You know Sega's myopia for Sonic is bad when, upon actually releasing an IP that ISN'T Sonic, they feel compelled to insert him into it. They don't even trust their other IPs to be able to headline their own games anymore.
Just trust your consumers for a change, Sega; you know, the ones you gave all of those token "feedback" surveys to but never delivered beyond that. You have so many truly incredible franchises that have been sitting and collecting dust for years or decades now. That's not an indicator of lack of interest by consumers; it's because your own higher-ups aren't interested in anything but playing it "safe". And as someone who remembers the innovative and risk-taking console maker from back in the day, you've only yourselves to blame for the change in public perception.
@blinx01 I simply clicked on all of the white icons that run across the top of the screen to make them go dark; each one turns off/hides an element of the HUD. If you aren't already doing so, having "All Assists On" is a HUGE pain-saver as well if you're a noob at this like myself who just wants to fly around and take screen captures. Of course I also have been playing mostly from an exterior view so I can take screenshots as you've said.
Some stuff is less than intuitive, but I guess that's to be expected with such a simulation-heavy title.
Still going to wait for the reviews (although I anticipate high scores) that go into detail regarding performance. Looks like a great sandbox to just lose yourself flying around in, though.
This has been my core issue with GamePass from the very beginning, and why I will personally NEVER subscribe to it or any other subscription model. Just like most other online business models, it's weaning consumers off of the idea of any semblance of ownership or control. And in turn, some of their most basic RIGHTS they had back when this great hobby was still outside the "mainstream", all under the guise of convenience.
@antstephenson I agree on our respective positions not leaving room for any further discourse (that isn't an attack against you by the way; our opinions on the subject are simply different). Where you apparently see a "hateful" icon, I see one of the most popular TV show cars of all time, and neither the car nor the show as a whole promoted hate or racism of any kind, EVER. In my humble opinion neither it nor many of the things that have been "canceled" over the past year-plus really deserved it.
Again, I realize your position is different, so I will leave off there. I will, however, leave you with a thought of my own:
When you said Microsoft was "protecting their baby", what exactly would they be protecting it from? The perception or outrage of a mob, many of whom have probably never even played a Microsoft product? If they had done and announced NOTHING regarding the removal of the General Lee mods, would it have made any difference whatsoever?
@antstephenson As I said before, placing one of the mods in your copy of the game was always optional; if an individual didn't want to see a Confederate flag they never even had to open up the '69 Charger's user mods in the first place.
Let's take the Confederate battle flag out of the equation for a moment and imagine this could be ANYTHING of a pre-existing nature (as these mods were) that a particular group claimed as offensive, for any reason. Would you rather A) give people/consumers the option to choose whether they wanted to include it for themselves as was the existing case, or B) arbitrarily decide what's "right" and "best" for everyone by taking them away completely? Which of those two options sounds more like freedom?
I realize there are people with differing opinions on the matter, and I too am not out to unnecessarily offend or attack anyone, but in my book cancel culture is a very slippery slope where what's being deemed "offensive" and removed/censored almost entirely depends on race and/or sociopolitical affiliation. Many of these same people (particularly "intellectuals" on places like college campuses) claimed to despise ANY form of censorship only 20-30 years ago (meaning before most of those championing all of these "changes" were even born or old enough to remember anything being different); the difference is what's occurred since they achieved enough political power. What's happening is far, FAR worse than anything the Confederate battle flag might ever have represented in its implications (if you don't believe me, just read the remarks of certain "lecturers" at Ivy League and other campuses over the past year, and compare CRT through the lens of a certain regime in 1930s Europe who indoctrinated their youth to vilify a certain demographic).
But back to the topic at hand. If everyone who gets on some high horse about the General Lee or whatever was genuinely serious about avoiding anything that offends any person/group, we'd all end up with a lot fewer games to play, movies to watch, books to read, etc.. And of course THEIR typical response is "If it's that offensive to you, you can simply choose not to buy/play it", or "There are plenty of other available options"...even as we're seeing movies, TV shows, brand labels, books, etc. that THEY don't like being removed, shades of the very worst 20th Century regimes.
And yes, I realize that I've written all of this concerning a fictional car on a retro TV series, but it's only one of countless things that have been arbitrarily removed without so much as a public vote, consumer feedback, or anything else than a "narrative" given as a reason, so the core issue is MUCH bigger and has MUCH further-reaching implications. If a rule can apply to one "offensive" set of material, then why is the ground not level on the subject? Again, give every person the freedom to decide for themselves what they like or don't like, what they want to "include" or don't; don't take those options away from them that have been there for years or even decades which nobody even complained about until some eerily familiar sociopolitical movements suddenly began arbitrarily deciding for everyone. You might argue the morality of it one way or the other, but the option to have or ignore is a lot more free than having no option at all and either the State or a particular group dictating what's right or wrong and how to think.
Still not happy with Microsoft for caving to cancel culture and removing all the General Lee mods in the games. I understand that people's opinions may differ, but A) to me and countless others it was an iconic TV show car from the 70s and early 80s and nothing more, B) there is an ENDLESS list of stuff in games that a given person might find offensive for some reason, and C) the mods were always optional and never an integral, unavoidable part of the game.
Videogames are supposed to be about fun and escapism, and Forza Horizon in particular has always been about freedom, customization, and the unique experience for each individual user. Stuff like politics and censorship that intrude on such an experience, especially when they're arbitrary and leave users NO choice to decide for themselves, tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.
@FraserG There's only one thing that might well get in the way of such a development: the BUSINESS MODEL of modern, online-enabled games. You can trace the sudden drop in the number of things like splitscreen, local multiplayer modes, map editors, bots, etc. in game genres across the board (in some cases, even the existence of single-player campaigns) to when online functionality went mainstream. Developers (especially the "AAAs" like EA and Activision) began experimenting with their progression of increasingly draconian practices including map packs, paid DLC, Season Passes, Loot Boxes, Always Online, etc. around the PS3 era, and anything that didn't allow them to gate and control the user experience after the original point-of-sale was considered obsolete. Even the beloved TimeSplitters franchise was shelved after being snapped up by EA, and Halo 5 eschewed local splitscreen entirely, citing "technical limitations". It's probably at least part of the reason we haven't seen a follow-up to the amazing ModNation Racers despite that game's plethora of paid DLC; everything's become about perpetual revenue streams. The truth of the matter is that, despite having the most powerful console hardware and the biggest, highest-definition displays in the hobby's history, any time users were spending on map making or playing against friends and bots locally was seen as money and control down the drain.
In recent years those methods have relaxed a bit (in many cases due directly to gamer backlash); some IPs like CoD now employ bots as a means to fill out maps, especially for folks who prefer to avoid the often toxic online experience. And the announced return of TimeSplitters is a breath of fresh air (so long as they don't mess with its core formulas like the Map Editor, bots, and local splitscreen focus). Having bots even in Academy Mode for Halo Infinite is certainly a start, but rest assured, its addition for other modes within the game are in no way guaranteed. But here's hoping.
Ubisoft: D (Only Mario & Rabbids: Spark of Hope kept it out of "F" territory, and just barely. We've seen everything they showed only about a million times already. Microsoft: C Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 showed off the new hardware well. Starfield doesn't count because it showed zero gameplay. The rest was nothing we haven't seen before across multiple previous generations. SquareEnix: Hard "F" What was there stank like rotting poultry Capcom: Hard "F" The whole thing was a commercial for existing or already well-documented products
I'm looking for Nintendo to have the best overall showing this year, but I'm tempering my expectations there as well. I DON'T expect a "Switch Pro" reveal with all the existing chip shortages despite all the rumors and supposed evidence. Hopefully there will be enough games announced for the rest of 2021 to make up for any perceived disappointment on that front.
