It also depends on how you hold the controller and the games you play. I have slightly big hands and long fingers, so the perfect one for full 3D control is Xbox One or Elite Series 1, but I really love the SNES/SNES Mini controller. This Xbox Nano Controller looks like a combination of that and the Wii Classic Controller, with small Xbox handles. Probably not for me, but I would love to try and check it out.

@Gabrie The ergonomics and bigger size of the Xbox One and Elite Series 1 controllers are perfect. The Series X|S and Elite Series 2 are a tad smaller.

This was the one that was leaked along with the Elite Series 3, right? Then, the latter should be revealed soon!

This is a nice addition to the Xbox library. I was a big fan of the films, but I haven't played any of the games. Is there a rewind feature in the 2D titles?

@awp69 Exactly, it's a tiny team. It's understandable that they want to test what they can do. It doesn't mean that the next games will be developed by a robot, good lord! Maybe they can improve the resolution and frame rate of old games; that would be nice.

@AI-Generation She explained when she joined Xbox that, unlike "the other platforms" (her words, referring to Sony and Nintendo), they don't have memory stock, so they cannot meet the demand. Perhaps Phil and Sarah thought that we would be playing Gears of War E-Day on the browser of an iPhone. The memory crisis started in 2025, and she joined Xbox this year. I'm sure that she would love to meet the demand and increase the Xbox user base, but they are probably preparing for the next generation now.

@NeoRatt You can change the placement of the active reload microgame and tons of other features in the settings menu.

I don't care if Mags is a lesbian or not. She finds a photo of her with her girlfriend, what's wrong with that? She is much more likeable than Kait in Gears 5, who I assume is straight. Mags cares about Lucas and that's very nice of her. If anything, I'm surprised there aren't gay or bi men in video games, at least the ones I play.

My minor complaints besides the one mentioned above, adding that I didn't like Grey —sorry— would be that the enemies focus on the human player almost exclusively. Some battles are overwhelming, even in Normal mode, because you literally can't keep track of all the attacks and don't have enough time to find reliable cover and more ammo. Fortunately, checkpoints are frequent. I imagine that a second playthrough with the unlocked upgrades and knowing more about the layout of the city would make things more manageable, even if you level the difficulty up, which I plan to do.

On the bright side, there is a huge variety in the combat, because of all the different kinds of weapons, mods and enemies, and the different altitude of the obstacles and the floor. I don't want to spoil anything, but yes, there is a lot of variety within the city, and it's not just the city. I recorded some funny clips. Is Gears of War E-Day fun? Yes, but also devastating, because it's really immersive, more than I could have imagined. I almost cried watching some cutscenes.

I still haven't played multiplayer, so this is my opinion about the campaign, played on Series X in Balanced mode on my biggest OLED TV with Dolby Vision and Atmos sound system. I recommend this mode if you have a VRR screen. I wrote a new text to avoid copy-pasting myself. I have some minor complaints but the good outweighs the bad. 😁

Gears of War E-Day is the best The Coalition has ever done and my Game of the Year. Marcus and Dom being pushed to the background was a deliberate, misguided and wrong decision, but at least Lucas and Mags are likeable. The Coalition resolved the open world better than most developers and better than themselves in Gears 5. The game is the most technically impressive game made so far on any console. Kalona is so realistic and immersive that it never ceases to amaze me, portraying Emergency Day masterfully. Spreading small enemies and short side quests across the streets between the main missions is done in a cleverly balanced way to keep the city engaging. Gears of War E-Day is a vast but cohesive shooter with plenty of creepy horror sections taking place indoors, which I love. The developers managed to introduce a deep cinematic feel in the campaign, without making the game cutscene-heavy, and they did it successfully. Because of the quality of this emergency experience, I hate the Locust more than ever before.

Side note: I have played all the games in the series, including the fantastic Tactics, but I'd say that this is the first campaign to play for newcomers and a perfect entry point.

I will probably paste my opinion posted somewhere else, but I just wanted to note that Gears of War E-Day (Standard Edition) is topping the Xbox charts this week in many countries, despite being included in Game Pass and despite Alinea's report.

The new IPs made by those studios (South of Midnight, Hellblade, Keeper, Kiln...) that are no longer part of Xbox also flopped on the other consoles/PC. It's not like Xbox is the only publisher that has made people redundant for financial reasons. I don't know what some people expect from Asha, when she arrived to do the opposite of what the previous management did. It doesn't mean that they cannot create new and more successful IPs. Actually, it might be easier to do so now. They have kept the best studios, even though some of them had roles and layers of management eliminated because they had become too bloated. For instance, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Double Fine grew up massively after being acquired. I'm not blaming those studios for growing and making whatever games they wanted to make, because that was Phil's hands-off strategy, but it did not work.

