Xbox Series X hardware PR’s willingness to give every spec as early as it did is, for the most part, unheard of. I can’t think of any console manufacturer that has taken the world for as thorough a trip around their ‘Silicon Garage’ so far before its baby’s release.
Microsoft has shown literally everyone what lies under the hood of its upcoming flagship, confident that Series X is THE playground for titles old and new.
Looking at how the Xbox Series X is put together, it’s hard to avoid thinking about the implications its strategy has for its user base and the manufacturer themselves.
Is Xbox Series X Modular Though, Really?
Another unignorable thought is Xbox Series X modular design. The console’s sealed units, which appear to be plug‘n’play, are certainly intriguing to console gamers.
Look At It Though – It Has to Be Modular
Looking at the internals of the Series X, I think there’s more than Xbox are letting on about their next flagship being the most compatible console. Even if it’s just from an aftercare standpoint, the GPU, Processor, RAM and Motherboard is in one unit, whilst the Power Supply is on one, separate with a vapour chamber and possibly the biggest articulated fan a console has ever seen. Seriously, the fan looks more like the ducted propeller of an ocean liner.
More so than any console before, Xbox Series X and its components just plug together from what we understand at the moment. This will drive down repair costs and will pique the interest of aftermarket manufacturers. Maybe you’d like a top fan with RGB LED’s built-in? Maybe you’d like to purchase the upgraded heat sink for a better performance? Or how about that custom console shell that you’ve seen online?
Unlike the “Trigger’s Broom” level of modularity that comes with PC, consoles have seen only seem limited forms of modular support. Let’s take a look at some examples across space and time (mostly time) and see what consoles have let you add-on, pull off or replace…
Extra Bits, More Stuff!
The earliest upgrade for a games console (or the earliest that comes to mind) would be the FM Sound Unit for the original SEGA Mark III. This bulky, horrendous looking plug-in featured a YM2413 FM chip that acted in sync with the Master System’s existing sound chip to produce a total nine mono sound channels.
Releasing exclusively in Japan in 1987, it could only enhance the sound output of certain Mark III games. That’s right, not every game supported this additional hardware. The FM Sound Unit would be included in the Mark III’s redesign, the Master System but this version also never left Japan.
In fact, the ability to upgrade was excluded from all Master System incarnations internationally. It was also absent on the Japanese SEGA Mega Drive Power Base Converter (itself a module). Long story short, the extra features of the Mark III games weren’t experienced on an international Master System or any Mega Drive. I’m happy to put this down to poor hardware strategy rather than poor modular implementation.
SEGA Mega CD32X – The Pinnacle of ‘More Stuff’
SEGA are quite infamous for their endless hardware refreshes and add ons, the MEGA-CD arrived in Japan in 1991 was probably the most memorable of them all. With a great idea but poor execution, the MEGA-CD was discontinued in 1996 after selling a lacklustre 2.24 Million units.
Looking at the implementation of how the Megadrive plugged into the MEGA-CD base, this is probably the first step the gaming industry made towards providing modular upgrades for their existing consoles.
Integrated Upgrades – RAM and Storage
Modular design is often thought of as a new piece of hardware being able to fix inside a unit to upgrade its capabilities, much like a PC but with user-friendly parts. In 1994, NEC introduced the Arcade Card upgrade for the Super CD-ROM (The upgraded TurboGrafx CD-ROM). This modular card upgrade boosted the onboard RAM to 2MB, which allowed the Super CD-ROM to keep up with the Arcade scene.
RAM upgrades became a bit of a trend in the 90s, with the SEGA Saturn and Nintendo 64 each providing their take on RAM upgrades. SEGA Saturn brought out their ‘Extended RAM Cartridges’ which came in 1MB or 4MB variants. The Nintendo 64 brought out the Expansion Pak, which double the N64’s RAM to 8MB.
Both manufacturers tried to lock in these RAM upgrades to certain titles, e.g. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The SEGA Saturn once again fell short of the finish line with this initiative when it came to the western market. No titles officially supported the add-on outside of Japan though there were easy workarounds.
The PlayStation 2 offered an official hard drive disk and modem, taking advantage of the expansion bay. This bay was present on the 3000 and 5000 models, but required the purchase of the modem for the Hard Drive to function. The hard drive provided 40GB of storage for games to use as RAM to run more efficiently, whilst the modem offered Dial-up and Ethernet support.
The Xbox 360 later expanded on the removable hard-drive idea, alongside interchangeable faceplates. Players could start out with a basic Arcade version then buy a 60GB premium hard drive down the line. Maybe customise it with a Halo 3 faceplate.
Warranty Permitting
At present, it looks like Xbox are looking to venture into the realm of modular upgradable storage. Recently, Seagate SSD announced drives for the Series X, further pre-empting the companies move into the modular space.
We don’t know how much leeway Microsoft would be willing to give aftermarket console modders. Nor do we see any way MS would create user-swappable modules.
The picture of a completely inclusive and evolving platform is an exciting prospect. It’s certainly something we hope Xbox is intending to deliver. They could start by allowing some end-user or authorised modder customisation beyond adding some storage- we can see their plug’n’play parts from a mile off.
