101Force

Microsoft should work on getting Xbox Cloud Gaming on smart TVs, in Retroarch as a "core", etc. That's a bit more realistic, at least.

This is promising, I hope this results in more games with local multiplayer and Microsoft brings on some indie studios to license old or dormant Microsoft owned IP to.

There are a lot of IP under Microsoft now, if they really want to get the most of them they should contract or license to third-party studios to do something with older or lesser-known IP.

For single-player games I want good stories and interesting worlds, and for multiplayer games I want local co-op or deathmatch. That's it.

@Raw_Dawg : You don't think voice acting performances contain a creative element? You don't think voice acting is an enjoyable job?

"AI will take the boring jobs no one wants," they said. "People will do all the fun, creative jobs still," they said.

I really enjoyed the gameplay of the Dead Space series and I enjoyed the story early on, particularly in the first game when we were left to speculate about so much of it, but the whole "Brethren Moon" thing just ruined the story for me.

Crash Team Racing / Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is the obvious choice for me, although it would be especially cool if track layouts were procedurally-generated from carefully-made track segments. It would quickly become a favourite for both local and online play, offering near-unlimited new experiences.

I would love to see some of the older console games in Activision Blizzard's catalogue ported to Xbox consoles, eg: StarCraft 64, even if just with a simplified tool like the Carbon Engine. And Microsoft definitely needs to re-open the backwards-campatability program to mine more original Xbox and Xbox 360 games from Activision Blizzard.

I'm not surprised that Microsoft wants to trickle out the Activision Blizzard games to draw out their appeal, but a lot of us are getting tired of the acquisition's drama and just want to see the titles on Game Pass wherever contracts don't prevent it. If they're looking to drag out their appeal they should look at improving games wherever possible on Xbox consoles, eg: Implementing local co-op in the Diablo II Remake.

Great. So when can we expect Activision Blizzard games to be added to Game Pass?

I realize certain titles are contractually obligated to remain off Game Pass for a period of time, but there is a backlog of original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and even some pre-Xbox games from Activision Blizzard that should be available to put on the service as soon as possible.

(Side-remark: Every single original Xbox and Xbox 360 game that falls under Microsoft's IP or one of their subsidiaries' IP should be backwards-compatible.)

I hope the Fallout 3 remake is still moving ahead, along with an added Fallout: New Vegas remake.

In Japan high-speed internet is ubiquitous and the US enacted legislation last year to make high-speed internet ubiquitous throughout urban, suburban, and rural areas. With this in mind and the ever-increasing size of video games it's hard to believe consoles will exist for much longer. Maybe we'll get another console generation in 2028, but after that I'd wager we'll all be subscribing to streaming video game services, somewhat similar to Netflix. So a greater push for all-digital consoles, even if they're downloading content to an internal hard drive, makes a lot of sense as an intermediary step.

And for what it's worth, I don't think the UK market really plays into this, or the Canadian market (where I'm based) for that matter. Nor am I actually advocating for the scenario described above, that just seems to be how it's playing out.

If Microsoft acquired Nintendo and it went the same way as the Activision Blizzard acquisition — agreements being made for major franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid to be released on PC and PlayStation over the next 10 years, in addition to Xbox — I think that would ultimately benefit consumers.

No gyroscopic aiming? That's a shame. Hopefully the improved longevity of the joysticks is due to the use of Hall effect joysticks.

I have a hard time believing Microsoft, the FTC, or any other party involved could claim they weren't responsible without a thorough investigation, and it's a bit too early for a thorough investigation to have occurred.

@Tharsman : "I keep thinking it might be on Xbox’s best interests to start making free licenses of iD Tech or some other of their internal engines now that they own so many, but exclusively for PC and Xbox development."

That's a really good idea. They could even take it further by making the license to use the engine free for Windows store and Xbox console releases, but paid to some degree or another if the title is also released for the PS5 or the Switch.

What are the alternatives? Unreal Engine and...?

