For the life of me I can’t understand how a game like this isn’t 4k 60 on series x as standard. I wouldn’t call it a graphically intensive. And tbh I didn’t experience any performance issues with framerate during my playthrough…plenty of bugs, yes.
Said it before and say it again, I personally hate these performance options that have become standard this gen. And can see more and more ‘options’ given to use as the gen goes on. Of course the arguement thrown back at me is that “more options is good”… it’s also less reason to spend time properly optimising from the start 🤷🏻
@Moonglow I’m saying I’d personally be disappointed if after all this time, given all the games that were announced in 2021 (every one of them still yet to have a release date) that the only AAA game coming from MS studios is Forza…having invested in all these studios to finally get away from the diet of halo/Forza/gears…
Minecraft is its own separate beast and caters to an audience beyond console and gamepass. And I personally wouldn’t put Minecraft spin-off amongst AAA offerings, but then I’m not the audience for it. And have no idea if it has a AAA budget for it. So that’s an oversight by me.
The rest are Bethesda games, not Ms studio ones. Contribute to xbox output, yes. But not MS studio output in the AAA gaming space.
We’re in march now and still Forza and starfield don’t have release dates. It’s not looking like that event last June, with its bold statement/sentiment is going to age well…unless some news happens very soon
@BrilliantBill yeah this is true…we should have known then that 2022 wasn’t going how they had planned. They seriously need to do something about their marketing though. They can have every big game on their in the world…if they don’t tell anyone about it the sub isn’t going to grow by any significant numbers. It will be really interesting to see how they market the likes of redfall, starfield, and cod should they get it. Personally my moneys on little to no marketing for redfall. And 50/50 on if they’ll bother with any real world promotion for starfield. Cod though…they surely have to go get their brand back associated with it
So today we’re learning that a reported 5-10million dollars only gets 1 year of guardians of the galaxy? You have to wonder how much spending, let’s indeed say 10million, on a 3rd party game that didn’t particularly sell well (though I enjoyed it greatly), nor was day 1, resulted in how many new additional subs to equal a success story… as opposed to spending 10million on some marketing for gamepass and Xbox…a marketing team currently with the budget of running a twitter account.
@blockfight though I’ve not played this yet…I’d still suggest you start with Elden Ring, as I can’t imagine this being more accessible. Elden Ring will give you complete freedom from the start…so if nothing else, you’ll get to explore that world. Just remember you’re supposed to die in these games…that’s what feeds the addictive sense of accomplishment that makes them popular.
Oh dear, there’s going to be pandemonium on twitter - a decent 3rd party get for gp day 1 doesn’t fit the narrative. Should be entertaining.
I for one will definitely be giving this a try. The moral system sounds interesting, and a bit like the nemesis system in lord of the rings with the repeated encounters getting additional buffs. It will be interesting to see how well these type of games do in a post Elden ring world - the bar being incredibly high now…meaning expectations will be too.
You’d think with the lazy pc ports we’ve been seeing on Xbox lately stuff that’s only on pc would come to Xbox pretty effortlessly. Hopefully this comes soon
@Kaloudz Starfield would have most definitely come to PlayStation…and more than likely been timed exclusive for a year like we’ve so far seen with all the other Bethesda games that were in development for both platforms. And had that been the case not one media outlet faking concern over Xbox making Bethesda games exclusive would have raised an eyebrow - just like they didn’t with the previous year long timed exclusivity’s. Just like they don’t with EVERY high profile AAA 3rd party game that sony has marketing to that either comes with a minimum of years exclusivity, or exclusive content.
The trouble is Phil Spencer himself - he’s a talking head. And often his messaging is confusing…setting himself up with ‘gaming for everyone’ etc. which just feeds outrage on hypocrisy on the rare occasions they do actually support their own player base with exclusive content - adding actual value to the console
Love what I’ve seen of overdose…looks pretty unique - like a mix of ‘her story/yelling lies’ and silent hill. Only playing from the perspective of a half naked Hasan Kahraman. Hopefully we won’t have to wait years.
@Kaloudz I just did a video on this. Pretty sure it was Brad Smiths confusing tweet after the EU court meeting that sparked these rumours. He later clarified it was just cod in the contract for Nintendo.
