16BitHero

Thank you for using 'disappointment' rather than 'fuming' (PS). Not all gamers are entitled brats.

I've been gaming since the 80's. 10 years after release this is still my favourite game of all time. Great narrative, great characters, great quests, great voice acting, great music, great maps, just wonderful immersion. Plus best DLC ever made - better than most full games in the genre. It's magical if a little dated mechanically.

Only when consoles can affordably integrate AI upscaling and frame gen tech will we see the best looking games hit 60 fps and above. Hopefully next gen.

I appreciate Microsoft's effort here, this really should be the status quo on console moving forward. It can't be hard to build a good emulator for each or all previous platforms then include it in a future console OS. Whoever has the rights to older games will surely be happy it if they are still appreciated or even find new audiences for say $5 (and frequent sales a la Steam). As things stand it's very limited on console and can be persnickety on PC (with IP owners seeing no revenue/royalties).

I really hope this has a good single player component. It's about time a military shooter had a really good innovative campaign akin to Titanfall 2, Wolfenstein or Doom. COD has done nothing new for almost two decades at this point. Yes the mechanics are good but everything else is Michael Bay levels of stale.

If there's a decent 40fps quality mode I'll be tempted. Otherwise I'm waiting for the PC version. I mean, I'm going to try and wait....

I appreciated previous GTA games in terms of their cultural/satirical accuracy from having seen Hollywood films and a few brief trips to those real cities. After living in Florida for eight years I can safely say GTA 6 absolutely nails it all again. Please let PC be closer behind console release this time!

I'm now as curious as ever to see what hardware Microsoft dish up next generation. I got a PS5 shortly followed by Series X earlier this generation but until recently, it's mostly been remasters, remakes, backward compatible boosted games and only a handful of good exclusives. Yes there have been plenty of brilliant multi platform games but I became disillusioned enough to finally invest in a hand me down PC at the end of 2023 and upgraded this past weekend hoping it future proofs me for another 5-7 years. I think it's the way to go considering where consoles are at. If you really want a convenient small box under your TV then PlayStation 6 seems like the way to go. Microsoft are indeed becoming Sega albeit much much bigger.

Excellent news. The backlog is real. And neverending.

@CallMeDuraSouka ha fair enough. Considering the enormous fan base, I'm hoping the future of game development in India provides! In the meantime after 15 years in the US I'm finally appreciating the intricacies of Baseball. Each to their own.

Really fun with friends, a bit bland without, it's a basic Hades clone with good if simple gameplay and a very decent soundtrack.

The latest game didn't get a great reception and many Rally fans like me just stuck with Dirt 2.0

EA is really only going to invest in sports games with huge audiences and likely a large American audience as most of their revenue is there other than EA Sports FC. I've wanted a AAA Rugby and Cricket game for decades now but that ain't ever happening.

Lumping two of my recent comments together here but it's all relevant. Crazy times indeed.
Gaming will definitely become a more expensive hobby. The big picture is that wages/salaries simply don't keep up with inflation and the cost of living for 90% of us. It's a complex economic system but it's always skewed toward the wealthy because of the people in high levels of government. It's particularly stark in the US where corporate lobbyists have most politicians in their pocket. We're now seeing that on steroids and it affects everyone.

Gamepass will still be great value with a modest price hike but only if you have the free time to enjoy gaming which many adults don't. It's ultimately down to individual interpretation of the costs. For me, the future of gaming is looking like PC only as once you make that initial investment, you're good for a while and can upgrade here and there when you can afford to. More importantly the various storefronts offer much better value and frequent discounts and sales than MS or Sony. Patience is key though. If you're a day one gamer then it's going to be a very expensive hobby and Gamepass will be great value if it continues to be sustainable.

Gamepass will still be great value with a modest price hike but only if you have the free time to enjoy gaming which many adults don't. It's ultimately down to individual interpretation of the costs. For me, the future of gaming is looking like PC only as once you make that initial investment, you're good for a while and can upgrade here and there when you can afford to. More importantly the various storefronts offer much better value and frequent discounts and sales than MS or Sony. Patience is key though. If you're a day one gamer then it's going to be a very expensive hobby and Gamepass will be great value if it continues to be sustainable.

Gaming will definitely become a more expensive hobby. The big picture is that wages/salaries simply don't keep up with inflation and the cost of living for 90% of us. It's a complex economic system but it's always skewed toward the wealthy because of the people in high levels of government. It's particularly stark in the US where corporate lobbyists have most politicians in their pocket. We're now seeing that on steroids and it affects everyone.

