The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s upcoming console, which will belong in the ninth generation of video game consoles alongsidethe PlayStation 5. It is Microsoft’s fourth main entry to the video game industry and is anticipated to be the most powerfulvideo game home consolein the history of gaming. The console is will become available to the public on June 27, 2025.
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Microsoft has always placed multimedia and accessibility at the forefront when it comes to their consoles. The Xbox Series X is no different. Microsoft’s upcoming console has a number of features that may or may not be obvious to the average consumer. Whatever the case, these details and features are something fans and gamers are very excited about.
10Streaming & Recording
Streaming and recording gameplay is a task many people do these days. As if recording a video clip of a music concert, gamers love to record or stream their gameplay for either memory-keeping to watch later on, or to share their gameplay with their friends.
The Xbox Onecould record gameplay footage, but it could only do so at 720p resolution. The Xbox One X, which was considered to be the most powerful console variation of its time, could record up to 4k, but the frame rates were locked to 30fps only. The Xbox Series X, however, can record games in 4k resolution at 60 frames per second.
9Guide Tab Customization
Microsoft is all about accessibility and choice. To further give the players the ability to make their gaming experience more streamlined and personal, players now have the ability to customize the game tab menu.
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The guide tab consists of the Home, People, Parties & chats, Achievements, Capture & share, and Profile & system tabs. Players can now arrange those tabs according to their personal preferences. If the player chats a lot with other people or engages ingaming with a partyoften, the Parties & chats tab can be placed first and everything else will follow. It will all be up to the player or they can just opt for Microsoft’s standard arrangement.
8Game Pre-Loading
The excitement of playing a game at launch can overwhelm many players. Something as feeble as download and install time can hamper this excitement more than people realize. To counteract this, Microsoft added a feature where gamers can pre-load a game directly to their console, even before paying for it. The game will be loaded to the console first, then players will be able to play the actual game once they finally pay for it.
This even works of physical copies. This is most especially useful during day one launches. Players can pre-load the game they want to play before they head to the store to purchase the game they want, and once they return, they’ll be able to play it immediately.
7Pairing With Old Accessories
Purchasing other accessories for a video game console can be pretty expensive. When players get told that the accessories they bought for the previous console, which they bought for at a hefty price, won’t work on the upcoming console, those players can understandably get upset.
Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Xbox Series X. Integrated into the console’s hardware, right next to the USB port, is a little button that players can use to pair accessories such as remote and headphones to the Series X. However, that’s not its only function. Inside the button is an IR receiver which can be used to detect the Xbox One media remotes to the Xbox Series X.
6The Xbox Family Settings Application
When the adult players today were younger, many of them hated having restrictions when it comes to their gaming time. Parents would often set a limit on how long they can play, who they could talk to, and so on. Now, those young men and women are now parents themselves. They now understand why those restrictions are put in place. The online world can be a pretty horrid place, especially to a young, innocent child.
That’s what the Xbox Family App is for. If someone buys this console for their young child, or are sharing it with them, the Xbox Family App allows a parent to monitor a child’s gaming time, see friend requests, see party invitations, and more.
5Jump Back & Forth Between Games
The Xbox Series X is a ridiculously powerful console. The console was designed to look like an actual PC tower and it can sure act like one, perhaps even more for some PCs. The console’s powerful NVMe SSD, alongside its 16gb of GDDR6 RAM, will allow the players to jump back and forth between games without a hiccup.
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If a player is used to switching between games constantly, this is especially useful for them. For example, if a player isplaying a game mid-campaignand they get invited to a party game, they can jump to that game immediately without closing the game they were already playing. They can then resume with little to no boot time.
4The Controller
The Xbox Series X controller is vastly inferior compared toits competitor, the PS5’s DualSense. When players take one look at it, it may seem like it is the exact same controller its predecessor had. It seems like Microsoft did no alterations to the controller, but that’s actually not the case.
What Microsoft had with its controller was already great to begin with. Many players actually prefer the Xbox’s control mapping, especially the switch between the left analog stick and the D-Pad, compared to the DualShock controller’s. The Xbox Series X didn’t fix what wasn’t broken. They did make a few alterations such as adding a share button, putting grips on the triggers, altering the D-Pad, and making it just a tad smaller for ergonomics.
3Dashboard Customization
When the Xbox One launched in November of 2013, it didn’t receive the accolades its main competitor got. Many of the features fans were looking for, or didn’t know they wanted, could be found on the PlayStation, but not with the Xbox. One of these features, albeit a minor one, is the ability to customize the dashboard.
Granted, Microsoft did add this feature to their console later on for the Xbox One, this very feature will be present on the Xbox Series X at launch. Players can now tweak their dashboards and choose from the various Profile Themes available.
2Backwards Compatibility With Auto-HDR
One of the things Microsoft has always had going for themwas their backwards compatibility integration. It is one of the maximum ways Microsoft makes their consoles consumer-friendly and ensure their players are given the highest of options.
On top of being able to play Xbox 360 and Xbox One games on the Series X, players will also experience a somewhat, mild “remastered” feeling when playing old games because of the Auto-HDR feature. This feature will automatically play old games in higher resolution, even add details HDR can provide, if the player’s TV or monitor can accommodate it. As of now, it is unclear whether this will work on every Xbox title, but it does work on many of the games players are most likely familiar with.
1The Halo Easter Egg
Halo is one of Microsoft’s flagship titles, and Master Chief can be considered as the poster boy for Xbox. To honor this widely beloved pop culture icon, Master Chief’s helmet can actually be found stamped on the Xbox Series X’s power supply unit.
This easter egg did not begin with the Xbox Series X either. This began with the Xbox One S, followed by the Xbox One X. While fans won’t be getting the much-anticipatedHalo: Infinitetitle this year, at least fans of the Master Chief will have this cheeky nod.
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