Balaam_

I hope the image at the top of the article is blurry and low res because of the phone camera quality of whoever took the picture, and that isn’t actually representative of the image quality of the device, because…yikes.

A brilliantly designed piece of hardware that never even came close to seeing its full potential realized. This gen would need to last another 5 years before we’d see it pushed to the limits. Maybe in 20 years after it’s been retro for some time we will see someone squeeze every last drop out of it, like that one guy did with 3DO recently

Expect to see more and more of this type of advertising from Team Blue. Probably most of their GaaS titles from this point forward will get a similar push. My personal hope is that some experimental titles will finally cross the great divide, since that’s as close as we’ll ever get to ‘the full slate’. But hey, I’ll take what I can get.

One of the absolute worst achievement lists I’ve ever seen, and now PlayStation players will get to feel the pain as well. I’d estimate that instead of just the ‘Seriously…’ achievement alone, one could 100% (or platinum on PS) 5-10 average sized games. This is so laughably not worth the investment. I’ve played Gears once on 360, it was decent, but not taking this opportunity to correct a bad decision like this achievement which does not respect an achievement hunters’ time means they won’t get a penny from me on either platform.

Played a bit of it on PS5 already, really mediocre stuff. It isn’t bad, it just isn’t all that good. If you’re a die hard Chinese mythology addict and enjoy soulslikes I’d say maybe give it a try, otherwise you’d be better off choosing something a bit more polished and robust.

@rhyno_888 good luck with all that 😆

It’s getting an engine overhaul “in Xbox game pass”—does that mean if someone bought the game outright that we won’t qualify for the updated version? It’s only available through Gamepass?

Their next tv dinner will offer the largest caloric leap ever.

Eager to play these, but waiting on the LRG physical preorders to go live. Would rather not purchase from LRG, but in lieu of anyone else offering a physical copy with the full games on disc it’s either lease digital code on the console storefront or buy from them and own it forever.

I get that there’s a minimum character requirement for a comment, but I do wish I could simply post the smug ‘exactly what I said earlier’ smiley face 😏

Did we even know what this was supposed to be? I only vaguely remember a logo during a showcase and that’s about it.

Is the screen shaped like a trapezoid, or is that an optical illusion caused by the ergonomic slant of the plastic shell and handgrips? I could swear the bottom of the screen is ever so slightly wider than the top, but that doesn’t make any sense 😆

Phil’s looking trim. For awhile I was low key worried about his health, he didn’t look good. Glad to see he dropped some weight, I bet he feels better too.

8bitDo makes good stuff. This looks to be of good quality, and that D pad has got to be a noticeable improvement over the one on the standard oem controller.

“What are your first impressions of Grounded 2 on Xbox Game Pass?”

Probably the same as my impressions of the game if I played it on the console without game pass? I still don’t get these article titles—the platform is Xbox isn’t it? Game pass is simply a subscription service offered on the platform. It’s like asking specifically what someone’s thoughts are on the cloud version of Grounded 2 or the ‘Xbox on pc’ version. I’d save myself the time and just type ‘What are your impressions of [insert game title] on Xbox?’

@Banjo- they literally said cpu constrained scenarios are a rarity and that the gpu metric is more relevant in typical scenarios.

They’ll be either live service titles or smaller experimental collaborative efforts like Lego horizon. That isn’t a bad thing per se, but anyone delusional enough to expect Kratos or other sad dads to make an appearance will be disappointed.

This isn’t surprising. Most of these Xbox games are of outstanding quality, and also fill niches on that platform where games of their type are lacking.

The worst thing about all of this is the nagging thought, What if these titles, both new and old, had remained console exclusives? It’s like Xbox, after all these years, finally got to the place where great games weren’t just trickling in but were arriving with consistent cadence. Can’t help but wonder if the tide could have turned without sacrificing brand identity or setting a course toward end goals the hardcore user here since the beginning has no interest in 😞

The ‘Sony’s full slate going multiplat!’ hysteria that swept the internet over the weekend has already been debunked, clarifying this post was limited to GaaS type games, licensed stuff like MLB and/or more experimental stuff like that Lego Horizon game they tried putting on switch.

Operating under these terms I’m not all that interested in any more GaaS (although they’d be smart to port that stuff as they thrive on player counts). I’m actually far, far more excited by the prospect of something niche and experimental. I would love to see one of their 1st party IP’s used in something strange and unique that ends up on this console. Imagine how awesome an It Takes Two/Split Fiction style game would be where the two protagonists are an Xbox mascot and a Sony mascot. Master Chief and Kratos in a co op adventure, something along those lines.