E3 is about showcasing upcoming games. Doing an extended commercial for existing products is a waste of everyone's time...assuming they even bother to sit through your presentation (for the record, I didn't). Oh, and those alternating camera angles where the hostess wasn't even looking at the viewer half of the time was downright bizarre.
@xMightyMatt14x Let's hope so. If nothing else, we have TimeSplitters to look forward to on that front (assuming the devs don't mess with its formula in all the wrong ways).
Bot matches!!? Have 343 finally learned that empty servers equals a dead game? That the Forge REALLY could have used bots from the get-go?
If I can play against bots (especially if they can be incorporated into local multiplayer), I'll probably never want to play online again. No more people who eat, drink, breathe, and sleep the game running circles around you or high-pitched, underage voices spewing constant profanity and vitriol definitely has an appeal for me personally.
But of course they'll limit bots to the Academy. Sigh.
A hard "C". While Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 look excellent and the latter especially really shows off the power of the new hardware, everyone knew they were coming. I don't count trailers without gameplay (Starfield) toward a grade one way or the other. As for the rest, let's just say that FPSes, open-world, post-apocalyptic, and zombie games have been done do death for multiple generations now, and between that and a slew of visually unimpressive Indie titles, there frankly wasn't much to show that the XBox Series X/S has to offer that's any better/different than before. Sure those tropes may still sell, but the industry feels like it's been stuck in a creative rut for a LONG time now.
Iconic RPG and SRPG IPs like Shining Force, Dragon Force, and Skies of Arcadia need proper comebacks as well as a compilation of Sega's huge catalog of Arcade machines. It concerns me that they apparently aren't mentioning any of these among the IPs they are "looking at".
@PhhhCough Licensing issues are definitely a problem in the hobby's long-term interests. The solution could be as simple as making such agreements (such as music tracks or licensed IPs, like Ferrari or Marvel) apply in perpetuity. The asking price to do so would no doubt be higher, but would prevent games like the Forza Horizon series to be taken off the store. As for existing retro titles like OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast, hopefully somebody at Microsoft, Sega, Ferrari, or wherever can make it happen, if for no other reason than because they're awesome games which would still be appreciated by gamers. Not saying that I expect corporations to ever behave in anyone's interests other than what financially benefits themselves, but then good PR never hurts the old bottom line, either.
Right now Microsoft is leading the way in terms of BC, hands down. That said, there are still some games I would love to see get the BC treatment that haven't yet had it:
1) Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics XBox 2) TimeSplitters 2 XBox 3) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect XBox 4) OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast XBox 5) Namco Museum Remix XBox 360
I'm still not sold on this. The city is apparently as flat as a pancake going by the trailer, necessitating that Jump button that I personally feel negates the exploration and experimentation of the original Crazy Taxi (I've heard later CT games implemented a Jump button, but I never played them and, even watching them in these trailers, the whole concept feels lame). Also, Generic City would be a fitting name for the locale; this one feels like yet another bland knock-off with no real soul of its own.
The reviews for this one should be interesting. Maybe some will love it, but I'm anticipating some solid 6 or 7s on average, if that.
@KelticDevil This is a huge reason why I would love for Halo to add bots with adjustable/adaptive settings. As an incurable southpaw (thanks to the arrangement of the N64's analog stick for GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark), I'm at a natural disadvantage when it comes to jumping and other maneuvers where I must momentarily take my right thumb off the stick. I've never been great at Halo to begin with, but I had so much more fun and hours put in with friends and family via local split screen, especially when we had bots to fill out the rosters (both in Perfect Dark as well as the TimeSplitters series). Bots would also immensely benefit Halo's Forge for a ton of reasons, from playtesting maps to simply having anyone available to play them with.
Getting downright embarrassed by total strangers online quickly kills my enjoyment of playing Halo or any other online FPS (normally I play mostly JRPGs and turn-based strategy titles, but I also still delve into a wide variety of other genres). I share StonyKL's frustration regarding how I can empty entire clips into opposing players only to get one-shot in return while they're in the middle of a jump. I just don't have the time or motivation to invest to get to where I am playing at that level. Microsoft/343 has implemented "casual" matchmaking to help less experienced players out somewhat, but when you come back to a game you may not have touched in months, even novices can run rings around you.
From a business perspective, I realize that bots got shelved by developers as a means of forcing online multiplayer (and more lucrative subscriptions and other often questionable business models), but they serve a practical purpose. It would be great if 343 would finally give players the option to play with them.
I realize that not every new console can launch with a "killer app" like Halo: Combat Evolved or Zelda: Breath of the WIld, but first-party exclusives are a huge deal in prompting many consumers' console buying decisions. They may both be selling like crazy, but perhaps both the Series X/S and the PS5 would have benefited from A) more time to work out their respective technical kinks (especially the latter platform) and B) each had at least one such system-selling, original title to go alongside it, as opposed to rushing them out the door to make a Christmas sales window during a COVID-ravaged year. With the delay of Halo: Infinite, it might even have been better to hold off the Series X/S until next fall in some respects. Not saying there won't be any other great games coming between now and then, but when backwards compatibility is arguably your biggest sales pitch at the launch of a new console, it's a sign you maybe should have waited a bit (and I say this as a huge fan of BC).
I had several awesome captures saved of jumps I made with both the General Lee and K.I.T.T. skins in FH3. Unfortunately they removed the General Lee mods from all their games to appease groups who probably never would have used those skins anyway; they would have been great to use with something like this. Censorship stinks.
And no, I don't believe the General Lee is/was racist in any way or intent; why does a small segment of the population who wants "freedom from" whatever they declare "offensive" to them get to arbitrarily dictate for everyone else what we get to have, say, or enjoy without so much as a public vote? I could name any number of things in various videogames or entertainment media that I personally find offensive, but I'm not out to get them removed, either, because the door of freedom and tolerance is supposed to swing both ways.
Microsoft/Playground Games took the choice out of users' hands and took sides with anarchists, looters, arsonists, and murderers like the rest of Big Corporate at the direct expense of law-abiding citizens and their own consumers who just wanted to emulate an old favorite TV show in a videogame. I personally don't care what side of the political spectrum you stand on or what "cause" you claim to believe in; the moment you destroy lives or property (private or public) and violate the Constitutional rights of others or you're willing to turn a blind eye to those who are in support of your "cause", you lose all legitimacy and sympathy where I'm concerned. And if these companies genuinely tried appeasing every group the way they're coddling to certain very specific ones, there would be very little content of any kind for anyone to enjoy. Is that the kind of world we want to live in?
Didn't mean to rant, but this has been eating at me a lot. This is about a whole lot more than just a skin in a videogame, after all.
It's as if Micro$oft is actually trying to push people away from XBox Live Gold to Gamepass. I came to terms long ago with the fact that Gold was A) a gateway to play online (which I very, very rarely do, and only with the likes of Halo) and B) a means to get discounts off of games periodically; the free GWG games almost completely stopped being worth the space in my storage way back.
