

· 1 TB AUD$350

· 2 TB AUD$720

· 512 GB – Could not find any on an Australian site

Refer update on pricing – My post https://whysun.com/x-box/xbox-series-x-exapnsion-ssd/

I’d like to get the 2 TB drive but not at that price. Even the 1 TB is expensive.  You can attach a USB 3 drive but just for storage. Any USB drive can be used to store and play media (video, photos, music) but for games storage (only), it has to be USB 3 and 128 GB or more. Games will not play from this type of drive, and you have to transfer the file to the main drive to play. The price of the Expansion drives far exceeds the small inconvenience of swapping games between drives. You can get a 4 TB USB 3 portable hard drive for about AUD$150. In fact, I already have a USB 3 – 2 TB drive that I was using for the Xbox One X as the default save drive.

I connected this external drive to one of the USB ports and it did not require any setting up. The saved games for my old console were all still there. However, as mentioned above, if I wanted to play from these saves, I would have to transfer the file to the main drive – which is easy to do via the Settings – See below.

SPEED

Apart from the higher FPS and 8K resolution, one of the other reasons to upgrade is the impressive improvement in the specifications for the Series X. There are numerous sites that have details. However, in practical terms, I have noticed this so far.

There is no doubt that the ‘Quick Resume’ feature is impressive.

But other things like install time for a new game and fast travel which involves moving from one section of a map to another, whilst better, are less impressive.

I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider until Fast Travel is possible (after Lara gets to Kuwaq Yaku).  Fast Travel is quicker but not instantaneous.

To test this aspect again, I loaded Rise of the Tomb Raider. I have just finished playing this game on the Xbox One X, so I have a fair idea how much time Fast Travel takes on the previous console

Fast Travel with Rise of the Tomb Raider was a little bit quicker – about 25 seconds compared to about double on the older console.

I then tried fast travel on Far Cry 5 (see below). Fast travel was instantaneous. I went from John’s district to Faith’s and back again.

Installation times are faster but the initial updates that are always required cancel out any advantage.

When I installed Rise of the Tomb Raider, I deliberately delayed the update. It took about 10 minutes to install. (I can’t remember how long it took on the older console but, back then, I would have also downloaded the update at the same time.) However, it reached the ‘Ready to Play’ point in a very short time – about 25% mark – no more than a couple of minutes. Nevertheless, there was still a 29.68GB update before I could start.

Overall, the Series X is faster. Start up and Restart are very quick, and the ‘Quick Resume’ is excellent.

GRAPHICS

The latest Forza game built for the Series X has noticeably great graphics. On the other hand, the Xbox One X was also very good. Dying Light 2 (Built for both consoles) looks about the same to me as do both of the Tomb Raider games and both Far Cry games.

GAMES PLAYED ON MY OLD CONSOLE – INSTALLED ON NEW SERIES X – SAVES

With the 5 games I had recently played on the Xbox One X, (both Far Cry games, the 2 Tomb Raiders and Dying Light 2), the Series X showed previous saves and in fact with Far Cry 5, Far Cry New Dawn, Dying Light 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, I was able to pick up where I had left off on the old console. (I did not try with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but I assume it would be the same- I wanted to test installation). These games sign into your account and that must have an on-line history.

GAMES SAVED ON EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FROM THE ONE X

I had allocated the external drive on my One X as the main default drive. Apart from Far Cry 5, all of the other games were freshly installed on the Series X (from the disc apart from Far Cry New Dawn which I bought on line). I transferred the file for Far Cry 5 from the external drive to the internal Series X drive and inserted the disc. Settings / System / Storage Devices. Follow the prompts. It is easy and took about 7/8 minutes for a 46GB transfer. AND there was NO UPDATE!!

This is quick and easy. So, until they bring down the price of the official expansion drives, this is how I will be doing it.

CONCLUSION

During the setup, in the TV and Display options settings, the console confirmed that my 4K HDR TV had a maximum frame rate per second (FPS) of 60. The Xbox One X is 4K HDR with FPS of 60. Therefore, the higher FPS of 120 plus the 8K capability on the Series X is wasted on me. (I am not buying a new TV). However, it has much better CPU & GPU plus more and better RAM, so all is not lost.