I really wouldn’t be surprised though if they go back on this and announce it’s all games. Saying that, up till this recent Phil Spencer interview, I wasn’t convinced he truly understood the importance of exclusives to grow a brand (xbox)and grow competition…so who knows how this eventually plays out…short of signing away the rights to put these games on gamepass I honestly don’t know what Sony is waiting for at this stage…but they’ve played things well so far
The fact that this has even been a question to me demonstrates just how poorly xbox has been managed over the years to present such little faith in people/media. And you cant just put this down to 'media bias' like i see the xbox faithful presently doing on twitter. Brad Smith literally just showed us all how inept they've been. Now the narrative turns to 'console sales don't matter' gp growth does. And whilst they've made no secret gp is their primary platform and the end goal is to have the service on every platform. Until they are on every platform they need that console growth...which in turn leads to GP growth (don't forget that GOLD, a terrible for value service, still has over the double subs that gp has...and gold is restricted to just console).
Basically xbox really need to change their messaging and grow some faith they actually value their console for customers to see value in their console. Marketing both console and games outside of the internet would help greatly. Stopping the message of 'gaming for everyone' to a more dominant message of 'xbox is the best place to play' would also help
I’d say this was a smart clever PR move by Phil Spencer…timed perfectly to show up Sony as being unreasonable. And used as another demonstration in how ‘transparent’ Xbox is…
Only this is an Xbox ceo who tweets about how much he’s looking forward to PlayStation games after delaying everything on Xbox… It’s also a ceo who goes on about how he enjoys the ‘transparency’ Xbox have with gamers when Xbox is the only platform that constantly has gamers questioning their own value to them…
Not feeling this at all. Gameplay looks your standard shooting at bullet sponges till they drop...and repeat. It looks like the variety of Arkham games isnt really there. Frankly, i feel like i've already played this in Avengers. And then there's all the battlepass stuff etc. And I don't know if its the passage of time as we've been waiting so long, or that it has had a graphical downgrade, but even visually it no longer screams anything special
Shame as this one has been waited for for so long. At least its out fairly soon i guess
@Kezelpaso There vision for Xbox was no Xbox. Now they’ve decided they quite like our money so their vision is a subscription service. A subscription service doesn’t survive on waiting for content. They need games out regularly and consistently. And given we all know how useless MS are at getting their own games out it makes sense buying publishers who are capable of managing their games.
The other alternative I think MS should be looking into is exactly what Sony do to fill their calendar and invest more in AAA 3rd party marketing ensuring these games get put onto gamepass day 1…rather than blocked for years.
Can we even name one 3rd party AAA game that Sony didn’t/doesn’t have the marketing rights to?
@dreadful nah you’ve got it a wrong. Sony aren’t pathetic…they’re protecting their interests and winning. IT’s Microsoft and Xbox that are pathetic! Bending over backwards at the expense of what’s best for their own customers - US! This is a company that could buy Sony ten times over…yet bending at the knee. When all they need do is pay for exclusivity deals and drain them dry…for far less money than 68billion. But Phil told us from the start that Sony aren’t their direct competition. And Xbox have been telling us for years they don’t particularly care about their console or those that invest their hard earned money in it. So maybe it’s us that are really the pathetic ones…trying to convince ourselves MS care about gaming and it’s community because we fell for buying the £500 box.
If they put as much effort into putting out and marketing games as they do their controllers Xbox they wouldn’t be constantly last place. Seriously, Xbox’s priorities are head scratching
They should do it…and then buy the marketing rights to cod and put their own customers first by forgetting ‘parity’ nonsense and offering all the exclusive benefits PlayStation players have been enjoying for the last decade. As well as ensuring it still comes to gamepass day 1.
No. I honestly think after such a quiet 2022 the only game coming out of MS studios this year is Forza - a game that’s had countless delays and likely to get another one pushing it to the back half of the year, and basically confirming no hellblade 2.
@Dsswoosh I’m surprised more devs aren’t doing what the Rachet and clank devs did and aim for 40fps with raytracing. It’s a good sweet spot for visuals and performance on current hardware. But then on a whole ray tracing has been very overrated
Vr makes racing games so much better. GT7 having the full experience in psvr2 is great news after how limited it was on psvr.
