Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@Yousef- Conker is maybe the only game that is “edgy” and mature that I really like haha! I don’t have an interest in things that are overtly “edgy,” and Conker was the only exception to that since the “edgy” content was done intentionally and to try to subvert expectations and cliches associated with platformer games, and I’d say the game did a good job with that.

I have definitely heard good things about Ratchet and Clank and I did see my dad play the 2016 game years ago, but I unfortunately don’t have any PlayStation consoles anymore I would love to play some PlayStation games again. I remember playing LittleBigPlanet 3 with my siblings and we nearly finished it but the console got its data wiped and it got traded in for a different game.

@Pastellioli ahhh I see I see. Well if you do get a cheap ps4, the original ps2 games are finally on ps4/ps5 and they’re phenomenal!! Amazing controls, gameplay, level design, sense of humor and comedic social commentary. They’re quite addicting and the music is impeccable.

@Yousef- Hopefully. I did play PlayStation a lot alongside Nintendo a lot before me and my family swapped exclusively to Xbox. I absolutely love anything that’s a platformer.

@Pastellioli same!! I look forward to our DK64 discussions once we both get there xDDD

@Yousef- Haha! That is going to be a treat. I’m going to have to rely on emulation once on DK64 once I get onto it since I don’t have an N64 and didn’t buy the WiiU port before the Eshop was closed unfortunately. I just hope that the emulation and controls aren’t bad when I emulate it, since other games like Diddy Kong Racing are super hard to play on the emulator I use and I’m super doubtful I’ll be able to complete that one.

I have maybe two games I really want to finish before I get onto DK64, and if the Pure Xbox game club picks Conker as its next title, it might be three, since I might want to attempt to complete a full second playthough of it and really want to gush about it to others lol, though that game always loses in voting since not a lot of people are active there unfortunately. It’s maybe four or five others that actively participate in it.

Matt Booty implies Studio's shut down due to Leadership changes - particularly Tango https://www.eurogamer.net/matt-booty-implies-tango-gameworks-...

This kind of confirms what I thought - the fact that the Studio founder and the creator of Games like Resident Evil and Evil Within, even Ghostwire, is no longer at the studio, maybe means that Studio doesn't have the leadership or creative talent to make the Games that made 'Tango' the studio it was, may not have been able to make another 'Evil Within' for example.

The same can be said for Arkane Austin too as we also know they lost staff during the Redfall era so may not have had the staff or the 'leadership' in place to make another 'Prey'. Was Infinity Ward the 'same' Studio after they lost half their Staff team when the creators of CoD left and set-up Respawn? Arguably not as Activision had to pull in more studios - inc Neversoft who ended up being merged into Infinity Ward.

Amy Hennig leaving Naughty Dog too made a 'difference' to Uncharted 4 - which does have a different 'vibe'. The first 3 were more 'Indiana Jones' with Mystical, other worldly aspects whereas 4 is much more Goonies, looking for 'Pirate Treasure' to set them up for the future. I kept expecting some mystical element, maybe end up fighting Pirate Skeletons for example. Not saying that was a 'bad' move, just that without certain people, you maybe don't get the same game - even if its the same 'IP'. Without Kojima at the helm, will a 'new' MGS game made by Konami without Kojima be the 'same', have the same direction, humour, ambition, ideas etc that MGS fans want/expect? Even if made by the SAME studio that made MGS before, without Kojima, its not the 'same' studio anymore.

It doesn't always mean that a Studio has to be closed or can't produce 'great' games or be 'more' successful, but you can't always expect that Studio to make the games that those creators created if those creators aren't there. People say Rare aren't the same studio and not capable of making the games they did for N64 as those staff are now at Playtronic making Yooka-Laylee games.

Very intresting article and note @BAmozzy (even if I had not had time to read the article yet). It does seems a bit strange to me that a company such as Microsoft should not able to hire some great talent that would make up for if like one or two persons decide to leave, that is something I find a little bit confusing. Maybe they have concluded it is not worth the expsense it menas to have the studio open and operate on full speed then.

@oliverp I don't know and maybe we will ever know.

Its possible they could have tried to hire the right talent and invest money into building that Studio back up, commit to investing for the next 5yrs+ until that Studio has produced something that MS can 'sell' to start recuperating on all that Money they've spent on Recruitment, wages, rates etc. However, they may think that money is better spent on their current Studios to ensure that the games they have in development come out when expected, not delayed and at the quality we as Customers expect.

MS also took on ABK - a massive influx of staff and Studios - a massive increase in their costs - much higher wage bill, much higher rates bill, much higher cost to keep many more studios open making games. Many of which are at full speed on Games we expect to see in the coming years, whilst Tango may not have anything in pre-production yet, no 'product' for MS and waiting for 'leadership' to take that Studio forward.

The article doesn't come out and say that Tango or Arkane was 'closed' because they had no leadership or because those staff left leaving MS no choice. As I said it implies that their 'history' and the Games we think of were made by a 'different' staff team so no longer the 'Studio' that created those games so you have to look at where that Studio is today and near future.