Nevertheless, I will be in no hurry to upgrade my PS4 Pro to a PS5. I don’t have  buyer’s remorse, but perhaps the honest conclusion is, if you have an Xbox One X and your TV is not 120 FPS, your existing console is probably sufficient.

On the other hand, if like me, you must have the latest and greatest, get one. Also, the Series X is future proofing.

MORE INFO  –  USB PORTS

The Series X does not have any USB C ports. As mentioned above, it has 3 USB 3 (Type A) ports.  However, the new controllers have a USB C port for ‘Charge and Play’ or connecting by wire. Therefore you will have to buy a suitable cable (USB A to USB C), if your existing re-charge system or ‘Change and Play’ is for previous model controllers. These cables are advertised everywhere and EB Games has a kit with an adaptor so it can be used with an Xbox One as well as with the Series X.

A cable is not included with the Series X. It was with the Xbox One.

Xbox Series X

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.

IMG_1654

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.

IMG_1655

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.

X Box One vs PS4

I have now upgraded both my consoles to the X Box One X and the PS4 Pro.

I have a large screen 4K HDR tv and comparing the latest 4K / HDR games on each console, I can’t see any difference despite the fact that the X Box One X is the more powerful machine.

My opinion remains unchanged, if you want to play on line with your friends, select the console they are using (see post 25/Mar 2015 “Update X Box One and PS4”).

The biggest difference between the consoles is that the X Box One X (and S) will play 4k Blu Ray discs and the PS4 Pro won’t. This is probably less of an issue if you have fast internet, but it remains relevant  for people like me with very limited speed/bandwidth.

SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER

I am currently playing “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” on X Box One X and it is a great game, in my opinion the best Lara Croft game so far. There are more puzzles than  previous Tomb raider games. As well as raiding tombs, Lara has to solve heaps of other challenges and puzzles and not only fight the baddies but also survive attacks by wild animals and deadly piranhas and killer eels.  Also when you finish, a “New Game Plus” option is unlocked so that you retain your skills, weapons upgrades etc, if you want to play it again, which I definitely will. (“The Last of Us” also has a similar option).

One of the best features is the ability to fine tune difficulty levels to suit all skills. Instead of having to set the overall game at Hard/Normal /Easy you can set say “Combat” at hard and “Puzzles” at normal and “Exploration” at easy or any other combination.

It is available on X Box, Play Station and PC and well worth the price.

X BOX ONE S

In my previous post, I  forgot to mention how the X Box One S performs with 4K games.    

The short answer is that it performs very well. As well as playing 4K HDR Blu Ray discs, it also plays 4K/HDR games. As far as I can see, I can’t notice any difference between it and the PS4 Pro – although there probably is.

Also I found that the X Box has more information and adjustments in the settings. In fact, it was the X Box that alerted me to the fact that the Denon AVX 2000 would not pass through the HDR signal.

On the X Box One S go to – Settings / Display and sound /Video output / Advanced Video Settings /4K TV Details and it shows on a table what is happening with the 4K settings. Be sure to set the Display to “TV Resolution 4K” and under “Advanced video settings” set it to “TV Connection Auto Detect” and tick all of the boxes on the right. When the X Box was connected via HDMI to the AV receiver, the HDR box was disabled but connecting to the TV fixed this (with a Optical Digital cable used to deliver the sound to the AVX2000). Don’t forget to go into Audio Output (in the “Display and sound” X Box settings) and turn off HDMI audio output and select either Dolby or DTS for the Optical sound out.

At this stage, I probably won’t upgrade to the X Box One X.

X Box One continued (Don’t sell the 360 – just yet)

I have been using the Xbox One continually for a week now and have a couple of extra comments to make.

First up COD Ghosts is the best COD ever – Better than Black Ops 2. Infinity Ward seems to me to do it better than Treyarch. Yes and I am continuing to like the Xbox One. It is faster, more responsive, and now that I know my way around, easy to use. After I finish the Campaign on COD Ghosts, I am getting BF4.

However, there are a couple of things to consider before you sell or trade your Xbox 360.

No 1.

Xbox One, unlike the 360, is not a media extender, and, according to Microsoft, won’t be. http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/08/05/ask-microsoft-anything-about-xbox-one

I have TV tuner cards in 2 of my computers and use Windows Media Centre to record TV programs. I then stream the programs that are saved on my computer to my TV via the 360. Still pictures stored on the computer can also be viewed on the TV using the same “media extender” function.