I got Indy with Gamepass Ultimate but that expired soon after and I haven't re-subbed since (my existing backlog is way too big to add all the recent Gamepass goodies on top of them). I bought Indy through the Windows store to get cross play for Series X and PC. When I feel like a big screen it's Xbox, when I want sumptuous visuals and a high frame rate it's PC. Fab on both.

I think some MS published games will be day 1 multiplatform and some two months or so delayed but most will be day 1 everywhere eventually.

@Millionski cheers for the GPU info! I know my wife will love BP too having previously completed Lorelei and the laser eyes and Talos Principle 2 before me.

I'm sticking with CF 25. I got it because I lived in a big ACC town for eight years. Like EA Sports FC and Madden, I doubt the year on year tweaks are worth the extra outlay and I'm not invested in real players/names in American football. Maybe in 26/27!

I said it in a comment yesterday, I need to resub but don't know where to start. I can't help thinking the Xbox consoles would have seen much higher sales numbers if this had occurred early in the generation. The value vs competitors is really something at this point. Xbox is a publisher now though and that benefits all gamers.

This is surely the strongest few months Gamepass has ever had. I want to resub but no idea what to play first!

Outlaws is objectively a good game. Not great, not bad. Yes it has some standard open world genre fare but I'd argue most of what is here fits the Star Wars universe and in this case the player character very well. The graphics, music and overall feel of being in a Star Wars adventure are excellent. Ubisoft isn't for everyone and I've long since tired of most of their IPs but I'm glad EA isn't the only developer able to make Star Wars games now. It's refreshing to have one without Jedi as main characters. Outlaws was clearly made by people who are passionate about the universe. I got the same for $25 after all the various gameplay patches and it's a fun time and well worth it if you're a SW fan. Put it this way, I've been playing every genre of Star Wars game since the 80's and this ranks among the best imo.

@RegnumSolipsi believe!

This game is brilliant, I've been hammering it with friends on Steam. Everything an old school Rainbow Six and SWAT fan could ask for and by a relatively small studio too. Early bugs are mostly patched out, there is plenty of content and each mission is refreshingly well realized and detailed. It's not for the faint of heart in terms of subject matter so be warned. It's good in single player as you have four guys with you who you can control as a single team or two teams of two at any given time. Multiplayer with friends is where it's at though. It can be tense or hilarious and frequently both. Definitely a good move to finally bring it to consoles.

@Kaloudz I put about 26 hours into it but I'm sure it can be done faster.

I have it through Steam. If you enjoy PowerWash Simulator but could do with a voice acted narrative that fits the vibe then this is definitely worth checking out. Honest review here:

https://youtu.be/eW-x0y2lHak?si=r4_7icXatEpAmFDm

Indiana Jones is a dream come true for this 80's kid. Split Fiction has been brilliant fun for my wife and I. Batman Arkham Shadow is a close third - another gaming milestone for any Batman fan.

95% of my owned PC games are on Steam. I can however sub to GP for $11.99 whenever there's a few titles I want to check out and South of Midnight is most certainly one of those. GP has been amazing recently but my default is to not be subscribed. I got through Hellblade 2, Still Wakes the Deep and Wasteland 3 in two months last year. For me it just depends on free time and games that perk my interest.

@Kaloudz ha, sounds like some electronic recycling is well overdue!

@Shy_Hallaman Well worth it for that price. Brilliant if you're a fan of the original film and a damn fun shooter regardless.

@Kaloudz the first Fear still holds up well today with some of the best enemy AI in gaming. It's a cool mix of very satisfying action/gunplay with some mild horror elements. You can only get it on physical (prices are jacked up of course) or if you have a PC/laptop it's $10 and frequently less on sale.

As a Brit who lived for many years in a southern college town, I can't wait to check this out now. I read Paul Theroux's Deep South, visited New Orleans among many other southern towns/cities and count things like True Detective season 1/3 and the films Mud and Beasts of the Southern Wild among my favourite screen discoveries while living there. Time to resub to GP!

The thing with Gamepass is that it's still excellent value, even with a potential price increase when compared to TV streaming however and this is a big however - if we've already got significant backlogs on other platforms/devices, it becomes less attractive as the value decreases with time available to play the games. I only subscribe for a few months each year to knock out what I consider essential releases. That's just me though. I hope Xbox don't get too carried away as there is a lot of competition these days.