On the other hand, I know that people all over these forums and others are singing the praises of Gamepass, but it will never be for me. I don't care about the vast majority of games, even the so-called "AAA" titles, just a select and small percentage of games that catch my interest. And if I'm interested, I buy them to keep "forever" (a term that Micro$oft and other mega-publishers want badly for consumers to forget; just read their EULAs where they refer to these $60 products we legally purchase as "services"). That doesn't mesh with a subscription service where they can pull the plug on a game from their end at any time. Mileage may vary by the user, of course, but it's just not for me; in fact if subscription/streaming models ever become to sole way to access/play videogames, I'll walk away from the hobby and never look back.
Given the file sizes of many current-gen games, even with the (very expensive and proprietary) expansion storage it's very feasible that many folks are going to be running out of space before too long. Better hope the prices come down and larger storage options are offered.
Sony said similar things regarding their proprietary storage for the Vita, if memory serves. Not necessarily saying anything as grandiose as that this will doom the Series X, but it didn't go over well due to the costs involved for consumers. I get it; Microsoft wants to market this console as the "most powerful/fastest" of everything, and they've created two tiers (Series X and Series S) for buyers whose financial or technical (mainly their displays) limitations won't allow as much. It's just that proprietary hardware historically tends to rub folks the wrong way.
GameStop's trade-in values have always been notoriously low; they buy pristine copies of games for a handful of dollars that they immediately turn around and sell often within $5-10 of the current full retail price. Used games and hardware exchange has been their primary business model all along; it literally is what single-handedly kept them in the black for so many years.
If you want more return on either your used games or hardware, I highly recommend that you go with eBay. Simply look at the going rate for the item you're going to list, choose your price (in my personal experience you'll save a ton of time by making it a "Buy It Now" as opposed to an auction), and wait. None of these brick-and-mortar game stores or other places like Best Buy that do trade-ins will ever give you close to what they're really worth.
I don't know whether Microsoft reads this particular website or would see this thread (I hope so!), but here are just a few titles (mostly original XBox) that I hope will be added to the BC list:
1) Afterburner Climax 2) Namco Museum Remixed 3) TimeSplitters 2 4) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect 5) Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics
@abe_hikura My first thought upon reading the headline was the Vita. Proprietary storage at that price? It would be an immediate deal-breaker for a lot of people. And let's not forget that 1TB frankly isn't that much in today's modern console world to begin with.
They need to get some games that are actually worth investing in the existing "next-gen" model first. When you take into consideration the time between the XBox One X's release and the upcoming launch of the Series X, especially when put alongside the actual number of major first-party titles that took advantage of the former's features, I imagine that a lot of the folks who bought one feel a bit gypped right now. That makes two $400 or $500 investments in what, two or three years, give or take? Maybe good for M$ if enough people are gullible enough to fork over that kind of money that often, but most consumers can't afford that, especially in a COVID-ravaged economy.
I already planned to wait until more games I care about playing are released before plunking down that kind of cash, and I'm sure the Halo Infinite delay will add a lot more people to that category. I also am waiting to see how Microsoft's backward-compatibility promises develop before taking them at face value, let alone getting rid of my XBox One.
If you purchased the Ultimate Edition physical version and wanted to pick up the digital to back it up/replace it, would you need to repurchase all of the DLC you got with the physical version? If so, that seems cheap on Microsoft's part.
I voted "It Depends" because, while of course I'd rather have free multiplayer than "free" games I'd have to purchase permanently anyway (and I give the majority of the offerings on Gold a hard pass because they'd just be dead weight occupying space on my hard drive) should my $60 annual Gold subscription lapse, there's the caveat of where GamePass might lead Microsoft's business model in the future. If offering free multiplayer is a Trojan Horse to get consumers trained on the idea of no longer owning their games via a subscription model, then a day could come when they suddenly pull the plug on purchasing games altogether. That would be the day I walk away from the hobby I've loved and supported since the Atari 2600, make no mistake.
Personally, I have no use for GamePass. I know which games I want and prefer to purchase/own them permanently (as much as possible in today's EULA-dominated hobby). In a scenario where I never had to pay an annual fee for either Gold or GamePass to enjoy online multiplayer, I'd be a happy camper.
I think that part of the reason is that Halo has always had a particular aesthetic approach. Make it too gritty or full of browns/grays and you might achieve a more photorealistic look, but at the cost of looking and feeling like Halo. For what it's worth, the game looks fine to me. I never expected it to showcase the end-all, be-all of Series X's visual capabilities. The truly great franchises always prioritize gameplay and mechanics first, and as Microsoft's flagship IP, that's exactly where it needs to be.
@Olliemar28 I think the absence of Perfect Dark was a big letdown. No gameplay for Fable definitely docked some points. I'd personally rather have seen Forza Horizon 5 as opposed to the core Forza. And overall, the presentation badly needed more variety, as I mentioned in my previous post. Just way too many games where a gun is your primary means of interacting with the world, as well as the well-worn dystopian/post-apocalyptic trope. Again, I know Microsoft wants to show off all the technical, photorealism stuff their new hardware can do, but there's still an appeal to games that look, feel, and play like videogames and are family-friendly.
It was all downhill after Halo: Infinite. Just like too many E3s over the past decade, I found myself repeatedly thinking, "Oh, a game with guns/where you kill things/that's dark and dystopian/that wants to be a movie, how original".
While Halo itself obviously has some of those qualities, it still feels and plays like a videogame; the action is fast and comparatively light on (realistic) gore and excessive profanity (not counting online multiplayer, which is why I really hope local splitscreen multiplayer will make a return). Fable MIGHT be interesting given Playground Studios' track record, but no gameplay shown. And overall, none of the "different" offerings on offer (even Psychonauts 2, which I was looking forward to seeing, and PSO, which just doesn't feel the same as the Dreamcast originals anymore, in a bad way) appealed to me.
I'm not going to invest in a new console just to play one game, so holding off until later is a pretty easy decision for me after viewing this.
Microsoft probably wants gamers to think so (and so do all the "AAA" publishers who are talking up $70 games next-gen to push consumers in that direction). But games-as-service means ZERO rights for the consumer. No ownership despite legally paying for the PRODUCT you non-refundably purchased. No control over what you can access or when the plug might be pulled, resulting in all the time and money you've invested dissolving in smoke.
I am an Xbox LIVE Gold member and have been for years. While I personally think the service is a mixed bag (there are many months where I don't bother with any of the "free" games on offer), online-enabled titles require it. But a subscription-only model is where I draw the line; I'll never sign up for one even if it eventually closes the doors to the hobby I've loved since the Atari 2600.
Right now a lot of folks seem to think Game Pass is a great deal, and if you understand the long-term ramifications of where it's headed and can accept that, that's your call. But don't forget that once the bridge of being able to physically purchase or own games is behind you, these companies will burn it, and then you'll be at the mercy of yet another round of increasingly draconian business practices that devalue your investment while simultaneously raising the cost. Game Pass will be the same as every program that came before it; all the things that made it so attractive will be slowly and methodically reduced or phased out.
@mousieone It's possible that Nintendo is simply waiting to make a joint announcement. Nothing has been said or done that would prevent this from being the case, and as you said Nintendo has a reputation for being tight-lipped right up until official announcements. But again, my post along with anyone else's is just speculation, and we'll all learn what it is in a few days.
Again, many people are missing the importance of Japanese pride in their culture and game design philosophy here. It is exponentially more probable for Sega or any other Japanese publisher to collaborate or join forces with other Japanese companies than with a Western one.