@Volsxboxford That's a very good point and a possibility. Console exclusives should boost Game Pass. We don't have official information about the performance and sales of Gears of War E-Day, although Asha said that "it enjoyed a strong start".

They are doing the maths now. If console exclusives make sense on Game Pass Ultimate on day one, they will continue. If not, Asha won't bat an eye before removing them. Only they know. We will know when the next adjustments materialise.

@KITG_Group_BrunoB Your save files will always be used with your account. It doesn't matter what kind of licence you own. The Disc to Digital licence stays on the last account that played that disc without already owning a digital licence for that game.

In many countries there is no Xbox stock at all, and it's not a temporary thing. In those countries sales are -100%. This is the result of the hardware crisis and the previous Xbox management team not stocking components, unlike Sony and Nintendo. Is Xbox taking care of their current user base and preparing for the next generation? Likely. I think that Helix should release as soon as planned, because prices won't get cheaper anytime soon, and because the important thing is to sell software and subscriptions. I still find a lot of people in Monster Hunter World playing on Xbox One. The next generation must come for the fans and high-end hardware users, but it's going to be a looong cross generation. One advantage Xbox has is that it's not a walled garden, and that the next-gen store will be the same for consoles and computers, plus the around 40m Series X|S sold.

@Coletrain @HelloCraigo Mates, I didn't realise until I read Coletrain's comment. 😂

I completely agree about protagonists Marcus and Dom being pushed to the background being a deliberate, misguided and wrong decision. In any case, is this the best The Coalition has ever done? Yes. They resolved the open world better than most developers, and the game is the most technically impressive game made so far on any console. Besides, they introduced a deep cinematic feel in the campaign, without making the game cutscene-heavy, and they did it successfully. Because of the quality of the game, I hate the Locust more than ever before. A new game taking place after Emergency Day? Yes, please.

@McKeownPlayz But only because unreliable and negative data popped up four days after its release. 😉

@Smackosynthesis The feigned neutrality and false concern are impossible to conceal.

@HonestHick I couldn't agree more. I enjoy reading honest criticism from genuine players whatever the topic, but faking concern and spreading negativity, misinformation and hatred, when they don't even own the console/games is quite sad, even more on a website for Xbox players. I mean, they cannot fool me, but I wish the more "random" and real users posted more often.

@AI-Generation I'm not a fan of open worlds when they don't make sense, e.g., Gears 5 and Metroid Prime 4, but I enjoy exploring Kalona. I wouldn't say it's "beautiful" because it's devastated, but it's fascinating and technically impressive as the game itself, and there are little missions, unlockables and collectibles to find. I feel like the city makes the missions seem more real and natural because everything is bound together. That means that varied locations and non-stop action are sacrificed. I don't mind that in this case.

@HonestHick Too many Sony fans wishing Xbox would go out of business instead of enjoying the console of their choice!

@HonestHick The difference is that Sony really needs to sell hardware in huge numbers and still some first-party games haven't sold as well as they wished despite the 90m user base, while Helix won't need to sell a lot because it will play PC builds with optimised settings. As long as Xbox consoles aren't sold at a loss, they will make sense for selling millions of subscriptions and software to console gamers, and will be profitable.

@HonestHick Absolutely right. Dolby Vision makes a huge difference.

Agreed about Forza Horizon 5 and 6, and let's not forget that most Xbox games sell much worse on PS5 than on Xbox. With a few exceptions, porting to PS5 has been counterproductive.

The future of Xbox is the console and PC combo that will soon play exactly the same games, with optimised settings on Xbox consoles.

I don't have a strong opinion about games being added to Game Pass Ultimate on day one because we don't know the numbers, but if it doesn't make sense financially and endangers games like Gears of War E-Day or Fable, I'm fine with day one disappearing.

I know that Asha is clever, so the mystery will be solved soon.

@Xboxian360 Agreed. If anything, the console exclusives will become more usual from now on. Asha believes in Xbox being a differentiated platform with exclusives (those are exactly her words), and the brand damage that was made sharing everything, because Sony and Nintendo didn't share anything, was much bigger than the sales they got there, looking for instance at Halo Campaign Evolved and Gears of War Reloaded on PS5. Of course, Minecraft and Call of Duty are platforms on their own according to her and she's right because they already were before being acquired.