Unfortunately I won’t be playing it any time soon as there’s no way im buying a headset that costs more than the ps5 itself. Ms really needs to get in on VR…place a bit more competition in the market and bring these prices down.
No release date means this is likely destined to be their holiday game this year. Which frankly is embarrassing and they shouldn’t get a pass on - not after making such a big deal everything shown in June would be out within that 12 months. It’s like it’s impossible to go a year without Xbox showing how incompetent they are at getting out these games.
Also, if it’s delayed to the later half it likely means ms studios only have this to put out this year…which is also frankly embarrassing at this point.
Game looked great though in the limited gameplay they actually showed
Visually this is a real mixed bag - some areas look decent. Some look completely void of shadows resulting in a more washed out look.
Gameplay wise looks inconsistent too. the ability to approach things how you like is welcome. But the AI looks as basic as it can…transforming vampires into nothing more than bullet sponge zombies. And why are there vampire hordes?…this was expected but still disappointing that they haven’t used vampires in a more clever way, playing on personality and trickery. Though that would ask the game to be more story focused I guess.
So yeah, mixed showing for me…but then I’ve been pretty unsure of this from the very start.
I guess we’ll wait and see. Unfortunately for MS games can’t just be judged on them being on gamepass now when they’re pricing them at £70 too. Hopefully this will result in more quality control in their output.
I’m just really hoping they haven’t pushed a load of mobile like mechanics in it like they did with Forza horizon. And I really hope online works day 1.
Also, this is one genre where ray tracing could actually make a difference. I hope they spend at least a little time in cockpit view so we can see how raytracing benefits mirrors. The days of scenery disappearing constantly should be left to last gen by now.
Ah cause you never seen it it must never happen…got it. These billion/trillion dollar companies investing in timed exclusivity for several generations and decades of gaming know nothing compared to your genius. 👌
Xbox always do this…hype up their event for weeks prior and then last few days tell it’s starving fanbase to keep expectations in check. It’s a lovely dance.
@Sebatrox timed exclusive are far from useless - we’re talking multiplat games. Why do you think both continue to invest in timed exclusivity? Because it serves no purpose? Think. And like I said, if you can’t afford to buy the publisher the next best thing is buying the rights to the game for a window of a couple of years. This is a tactic that has worked well for Sony…whilst Xbox players tactic of just waiting has worked great so far for the likes of final fantasy 7 eh. Also, like I said, along with timed exclusivity comes marketing rights. Marketing right are invaluable - getting the message out that these games are on your system to casual gamers who end up thinking these games are only on said system. Not only that they’ve allowed Sony to actively block games from appearing on gamepass for years regardless of timed exclusivity.
The likes of elder scrolls and next doom being only on Xbox are long term gains (if they even end up being exclusive - which trust me is no given). And results in us have years with very few AAA exclusivity. Where as timed exclusives are short term gains but instant games…allowed for an empty calendar to be filled. Ensuring momentum is kept. And subs keep growing. Ms is investing in timed exclusives too for this reason. And again, it’s worked just peachy for Sony who have a console that always ends up selling more than Xbox - who are backed by a trillion dollar company and ALWAYS end in last place.
@Meehanuk_1987 sony certainly know how to get the most out of these timed exclusive deals…never any of this 3 month exclusivity window with Sony. Always at the very least a year…often 2. Spending money with a real purpose for their player base. And that’s how you compete when you can’t afford to buy the publisher…you buy the marketing and timed exclusivity of their games instead. Cheaper. And the gains are far quicker. Remind yourself we’re still yet to see a Bethesda exclusive on Xbox…whilst Sony still has one on PlayStation…and didn’t have to spend close to a single billion for it.
@Dezzy70 when I first played the matrix demo it was this first time this gen I felt I’d seen a noticeable leap. I think the unreal 5 engine will bring the graphical leap this gen still. But devs aren’t investing in AI…we’re getting the same games only prettier. And it’s been that way since the dawn of Xbox.
Infact it’s getting worse now as devs shift focus away from story driven games to games they can more micro monetise…meaning less investment in things like AI.
The biggest gameplay leap I’ve experienced since going from 2D to mario 64 was simply playing gran turismo on psvr for a few minutes - was enough to sell me on the thing. Was fully transformative.
