Acurisur

I never owned an Xbox One so no, I don't have it. It's the only Xbox console I skipped. I would have liked something like that for my Xbox Series X though.

@NorthwestEagle If I wanted to create an alt account, I would have used your profile picture and named it "BaldEagle".

@GamerMickey1928 The guy's just bitter that team green didn't sign a deal to keep every game on Game Pass in perpetuity apparently. Best to ignore the rambling of foolish people.

@NorthwestEagle Nice to see you're imaging what emotions I've got writing a comment, just from a piece of text.

If I was actually angry there would have been a lot more fruity language in there. The fact that you've acted so defensively in spite of having absolutely no excuse for not playing a game that's been on Game Pass for entire year just reinforces my point.

And then you've decided to block me, probably because what I said is too close to the truth.

Buy the games you don't have time to play on a subscription instead of writing absurd criticisms of a company that's been very clear on it's 3d party deals for years now.

Morrowind, Mass Effect 2, KotoR, Fable 2, Dragon Age Origins, GTA Vice City, Halo 1 - Reach, Project Gotham Racing 1-4, Crackdown, Burnout 1- Burnout Revenge, Street Fighter 4.

@NorthwestEagle "There are quite a few people that don't have so much time to invest in a very, very long title"

Then buy the game.

When Microsoft add these 3rd party titles, they sign a contract with the publisher for X amount of time, only 1st party titles stay on there indefinitely.

There is no bait and switch, your accusation is absolutely ridiculous. This is exactly the same way that PS Plus operates, as well as Netflix and Amazon Video. You get stuff for a certain amount of time ,and it's up to you to consume that content before it leaves.

It is not Microsoft's job to sign titles for years and years just because you didn't start a game that you would have had enough time to play 12 times over. If you're invested in a game, you make time for it. I have other commitments beside gaming but the games I REALLY want to play either get bought or I play them as soon as they join Game Pass.

This anti-consumer nonsense is just a smokescreen for people that were never going to play a game that's leaving.

@NorthwestEagle Having an entire year to play a game is somehow "consumer unfriendly"? I think you'll need to defend that position, because frankly I think that is absurd. If I really wanted to play Persona 5 Royal, I would have already done so. Anyone who hasn't, such as myself, just wasn't that interested to begin with.

@Nic-Noc20th-C Yes it is, but not so much Candy Crush coming to Xbox, it would be more along the lines of King helping Xbox put more games onto mobile.

@NorthwestEagle You've had an entire year to play Persona 5 Royal, hardly a bait and switch. For the long RPG titles, I usually end up buying them so I can play at my own pace. I did that with Dragon Quest 11 after it left GP.

@Aeula Nah, look at what's joining. We get Like A Dragon: Gaiden as a Day 1 title next month, plus Persona 5 Tactica on the 17th, then Persona 3 Reload in February. Sega have a very strong relationship with Xbox so I'm sure we'll see Persona 5 Royal on GP again at some point.

@dreadful Umm, there's only been 8 Forza Motorsport games. Forza Horizon is nothing like Motorsport.

@GeeEssEff The problem with PC players is that, according to the latest Steam hardware survey, 80% of them are running GPUs that are worse than a Series S, let alone a Series X. People are expecting to run a 2023 AAA game on a toaster and then wondering why it doesn't run very well. It's not always an optimization issue.

On my Pc the game runs at a fairly consistent 60fps, and at 4k. I used some optimised settings I found from Digital Foundry and that's another issue; people running the game at settings that their PC has no chance of being able to cope with.

@GuyinPA75 That's not what you get with Ultimate, and you're already getting games on both Xbox and PC, as well as Xbox cloud gaming, The basic Game Pass does not have all of that. No idea why you're demanding Premium versions of the games on top as well. Did you want the price of Ultimate to go up? Because it would have to in order to include Premium Editions.

@ZuneTattooGuy To be fair, the version that's on Game Pass is far superior to the version that Digital Foundry analysed, especially on PC Game Pass (I have both a Series X and a gaming PC).

On my PC the game now runs at a rock solid 60fps, even when ray tracing is enabled. I've even got some gear mods for Robin that change his appearance to Batman.

@ZuneTattooGuy Yep completely agree. People are WAY too focused on the 5 days early access and not looking at the real reason most of us bought the Premium Edition, or in my case as a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, the Premium Add Ons DLC pack.

I had enough reward points to get a £25 Xbox Gift card so I ended up getting the Premium Edition for a whopping price of £1.99 lol.

Back to my main point, most of us got the Premium Edition for the car pass, VIP membership which pays out double the money for every race, the Welcome pack etc. I always go for the Premium Edition as it always works out cheaper than buying the DLCs separately. The 5 day early access is just an added bonus.

@Spider-Kev I was playing games back then, I had a SNES. Nintendo absolutely were a monopoly. Sega were struggling to make headway with their consoles after the Megadrive and Atari were on their death bed with the Jaguar.

As others have said, we need more players, not less. I'd like to see SEGA make a new console for starters.

