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Xbox-Seagate

Seagate and Microsoft have teamed up before to offering Xbox-branded external storage options, and the storage manufacturer has recently refreshed its product line to lucifer the style of last summer's Xbox One S. Beyond that, nevertheless, these new drives also offer a several-month subscription to Microsoft's new Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Nosotros haven't covered Game Pass before, so let's have a moment to practise so. Game Laissez passer is, to some extent, an respond to Sony's PlayStation Now game-streaming service, only there are some fundamental differences between the two. Similar the Sony program, Microsoft'due south has a monthly fee fastened — $9.99 — simply unlike Sony, these games aren't streamed to you as you lot play them. Instead, you download them directly, which is where Seagate comes in. With game download sizes ballooning in recent years, it'south not exactly hard to make full the base storage that modernistic consoles ship with.

Microsoft-Games

Some of the titles available in Microsoft'southward new service.

While the Xbox 1 is compatible with whatsoever standard external USB drive, the new Seagate Game Drives (available in 2TB and 4TB capacities) besides transport with a free month of Game Pass (on the 2TB version) and two months free (on the 4TB version). MSRP on the two drives is $89.99 and $129.99 respectively, then there'south a bit of a premium (2TB drives can exist had starting around $seventy online, while 4TB external USB 3.0 drives start around $110, not including shipping). If yous like to accept your peripherals match your panel as far as style, you lot won't pay much of a premium for the privilege. And the 1-ii months of access to Microsoft'southward new Game Pass plan is a decent style to bank check out the selection if you're curious about information technology.

Both drives are apparently backwards compatible with the Xbox 360'southward USB 2.0 ports, simply the latter only supports hard drives upwards to 2TB in size. If you want a bulldoze yous tin can carry betwixt last-gen and current systems, you lot'll want to buy with that in listen. Seagate as well offers a 512GB SSD option as an Xbox One external drive, if you prefer to bandy some storage space for faster access speeds. Eurogamer did some comprehensive testing on this pick roughly a year ago, and the benefits of an SSD can be pregnant. Information technology does, however, depend on the game. Some titles speed up quite a bit, while others see more pocket-sized improvements.

Personally, I'd either opt for the 4TB option or the SSD. The outset is the about useful generally, and the 2nd could play well with the Xbox Scorpio when that platform becomes bachelor a few months from now. With a faster CPU and tweaked storage controllers, I/O performance should get a nice heave when the updated panel hits store shelves.

Now read: The Best Gratuitous Games on the Xbox One