Why nobody seems to be mentioning the possibility of a Sega/Nintendo collaboration (as in full-on first-party support) is beyond me. As I've said before over at Nintendo Life and elsewhere, not only have these two companies enjoyed very friendly relations and collaborated on numerous projects over the years since Sega left console-making, but the timing is right. The Switch isn't hurting by any means sales-wise, but its first-party game releases have drastically slowed over the past year-plus (Animal Crossing: New Horizons was months behind schedule, and while no doubt more announcements are imminent, the new Paper Mario title is the only first-party game definitely slated for the rest of 2020).
Part of that is obviously due to the effects COVID-19 has had on the entire industry, slowing or cancelling countless projects and trade shows. But with both Microsoft and Sony releasing brand new, more powerful hardware this holiday season, Nintendo knows full well they're going to have to answer with something dynamite in order to prevent the Switch and its eventual releases from being pushed "below the fold".
Could Sega unveil a new console of their own? While they absolutely have the first-party AAA IPs to support one (arguably more than Nintendo, even), it's highly unlikely because their higher-ups made so many devastating mistakes from the 32X to the Dreamcast, ranging from disastrous marketing decisions (Saturn's early launch) to meddling in the work of their internal development teams (Team Camelot) to alienating crucial third party publishers (Working Designs) to having absolutely no copy protection (Dreamcast). In short, they bungled their way from the top of the console food chain to almost going the way of Atari. Given how averse they've been to even making anything other than Sonic-related games since then, it's almost impossible to see them taking on the sort of financial risk that a new console entails.
But a first-party partnership with the likes of Nintendo, where they wouldn't bear the risks involved in developing and marketing new hardware, is much more plausible, and the potential benefits for everyone involved...including gamers...are tantalizing. In any case, we'll all find out what's going on very soon.
It's a real shame this game apparently has so many bugs; it's going to cost it a lot of sales. Even if the developer does patch them out (which begs the question why it wasn't done before release to begin with), how would anyone know when/if it has been done? Patch notes for Indie games don't tend to make headlines on gaming sites, after all.
For anyone interested, I have the Switch version of Virtua Racing (developed by M2 for Sega) and can vouch that it's an incredible port of the original. In fact, the draw distance is actually better than the arcade version and the handling is perfect. Definitely recommended if you happen to own a Switch. Hopefully this game will have its flaws addressed so Xbox One players can enjoy a similar experience (I'd happily jump in myself if that happens).
I apologize if I came across as self-entitled; it wasn't my intention. It's just that there are still a bunch of games I played a ton of, especially on Original Xbox, which weren't added to the BC list before Microsoft's attention moved to Series X. Some examples: TimeSplitters 2 and TS: Future Perfect, Daisenryaku: Modern Military Tactics, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, Out Run 2006: Coast2Coast.
I looked up the three original announcements (E3 2015, E3 2017, E3 2019). This is a direct quote from Dualshockers following the 2019 E3: "You'll be able to play every Xbox game on your brand new Scarlett console next year." Even back in 2015/17, I distinctly remember hearing either Phil Spencer or another MS rep state that their intention was to make the entire catalog from every generation backwards-compatible.
Maybe I misheard/misread; it's certainly a possibility. And I realize your point regarding licensed titles, but in any case, I would love to see the program continue to expand on Series X so we can hopefully be able to play the aforementioned games on current hardware. No harm in that, is there?
@KelticDevil Actually they did promise that very thing when they announced the BC program. Free or not, it's a major feature for many gamers (myself included) and hopefully Microsoft will pick the program back up and continue to add more titles after Series X launches.
If a private company can accomplish this then I see absolutely no reason why a megacorporation with pockets as deep as Microsoft's can't implement it into their next console. They promised full backward compatibility for EVERY game from EVERY generation; they've yet to fully deliver on that promise, especially with regard to original Xbox titles. We're watching and waiting, Microsoft.
Disappointed. Calling members of the same development team who worked on a vastly different project a "close connection" to that project is more than a little misleading. It's like saying Destiny is closely connected to Halo because it's (originally) by Bungie, and you could apply the same thing to any development team's body of work.
TimeSplitters 2, hands down. But there are still lots of other original Xbox (and Xbox 360) titles left off the Backwards-Compatibility program that I'd like to see as well, for that matter. Don't know whether the program is taking a hiatus until after the launch of Xbox Series X or if it has been shut down permanently. I hope it's the former; I used to check the list of new games every time it was updated.
Actually they ripped off Breath of the Wild (art style and gameplay mechanics, including the parasail, hunting, and building fires), Wind Waker (sea travel to various islands), AND Link's Awakening (a shipwrecked hero waking up on a deserted island). Even the intro of the trailer is pretty much a 1-to-1 copy/paste of Link's Awakening's. If this game was any more plagiaristic I'd expect a C&D order to come in from Nintendo. Sometimes "inspired by" is just a lazy excuse for "ripped off".
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Re: Sonic & Tails Will Be Playable Characters In Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
You know Sega's myopia for Sonic is bad when, upon actually releasing an IP that ISN'T Sonic, they feel compelled to insert him into it. They don't even trust their other IPs to be able to headline their own games anymore.
Just trust your consumers for a change, Sega; you know, the ones you gave all of those token "feedback" surveys to but never delivered beyond that. You have so many truly incredible franchises that have been sitting and collecting dust for years or decades now. That's not an indicator of lack of interest by consumers; it's because your own higher-ups aren't interested in anything but playing it "safe". And as someone who remembers the innovative and risk-taking console maker from back in the day, you've only yourselves to blame for the change in public perception.
FIX IT.
Re: How To Install Microsoft Flight Simulator's World Updates On Xbox
@blinx01 I simply clicked on all of the white icons that run across the top of the screen to make them go dark; each one turns off/hides an element of the HUD. If you aren't already doing so, having "All Assists On" is a HUGE pain-saver as well if you're a noob at this like myself who just wants to fly around and take screen captures. Of course I also have been playing mostly from an exterior view so I can take screenshots as you've said.
Some stuff is less than intuitive, but I guess that's to be expected with such a simulation-heavy title.
Re: Prepare Yourself, Microsoft Flight Simulator Is Around 100GB On Xbox Series X, Series S
Still going to wait for the reviews (although I anticipate high scores) that go into detail regarding performance. Looks like a great sandbox to just lose yourself flying around in, though.
Re: Not Everyone Is Happy With Xbox's Recent Comments About Preservation
This has been my core issue with GamePass from the very beginning, and why I will personally NEVER subscribe to it or any other subscription model. Just like most other online business models, it's weaning consumers off of the idea of any semblance of ownership or control. And in turn, some of their most basic RIGHTS they had back when this great hobby was still outside the "mainstream", all under the guise of convenience.
Re: Soapbox: Forza Horizon 5 Is Going To Need To Lean Into The Series' Absurdity To Impress Me
@antstephenson I agree on our respective positions not leaving room for any further discourse (that isn't an attack against you by the way; our opinions on the subject are simply different). Where you apparently see a "hateful" icon, I see one of the most popular TV show cars of all time, and neither the car nor the show as a whole promoted hate or racism of any kind, EVER. In my humble opinion neither it nor many of the things that have been "canceled" over the past year-plus really deserved it.
Again, I realize your position is different, so I will leave off there. I will, however, leave you with a thought of my own:
When you said Microsoft was "protecting their baby", what exactly would they be protecting it from? The perception or outrage of a mob, many of whom have probably never even played a Microsoft product? If they had done and announced NOTHING regarding the removal of the General Lee mods, would it have made any difference whatsoever?