@Spider-Kev Absolutely not. So according to you, only Nintendo should be making games so we'd go back to the monopoly they had in the early 90s before the PlayStation 1 came out.

Anyone watching Xbox's efforts with Game Pass this year, especially after the Tokyo Game Show, would strongly disagree with you.

As for Sony, they just need to get rid of Jim Ryan, that man is incredibly anti-consumer. PlayStation's leadership during the PS4 era was great, now it's terrible.

@sd7232 The new controller will work just fine, the "mid gen" Series X is exactly the same as the current console, just in a redesigned form. Think PS3 and PS3 Slim, it's that kind of an evolution.

I imagine support for the new controller will come via a software patch, like the ones we get now for the current controllers.

@peterandom And then they looked at the numbers and decided it's not worth it, because of where cloud gaming is being used.

In fact cloud gaming itself is being parred back as it's the least used feature on Game Pass.

Nothing, as my game backlog is big enough already. That and I'm going away at the end of the month so I'd rather spend my disposable income on souvenirs than games until I get back.

@themightyant It is Day 1 on Game Pass, the Deluxe gets you five days early access. September 6th is the official release date on Bethesda's own website, not the 1st.

https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield

Early access has been a thing for years now but you're getting worked up about it. It's not a con as you put it, as you're not just getting early access, you get the expansion as well.

I'm eager to play Starfield but I probably won't get the early access version as I'm away with family on holiday/vacation on the 1st September ( and no I can't change the date of my holiday, especially this close to the date).

I'll probably get the upgrade from standard to deluxe closer to when the expansion releases.

@peterandom Cloud gaming won't get k&m support as the vast majority of people using that feature are either on a handheld device or on a tv.

@Cashews Bit of an extreme response there. As for your choice - you don't get one, it's Xbox's OS, they can change as they see fit.

Not siding with Xbox here as I'm kinda meh with the new dashboard, having had it longer than most due to being an Xbox Insider.

I do like that I can see more of my custom background now though.

@theduckofdeath No, they didn't reject the appeal. They rejected extending the TRO. First Judge Corley rejected extending it and then the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal rejected extended it. The appeal schedule remains unaffected but the appeal itself will take months, by which time Microsoft will have already completed the takeover.

There's also no chance that the FTC could even win that appeal now that Sony have signed an contract with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation as that was the entire basis of their argument against the merger.

@TJ81 It's been sub $20 multiple times on the Xbox store. I believe I paid about $15 for it.

@Kaloudz It's very good. I don't think it's canon though. It does start off a little slow but bear with it as it will be worth it once it kicks into high gear. The last third of the game was absolutely nuts.

I've had the new dashboard for a while now courtesy of being an Xbox Insider. Not sure how I feel about it at the moment, other than it's different.

@Snake_V5 How are Sony going to have their revenge if Microsoft can just buy everything? I'm sure Sony would have tried to buy ABK themselves, but they can't afford a $69 billion purchase.

The truth is that Sony has tried to bully everyone ever since they entered the console space: Sega, Nintendo and Xbox.

The problem for them was when Microsoft stepped in, fed up of Sony's bullying tactics and decided to start buying entire publishers. First Zenimax Media and now Activision Blizzard.

Sony is now trying to fight a far bigger company with much deeper pockets than themselves.

Also Push Square haven't even acknowledged this news story yet, clearly they want to live in some sort of denial that it's finally over.

@theduckofdeath They didn't lose the appeal of Judge Corley's decision as that hasn't even taken place yet. The appeals court denied the FTC an extension of the TRO which means Microsoft can close the deal at any time between now and the 18th.

NFS Unbound does take a while to get going, making everyone grind for ages just to get to the good cars was a mistake imo, in a time when we have Forza Horizon giving us a car every time we sip a beverage.

Still enjoying it though.

@S1ayeR74 After following the trial closely, I felt the exact opposite. Judge Corley cut the FTC off at times and was very annoyed with some of their answers.

Even though this is just a TO to delay Microsoft closing the deal, the burden of proof is still on the FTC to prove their case. This the exact same scenario that the FTC found themselves in earlier this year with Meta, they lose that, so no TO, Meta quickly closed their merger.

"WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which lost a fight in court over whether Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) could buy VR content maker Within, has decided to withdraw the matter from its in-house adjudication, which was to begin on Monday.

An FTC administrative law judge had scheduled a hearing for the matter for next week, which will now be cancelled. "

@Suda52 You need to clarify your statements, you mean an Xbox console, Xbox itself is an ecosystem, which is why you can play it on a Steam Deck or a ROG Ally in the first place.

So what you mean is certain games are not "console exclusives".

@Suda52 Umm yes you did, and I quote "Just like I already said, this game is not Xbox exclusive". It is an Xbox exclusive, because Xbox is an ecosystem, not a console. When you play it on Steam Deck or ROG Ally, you're still connecting to the Xbox servers. You're still playing an Xbox game. The Steam version is virtually identical to the Microsoft Store version, bar that it uses a different save file format. The ROG Ally version is the same, it's either the Windows Store version or the Steam version, both are PC ports of the console version.

