Comments 605

Re: Xbox Boss Says Forza Motorsport Isn't Dead Despite 'Scaling Back' At Turn 10 Studios

Altaria_97

This is just bull**** corporate talk. Motorsport may not be "dead", but they have no plans to do anything with it in the near future. Plus using phrases like "we scaled back Turn10 Studios", "we give development teams a little more time to avoid putting them under strain", and "allows us this flexibility" is more bull****.

It's all just higher ups over-budgeting games, having bad ideas, and then firing employees when the games don't perform above expectations.

All that said, I'll remain optimistic. I'm excited for Horizon 6 and I look forward to new content for the current Motorsport. I just hate corporate talk.

Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Say About New Xbox Kart Racer Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Altaria_97

@wildcat_kickz I’d tend to agree, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is probably my favorite game of all time. But since Sonic and Sega Racing dropped in 2010, it’s really only been 8 as the stand out game. And even then it took a lot of DLC and rerelease to give us more characters and tracks, a proper battle mode, and exploits like fire hopping to be removed.

7 was solid as a portable game but nothing amazing. And World is just a mess of great things being poorly executed.

Ignoring Team Sonic Racing (which wasn’t bad, just very vanilla), the other 2 Sonic Racing titles have been bangers and it seems like this one is too. So other than 8 Deluxe, Sonic has been better imo.

Re: Talking Point: If You've Played It, What Do You Think Of The Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Playtest?

Altaria_97

I thought it was great. Much better than Mario Kart World since you can actually race on 3-lap tracks and invite friend's to a lobby. Plus the tracks aren't straight lines and are actually well designed haha.

Comparisons aside, I did really enjoy the track themes and customization. I'll definitely pick this up, just debating on which platform to get it on. Maybe PC so I don't have to pay for online... we will see.

Re: Talking Point: What Are Your First Impressions Of Gears Reloaded On Xbox Game Pass?

Altaria_97

It’s good but nothing crazy amazing. It’s just Ultimate Edition with higher resolution and textures, better lighting, and HDR. I mean it looks good, but nothing earth shattering.

Shocked they could’ve had done this to Gears 2 and 3 as well considering how, at least from a consumer standpoint, it seems like a pretty basic upgrade. I guess already having Ultimate Edition done was half the battle.

Re: Talking Point: Should Xbox Bring Back Limited Edition Consoles?

Altaria_97

At this point, no. But earlier in the generation, absolutely. XBOX was struggling to keep up with PlayStation despite trying hard with games like Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, Starfield, etc.

If they pushed more limited edition consoles (that the public could actually buy) then, I’m sure they would have sold a lot more units. Maybe nothing crazy to change what XBOX is now, but enough to a decent chuck more of console sales.

Doing it now would be neat, but given XBOX’s priority as a “glorified third-party”, it just seems pointless now from a business perspective. Especially because they’re not even trying to compete with PS5’s lower price point. They don’t care about console sales much anymore, they care about software and, even more so, Gamepass.

Re: Former Xbox Dev Claims Turn 10's Forza Motorsport Team 'Is No More'

Altaria_97

@Bobobiwan Agreed. They decided to fully “reboot” Forza MotorSport instead of building on top of what actually worked. What resulted was:

  • A 6 year wait instead of the usual 2 years.
  • Visuals that weren’t much better than 7 despite being on much more powerful hardware.
  • Live service elements meaning very little single-player career content.
  • Forced “RPG” and starting grid mechanics that killed the realism and fun of the previous cups/GP’s from previous games.

And when people complained and the game didn’t seem as well, the high-up directors just double downed on their decisions and now the studio is (effectively) no more.

Man, I really like modern gaming but Microsoft has just been upsetting me so much recently.

Re: Xbox's Matt Booty Issues Statement On Layoffs And Game Cancellations

Altaria_97

Might be controversial but I don’t care.

Years of crappy decisions from higher-ups and directionless game directors destroyed XBOX. All the devs that put in the hard work are laid off because of this.

Meanwhile, the higher-up executives (most of the people that made the mistakes) are rewarded by daddy Microsoft with the opportunity to make more money by going third-party. The Bethesda and Activision buyouts helped the higher ups and destroyed the actual developers.

Every news article I like XBOX less and less.

Re: Here's Everything That Was Revealed At The Xbox Games Showcase 2025

Altaria_97

Did any of my farfetched hopes get announced?

  • New Banjo (NO)
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day 2 (NO)
  • Spyro 4 (NO)
  • Crash Bandicoot 5 (NO)
  • More on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4 (yeah but it was a simple launch trailer)
  • Forza Horizon 6 announced (NO, but they did say some new Forza title will come next year)
  • Gears 2 and 3 Reloaded (NO)
  • Gears of War E-Day (2026 confirmed, but we saw nothing)
  • Perfect Dark (NO, completely skipped)
  • Any main series Halo (NO, but they did tease something for next year)
  • Halo Wars for the lolz (NO lmao)

So yeah, nothing I wanted got announced and the few exceptions all have caveats. XBOX just isn't the same company I used to love back in the 2000's. I know next year looks like it'll be a nice throwback year... but I feel like each year we're always saying "next year will be the year". It's hit the point where that might finally be true... but it's kinda too little too late.

I'll play Forza Horizon 6 (if that is the game they're referring to) but each entry keeps focusing less on single player and more on live service stuff I don't like. I also kinda just lost most interest in Gears over the years and I guarantee Halo will just be yet another re-release of the original, just in Unreal Engine 5 this time. Not very exciting for me, personally.

Sorry to be a Debbie downer. I know most of the games they're developing will probably be objectively good and make others happy. XBOX just hasn't done much for me this gen, which is a shame because I loved them back in the early days.

Re: Our Predictions For The 2025 Xbox Games Showcase

Altaria_97

Here are my hopes which will definitely not come true:

  • New Banjo made by Double Fine or Rare
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day 2 by Double Fine or Rare
  • Spyro 4
  • Crash Bandicoot 5
  • More on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 + 4
  • Forza Horizon 6 announced and releasing this fall OR early 2026
  • Gears 2 and 3 Reloaded coming, just releasing them all a few months for each other
  • Gears of War E-Day and Perfect Dark for 2026
  • Halo 1 Unreal Engine Remake this holiday
  • Halo "7" teaser
  • Screw it, give us another Halo Wars for the lolz