Total luddite -X box nightmare- advice needed

[Whosmadnow]

I'm looking to buy an Xbox for my family for Christmas but have no idea between an Xbox S or X (apart from the huge price difference) I don't want to buy the X and then discover its virtually the same as the S. Also, if I buy the S will the games be available or hard to come by now the Xbox X has taken over.
Any advice would be gratefully received. TIA.

Following as I'm in the same position op! (Also who on earth can afford playstations??? Was looking at this as an alternative but can't believe the price!)

I've not even gone there, having enough trouble wrapping my head round the xboxes.

My 10 year old has the xbox one, so model older than you mentioned and can still play all games and has no issues, so from my understanding either should be fine currently

I can help a little bit as I bought my son a S version last year. All the games are available online only for both these versions and you need to pay a monthly amount to have access to them. I do believe one of the major stores is selling the Xbox S white for £199 for black friday if this helps.

Thank you. Does that mean the games you buy are in effect just a box with download codes? Also, if you play online does that mean you can't play solo but will always play with others?

The s doesn't have a disc drive so can only play downloaded games. The x can play downloaded games or run physical discs that you buy. The graphics are also better on the x but if you aren't a gamer you probably won't notice the difference.

Just get an S. You don't need an X unless you are a massive gamer/hardcore user. Be quick, they're £189.99 on Amazon at the moment, they're rarely that low! I got one for DS Christmas present yesterday!

There's two main differences between the two.

Disc Drive

The S doesn't have a disc drive, so you have to buy the games online and download them. There is a monthly subscription called xbox game pass, which will let you play lots of different games while subscribed, or you can you can buy each game individually, which you then own.

The X has a disc drive, so you can buy a game from a shop, take it home and put the disc in and play. (In theory, a lot of games you buy from a shop now don't even have a disc, its just a box with a bit of paper with a download code in.

Prettyness

The X is more powerful than the S. Both will play exactly the same games, (and I believe that Xbox have committed to that for the lifetime of the console), and the gameplay will be exactly the same on both. However the graphics on the X will look slightly better, whether that is because they're Ultra HD rather than HD, or have a higher frames per second (basically makes gameplay seem smoother)

Personally, I'd go for the S. As long as your internet connection isn't dreadful, then downloading games won't be a problem and I can see disc based games disappearing in the next 2 years anyway. The difference in graphics won't even be noticable to most people, especially if you haven't got the latest all singing all dancing massive TV.

This article is a good one for explaining the differences without getting too techy, feel free to @ me if you need any help

I personally wouldn't touch a machine that doesn't play physical discs. But a lot of people get on with it. I like to buy and trade in games and don't want to fuck about if the internets off.

It depends on the game rather than whether you bought online or not.

A lot of games are single player throughout. Even if you buy the game online and download it, you'll never encounter another player in the game. Think of it like playing through a movie with a story in most cases.

Some games are online only, so you're always playing with other real people. These tend to be competitive, think like playing football where you're playing in a team against with real people against other real people.

And then some games are somewhere in between, they might have two different modes, one online and one not, or you might spend most of your time playing by yourself but you can summon other real people into your game to help you if needed.

So you don't actually need to pay a monthly subscription? You can just buy individual games?

I would pay the extra and get and X series , our eldest has always been an Xbox person and he had a series x for his birthday this year , he didn’t want the s because of not being able to play physical discs . Between our house and his we have about 4 different types of x box ( and a PS4 ) .

We got our son the x. We liked the idea of being able to get physical games and the option of trading them in when he has finished with them. We also have a monthly membership but still buy physical games.

There's multiple different subscriptions so this is where it gets complicated.

If you want to just play single player games, then yes, you can buy each game individually and not pay any subscription.

If you want to play games online against other people, then you need an Xbox live subscription, which is I think around £7 a month. You still have to buy the games individually, the subscription gives you the ability to play those games against other people.

Finally, there's Xbox game pass, which is I think around £25 a month. Think of this like Netflix for games. You get access to lots of games, and can play any of them as long as you're paying for the subscription. I think the cost of Xbox Live is bundled into this so you're not having to pay for two different subscriptions.

In a lot of cases, brand new games won't be on Game Pass. The only way to play them on release is to buy it individually. It'll then turn up on Game Pass a couple of months later. Think like a film being released in the cinema, and then turning up on netflix a few months later

I was going to get a Switch for my kids to play Minecraft and Pokémon.

But that Xbox sounds way cheaper.

Anybody got any advice which I should go for?

Kids are young and I am in two minds about holding off for a few years, but the 6 yo is desperate to play Minecraft.

Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks @fdgdfgdfgdfg That makes sense!

If the kids are that young I'd go for a switch. Way more games that are suitable for that age group, overall Nintendo consoles are a bit more family friendly.

@fdgdfgdfgdfg perfect, thank you

Just bear in mind the switch is super fragile, extremely susceptible to drift shift and the games are the size of a postage stamp nearly. I'd have a look at the price of replacement controllers and the games first.

No idea why they're marketed to kids. You'll be better off with a Wii or wiiu if you want to faff about with Nintendo rather than a switch.

Lsdt time I checked you could get 3 years of xbox live game pass ultimate for around £120.

Buy 3 years of xbox live gold for around £40, per year from somewhere like CD keys.

Add all three years to your account Before signing up to game pass.

Sign up to game pass through the console - there shoukd bd an offer for £1 that upgrades the xbox live gold, to game pass ultimate.

Also worth mentioning you get 3 games per month to keep forever, and some a list new releases come out straight away on game pass.

Hi all,
Just thought I'd give a quick update as I know how frustrating it can be not to have an 'ending' After reading through all the advice I bought the S and got it for £189 after TokyoSushi mentioned it. thanks to everyone for all the advice.