16BitHero

Arkane would spell horrible mismanagement for them over the years. Apart from 'that' vampire game, everything they've made is excellent and somewhat unique.

I don't watch gaming showcases, they usually make me cringe but, that's a very solid selection of games to look forward to. I'd give it a B++ overall.

Out of some really great looking games announced in Sony's State of play and the summer games fest, this is hands down my most anticipated, ahead of GTA 6 even. I can't get enough of the Alien universe!

The future for me is a PlayStation console (for exclusives) and occasional PC upgrades (5070ti/1440p gaming should keep me going for a while) - as I can get Xbox games on PC anyway. The only Xbox gen I skipped was Xbox One but it seems silly to pay for all three now. In my opinion Xbox should have exclusives again as competition is a requirement for a healthy games industry.

So tempted to start playing this but I'm going to wait for the path/ray tracing update. Still have Lego Batman, Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata to start among others in the meantime. What a year for gaming and we're not even half way through it.

Downloaded on PC.. Waiting for Summer Ray/Path Tracing implementation/update.

The previous two DLCs are better than most full games. Hoping for something similarly substantial and high quality.

Cross buy for Xbox and PC please. Wishful thinking I know.

It's hard to compare a racing/sports game to other types of games. Live service games would be a good comparison as they are also ongoing, evolving gaming experiences. Horizon 6 doesn't come close to a lot of excellent single player experiences in my opinion. But for racing fans obviously, it could well be their favourite game. My votes so far this year include Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Death Stranding 2 (PC), Esoteric Ebb, Zero Parades and maybe the new LEGO Batman (just started).

It's more of the same but that's what people seem to want (I could do without the story/characters/festival). Japan looks gorgeous and it's obviously a top tier racer with tons to do. I only tried it with the gamepad so far. G29 wheel this weekend. Even though it doesn't have VR support or a mod, you can still wear a headset and play on a cinema sized virtual screen!

Exclusives are good for industry competition. End of story. It's always been that way whether we like it or not. I got one hope Xbox will be now competitive next generation. There should be three consoles minimum in my opinion otherwise you start seeing abusive practices and pricing models.

The two VR games are sublime - fairly simplistic but so immersive and beautiful to look at. I think they sold well so I'm surprised we haven't had a trilogy at this point.

@Dogbreath I feel the same way, especially in terms of the whole Horizon festival concept. I'm gonna give it a whirl in the hope that there is an option for just straight up racing or free roam.

I hope the awful rubber banding npc behavior from 5 has been replaced with realistic ai. It's always a tough implementation in driving games but this series needs that evolution.

@theduckofdeath I agree, Eternal divided opinion but might be my favourite of the bunch. There is nothing more frantic in gaming than Eternal on Nightmare. Not saying that's a good thing for everyone but I personally loved how amped you have to be to succeed.

Each of the three games plays differently and I think ID software should be commended for that. Taking risks with a huge and established IP just doesn't happen anymore. I'm a big fan and gave it a 9 despite not loving the dragon or Mech sections as much as I'd hoped to. I generally don't pay much attention to the story.

I have to go with 4 just for the lovely representation of some very pretty parts of the UK. Gotta love tearing around in an old school Land Rover Defender across the English/Scottish countryside! Also loved the fantasy of owning a beautiful cottage on the coast.
France/Italy in 2 was lovely as was Australia in 3. I love the attention to detail of things like trees and other fauna.
I did like the Mexico map but I'm tiring of the festival nonsense at this point. I just want to free roam or race without the story stuff.

One of the best single player fps campaigns of all time. Eternal and the Dark Ages switched up several mechanical aspects (I personally appreciated the differences) but I think Doom 2016 still has the best soundtrack. It's a fantastic pulse pounding, frenetic, kinetic trilogy for those of us still craving quality single player shooters. I'm too old with too little time for multiplayer these days, especially with a never ending backlog causing me 'first world' anxiety on a daily basis!

If I get time to play anything this weekend it'll be continuing with one of:

Indiana Jones DLC on PC
Banishers (second playthrough) on Series X
Death Stranding 2 on PS5 Pro
Asgards Wrath 2 on Quest 3

Or I might just play through Mixtape considering it's length. Happy gaming y'all!

Console manufacturers historically sell hardware at a loss and the next generation should be no different. Xbox needs to double down on getting high quality software out there - from launch date, get back to certain first party title exclusivity (good for competition overall) and to remain innovative enough to reinvigorate the overall Xbox ecosystem. 🤞

Still nothing further on Terminator Survivors from their Milan studio. I really hope it's still happening.

Gamepass is on fire this past year. Between this and other stellar releases across all systems, I can't keep up with gaming these days. Gotta be discerning with our choices but I'll definitely play this.

Sales and discounts come so soon after release, often deep and frequent - especially on Steam. I'll only pay full whack for something I really want day one. Plus Gamepass ultimate covers me for first party until December. I do think many $70 games are with the price though, as has been mentioned in recent articles highlighting how video games are one consumer product not impacted by inflation.

Surely it wouldn't be too problematic to offer whichever generation logo/startup animation/sound you want. I still like the og Xbox startup and have the og PlayStation background on PS5. It must be the most basic thing to implement and would quite literally please everyone.