I like to think of relevant Terminator movie quotes at times like these. For some reason the end of T2 popped in my mind; “Will this melt in there?” “Yes. Throw it in.”

No way this is a high priority, but I’d love a Quantum Break PS5 port. Having all the Alan Wake universe Remedy games all in one place with trophies would be awesome.

It’s like a stay of execution. Prominent, big budget games will rise in price eventually to be sure, but at least it isn’t imminent any longer. Yay.

Just as a side point, isn’t this ‘in line with market conditions’ verbiage the same wording the Moon Studios guy just got raked over the coals for when citing the reason why his (admittedly lacklustre looking) game is skipping Xbox for the time being? I guess there’s only outrage when it’s perceived as bad news, and the exact same reasoning is ok when it produces positive results 🤔

The DigitalFoundry coverage of this will be interesting. These are the guys that argued why 60fps couldn’t/shouldn’t/won’t be done on console when the game originally launched, so unless they decide to ignore their previous assertion it’ll have to be addressed.

Also, new drinking game: Every time John mispronounces the word ‘basically’ as “basely”, take a drink. Or don’t. Alcohol poisoning is a serious matter.

This looks legit pretty cool. Also, can’t wait for the sequel ‘That’s What She Said’

Keeper, easily.

CoD is a game suitable for the intelligence level of the people who play it, people who are mentally stimulated by running around in circles shooting, dying and repeating. Outer Worlds is just not my cup of tea. Too much ‘personality’ and not enough quality systems and gameplay design decisions. Ninja Gaiden 4 looks awesome, but I’m fairly certain the achievement list will not be catering toward acheivement hunters, so I’ll play that on my alt when I can pick it up for $5.

…yikes. I hope this isn’t true. For these prices you’d be better off grabbing a decent pc gpu, or if you’re set on a console just grab a series X or PS5 and a Switch 2 for about that price. That rog ally with an Xbox sticker pricing is just too high for what little you actually get.

According to Copilot, Microsoft is just an anagram for Skynet

sniff sniff
Reeks of 3DO.

Double Fine is one of the few studios I don’t even question if what’s coming will be of good quality. Which is an ever increasing rarity these days. I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that the ‘let them cook’ mentality has wrought catastrophe on both Sony and Microsoft’s teams this generation, but Double Fine is truly a studio where that sentiment applies. Let them be and we will get something genuinely entertaining and in a reasonable amount of time. I’m far, far more worried about the useless waste of carbon Neanderthal executives at Microsoft screwing Double Fine over with their own stupidity than for DF to do anything out of sorts.

If anyone else had made something so bug filled, glitch riddled and utterly broken they’d have been torn to shreds. There are glitch compilation videos hours long on YouTube highlighting problems with everything from basic movement to combat to pathing ai to NPC animations to dialogue bugs to general framerate performance issues to falling through the ground to shooting inexplicably off into orbit to various other game breaking, progression halting bugs.

Starfield is Mind’s Eye in space, but because Bethesda made it it gets a free pass. Bad coding is bad coding; nail Bethesda to the wall like every other lousy developer.

Normally I’d be doing backflips over this fantastic news, but I’ll only ever play THPS on PlayStation—those games were made for that controller. No one uses the analog stick for THPS and the Xbox dpad is trash. The only worse experience was using the arrow dots on switch (although the switch pro controller’s dpad was half decent). No, this is going to be a PS4->PS5 double platinum delight.

Too bad this game has Tarkin syndrome. ‘The more you tighten your grip, the more gamebreaking bugs and glitches will slip through your fingers.’

Poll question—is it only for people who would rather rent than own? Can the people who prefer to buy the game and not go the gamepass route still vote? The way the poll header is worded is very specific, as if just playing it on Xbox alone doesn’t make you worthy enough to vote.

Every single one of you out there dull enough to have actually cheered this acquisition on and attempted to defend it as ‘good for gamers’, ‘good for developers’ and ‘good for the industry’ is partially responsible for the current state of affairs. You are the heralds of your own demise. Oh the infinite irony that Lyin’, Cryin’ Jim Ryan not only knew better, but actually tried to stop this.

I thought this was that 2D pixel sci fi game shown at one of the earliest series console showcases, but this is something different. I can’t remember what the one I’m thinking of was called, or if it ever even came out (I believe it was delayed at some point, but I haven’t heard much of anything about it after that). It looked awesome, I hope it wasn’t cancelled.

