Benjamin

@burntends I enjoyed it much more than Fallout 3 which I played at release. It's a proper role-playing game, I maxed out speech and smooth-talked my way through major parts of quests. The Fallout TV Show is a sequel of sorts to Fallout NV. I recommend giving that a watch.

Microsoft will make poor decisions and drive the franchise into further disrepair. It was best with Bungie, it at least had a creative direction with Halo 4 but it's clearly now on borrowed time.

Welp. OG Xbox and 360 were an amazing time but I'll be relieved when XB franchises appear on all platforms. Now, if we can get Rare Replay, PGR 1-4, and Gears ported over, I can pack up the 360.

Replayed the Bungie Halo games and put 40 hours into Fallout New Vegas. (And the same for Pokemon Shield!)

The Initiative - Perfect Dark

Would like a series x for back compat but I can’t justify the price at all.

@Stephan123 But you can spend it once, over and over again, without playing the things you’ve bought. Buying multiple things in a sale is rarely a money saver. Buying something for full price when motivated to play it leads to less purchases and more fulfilling game time.

Ignore the sales. Purchase games when you want to play them. Don’t stock up and don't buy something new if you have something unfinished. Games will be more fun for it.

My favourite memory is of refunding the console because there was nothing exclusive to play on it.

It would be great for XB1, 360 and OG XBOX era games. But there’s a lot that doesn’t come to Switch due to the power limitations and Xbox doesn’t have the first party games to make up for the third party games that won’t play on handheld.

I was a bit disappointed in how little the story progressed and the confusing nature of T Zane. (New guy or retcon?!?!) I preferred the Stephen King style the first game had. Dark but fun and somehow uplifting.

Doesn’t matter if there are no exclusive games. There will be a new Steam Deck, there will be a PS6. What will these new boxes offer?

DR is one of my favourites. If there’s still a load screen and it’ mostly the same game, I’d rather play the original and maybe check this one out on GamePass some time.

In 2009 I snagged an Xbox 360 Elite with Forza 3 and Halo ODST for £200.

In 2016 I snagged a PS4 Slim with Bloodborne and Ratchet & Clank for £200.

I am yet to upgrade because my £200 + 2 games rule is still what I’m happy with.

I’m going to mod a 360 and have at it.

Halo 3
Mirror’s Edge
Skyrim

It’s a shame but the original holds up perfectly for me, so have at it new guy!

Faaaantastic!

Is anyone else unable to make purchases on this store front? I can’t add a card or use my MS Account credit on either my 360 or the website.

Would love a smaller Series X with a disc drive.

Perfect Dark was easily the highlight of the show for me and I'm optimistic for Gears. Hellblade, Avowed and Indiana Jones this year is quite strong. That sort of consistency would be fantastic.

This looks awesome. Hope it’s in good shape when it releases and 2025 would be nice.

It should be on hiatus for a while. Further stories in the Halo world would be cool (spin offs mostly) but only if a new team appears that can replicate what Staten, Marty and co brought to Halo AND if they can wade through the debacle that is the current lore set up.

ODST and Reach did such a great job of fleshing out the franchise without lore altering events. Halo 4 was essentially an ending for MC and Cortana but weirdly reignited the same covenant vs marines dynamic. Similar to Mass Effect 2, they immediately wrote themselves into a corner.

Halo 4 should have seen Chief and Cortana land somewhere brand new and completely alien, with new factions and new allies. Spin off titles could’ve continued to explore the Halo events e.g. ODST and Reach.

An Arkane game experience.

@everynowandben thanks

For those who have played the original or the remake, how does it compare to Arkane’s Prey - a game I loved?

Very cool. However, if you use a 360, you’ll soon need to use emulation to access soon to be delisted games. May as well go for it now.

A great opening hour - especially with headphones.

Prey might be the best game of that generation, Redfall is one of the worst from the current generation. A strange track record for Arkane Austin. The founder left after making Prey so perhaps there is a leadership issue. Hopefully Lyon keeps things together.

Tango seemed like a talented studio. What’s the justification to keep Double Fine going but not the maker of Hi-Fi Rush?

Why did this take 5+ years?

A real shame. Xbox 360 was the best console of the best generation so far. If MS sold it, I’d buy a modern 360 that allowed me to flip between the different dashboards and play my full 360 digital library. One can dream.

I’d like there to be no need to own an Xbox 360. Every OG Xbox and 360 title playable on modern Xbox consoles. Enhancements are secondary.

Another Xbox game going wrong behind the scenes? Is his departure the reason the game has taken so long?

I like replaying the Halo campaigns via 360 original versions. The menus, pause and loading screens are part of the experience.
Other than those I regularly play Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space 2, Splinter Cell and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

A one man institution who coloured many childhoods.

Waiting to see what the mood of this setting is like. Trailers and demos do a really bad job at setting the tone.

Every King has his fall. Let it go.

I love the Halo games and these are the best way to play them now. Still boot it up to reminisce with my buddy. In lockdown we played Matchmaking everyday. Halo 3 custom rotation. Sumo!!!!

Are the vehicle physics any better yet?

It functions just like Fable and many other sprawling adventure games. Impressive for the Switch but not an ideal way to play.

I think Baldur's Gate 3 and Tears of the Kingdom are the best games on that list.

BG3 is a daring leap for the CRPG genre much like Breath of the Wild was for the Open-World genre. Tears is standing on the shoulders of Breath, so I would give 2023 to BG3.

I've only seen a demo of Spider-Man 2 but I was impressed. It packed all the narrative and variety of a Spider-Man cartoon episode into a 15 minute mission, with great pacing and switching perspectives/characters on the fly, all whilst looking incredible. So that could well be a contender too.

Still too expensive for me. In 2008 I bought a Xbox 360 with 2 games for £200 and then in 2017 I bought a PS4 with 2 games for £200. That feels like the right price for a console to me.

Although Gears 1 is my favourite, Gears 2 was a great sequel and up there with my most played on Xbox Live. Good times.

Human expression is why I engage with art. AI generation is the antithesis of that. No interest in AI generated ideas.

@johnK I really recommend using the ‘Classic SFX/OST’. Adds so much to the experience.

AC1 remains my favourite. I had fun with AC2 and Unity too. And the sailing of Rogue was great (even if the rest of the game was weak). That’s all of the AC games I’ve played.

@NeoRatt They’re very different to me. I prefer street/circuit racing to open world racing, PGR’s driving model feels better and the aesthetic is perfect. Nothing lost by having both franchises available!

The next Killer Instinct roster is going to be interesting.

Tango and Obsidian are my top two there. They're putting out original and solid games at a good rate.

How about Banjo Kazooie and ports of the PGR series? Oh wait, Xbox has owned those IP for over ten and twenty years.