AAA titles on Game Pass on day one is another thing, for sure, and we'll learn her decision about that when those announced adjustments materialise. Those adjustments will be mathematically made, depending on if AAA additions on day one are worth it or not. We'll only know the answer then.

Gears of War E-Day.

@Llamageddon Again, it's guesswork. I mean, he bases his estimations on reviews and he predicted low sales before the game launched. How ridiculous is that?

We need to wait for official figures. Halo Campaign Evolved also sold much more on Xbox than on Steam, despite Game Pass.

So far, we know that "Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2 and World of Warcraft: Forever have enjoyed strong starts."

PS: I said the same thing about Alinea when it concerned other consoles: Not even worth reporting unless for fun and guesswork.

There are no sales data.

@Llamageddon Well, according to the same source the game is doing much better on Xbox. Until Xbox reveals figures, it's all based on guesswork.

Gears of War E-Day, which is an excellent game and also the most impressive game of the generation in technical terms, I'd say. Gears of War is not another shooter, it's unique and has its own gameplay style. I love this reboot and prequel. The beginning of the campaign blew me away. I thought that the cutscene had not ended yet, but those were in-game graphics. Playing on Series X with Dolby Vision (LG OLED G4) and Dolby Atmos (Samsung sound system).

Happy weekend!

Mat makes a lot of valid points proven by Forza Horizon 6, a game that has more reliable data exposed than Gears of War E-Day. It's still early days, but I'm sure that the new Xbox is doing the maths to know what works best, day one inclusion in Game Pass versus Game Pass revenue and premium upgrades. It's impossible to know the real numbers from the outside, but Gears of War E-Day is selling well based on the Xbox Store and Steam's concurrent players charts.

Is it worth including AAA games in Game Pass on day one? The answer will be revealed when the next AAA game that has not been previously announced as a Game Pass title launches, and when the announced Game Pass adjustments materialise.

@AI-Generation Yes, that's a good guess.

@AI-Generation Yes, as I said in my first comment, it doesn't make sense to prioritise consoles and not have enough units to sell, so my conclusion is that it's because of the previous CEO not prioritising them plus the components' crisis. Asha said that the other platforms had a components reserve, but Xbox did not.

In other news, Sonic Racing Cross Worlds just had the price of its editions massively reduced. The basic version is almost 50% cheaper now without discount. The price of the Digital Deluxe Edition and the new Year Two Digital Deluxe Edition are also significantly lower. It's arguably the best "kart" racer of the generation!

@Millionski Right, but the problem is not Windows because that's what Xbox One and Series X|S use (and what Steam emulates), but how comprehensive and bloated Windows have become over the years on PC. As we speak, they are working on the same stripped-down version of Windows optimised for gaming. Don't imagine a console running a bloated version of Windows (who wants that?), but a PC running the console version of Windows, and the problem of sharing the operating system and running the same games becomes an advantage. That's what they must do, and I know you are saying that because they haven't reached that point yet. I guess that the data collected on Rog Xbox Ally X and PC on Xbox is invaluable!

@Millionski I know some people are obsessed with the hypothetical death of Xbox no matter what, but regardless of how many people buy Helix, the Xbox library and ecosystem seems the safest in the long term. Xbox just needs to keep improving the experience on PC and handhelds, and make Helix appeal to console fans. Yes, consoles will be expensive, but PCs will be more expensive. Also, like you and others said, the next generation will be another cross gen. So many casual and average players out there, in terms of the hardware they play on. I still find lots of Xbox One players in Monster Hunter World. The most important thing is to keep the high engagement of Xbox users and keep selling the software and/or subscriptions.

@AI-Generation The Xbox lineup this year has been excellent! 😊

Xbox has amazing features: free and enhanced backwards compatibility (not making you pay again like other platforms), FPS Boost, Quick Resume, Play Anywhere, Disc to Digital... I like how comprehensive and easy to navigate the user interface is, how you can filter and order libraries, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos... It's the best console to build an expansive library of games where digital rights are properly respected. Game Pass will be adjusted until they find the right balance, but it's the gaming subscription which offers the best value, and optional, so you can still buy the games.

Xbox is prioritising consoles and their users again, and that's great to see. That said, Xbox consoles are sold out in many European countries. All the console manufacturers face new challenges, but Xbox (leaving Microsoft aside for a moment) didn't even secure components for the following months, unlike Sony and Nintendo. I hope that they find a way to solve all these challenges.