Xbox hasn't been just a console since Gen 9 started in 2020. I can play all my Xbox 1st party games on my phone, but they're still Xbox exclusives being streamed via Game Pass cloud.

@FatalBubbles Depending on the upscale technique being used, it can look as good as if not better than native 4k. FSR gets really close to native and DLSS can even surpass native, rendering a 4k image that's even less pixelated in the really detailed areas. I believe Control was one of the first games where DLSS achieved this.

Suffice it to say, Starfield is one game where I'll be playing on my gaming PC rig rather than my Series X. I might still install it on the X to show friends the eye candy.

@Suda52 You're still connecting to Xbox servers. It's still an Xbox game. Xbox has been an ecosystem for some time now, not just a console. I play the majority of my Xbox games on Game Pass for PC now, even though I own an Xbox Series X.

@InterceptorAlpha My console is always online so I can download updates, I really don't see what the problem is with career progression being online only. It's exactly the same as Horizon's weekly Forzathon events, you can't complete all of those if you're offline.

@Green-Bandit Looking at what developers are already saying about the difficulties of scaling games to Series S, adding in an even more powerful model like a Series X Pro is just going to make that process even harder.

The main issue that Xbox has right now in terms of RT performance isn't even solved by hardware, as AMD are quite far behind NVIDIA in terms of their GPU RT capabilities, hence why over on PC these new RT effects are limited to the NVIDIA 40 series (and possibly the 30 series but in a more stripped down version).

What Xbox would probably need for better RT performance is a software solution that's more along the lines of DLSS 3 which can generate more frames in highly graphically intense games.

@Fishticon "January 25, 2018: Xbox's Aaron Greenberg and Major Nelson have now confirmed that Microsoft Studios titles will be permanently available as part of Xbox Game Pass."

Both also confirmed this on their Twitter accounts. Quantum Break is only being removed temporarily due to expiring licences for some of the music, so that needs to be renegotiated first, then Quantum Break will be made available on Game Pass again.

Another recent example of this temporary removal thing was Goat Simulator (yes, I know it's not 1st party but bear with me), which left Game Pass for about a month as the deal had expired. Xbox then renegotiated the deal and Goat Simulator is now back on Game Pass again.

@Green-Bandit Actually Ninja Theory are building HellBlade II in Unreal Engine 5.

The main problem this gen is not that it's taking longer to make games, it's that developers are flat out refusing to use the Velocity Architecture features because they're too busy focusing on PS5, much to my annoyance.

As for the Xbox Series X Pro, I don't think that's a realistic possibility because last gen it was Xbox One S and then the "Pro" was Xbox One X. This gen Xbox basically made their S and X models right off the bat rather that wait until later into the gen.

There's also the very real issue of what do you do with all those Xbox Series S owners if you release a Series X "Pro" model, as the gap between the two consoles would be significant.

@themightyant It was covered in a different article but basically the always online requirement was meant to be for analytics, so they could pick up issues faster.

I personally don't give a toss about it being always online as my Xbox is always online anyway.

Darn it, Paradise Killler and Young Souls have been on my "play later" list for a while, those 12 months flew by. I'll try to complete at least one of them before they leave. Guardians of the Galaxy is absolutely brilliant so I'll pick that up in a sale at some point as I do want to replay it.

@Tharsman To be fair, I do find it laughable how much everyone is focusing on this author's apparent hate for a certain community when the UK government has just blocked Scotland's recent bill on trans rights. That is a much bigger slap in the face than anything JK Rowling can do and yet everyone is focusing on a couple of tweets.

Social media in a nutshell folks. Glad Hogwarts Legacy got a good review though as I preordered the standard edition for my Series X.

@themightyant Minecraft RTX requires an insanely powerful gpu in order for the game to run smoothly, we're talking a 3080 level gpu. The one in the Xbox Series S is nowhere near powerful enough and even the Series X would struggle. Yes FSR 2 would help but as Minecraft RTX is an Nvidia technology I doubt Microsoft would use FSR in this case.

Mount and Blade II and Atomic Heart are really strong additions for Game Pass, as well as Shadow Warrior 3 and Cities Skylines Enhanced Edition.
February is looking like a strong month for Game Pass.

@Moonglow The FTC lost in court again, this time against Meta. The judge refused to allow the FTC's injunction based on Metas evidence of why they should be allowed to close their deal to buy the developers of Supernatural. Based on that I'd say the FTCs chances of blocking this ABK acquisition don't look very good at all.

For Series X I'm guessing it's 4k at 30fps and then probably 1440p at 60fps.

The author's views are one thing. However, my biggest issue is that this game is much more expensive (again) on consoles compared to PC. So it leaves me in a pickle. It'll probably come down to performance - if the console version is locked to 30fps on top of being much more expensive that will push me towards the PC version (my PC is more powerful than my Series X anyway).

@Stocksy A bit overdramatic there aren't you?

As for me, the value of Gamepass is irrelevant because I got 2 years of Game Pass Ultimate included with my Series X when I bought it. When that runs out in January 2024 I might have an opinion on it.