Take care.
Re: Soapbox: Forza Horizon 5 Is Going To Need To Lean Into The Series' Absurdity To Impress Me
@antstephenson As I said before, placing one of the mods in your copy of the game was always optional; if an individual didn't want to see a Confederate flag they never even had to open up the '69 Charger's user mods in the first place.
Let's take the Confederate battle flag out of the equation for a moment and imagine this could be ANYTHING of a pre-existing nature (as these mods were) that a particular group claimed as offensive, for any reason. Would you rather A) give people/consumers the option to choose whether they wanted to include it for themselves as was the existing case, or B) arbitrarily decide what's "right" and "best" for everyone by taking them away completely? Which of those two options sounds more like freedom?
I realize there are people with differing opinions on the matter, and I too am not out to unnecessarily offend or attack anyone, but in my book cancel culture is a very slippery slope where what's being deemed "offensive" and removed/censored almost entirely depends on race and/or sociopolitical affiliation. Many of these same people (particularly "intellectuals" on places like college campuses) claimed to despise ANY form of censorship only 20-30 years ago (meaning before most of those championing all of these "changes" were even born or old enough to remember anything being different); the difference is what's occurred since they achieved enough political power. What's happening is far, FAR worse than anything the Confederate battle flag might ever have represented in its implications (if you don't believe me, just read the remarks of certain "lecturers" at Ivy League and other campuses over the past year, and compare CRT through the lens of a certain regime in 1930s Europe who indoctrinated their youth to vilify a certain demographic).
But back to the topic at hand. If everyone who gets on some high horse about the General Lee or whatever was genuinely serious about avoiding anything that offends any person/group, we'd all end up with a lot fewer games to play, movies to watch, books to read, etc.. And of course THEIR typical response is "If it's that offensive to you, you can simply choose not to buy/play it", or "There are plenty of other available options"...even as we're seeing movies, TV shows, brand labels, books, etc. that THEY don't like being removed, shades of the very worst 20th Century regimes.
And yes, I realize that I've written all of this concerning a fictional car on a retro TV series, but it's only one of countless things that have been arbitrarily removed without so much as a public vote, consumer feedback, or anything else than a "narrative" given as a reason, so the core issue is MUCH bigger and has MUCH further-reaching implications. If a rule can apply to one "offensive" set of material, then why is the ground not level on the subject? Again, give every person the freedom to decide for themselves what they like or don't like, what they want to "include" or don't; don't take those options away from them that have been there for years or even decades which nobody even complained about until some eerily familiar sociopolitical movements suddenly began arbitrarily deciding for everyone. You might argue the morality of it one way or the other, but the option to have or ignore is a lot more free than having no option at all and either the State or a particular group dictating what's right or wrong and how to think.
Re: Soapbox: Forza Horizon 5 Is Going To Need To Lean Into The Series' Absurdity To Impress Me
Still not happy with Microsoft for caving to cancel culture and removing all the General Lee mods in the games. I understand that people's opinions may differ, but A) to me and countless others it was an iconic TV show car from the 70s and early 80s and nothing more, B) there is an ENDLESS list of stuff in games that a given person might find offensive for some reason, and C) the mods were always optional and never an integral, unavoidable part of the game.
Videogames are supposed to be about fun and escapism, and Forza Horizon in particular has always been about freedom, customization, and the unique experience for each individual user. Stuff like politics and censorship that intrude on such an experience, especially when they're arbitrary and leave users NO choice to decide for themselves, tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.
Re: 343 Industries Has Released An Incredible Deep Dive Into Halo Infinite's Multiplayer
@FraserG There's only one thing that might well get in the way of such a development: the BUSINESS MODEL of modern, online-enabled games. You can trace the sudden drop in the number of things like splitscreen, local multiplayer modes, map editors, bots, etc. in game genres across the board (in some cases, even the existence of single-player campaigns) to when online functionality went mainstream. Developers (especially the "AAAs" like EA and Activision) began experimenting with their progression of increasingly draconian practices including map packs, paid DLC, Season Passes, Loot Boxes, Always Online, etc. around the PS3 era, and anything that didn't allow them to gate and control the user experience after the original point-of-sale was considered obsolete. Even the beloved TimeSplitters franchise was shelved after being snapped up by EA, and Halo 5 eschewed local splitscreen entirely, citing "technical limitations". It's probably at least part of the reason we haven't seen a follow-up to the amazing ModNation Racers despite that game's plethora of paid DLC; everything's become about perpetual revenue streams. The truth of the matter is that, despite having the most powerful console hardware and the biggest, highest-definition displays in the hobby's history, any time users were spending on map making or playing against friends and bots locally was seen as money and control down the drain.
In recent years those methods have relaxed a bit (in many cases due directly to gamer backlash); some IPs like CoD now employ bots as a means to fill out maps, especially for folks who prefer to avoid the often toxic online experience. And the announced return of TimeSplitters is a breath of fresh air (so long as they don't mess with its core formulas like the Map Editor, bots, and local splitscreen focus). Having bots even in Academy Mode for Halo Infinite is certainly a start, but rest assured, its addition for other modes within the game are in no way guaranteed. But here's hoping.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Capcom's E3 2021 Showcase?
My personal take on the E3 presentations so far:
Ubisoft: D (Only Mario & Rabbids: Spark of Hope kept it out of "F" territory, and just barely. We've seen everything they showed only about a million times already.
Microsoft: C Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 showed off the new hardware well. Starfield doesn't count because it showed zero gameplay. The rest was nothing we haven't seen before across multiple previous generations.
SquareEnix: Hard "F" What was there stank like rotting poultry
Capcom: Hard "F" The whole thing was a commercial for existing or already well-documented products
I'm looking for Nintendo to have the best overall showing this year, but I'm tempering my expectations there as well. I DON'T expect a "Switch Pro" reveal with all the existing chip shortages despite all the rumors and supposed evidence. Hopefully there will be enough games announced for the rest of 2021 to make up for any perceived disappointment on that front.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Capcom's E3 2021 Showcase?
E3 is about showcasing upcoming games. Doing an extended commercial for existing products is a waste of everyone's time...assuming they even bother to sit through your presentation (for the record, I didn't). Oh, and those alternating camera angles where the hostess wasn't even looking at the viewer half of the time was downright bizarre.
GRADE: HARD "F"
Re: 343 Industries Has Released An Incredible Deep Dive Into Halo Infinite's Multiplayer
@xMightyMatt14x Let's hope so. If nothing else, we have TimeSplitters to look forward to on that front (assuming the devs don't mess with its formula in all the wrong ways).
Re: 343 Industries Has Released An Incredible Deep Dive Into Halo Infinite's Multiplayer
Bot matches!!? Have 343 finally learned that empty servers equals a dead game? That the Forge REALLY could have used bots from the get-go?
If I can play against bots (especially if they can be incorporated into local multiplayer), I'll probably never want to play online again. No more people who eat, drink, breathe, and sleep the game running circles around you or high-pitched, underage voices spewing constant profanity and vitriol definitely has an appeal for me personally.
But of course they'll limit bots to the Academy. Sigh.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Xbox & Bethesda's E3 2021 Showcase?
@The_New_Butler Thanks.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Xbox & Bethesda's E3 2021 Showcase?
If it was I didn't see it in today's presentation.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Xbox & Bethesda's E3 2021 Showcase?