The gameplay mechanics in psvr games aren’t anything new…in fact they’re often made simpler with far lower budgets, worse AI, and far less ambitious story telling. But the dimension change is big enough to carry it. And when you get full proper games like skyrim and resident evil in VR…that have no compromise in terms of gameplay and ai and story…then it really does offer that next leap in gaming that’s as big if not bigger than 2D to 3D.
Psvr 2 should offer less chance of motion sickness if you’re prone as there should be an elimination of drifting. But I remember hearing story’s from the weak stomached before trying psvr for myself…was enough to put me off getting it for years. Once I tried it though I’ve never once felt sick. But affects people differently. Definitely something you need to try for yourself.
@Dezzy70 if you want to experience that big a leap from 2D to 3D again then the only thing that’s going to offer it is vr - completely transformative. It’s a shame MS won’t get fully behind VR as it needs more than sony in the console market for it to grow. But the leaps already real enough…and psvr 2 looks like a far more noticeable generational graphical leap than this gen compared to last has been so far. The price point of it is way off though… so won’t be picking it up day 1…but if Sony actually support it with more than a handful of games this time round it’s definitely something to look into if you want to experience that next step in gaming
Not surprising but would still be disappointing if ms studios only has one game to release this year in the shape of Forza. I’d hope to see hellblade 2 towards the back end of the year…otherwise they have nothing after June? I can’t imagine anything else is ready…like avowed and fable.
Fingers crossed they do the 12 month window thing again come e3 and hellblade is prominent
@Kaloudz I echo this for the single player…I’m not sure how well they’d fear for mp though. A better fit would be one of the cod dev teams if they manage to get abk. I would however like to see halo move to the unreal 5 engine.
Either way, 343 have had their chance…it’s time someone else was given a chance with halo. Personally I’d like to see the series branch out more and actually build upon the franchise - it’s still iconic enough to be instantly associated with Xbox …so there’s life in it yet. They have countless talented wrpg dev teams now - I’ve been banging the drum for a halo rpg for years. That world is pretty rich and could be fully explored and exploited under decent story tellers.
What the hell is Phil on? The players who bravely carve out time to play their games?…the only braveness Xbox community has shown over the years since Phil took over is vocally put out there their belief that “this is going to be the year xbox release games”
Inspire joy by delivering on your promises. Phil’s such a talking head this generation without actually delivering. He sets himself up - I don’t know of any other ceo who’s loves the limelight as much…whilst still being in last place. Successfully relying on him ‘being a gamer’ as a pass…because we somehow think we relate to him.
Thankfully “this is going to be the year they release games”…it has to be. All of daddy’s money has to pay off…the speed at which it’s taken though to deliver the main selling point of the subs they’ve been charging for over 5 years is pretty crazy.
As for gamings goal being to inspire joy - gamings goal these days, and going forward, is to make as much money out of us as possible - generally at the expensive of quality. Let’s not kid ourselves it’s not - look how the landscape has changed…from full games to games with locked content in their menus day 1, to loot boxes, to season passes, to microtransactions, and soon to NFTs. Gamings goal is to deliver less for more…and this is the huge attraction for MS with the ABK deal…where they can have a greater push into the mobile market as well as pushing mobile mechanics within console games. And it’s not reserved just for MS…they’re all at it. This gen will see far more GAAS games than ever before.
@robe I liked halo infinite too actually. But when you consider the money invested in it. The extra year delay and it still being released missing main features. And general lack of content and variety…something clearly went wrong. And then when they’re pushing a live service version of it with the mp but failing to regularly support it…then it you start to get the backlash.
And now that they’re going to be charging £70 for these games then expectations in them should grow with the price. Of course ms have the shield of gamepass to rely on…but that will get a price rise too soon enough.