Good. Although the "choices matter" elements of the series should be retained, the mostly-linear storyline and gameplay is one of the series' strengths.

Although I am in favour of fixing or improving bad games when it can truly be done, sometimes I wish the assets from these failed AAA games would just be handed to smaller teams to see what they can do with them.

In general I'm a huge fan of mod support on consoles, so this is good news.

Not really.

I want to start a game by choosing an estimated mission length between 15 minutes to 3 hours or somewhere inbetween, be given an objective that is randomly selected from a (large) list based on that mission length, and then be dropped into a carefully balanced procedurally-generated map (that is mostly linear) to carry out my objective. If I can do this with a team online or in split-screen local play then all the better.

I'm of the opinion the Xbox Series S should have been explicitly promoted as a "party" or "family" gaming console, not as a budget gaming console, and I think a lot of people bought the Series S thinking the same thing. So in that respect this is disappointing news, but it seems as though it couldn't have been helped so I hope Microsoft learns from this when designing the successor to the Series S.

I would rather see Baldur's Gate 3 get released for Xbox consoles without split-screen co-op than not get released at all, but I do sincerely hope Microsoft learns from this ordeal when designing the next generation of consoles. I would argue a lot of consumers choose a video game console instead of a PC because they expect more console games to support local multiplayer, so Xbox consoles need to be able to support it with relative ease.

I sincerely hope Microsoft and Bethesda learned from the troubles surrounding Cyberpunk 2077's launch, because if not this is going to be a disaster of epic proportions.

@Bobarino : "The one thing I absolutely can't stand is the Netflix-like categories as an excuse to push more games at me."

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I'd definitely prefer a dashboard with user-made groups on the left that are hidden when you explore games in each one, along with the option — not a requirement — to have groups that display new Game Pass titles, new titles in the store, and titles ranked by popularity. Add the option to view a "manual" for each game with the Menu button when a game's icon is selected, and you'd have my dream dashboard.

The new dashboard is like a row of billboards on a highway that's funnelling users toward a mall, not the personal gaming machine that most people want.

Haptic feedback is cool and all, but gyroscopic aiming and Hall effect joysticks are better. Hall effect triggers are pretty cool too.

@Markatron84 : lol Yes, that's what I meant. I hope we don't have until 2036!

@ValentineMeikin :

"Consoles are now a box in the corner of the room that you subscribe to the Nintendo Network, Playstation Network or Microsoft Network... The industry wouldn't want to develop for such a climate."

If you're talking about streaming/cloud gaming then I'd argue the industry would prefer that "climate". It eliminates software piracy, eliminates most forms of online cheating, gives the industry absolute control over mods, reduces the initial barrier to entry for consumers while increasing/stabilizing long-term profits, and increases the number of platforms the service can be provided on.

It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does in the next geneation, presumably starting 2036 (Edit: 2026). Microsoft cut back the CPU speed with Series S and we've seen with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti that cutting back RAM introduces similar complaints when it's presented as an economical option specifically, so what will they do with the future of the Series S line? Their best bet is probably not to cut back the CPU speed as much — the processor in the Series S is 33% as fast as the processor in the Series X — but if they don't cut it back enough it won't be attractive as an economical alternative.

Edit: I've heard the developers are having a difficult time implementing split-screen, local co-op for Baldur's Gate 3 on the Series S, and while I don't have the numbers to back it up I'd bet local gameplay is more common on the Series S than the Series X as families are more likely to need a cost-saving option, so take that for what it's worth.

I don't like it. The limit on two custom groups is incredibly inconvenient and the rest of it feels like a parade of billboards on a highway.

I can only have two custom groups on my dashboard and I can't order each section of the dashboard? I don't like it, it's less useful and more advertising. Microsoft ought to focus on providing users with a pleasant experience with the dashboard, not just upselling to customers.