I was disappointed by the absence of the rumored Perfect Dark game. Maybe it's still far off, assuming it even exists.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Xbox & Bethesda's E3 2021 Showcase?
A hard "C". While Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 look excellent and the latter especially really shows off the power of the new hardware, everyone knew they were coming. I don't count trailers without gameplay (Starfield) toward a grade one way or the other. As for the rest, let's just say that FPSes, open-world, post-apocalyptic, and zombie games have been done do death for multiple generations now, and between that and a slew of visually unimpressive Indie titles, there frankly wasn't much to show that the XBox Series X/S has to offer that's any better/different than before. Sure those tropes may still sell, but the industry feels like it's been stuck in a creative rut for a LONG time now.
Re: SEGA Might Be Thinking About Reviving Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio
Iconic RPG and SRPG IPs like Shining Force, Dragon Force, and Skies of Arcadia need proper comebacks as well as a compilation of Sega's huge catalog of Arcade machines. It concerns me that they apparently aren't mentioning any of these among the IPs they are "looking at".
Re: Reaction: As The PS3 Store Closes, Xbox Reminds Us How 'Critical' Game Preservation Is
@PhhhCough Licensing issues are definitely a problem in the hobby's long-term interests. The solution could be as simple as making such agreements (such as music tracks or licensed IPs, like Ferrari or Marvel) apply in perpetuity. The asking price to do so would no doubt be higher, but would prevent games like the Forza Horizon series to be taken off the store. As for existing retro titles like OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast, hopefully somebody at Microsoft, Sega, Ferrari, or wherever can make it happen, if for no other reason than because they're awesome games which would still be appreciated by gamers. Not saying that I expect corporations to ever behave in anyone's interests other than what financially benefits themselves, but then good PR never hurts the old bottom line, either.
Re: Reaction: As The PS3 Store Closes, Xbox Reminds Us How 'Critical' Game Preservation Is
Right now Microsoft is leading the way in terms of BC, hands down. That said, there are still some games I would love to see get the BC treatment that haven't yet had it:
1) Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics XBox
2) TimeSplitters 2 XBox
3) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect XBox
4) OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast XBox
5) Namco Museum Remix XBox 360
Re: Microsoft: We Want More Xbox Backwards Compatible Games, But It's Difficult
My personal Wish List of remaining games to add to XBox BC:
1) Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics
2) OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
3) Namco Museum Remix
4) TimeSplitters 2
5) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect
Re: Video: Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Time For The Taxi Chaos Launch Trailer
I'm still not sold on this. The city is apparently as flat as a pancake going by the trailer, necessitating that Jump button that I personally feel negates the exploration and experimentation of the original Crazy Taxi (I've heard later CT games implemented a Jump button, but I never played them and, even watching them in these trailers, the whole concept feels lame). Also, Generic City would be a fitting name for the locale; this one feels like yet another bland knock-off with no real soul of its own.
The reviews for this one should be interesting. Maybe some will love it, but I'm anticipating some solid 6 or 7s on average, if that.
Re: 343 Unveils First Look Screenshots Of Halo Infinite's Multiplayer
@KelticDevil This is a huge reason why I would love for Halo to add bots with adjustable/adaptive settings. As an incurable southpaw (thanks to the arrangement of the N64's analog stick for GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark), I'm at a natural disadvantage when it comes to jumping and other maneuvers where I must momentarily take my right thumb off the stick. I've never been great at Halo to begin with, but I had so much more fun and hours put in with friends and family via local split screen, especially when we had bots to fill out the rosters (both in Perfect Dark as well as the TimeSplitters series). Bots would also immensely benefit Halo's Forge for a ton of reasons, from playtesting maps to simply having anyone available to play them with.
Getting downright embarrassed by total strangers online quickly kills my enjoyment of playing Halo or any other online FPS (normally I play mostly JRPGs and turn-based strategy titles, but I also still delve into a wide variety of other genres). I share StonyKL's frustration regarding how I can empty entire clips into opposing players only to get one-shot in return while they're in the middle of a jump. I just don't have the time or motivation to invest to get to where I am playing at that level. Microsoft/343 has implemented "casual" matchmaking to help less experienced players out somewhat, but when you come back to a game you may not have touched in months, even novices can run rings around you.
From a business perspective, I realize that bots got shelved by developers as a means of forcing online multiplayer (and more lucrative subscriptions and other often questionable business models), but they serve a practical purpose. It would be great if 343 would finally give players the option to play with them.
Re: Halo Infinite Will Launch In Fall 2021
I realize that not every new console can launch with a "killer app" like Halo: Combat Evolved or Zelda: Breath of the WIld, but first-party exclusives are a huge deal in prompting many consumers' console buying decisions. They may both be selling like crazy, but perhaps both the Series X/S and the PS5 would have benefited from A) more time to work out their respective technical kinks (especially the latter platform) and B) each had at least one such system-selling, original title to go alongside it, as opposed to rushing them out the door to make a Christmas sales window during a COVID-ravaged year. With the delay of Halo: Infinite, it might even have been better to hold off the Series X/S until next fall in some respects. Not saying there won't be any other great games coming between now and then, but when backwards compatibility is arguably your biggest sales pitch at the launch of a new console, it's a sign you maybe should have waited a bit (and I say this as a huge fan of BC).
Re: Forza Horizon 4's Free Stunt Track Builder Looks Absolutely Awesome
I had several awesome captures saved of jumps I made with both the General Lee and K.I.T.T. skins in FH3. Unfortunately they removed the General Lee mods from all their games to appease groups who probably never would have used those skins anyway; they would have been great to use with something like this. Censorship stinks.
And no, I don't believe the General Lee is/was racist in any way or intent; why does a small segment of the population who wants "freedom from" whatever they declare "offensive" to them get to arbitrarily dictate for everyone else what we get to have, say, or enjoy without so much as a public vote? I could name any number of things in various videogames or entertainment media that I personally find offensive, but I'm not out to get them removed, either, because the door of freedom and tolerance is supposed to swing both ways.
Microsoft/Playground Games took the choice out of users' hands and took sides with anarchists, looters, arsonists, and murderers like the rest of Big Corporate at the direct expense of law-abiding citizens and their own consumers who just wanted to emulate an old favorite TV show in a videogame. I personally don't care what side of the political spectrum you stand on or what "cause" you claim to believe in; the moment you destroy lives or property (private or public) and violate the Constitutional rights of others or you're willing to turn a blind eye to those who are in support of your "cause", you lose all legitimacy and sympathy where I'm concerned. And if these companies genuinely tried appeasing every group the way they're coddling to certain very specific ones, there would be very little content of any kind for anyone to enjoy. Is that the kind of world we want to live in?
Didn't mean to rant, but this has been eating at me a lot. This is about a whole lot more than just a skin in a videogame, after all.
Re: Xbox 'Investigating' Adding More Older Backwards Compatible Games
Original XBox:
TimeSplitters 2
TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect
Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics
OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast
XBox 360: Namco Museum Remixed
Re: Poll: Are You Happy With October 2020's Xbox Games With Gold?
That hand over her mouth in the picture pretty much sums up my reaction to this month's offerings. 'Nuff said.
Re: Here Are Your Xbox Games With Gold For October 2020
It's as if Micro$oft is actually trying to push people away from XBox Live Gold to Gamepass. I came to terms long ago with the fact that Gold was A) a gateway to play online (which I very, very rarely do, and only with the likes of Halo) and B) a means to get discounts off of games periodically; the free GWG games almost completely stopped being worth the space in my storage way back.