No 2.

The Xbox One will not see attached USB drives. Unlike the 360, you can’t plug in a USB thumb drive containing pictures or video to play/view them on the TV

No 3.

You need a 360 to listen to any voice messages that friends (who still have a 360) send you.

No 4.

See No 1. – X Box One does not currently have any support for DLNA. DLNA is an industry standard that is similar to Media Extender referred to in No1. It allows content such as video and pictures to be streamed over a network. For example, my TV and PS3 both have DLNA so that these devices can see pictures and video stored on my computer for display on the TV.

No 5.

I have mentioned in the previous post that all games whether purchased on line or by disk have to be loaded onto the hard drive. A check of my hard drive (via “My Games and Apps” / navigate to game / menu button) shows that COD Ghosts takes up 39.9GB of space on the hard drive. Therefore the 500GB drive will probably be able to save only about 10 to 12 games before the disk is full. (Update – I have just watched the Teardown of the X Box One on TWIT.TV  http://twit.tv/show/twit-live-specials/174 and there is  about 391.9GB available for storage so it will probably be 9 games or less).

NOTES

No 1. And No 4.

Despite what some individuals have said (without explanation) on the internet, I have not been able to find any way for the Xbox one to see shared files on computers on the network.

There are reports that Xbox One (and PS4) will be getting DLNA support but I have not been able to find any actual statement from Microsoft.

You can work around this to some extent by saving things to SkyDrive and accessing this content using the SkyDrive app on the Xbox One. Even if you have installed the SkyDrive app on your computer so that you can drag and drop stuff to SkyDrive, this still involves extra steps. More importantly, there are problems with large files and upload/download times. The drag and drop has a 300MB file limit with 2GB for the upload app. Then there are the limits on SkyDrive storage. The normal free limit is 7GB. (Although I have the original 25GB plus 20GB from Office 365).

In addition, the Xbox One SkyDrive App does not see .wtv video files. (.wtv is the format used by MS Windows Media Centre for recorded video). Also a typical one hour recording would exceed the 2GB upload limit to SkyDrive.

Therefore to make the SkyDrive option work, you would have to go through the time consuming process of using Windows Movie Maker to break the video into sub 2GB lots and render in WMV format then upload to SkyDrive.

The SkyDrive work around is OK for still pictures but not acceptable with video for the reasons mentioned above. Moreover, when I tried it with a small 40MB .wmv file, the play back stopped (buffered) 3 times – not all that good for such a small file.

I found this on MS Support http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-other-devices/windows/how-to-add-video – Not only does it apply to the 360 but also it seems to only make video on the computer available when you click the Win 8 / 8.1 Xbox Video Tile. This seems pointless in that that you can already access the video on the computer. The video does not show on the video app on the console. I also note that again it does nothing with the .wtv format.

No. 2 and 3

Access to external drives is said to be coming soon. I hope that voice message is also coming soon. It will be interesting to see if an ability to play video on an attached drive becomes available and if the .wtv format will work. 

No 5

Eventually, the 500GB hard drive will fill up and you will have to delete older games. If you buy on line, it is hoped that you will be able to re-download deleted games (like a Kindle) but I would definitely check this first. On the other hand if you have purchased a disk, it will be easy to re-install, although, as I stated in my previous post, this takes time.

I think I will stick with disks, mainly as I like to trade in old games.

I have read that when the Xbox One acquires the ability to read attached USB drives, you will be able to store games on external storage.

CONCLUSION

It is hoped that DLNA, the ability to access attached USB drives and voice messages are all added soon.

Until these issues are addressed satisfactorily, hold onto your 360 or delay the upgrade to Xbox One.

These are the reasons why I have kept my 360.

FINAL NOTE – NAT – STRICT

When I was playing around in the console, I noticed that the NAT (Network Address Translation”) setting had been altered to “Strict”. “Strict” just about breaks everything for on line play. I am sure that it was “Open” when I set it up.

There are any number of fixes on line but this is what worked for me to get it back to “Open”.

I turned off the Xbox One console and disconnected the Ethernet cable from the console. (I have a wired connection.) I then went to my router and in the router settings allocated a fixed or static ip. It is called “Address Reservation” under “LAN Set Up” on my Netgear router. After a couple of minutes I turned the console back on and NAT was back to “open”.

