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Comment by lbhdc | Hacker News Reader

Why would someone want to buy the latest xbox?

I own an xbox (previous generation), and pay for game pass. There hasn't been a game on game pass or that has come to the store (that I am interested in) that doesn't play on the previous generation. I _want_ a new one, but haven't bumped up against anything that I haven't been able to do with my older xbox, so I haven't had anything to look forward to or get access to with the new system.

I also wonder how much their naming scheme hinders their sales. I find it so confusing, and the current and previous generations may as well have the same names as I can't disambiguate them.

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To my knowledge, there's also very little that runs on Xbox that doesn't on Windows, and while earlier in its lifecycle it held an advantage in bang-for-buck, that's no longer nearly as true. At this point, for most people between the two it makes more sense to buy a PC, especially if factoring money saved on Steam sales and the like.

For the remaining potential buyers who want a console for the "it just works" factor (which is still significant – point in case, look at how poorly Windows handles even first-party Microsoft-branded controllers in the absence of Steam, not to mention the GPU driver mess among other things), an Xbox holds little advantage over a PS5, and depending on the type of games you want to play, even over a Switch.

It's much cheaper to get an xbox over a gaming pc. I have a series x and several laptops at home used for work / school etc, none of them offer the performance I get from the xbox which is plugged in the TV in the living room.

Sony naming: Playstation, PS 2, PS 3, PS 4, PS 4 Pro, PS 5

Microsoft naming: Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

It makes no sense. The second one was "360" and not the third one as you might expect, because the third one is "one".

> The second one was "360" and not the third one as you might expect

This name actually somewhat (still) did make sense to me since the Xbox 360 was the competitor to the PS3. The naming did give a hint for that.

Why not just call it Xbox 3 then.

Because rationality is dead, and marketing was its murderer.

Because there exists no Xbox 2, so marketing had to get more creative.

That would hardly have been the first time they skipped numbers.

I also find it hard to understand the naming scheme. To anybody who follows closely, I'm sure it makes sense. For someone out of the loop. No clue.

There’s zero logic to the naming scheme, so the only way to know it is to memorize it. I’m not sure it ever “makes sense”.

Same here. It's like how the Wii-U was confusing to many people, who assumed it was just an accessory for the wii

> It's like how the Wii-U was confusing to many people, who assumed it was just an accessory for the wii

Fun fact: when it came out, I originally thought that with "Xbox One" they meant the original Xbox (the one before the Xbox 360).

The naming scheme is pretty simple, just bad.

The new generation is "Series", with the X being more powerful than the S. So the Xbox Series X is the best model, and the Xbox Series S is the same generation, but less powerful. It's like if the PS4 and PS4 Pro came out at the same time.

I mean, I still don't see why the XBox 360 isn't the most powerful of the series.

I jest, but then, I also don't.

The WiiU attracted a lot of justified derision on its naming scheme, but I wonder if it also got a lot because it was still legible enough to be seen by people as mistake. Speaking for myself, even as a bit of a gamer (not a major one, but I'm in touch with the scene in general), the XBox line is just a cognitive blur to me. I couldn't even name them correctly any more. If they come out with an XBox XS I would literally need to read an article pointing out that it's a new release. The line is so illegible as naming schemes I can't even make fun of them properly.

Also you have the Xbox one (original vcr model with kinect) Xbox one S, and Xbox One X.

Then on the "Series" line you have Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.

So many people can think "X" or "S" as being a "Series", something of a kind, and confusing a "xbox one X" with a "xbox series X". - You have a series X? oh yeah, i have the xbox one X.

Also the looks of the xbox one S and the xbox series S is quite similar...

Not sure why didn't called xbox 2022 pro and slim or something.

And it's a shame, i have an xbox series x and is actually a great product.

> Also you have the Xbox one (original vcr model with kinect) Xbox one S, and Xbox One X.

> Then on the "Series" line you have Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X.

Wait, the Xbox One S/X and the Xbox Series S/X are different things?! I actually never realised that.

Yep! Xbox One was their generation parallel to the Playstation 4, and Xbox Series is their current generation parallel to the Playstation 5. All the X and S after those are tier differentiators.

They really need someone better naming their consoles.

Ugh, yeah, finally something with even worse version naming than the Apple Watch. (There's a thing called an Apple Watch Series 1. Confusingly, it's _not_ the first one; it is the cheaper cut-down version of the _second_ generation product; the first-gen product didn't have a version name at all).

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