On the other hand, I know that people all over these forums and others are singing the praises of Gamepass, but it will never be for me. I don't care about the vast majority of games, even the so-called "AAA" titles, just a select and small percentage of games that catch my interest. And if I'm interested, I buy them to keep "forever" (a term that Micro$oft and other mega-publishers want badly for consumers to forget; just read their EULAs where they refer to these $60 products we legally purchase as "services"). That doesn't mesh with a subscription service where they can pull the plug on a game from their end at any time. Mileage may vary by the user, of course, but it's just not for me; in fact if subscription/streaming models ever become to sole way to access/play videogames, I'll walk away from the hobby and never look back.
Re: You'll Get 802GB Of Usable Storage Space With Your Xbox Series X
Given the file sizes of many current-gen games, even with the (very expensive and proprietary) expansion storage it's very feasible that many folks are going to be running out of space before too long. Better hope the prices come down and larger storage options are offered.
Re: Microsoft Explains Why The Xbox Series Expansion Card Is So Expensive
Sony said similar things regarding their proprietary storage for the Vita, if memory serves. Not necessarily saying anything as grandiose as that this will doom the Series X, but it didn't go over well due to the costs involved for consumers. I get it; Microsoft wants to market this console as the "most powerful/fastest" of everything, and they've created two tiers (Series X and Series S) for buyers whose financial or technical (mainly their displays) limitations won't allow as much. It's just that proprietary hardware historically tends to rub folks the wrong way.
Re: GameStop Announces Trade-In Offers For The Xbox Series S & X
GameStop's trade-in values have always been notoriously low; they buy pristine copies of games for a handful of dollars that they immediately turn around and sell often within $5-10 of the current full retail price. Used games and hardware exchange has been their primary business model all along; it literally is what single-handedly kept them in the black for so many years.
If you want more return on either your used games or hardware, I highly recommend that you go with eBay. Simply look at the going rate for the item you're going to list, choose your price (in my personal experience you'll save a ton of time by making it a "Buy It Now" as opposed to an auction), and wait. None of these brick-and-mortar game stores or other places like Best Buy that do trade-ins will ever give you close to what they're really worth.
Re: Guide: How Do Backwards Compatible Games Work On The Xbox Series S/X?
I don't know whether Microsoft reads this particular website or would see this thread (I hope so!), but here are just a few titles (mostly original XBox) that I hope will be added to the BC list:
1) Afterburner Climax
2) Namco Museum Remixed
3) TimeSplitters 2
4) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect
5) Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics
Re: Rumour: Could The Xbox Series X 1TB Expansion Card Be Upwards Of $200?!
@abe_hikura My first thought upon reading the headline was the Vita. Proprietary storage at that price? It would be an immediate deal-breaker for a lot of people. And let's not forget that 1TB frankly isn't that much in today's modern console world to begin with.
Re: Poll: Do You Think The Xbox Series X Will Get A Mid-Gen Upgrade?
They need to get some games that are actually worth investing in the existing "next-gen" model first. When you take into consideration the time between the XBox One X's release and the upcoming launch of the Series X, especially when put alongside the actual number of major first-party titles that took advantage of the former's features, I imagine that a lot of the folks who bought one feel a bit gypped right now. That makes two $400 or $500 investments in what, two or three years, give or take? Maybe good for M$ if enough people are gullible enough to fork over that kind of money that often, but most consumers can't afford that, especially in a COVID-ravaged economy.
I already planned to wait until more games I care about playing are released before plunking down that kind of cash, and I'm sure the Halo Infinite delay will add a lot more people to that category. I also am waiting to see how Microsoft's backward-compatibility promises develop before taking them at face value, let alone getting rid of my XBox One.
Re: Forza Horizon 3 Is Officially Being Delisted Soon
If you purchased the Ultimate Edition physical version and wanted to pick up the digital to back it up/replace it, would you need to repurchase all of the DLC you got with the physical version? If so, that seems cheap on Microsoft's part.
Re: Talking Point: What Games Do You Want Added To Xbox Backwards Compatibility?
TimeSplitters 2
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
Daisenryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics
OutRun 2006: Coast2Coast
Namco Museum Remixed
Re: Poll: Would You Trade Xbox Games With Gold For Free Multiplayer?
I voted "It Depends" because, while of course I'd rather have free multiplayer than "free" games I'd have to purchase permanently anyway (and I give the majority of the offerings on Gold a hard pass because they'd just be dead weight occupying space on my hard drive) should my $60 annual Gold subscription lapse, there's the caveat of where GamePass might lead Microsoft's business model in the future. If offering free multiplayer is a Trojan Horse to get consumers trained on the idea of no longer owning their games via a subscription model, then a day could come when they suddenly pull the plug on purchasing games altogether. That would be the day I walk away from the hobby I've loved and supported since the Atari 2600, make no mistake.
Personally, I have no use for GamePass. I know which games I want and prefer to purchase/own them permanently (as much as possible in today's EULA-dominated hobby). In a scenario where I never had to pay an annual fee for either Gold or GamePass to enjoy online multiplayer, I'd be a happy camper.
Re: Microsoft Responds To Negative Feedback For Halo Infinite's Visuals
I think that part of the reason is that Halo has always had a particular aesthetic approach. Make it too gritty or full of browns/grays and you might achieve a more photorealistic look, but at the cost of looking and feeling like Halo. For what it's worth, the game looks fine to me. I never expected it to showcase the end-all, be-all of Series X's visual capabilities. The truly great franchises always prioritize gameplay and mechanics first, and as Microsoft's flagship IP, that's exactly where it needs to be.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade July's Xbox Games Showcase?
@Olliemar28 I think the absence of Perfect Dark was a big letdown. No gameplay for Fable definitely docked some points. I'd personally rather have seen Forza Horizon 5 as opposed to the core Forza. And overall, the presentation badly needed more variety, as I mentioned in my previous post. Just way too many games where a gun is your primary means of interacting with the world, as well as the well-worn dystopian/post-apocalyptic trope. Again, I know Microsoft wants to show off all the technical, photorealism stuff their new hardware can do, but there's still an appeal to games that look, feel, and play like videogames and are family-friendly.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade July's Xbox Games Showcase?
It was all downhill after Halo: Infinite. Just like too many E3s over the past decade, I found myself repeatedly thinking, "Oh, a game with guns/where you kill things/that's dark and dystopian/that wants to be a movie, how original".
While Halo itself obviously has some of those qualities, it still feels and plays like a videogame; the action is fast and comparatively light on (realistic) gore and excessive profanity (not counting online multiplayer, which is why I really hope local splitscreen multiplayer will make a return). Fable MIGHT be interesting given Playground Studios' track record, but no gameplay shown. And overall, none of the "different" offerings on offer (even Psychonauts 2, which I was looking forward to seeing, and PSO, which just doesn't feel the same as the Dreamcast originals anymore, in a bad way) appealed to me.
I'm not going to invest in a new console just to play one game, so holding off until later is a pretty easy decision for me after viewing this.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Time For Xbox Live Gold To Be Phased Out?
Microsoft probably wants gamers to think so (and so do all the "AAA" publishers who are talking up $70 games next-gen to push consumers in that direction). But games-as-service means ZERO rights for the consumer. No ownership despite legally paying for the PRODUCT you non-refundably purchased. No control over what you can access or when the plug might be pulled, resulting in all the time and money you've invested dissolving in smoke.