‘One we’re all wanting’ cool, we’re finally getting one that isn’t riddled with bugs and glitches. Maybe it’ll be the FO3 remake and I’ll be able to play for more than 20mins at a shot before getting stuck in the stairs, falling through the floor, or encountering one of a thousand other game breaking bugs and glitches.

Then again, if Virtuos is at the helm and they don’t fix Bethesda’s underlying garbage spaghetti code, we’ll just end up with another Oblivion Remastered situation. Same broken trash with a pretty coat of paint.

Is Gamepass sustainable? Trick question. Yes, in that Microsoft as a company can sustain practically anything they want to with nearly limitless wealth. Ah, but will they? That’s another question. They’re a business. If it isn’t worth the time or effort or investment, they won’t bother. It is rapidly proving not worth it. This isn’t even a #ColinWasRight moment, this is an #AnyIdiotWithHalfABrainCouldHaveSeenThisComing moment.

Whoa hang on. Where are all the people that crawl out of the woodwork whenever the Xbox handheld is brought up, the people that drone on about how they’re more than willing to accept technical sacrifices in favor of portability and on the go gaming? Now we’re touting the dedicated console and tossing the handheld factor to the wayside. If this was an Xbox series P for portable version being analyzed, the comment section would be all praise and any technical shortcomings would be swept under the rug. Interesting,

Makes me want to rewatch the Terminator movies just to watch a physical embodiment of ai either get squashed to death in a hydraulic press or burn in some molten steel.

It takes a special kind of person to conflate Sony deciding to publish a port of a live service game with a dwindling player count and interpret it as the floodgates are opening and we can expect ports of first party flagship franchises embodying brand recognition to hit the Xbox, especially after Sony goes out of its way to reiterate it refuses to drop its own exclusives into PS+ day and date.

I hope we get some footage of a leaked build or something down the road. As far as I can tell nothing was officially revealed, and it would be interesting to see what was so amazing and fun that they had to kill it off before it saw the light of day. And the fact it was only tangentially connected to the Bethesda name and not a Bethesda Softworks developed title meant the odds were good it wasn’t a steaming pile of unplayable, broken trash like Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallouts 3/4/76, Starfield, [insert future Bethesda Softworks title here]…

“Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C. We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement.“ -Brad Smith, President of Microsoft

If they let a bug filled, glitch riddled, barely playable broken mess of a ‘game’ like Oblivion Remastered (or any mainline Bethesda entry for that matter) on their platform, I can’t imagine Q&A was much of a focus to begin with. I personally know someone on my friends list who cannot even finish the MAIN QUEST due to a progression halting bug. Not some funny little oddity occurring, not some rare off-the-beaten-path side quest, the main-freaking-quest . That tells me no one bothered to playtest that trash, or else they booted it up, saw the production logos and said ‘good enough, it works’.

Thank goodness. I have no love for Phil and his mantra of shoving the ‘you’ll own nothing and like it’ gamepass model down everyone’s throats, but the man did do a few good things for the brand. He’s by Far the lesser of the three evils, namely himself, Booty and Bond. Better the devil you know…

For the love of god give the position to an outside hire. Poach someone competent, don’t let this role fall into the hands of that walking joke Booty or that corporate wind up doll that can barely read a teleprompter Bond. These specific types of corporate mentalities are what have dismantled and nigh on destroyed the brand value as it stands. They need the Xbox equivalent of a Shuhei Yoshida to help right the ship, if that’s even possible at this stage.

As awful as this is due to the human element involved, trimming down Turn 10 at least makes logical sense. There’s little money to be made selling games on Xbox, hence the shift to 3rd party publishing (masquerading in the trappings of ‘we make hardware too!’). There is mega profit to be made shipping titles on competing platforms like PlayStation—the problem is, while Forza Horizon sells huge numbers because there’s nothing quite like it on Sony’s machine, the same isn’t true for Forza Motorsport. They already have the premiere track racer; no one wants ‘We have Gran Turismo at home.’

Nice to see. Even nicer was the purported criteria, as per Microsoft, ”…all achievements in the title must be achievable.”

I wish they’d follow through on that and be a little less of a doormat, though. If I’m not mistaken, the same source websites True Achievements/True Trophies periodically compile lists of games with broken, glitched or otherwise impossible to obtain achievements/trophies. Makes Microsoft (and I’m assuming Sony has the same contractual language) seem impotent and toothless, unable to ensure these lazy, anti-achievement hunter/trophy hunter devs fulfill their end of the bargain.