Both Baldurs Gate 3 and KCD 2 shouldn't be on the list until they've actually had an 'influence' (which they will over the coming years). Grand Theft Auto is odd too. GTA 3 makes sense. Halo Combat Evolved as mentioned by a fellow commenter above was hugely influential for console shooters and I think Sonic should be here too. Thinking of open world games, perhaps Far Cry 3 should be here as most open world action RPGs and first person shooters all have design influences from that game for better and worse!

@Fiendish-Beaver ah that's on me for miss-reading the article, this third tier is a bit silly though. I played it through PC Gamepass.

@Sakko Exactly. Invest the money now in a solid PC and you'll never look back. A handful of exclusives over an entire generation is no reason to buy a console. The competition between storefronts despite Steams overall dominance plus the frequent and steep discounts means I've bought my last console. Only took 4 decades of gaming! Plus VR is excellent.

@IronCrow86 It's my favourite Diablo despite its more cartoonish aesthetic. Great in co-op. I got a bit overwhelmed and burned out by 4 although it's still a great game.

I didn't realize Still Wakes the Deep hadn't been on console yet - anyone looking for a short, gorgeous, brilliantly voice acted 70's oil rig riff on The Thing/Color Out of Space with a bit of Alien Isolation or Soma thrown in should absolutely check it out. It's fairly limited from a mechanical perspective but succeeds with a tight little story and excellent atmosphere.

@themightyant good to know. I've been resistant to small screens for a long time but now see the life circumstances that make it useful to people of all ages! Good to have a few different options too. Thanks again for the info.

@themightyant wow, the local console streaming over Wi-Fi is a great feature - not sure how I overlooked this. Maybe a handheld is in my future after all. Thanks for the info!

@themightyant You can use a Steamdeck for all of those things?! Does that mean having to subscribe to GPU and Sony's highest tier to play your owned libraries on both ecosystems?

It's a three day weekend for me but boy oh boy it's hard making backlog decisions.

I'm currently playing through Star Wars Outlaws and Split Fiction on PS5

Kingdom Come Deliverance 1, Monster Hunter Wilds and Baldurs Gate 3 on PC

Batman Arkham Shadows on Quest 3.

I wish I still had the restraint and conviction to play one large game at a time!

Happy gaming everyone!

I guarantee precisely no one is bored waiting for GTA 6 considering the state of gamers backlogs nowadays 😂 If IO are putting their name on this then they must be somewhat confident it's decent.

These companies really need to let gamers with physical games 'own' the digital versions ASAP as these disc drives won't last forever. I think this is going to be a major issue in the evolution of gaming.

Nope. I can't wait until it's out of beta but let's be honest, this should have been MSFS 2025/26. I have over 800mbps and it sometimes looks much worse than 2020 and that's before the numerous bugs. The smaller install size is nice but I'm not sure the infrastructure and technical side is quite there yet. The new features are great but I held off buying and cancelled Gamepass until some titles of interest come my way (it's admittedly been an incredibly strong year for GP so far, just nothing for me yet).

Split Fiction with my wife, then hopefully I'll be reach another Star Wars Outlaws planet. I've been dabbling with Dirt Rally 2.0 in VR using PS5 controller 'gyro' to steer. Surprisingly immersive.

Happy gaming fellow gamers!

Played on Series X (not PS5 or PC) mostly thanks to Gamepass which is just brilliant value whichever way you look at it.

Indiana Jones
Halo Infinite
Ghostwire Tokyo
Aliens Dark Descent
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Hades
Immortality
A Plague Tale (both games)
Unpacking
The Artful Escape
Night in the Woods
Turtles Shredders Revenge

Edit: also loved Hellblade 2 and Still Wakes the Deep but played both on PC.

If the next Xbox console has Steam and can maybe run PCVR games....Those are incredible selling points for anyone without the spare $2500 minimum for a beefy PC. As someone who only built a PC in late 2023, I can attest that PC gaming is excellent because of the variety and choices it offers gamers as well as the frequent and incredible storefront sales and discounts.

It's got 96% from almost 3k reviews in Steam early access...

That's a good length. Too many games are far too long these days. Yes they represent great value in that sense but it's the main reason many of us have neverending backlogs. Personally I don't want most games to be more than 10-40 hours. If it's an epic RPG then I can and will do more but they are so commonplace I don't know how anyone gets through more than three or four games a year and does other things in life haha

I really do like this series, it's full of atmosphere. A mostly linear and focused narrative shooter with a bit of survival horror thrown in, I think it should be played on higher difficulties. The first two are still the best in my opinion. Exodus was an interesting concept but felt far less claustrophobic owing to the semi open world setting. I have the VR game Awakening but want to finish Arkham Shadow first.