I am an Xbox LIVE Gold member and have been for years. While I personally think the service is a mixed bag (there are many months where I don't bother with any of the "free" games on offer), online-enabled titles require it. But a subscription-only model is where I draw the line; I'll never sign up for one even if it eventually closes the doors to the hobby I've loved since the Atari 2600.
Right now a lot of folks seem to think Game Pass is a great deal, and if you understand the long-term ramifications of where it's headed and can accept that, that's your call. But don't forget that once the bridge of being able to physically purchase or own games is behind you, these companies will burn it, and then you'll be at the mercy of yet another round of increasingly draconian business practices that devalue your investment while simultaneously raising the cost. Game Pass will be the same as every program that came before it; all the things that made it so attractive will be slowly and methodically reduced or phased out.
Re: Rumour: Sega To Rebrand The Xbox Series X In Japan? Don't Count On It
@mousieone It's possible that Nintendo is simply waiting to make a joint announcement. Nothing has been said or done that would prevent this from being the case, and as you said Nintendo has a reputation for being tight-lipped right up until official announcements. But again, my post along with anyone else's is just speculation, and we'll all learn what it is in a few days.
Re: Rumour: Sega To Rebrand The Xbox Series X In Japan? Don't Count On It
Again, many people are missing the importance of Japanese pride in their culture and game design philosophy here. It is exponentially more probable for Sega or any other Japanese publisher to collaborate or join forces with other Japanese companies than with a Western one.
Why nobody seems to be mentioning the possibility of a Sega/Nintendo collaboration (as in full-on first-party support) is beyond me. As I've said before over at Nintendo Life and elsewhere, not only have these two companies enjoyed very friendly relations and collaborated on numerous projects over the years since Sega left console-making, but the timing is right. The Switch isn't hurting by any means sales-wise, but its first-party game releases have drastically slowed over the past year-plus (Animal Crossing: New Horizons was months behind schedule, and while no doubt more announcements are imminent, the new Paper Mario title is the only first-party game definitely slated for the rest of 2020).
Part of that is obviously due to the effects COVID-19 has had on the entire industry, slowing or cancelling countless projects and trade shows. But with both Microsoft and Sony releasing brand new, more powerful hardware this holiday season, Nintendo knows full well they're going to have to answer with something dynamite in order to prevent the Switch and its eventual releases from being pushed "below the fold".
Could Sega unveil a new console of their own? While they absolutely have the first-party AAA IPs to support one (arguably more than Nintendo, even), it's highly unlikely because their higher-ups made so many devastating mistakes from the 32X to the Dreamcast, ranging from disastrous marketing decisions (Saturn's early launch) to meddling in the work of their internal development teams (Team Camelot) to alienating crucial third party publishers (Working Designs) to having absolutely no copy protection (Dreamcast). In short, they bungled their way from the top of the console food chain to almost going the way of Atari. Given how averse they've been to even making anything other than Sonic-related games since then, it's almost impossible to see them taking on the sort of financial risk that a new console entails.
But a first-party partnership with the likes of Nintendo, where they wouldn't bear the risks involved in developing and marketing new hardware, is much more plausible, and the potential benefits for everyone involved...including gamers...are tantalizing. In any case, we'll all find out what's going on very soon.
Re: Microsoft Hints At Potential For More Xbox And Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible Games
Okay, where do we go to offer such feedback? Any chance that some of those Microsoft employees happen to lurk here, for instance?
That said, here are some of my personal Wish List of additions for the BC program:
1) TimeSplitters 2 (Xbox)
2) TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect (Xbox)
3) Namco Museum Remixed (Xbox 360)
4) Daisenryaku: Modern Military Tactics (Xbox)
5) OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (XBox)
6) Kung Fu Chaos (XBox)
Re: Review: Formula Retro Racing - The Next Best Thing To Virtua Racing On Xbox One
It's a real shame this game apparently has so many bugs; it's going to cost it a lot of sales. Even if the developer does patch them out (which begs the question why it wasn't done before release to begin with), how would anyone know when/if it has been done? Patch notes for Indie games don't tend to make headlines on gaming sites, after all.
For anyone interested, I have the Switch version of Virtua Racing (developed by M2 for Sega) and can vouch that it's an incredible port of the original. In fact, the draw distance is actually better than the arcade version and the handling is perfect. Definitely recommended if you happen to own a Switch. Hopefully this game will have its flaws addressed so Xbox One players can enjoy a similar experience (I'd happily jump in myself if that happens).
Re: An Xbox Live Replacement For The Original Xbox Has Been Announced
@KelticDevil,
I apologize if I came across as self-entitled; it wasn't my intention. It's just that there are still a bunch of games I played a ton of, especially on Original Xbox, which weren't added to the BC list before Microsoft's attention moved to Series X. Some examples: TimeSplitters 2 and TS: Future Perfect, Daisenryaku: Modern Military Tactics, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, Out Run 2006: Coast2Coast.
I looked up the three original announcements (E3 2015, E3 2017, E3 2019). This is a direct quote from Dualshockers following the 2019 E3: "You'll be able to play every Xbox game on your brand new Scarlett console next year." Even back in 2015/17, I distinctly remember hearing either Phil Spencer or another MS rep state that their intention was to make the entire catalog from every generation backwards-compatible.
Maybe I misheard/misread; it's certainly a possibility. And I realize your point regarding licensed titles, but in any case, I would love to see the program continue to expand on Series X so we can hopefully be able to play the aforementioned games on current hardware. No harm in that, is there?
Re: An Xbox Live Replacement For The Original Xbox Has Been Announced
@KelticDevil Actually they did promise that very thing when they announced the BC program. Free or not, it's a major feature for many gamers (myself included) and hopefully Microsoft will pick the program back up and continue to add more titles after Series X launches.
Re: An Xbox Live Replacement For The Original Xbox Has Been Announced
If a private company can accomplish this then I see absolutely no reason why a megacorporation with pockets as deep as Microsoft's can't implement it into their next console. They promised full backward compatibility for EVERY game from EVERY generation; they've yet to fully deliver on that promise, especially with regard to original Xbox titles. We're watching and waiting, Microsoft.
Re: Xbox Series X RPG Scarlet Nexus Has A Close Connection With Tales Of Vesperia
Disappointed. Calling members of the same development team who worked on a vastly different project a "close connection" to that project is more than a little misleading. It's like saying Destiny is closely connected to Halo because it's (originally) by Bungie, and you could apply the same thing to any development team's body of work.
Re: Pick One: Which Of These Xbox Classics Would You Remaster?
TimeSplitters 2, hands down. But there are still lots of other original Xbox (and Xbox 360) titles left off the Backwards-Compatibility program that I'd like to see as well, for that matter. Don't know whether the program is taking a hiatus until after the launch of Xbox Series X or if it has been shut down permanently. I hope it's the former; I used to check the list of new games every time it was updated.
Re: Video: This Trailer For Windbound Has Serious Breath Of The Wild Vibes
Actually they ripped off Breath of the Wild (art style and gameplay mechanics, including the parasail, hunting, and building fires), Wind Waker (sea travel to various islands), AND Link's Awakening (a shipwrecked hero waking up on a deserted island). Even the intro of the trailer is pretty much a 1-to-1 copy/paste of Link's Awakening's. If this game was any more plagiaristic I'd expect a C&D order to come in from Nintendo. Sometimes "inspired by" is just a lazy excuse for "ripped off".