I think that the Xbox app is much better visually than Steam. It's more elegant, cleaner and much nicer. It also has full compatibility with Windows games. That said, no wonder they are working hard on improving Xbox on PC in terms of performance before the next generation comes, as the store will likely be shared between PC and Xbox. It took them a very long time to take PC (and Steam) seriously. The boost to Play Anywhere is also nice, especially the addition of third parties, although there are still games that need to be added, all the first-party titles, at least. The foundations are solid, but there still work to do.

Anything to keep these masterpieces popular is fine by me. I hope that we get proper remakes. I mean, Banjo and Kazooie are some of the best characters ever made, and a hilarious duo! I hope that Asha realises that.

@McKeownPlayz I'd say that Gears of War E-Day is the most impressive game of the generation, technically, but I also love the horror vibes and the focus on the essence of Gears of War, without overdoing characters like 5.

@BeastfromtheEast Playing the campaign solo is a must, but most of all, because of some horror parts that are best experienced slowly and alone.

@RiverGenie Back to Forza Horizon 6, my (possibly wrong) bet is that the first expansion is a throwback and the second nighttime urban racing.

@AI-Generation @Mr-Cage It's only the few that waste their time sharing complaints, and most of them don't play the games they complain about but something else on another console, like the ones saying that Xbox has failed to release great games for a very long time. Now it's not the most appropriate time to say such nonsense.

@theduckofdeath Yes, Halo Season 2 picked up the pace. The action scenes are also great! The producers said that they would like to make a third season. @Markatron84 I didn't know that Netflix got the rights, I watched it on Paramount. Perhaps Netflix will fund the third season...

EDIT: ...or not. A Bing search based on Forbes returned this:

Halo is now streaming on Netflix and performing decently in the Top 10.

However, there is no official plan for a season 3, and no insider reports suggesting Netflix is developing one .

The article stresses that this is “just a licensing deal”, not a pickup or rights transfer.

@Markatron84 I know that some Halo fans complained about the TV series. Even I, who like Halo but am not a huge fan, disliked certain episodes and characters, but because of John and Dr. Halsey, who are portrayed by incredibly good actors and have an interesting script, the two seasons are completely worth watching, and I would like a third to be produced. I can't say the same about Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Galaxy. 😂

I still need to watch (and play) Fallout.

I watched The Last of Us with a friend. We liked the first and hated the second season.

@McKeownPlayz The beginning of Gears of War E-Day is so impressive that I thought that the gameplay section had not started yet and that it was the ending of a cutscene. I was genuinely blown away like I hadn't been in a long time.

Well, Sony and Nintendo are cleverly using their IPs like this, expanding their popularity in the process, so it makes total sense. All that Xbox is doing this year is headed toward making a more dense and selective universe. Xbox seems more focused than ever before. I hope that popular and dormant IPs are included progressively, but I understand they can't make everything at the same time. We are getting Fable soon, and that's awesome.

@Stocksy Because it was not a rumour but news on The Verge.

@Dodoo There are no games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Xbox needs something like this, with the difficulty set by objectives among other aspects, the spy gadgets, the music!

We know that The Initiative was a messy studio and I'm not sure that new Xbox would hire a third party (Crystal Dynamics) again, but there are other Xbox studios that could pick this up and make a proper Perfect Dark. Machine Games, for instance. They made one of the best adventures of the generation, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

I've said this before, but State of Decay 2 became an excellent game after many updates. I'm happy they manage to handle themselves. I'm sure that this will be a hit on Game Pass.

State of Decay 3 has been in development for a very long time. No wonder they don't need to scale it back now.

I said it before, I would like Xbox to work on other IPs, because we got several Forza Horizon games relatively quickly while other IPs haven't been tackled since Xbox 360, but now I cannot complain because they are making Fable. It's still impressive that they were working on two AAA games at the same time, although I think they have two different teams.

Back to racing games, it's one of my favourite genres, but the part I like the most is circuits. You can have great circuits using an open-world game, and the Forza Horizon games do, but not as many as I would like compared to other events. Some of the campaign/story events are fun, too. Besides that, I suck at drifting in this series, so those were the events I couldn't master since the first I played, 3.

The official statement is difficult to understand, but also difficult to write because GTA is not theirs.

@AI-Generation It looked like something extra on top of the Netflix preview (replacing a cinema trailer?) and Sony's marketing deal, you know, as if they were not going to sell the game anyway, although the level of hostility towards Xbox and its services from some people is beyond compare. I understand what you mean about exclusivity, that's a fair point, but I expected this to last just a few months, like their Game Pass deals. GTA V was in and out of Game Pass almost like a long trial. This looked like a similar thing but limited to Cloud.