MS have had numerous 'teams' take-over from Original teams - Halo isn't made by Bungie anymore, Gears no longer by Epic - so they could make Evil Within 3 with a different team. Yes it maybe won't be a Shinji Mikami game, but Evil Within 3 made by Tango wouldn't be either in the future. So you can't keep 'Tango' just because they made EW in the past, you keep them because whatever game is coming 'next'.

With Tango being in Japan, a country with rising Costs, the 'cost' to hire, build up and get product out could be very high making whatever 'Product' extremely expensive to produce requiring even more sales to recuperate when Elsewhere in Poland maybe would cost 'less' due to lower costs and therefore a lot less 'risk' and won't need to sell as many either. If it gets delayed, that extra development time too is less.

I'd have rather seen Tango be 'let go' rather than closed - but I did think it would be difficult as the 'ONLY' Japanese Studio, a very different culture and time zone. They could have felt very isolated in a much bigger pond where everyone else is in the US/UK/EU.

Again not trying to say MS was 'right' to shut Tango and/or Arkane but that MS perhaps had little/no choice as a 'business' and as we don't truly know, trying to find a rational reason from the little info we can determine. MS no doubt would look at the 'cost' of Hiring and keeping that studio and maybe the numbers didn't make sense to them...

Slowly itching to end my month long break from the green and white box. I think there’s a couple things I need to be doing.

My GP sub needs get cancelled at some point and now feels like the right time. If I cancel it today, I’ll have approximately 30 days to give it one last spin to see if it’s worth canceling.

GTA IV is a game I’ve replayed countless times, but I don’t wanna touch the PC port ever again so I think I’ll go back to just playing it on Xbox like before.

A few other games have this similar setback to me, where I feel better off playing them on Xbox.

Additionally, I need to play Alan Wake 2 at some point. Since it’s Max Payne’s voice actor’s last performance, it holds some sentimental value for me already (May he rest in peace).

My month long hiatus from using Xbox ends today and the first thing I’ve done was immediately boot up GTA IV. Such an incredible game.

Enjoying my xbox so much right now. I should install some games I have not played in a long time. Thinking I should finally take the plunge and finish FFXIII.

@Yousef- Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! I haven’t really played Final Fantasy, but I did hear @Banjo- say XIII was a pretty good game and he was playing it recently. On an unrelated note, I’m waiting for him to come back to these threads so I can talk about my experience with Perfect Dark with him, because he did want to know what I thought of the game once I finished it and having discussions with him is so fun!

@Pastellioli he did show up in the country music thread and I chatted with him on the Xbox messaging app yesterday so it’s probably a matter of time.

Oh yeah I gotta play lost odyssey as well.

@Yousef That will be interesting. Donkey Kong 64 tested my patience on my way to 100% (101%). @Pastellioli I have the Wii U version of Donkey Kong 64, but I know that Retroarch/Mupen64Plus-Next is a good N64 emulator, if you have access to that. I'm going to check the other thread and read your opinion about Perfect Dark right away!

@Banjo- Hello again! I have another emulator on my phone since I don’t have a PC, but the emulation on some N64 games with the emulator I am using is iffy. Diddy Kong Racing works well on it, but another N64 game on I tested on the phone emulator plays bad, not to mention the graphics sometimes look broken and are super black since it’s the wrong technology I am using. I am hoping Donkey Kong 64 works well on it… if not, I’ll be out of luck.

@Pastellioli Hello, my friend! To be more specific, Retroarch/Mupen64Plus-Next is what I use for N64 on Series X, but Series S is as good for emulation because the CPU is basically the same. You can only use home-made apps in developer mode, but you can switch between developer and retail mode as much as you want. If you are interested, you can find more information about it elsewhere and how to set up a developer account on Microsoft's website. I barely play on PC or mobile.

I got to mission seven in Perfect Dark Zero and oh my gosh the cutscenes alongside the characters are making me giggle so much. It’s still a good game so far and I love the gameplay, but holy ravioli, the tone and the opening cutscene for mission seven KILLED me…it’s so campy, the voice acting and characters are cheesy, and Joanna looks and dresses like a main character in a 2000s Disney Channel show, but I say that all in a good way that actually makes the experience more entertaining alongside the gunplay. Some people did take issue with it since it doesn’t make the game feel or look like the original Perfect Dark, but it honestly it makes the game more hilarious and even enhances the experience for me instead of making me disappointed it isn’t like its predecessor tone-wise. The difficulty is racking up a bit, but I’m working through it. I really cannot wait to write about this game in a few days…

I know freakin’ right?! It’s one of the best aspects about the game. When I was trying out melee controls and realized the main girl puts such insane emphasis on her nail polish… I knew EXACTLY I was gonna love this.

Next time, she will be wearing that thick jacket covering her whole neck, no make-up, short hair and have surgery to make her eyes small and her head square and masculine. 😅