I'm not against remakes (don't see the point in remasters) but there is a disappointing lack of fresh ideas in AAA gaming much like there is in film/movies. Everyone seems risk adverse and it's understandable considering industry upheaval, layoffs etc BUT, most video game failures in recent years have not been fresh ideas or risk taking endeavors - more so they've been 'let's jump on that bandwagon, oh the competition is real! Oh no, poor sales'. I do have sympathy for indie and even AA devs though. It's such a competitive space to what it was several decades ago, especially with player choice but while good for us gamers, every $£€ of every budget will be closely scrutinized and less risk will eventually lead to less creativity/fresh ideas and ultimately less choice all over again. Or I might have just had too much coffee this morning.

I generally like DONT NOD games and was looking forward to this, but after 4 hours I just can't bring myself to continue. There haven't been any moments that truly grabbed me, narrative, gameplay or otherwise. It feels like a small team created this as a sort of side 'passion project' rather than a mainstream entry in their portfolio.

A collaboration with ID and/or Machine Games could be interesting.

It's supposedly 8.5 hours long on average. I'm about 3 hours into it but rushing if I'm being honest. It's a very basic and linear experience but looks nice enough. Unfortunately console graphics options are non existent so we're stuck with 30fps. I fancied something simple today with hopefully a decent sci fi premise and characterisation so here I am. It's definitely a very niche game and not a patch on the massively underrated gem that was Banishers.

Remakes have their place. I enjoy a few from time to time despite how many games we're constantly bombarded with nowadays - does anyone NOT have a backlog?! We also tend to forget younger generations are growing up all the time so it's nice for them to get to play better versions of classic games.

What I don't like are remasters. Lazy cash grabs.

If we as gamers want a truly competitive industry then Xbox needs it's exclusives again. With their umbrella of studios they could really seize a decent market share to compete with Sony and Nintendo once more. There have been exclusives since the beginning of gaming so to stop putting certain games on PlayStation or even PC wouldn't be particularly shocking regardless of studio acquisition. I personally would like to see their games remain on PC as buying/upgrading all three systems every generation is an incredibly expensive hobby. As some have said, they could let games like COD remain multi platform. I think this is the only way Xbox competes in a hardware sense.

I hope there's an afterlife to take my ever increasing backlog into...

@AI-Generation this seems the most likely outcome, if indeed Helix is essentially running PC games.

@IronCrow86 Agreed. They're clearly not budgeting much for the music but that's not an issue for me. I turn it off. The Project Gotham series on the other hand had some bangers!

I'm not sure why they didn't give it a little extra time to cook. Some more variety in the melee combat mechanics a la Sifu and some bug fixes could have made this a solid game for $25. Hopefully patches do the trick and this can be another No Man's Sky/Cyberpunk redemption arc, albeit on a much smaller scale.

@DukeeDukems Lynx and Game Gear but no Gameboy? I got to try out all three at boarding school. Games might have been rather basic and relatively sparse back then but the excitement factor was beyond anything I generally feel today.

@Banjo- that N64 VHS might have been the same one I watched. Shoshinkai 1995. There weren't that many games but the 3D graphics blew us away, especially Mario.

It took a while to convince my parents of the merits of owning a Sega Megadrive, Super Nintendo and Sony PlayStation on day one but I did get a Nintendo 64 on release day then, as an adult, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 all on release day with various rival consoles purchased during those particular generation cycles. My only regret was a PSP.

I don't have a lot of time as a friend is visiting from the UK but I'm squeezing in some Asgards Wrath 2 on Quest 3 and maybe some more Banishers Ghosts of New Eden on Series X - such an underrated gem of a game.

Happy gaming y'all.

@EVIL-C 100% agree.

@TrollOfWar I work in a high school and there is limited interest in games in the 'traditional' sense. Most kids are playing browser games on laptops and tablets, cellphone games and Roblox. There are blank looks when I ask about console games. Obviously many do have consoles at home I'm sure, maybe through their parents generation even, but they are OBSESSED with Instagram and TikTok. It's a new landscape and always evolving.

Even without global upheaval caused by political dimwits and megalomaniac billionaires, inflation will almost certainly mean $800 minimum next gen prices if not higher. I paid £2.50 for cinema tickets and 30p for chocolate bars/cans of coke 25 years ago. The only thing that isn't going up are the games thank goodness. Street Fighter 2 was £59.99 on the Megadrive on release!

Can't wait for the Expanse, my favourite sci fi show ever along with Battlestar Galactica.

@Lup thank you! Now I just need to clear my schedule for a year or two.

@ThCajunAsian the Xbox install base is still significant, especially in the US where many owners possibly can't afford a gaming PC as well. It's an attractively priced game made by experienced devs who know this genre inside out. I think it's well worth at least making it available digitally for the Xbox ecosystem. Hopefully it doesn't become another Mindseye.

@Lup as someone keen to try the Yakuza and spin off games, where on earth do you recommend I start?

@space_g0blin same! That's all.

No future purchase? This was a really underrated game in my opinion, the single player was like an interactive TV show and done very well I reckon. The switch to police and criminals was a refreshing break from large scale warfare. The mechanics are very solid being a Battlefield entry. It's always very cheap so for any FPS single player fans out there, I highly recommend this one.

@GeminiX53 I really didn't think it would be for me and it's now in my top ten all time. Keep an eye out for Esoteric Ebb (and the Disco follow up).

More or less what I expected. I'll skip it as my backlog is extensive and there are some great games still to come this year. Those who play it, enjoy!

It's about time we had Xbox 2. But seriously it should probably be called Xbox Swansong.