I would prefer Microsoft leave the aesthetic customization of their consoles to third-parties, preferably with a mechanism that doesn't void warranty. I can't imagine Microsoft is making that much more money from these products than usual and cutting in third-parties to whatever profits are to be made here can go a long way to maintaining an active community of customers, plus it would free up Microsoft to work on more innovative products, such as gamepads with gyroscopic controls and Hall effect joysticks, a proper successor to the Steel Battalion controller, new features / apps for their consoles, etc.

Good. Microsoft and its subsidiaries should be focussing on established IPs and genres of games that aren't heavily supported by third-party developers, and if Prey is any indication, Arkane is capable of delivering the latter in spades in the single-player department.

Now all we need is an Xbox gamepad with a gyroscope (on top of the Hall effect joysticks) and games that support it, and the Xbox gamepad will be perfect.

This is incredibly disappointing and I can only imagine the program is "closing" — permanently, I'd guess — because it isn't financially viable or lucrative enough.

When asked about the appeal Stanford Law professor Doug Melamed said:

"It's extremely unlikely that the FTC could persuade the Court of Appeals to enjoin the merger before July 18."

So one has to wonder what the FTC is doing here. Perhaps they're just posturing to the public, to make it look like they're trying to do their jobs while they ignore acquisitions that arguably have a greater impact on consumers, eg: Broadcom's recent acquisition of VMware, which was also for $69 billion.

I just want more (split-screen) co-op like we had in Resident Evil 5.

I'm cautiously excited.

I hope this game doesn't try to ride the coat tails of Cyberpunk 2077. And I hope the developers take some inspiration from Philip K. Dick's book which the (both excellent) movies were loosely based on, there was so much world-building in that novel that could be further fleshed-out in a video game.

Microsoft should actively seek out third-parties — especially indie studios that can bring something new to the table — to do something with their dormant and unused IPs.

@Suda52 : You must trolling. Love it or hate it, there's no denying the gaming and cultural relevance of This War of Mine.

@MSX : My apologies, I've seen it (incorrectly) said so often that foreigners can't buy Japanese companies I guess I fell head-first into Poe's Law.

@MSX : Contrary to popular opinion (on gaming forums anyhow), foreigners can buy Japanese companies, eg: Sharp Corporation was bought by Taiwan’s Foxconn in 2016 for $6.2 billion.

Although I enjoy playing AAA games from Microsoft and its subsidaries on Game Pass and I've bought a number of games — including bigger games, such as Control — specifically because I got to play them on Game Pass, I'd argue Microsoft has a lot of potential to fund unique and creative IPs from smaller studios with the agreement that they'll appear on the service and that's part of the appeal.

@Suda52 : The "whole entire market"? At the close of the last fiscal quarter Activision-Blizzard held 2.8% of total industry revenues. And sure, that's a lot for one company, but it's nowhere near a significant portion of the overall market and it's still a lot less than the gap between Microsoft and Sony.

The follow-up question that should have been asked of Jim Ryan is how the Activision-Blizzard acquisition is any different.

I'd be willing to bet that a mod supporting DLSS will be out in no time, but I'd also be willing to bet that mod won't work with the PC Game Pass version of the game, so anyone looking to use such a mod will have to buy the game outright through Steam. And it wouldn't surprise me if that's why Microsoft agreed to this sponsorship, in addition to getting AMD's help optimizing the game on Xbox consoles.

Nvidia supports FSR on GeForce 1050 cards and up and seeing as how the minimum requirements for Starfield on PC are said to be a Nvidia GeForce 1070 Ti (or AMD Radeon RX 5700) I think anybody using an Nvidia card that supports DLSS will get pretty good results, even if DLSS itself isn't supported.

I couldn't care less about Bungie, but if acquisition meant Sega released new Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, and Shinobi games I'd be all for it. Come to think of it, Microsoft should take a page out of Sega's book and license some of their dormant/unused IPs for some dedicated indie studios to do something with (giving us fantastic results like Streets of Rage 4).