X BOX ONE – First Impressions

There are plenty of reviews on line so these are just my thoughts and experiences.

Current set up:

I have both X Box 360 and PS3. The PS3 is connected via HDMI to my Denon AV receiver and the X Box 360 is connected to the TV via HDMI with an Optical cable to the Denon.

I have connected this way because of:

  • The PS3 is used mainly as my Blu Ray player for my home theatre. Although I do play the PS3 exclusive games on it.
  • The X Box 360 is my main gaming machine. Therefore it is connected directly to the TV so that I do not have to turn on the Denon every time I want to play a game. However I retain optional access to full surround sound through the Denon via the optical connection.

Therefore I wanted to set up my new X Box One in the same way with the X Box 360 connected to the X Box One via the “HDMI In” port.

I picked up my X Box One on the first day and went home and set it up immediately.

It was a pleasure to set up. Microsoft has done this very well. It walks you through everything and even the new Kinect was an easy set up. It was up and running in no time. There was the usual first day firmware update but this did not take long and went smoothly.

There is no doubt that when the initial set up goes smoothly like this it puts the user in a positive frame of mind.

The picture is excellent and even the voice commands work well (with an Australian accent). Although be aware that you have to use specific commands like “X Box Go Home” etc. and certain commands like “X Box On” do not seem to work. See a full list here http://mmgn.com/xboxone/articles–xbox-one-voice-commands-guide )

However there are some annoyances:

  • All games, even those purchased via disk, have to be loaded onto the hard drive. This takes a very long time. I inserted the disk for COD Ghosts and at first I thought there was something wrong as it was stuck on 0% loaded for 10 to 15 minutes. It took about one hour to fully load the disk and I could not start playing until it was about 45% done (about 30 minutes into the install.)
  • There is no facility for voice messages. You can neither send nor receive voice messages. If you get a voice message from someone on a 360, it tells you to access the message on a 360.
  • There is no separate voice chat. However it seems that this replaced by party chat. Just set up a party of two (or more) and then chat. Probably you have to use Skype or something.
  • The default output for the “Optical out” for sound is stereo. I eventually found a setting (Settings / Display and Sound) to change it to DTS Digital Surround (but not until after I had re-arranged everything to run the HDMI through the AV receiver instead of setting it up like my old 360.)
  • The very cool TV integration shown on the various reviews does not work in Australia with Foxtel / Austar. So there is little point in connecting your satellite / cable boxes to the X Box One. It is better to “daisy chain” the X Box 360
  • It does not play 3D Blu Ray. (Tried it with Avatar 3D and no luck). This is something the PS4 also does not do. However both Sony and Microsoft say this feature is coming. I will delay upgrade to PS4 until it gets support for 3D Blu Ray.

Things to note

  • A new specific X Box One app is needed for your iPad. Without voice messaging, this is now very necessary to avoid having to use the controller to type out messages. It is so much easier using the iPad keyboard via the app. The X Box 360 and X Box One apps exist side by side without problems.
  • I have confirmed that you can be signed into the 360 and the X Box One on the same X Box Live account at the same time.
  • It is the same X Box Live account so all of your stuff is there.
  • X Box 360 works well when connected via the “HDMI In” port on X Box One so quick and easy access to the 360 will have to be the work around for the lack of voice messages.
  • The apps for things like Skype, Blu Ray Player, and X Box Music etc. have to be installed, even though the tiles appear on the Home screen. However the installs are small and load quickly.
  • I noticed that with Skype it only loads your existing Skype contacts and does not automatically load your X Box Live friends into your Skype contacts. Although I only know of two of my X Box friends that have the X Box One and it could be that neither have set up Skype on their new X Box. Nevertheless, it is probably safe to assume that you will have to add these friends to Skype like any other new Skype contact.
  • The Blu Ray player works well but, as mentioned above, when you click the Blu Ray player tile for the first time, the app is installed before it starts to play a Blu Ray.

OVERALL

Very happy with the console. The only game I have is COD Ghosts and it looks great and plays well.

It is a pleasure to set up the console for the first time and very easy to navigate around the new interface. The voice stuff actually works and, I have to say, it is fun for the X Box to recognise you and sign you in automatically.

On the down side the game install times and lack of voice messaging are disappointing.

Also, as usual, we in Australia miss out on the very cool TV integration but this is normal for us and no doubt is not Microsoft’s fault.