@BrilliantBill maybe…I mean that’s the real reason they’re buying publishing houses rather than just developers isn’t it?…to help ensure games actually come out. The problem is the difference between working effectively for yourself and working for somebody else - you generally try harder when working for yourself. So these publishers have been getting games out consistently before MS now suddenly have a big bag of money to rely on regardless of hitting release dates…this will naturally lead to games getting more delays. I mean last year we already saw this with Bethesda…how often did they miss their release dates by a year before being acquired by MS. Usually delays are good for the gamer at the end of the day…which any other publisher this is true. MS however it’s not…nearly every game they’ve announced since Phil Spencer has seen long delays and ultimately still been released half baked. It’s easy enough to track as there’s been so few games…but the big ones have been crackdown 3 and recently halo. Of course there’s some out liars under MS …playground games have appeared to be competent in getting games out regardless of MS management. And the coalition was pretty productive last gen. But you do get a sense that there’s been a realisation amongst ms game studios that with ms’s hands off approach they can simply get paid for doing very little… helped all the more by the backlash towards ‘crunch culture’ in recent years. When 500+ people can’t steadily regularly release content you know somebody is taking the piss. And now of course they’ll complain about lack of management when they’re no longer reaping the rewards of that lack of management.
@BrilliantBill The thing you should remember is that this problem isn’t just unique to 343…it’s every MS first party studio. They’re all in a state…either fallen apart, like the initiative. Had games delayed, cancelled, or completely started from scratch since first shown…like pretty much every studio under them, most recently Rare.
Xbox has had a huge problem for generations now…that they keep throwing money at hoping that that will fix. Meanwhile studios continue to mainly exist without structure and focus…leading to games rarely being released and ultimately what we’re now seeing…layoffs.
Meanwhile Phil Spencer continues to win awards.
Luckily the problem can only get better with them taking on aload more studios and staff…
Maybe they’re moving away from 343 doing halo. As not often does less people equal things getting done quicker. And don’t most of these first party studios also hire aload of contractors on top? Phil’s already hinted before at the idea of halo using the ID engine…them having it could prove fruitful. If they have activision they’ll also have plenty of other choices in studios that specialise in fps genre.
Either way it sounds like ms are finally deciding to manage these studios and cut the ever growing money pits they’ve become…as they’ve had so many staff and produced so little over the years…clearly something wasn’t working
Reads pretty underwhelming. And after looking forward to scorn all last year I’ll learn to keep expectations in check with this. Thankfully it will be on gamepass, where I’ll definitely be jumping on it day1.
Hopefully when the reviews do hit they’re kept honest.
Amazes me how much praise and awards Phil gets…he’s released like a handful of games since being head of Xbox. Less than half getting any sort of critical acclaim. He gave up the marketing rights of cod…which they’re still paying the price for. He gave up the chance to have marvel licences exclusive. He released a console with zero first party support in its second year…he also got huge accolades last year claiming it ‘wasn’t right’ to raise prices during an economic crisis…knowing they had no games to release that they could raise the price on (and also after attempting to double the price of gold peak pandemic)…then soon as they do have games actually on the horizon the price ‘finally’ goes to £70… and didn’t he still managed to pick up a best publisher award in 22??. Crazy how far a good public image can take you.
@Dreamcaster9999 played the shooting mechanics in sea of thieves? Perfect dark under them wouldn’t feel great - rare are only rare in name since perfect dark came out. Also it takes forever for rare to release anything other than expansions
Let’s just hope crystal dynamics are more on the ball
I’m playing it. I’m enjoying it. And finding myself looking forward to going back to it. Was surprised to see it review so poorly on here…till I read the review of someone clearly offended along the way.
Only complaint I’ve had so far are some of the boss fights are a bit of a chore.
Funny isn’t it, when this was first shown the buzzword around it was ‘dead space’… now when it’s released it seems like reviewers are surprised and saddened it’s basically dead space
The main benefit to gamers for exclusives has always been, and should always be, a level of polish not seen in multiplatform games. Hopefully we see this translate to Bethesdas. I’ve very little doubt, regardless of delay, it will still come out full of bugs.
I’ve never been concerned how this game looks though. Personally i love the art direction they’ve taken this. The one disappointment from Tom Howard’s recent interview was that it looks like the alien races are resigned to the creatures you’re fighting…the population you engage in conversations with being human. Be a real shame if this is true
Comments 1,126
Re: High On Life Patch #4 Adds New 'Quality' And 'Performance' Options On Xbox Series X|S
For the life of me I can’t understand how a game like this isn’t 4k 60 on series x as standard. I wouldn’t call it a graphically intensive. And tbh I didn’t experience any performance issues with framerate during my playthrough…plenty of bugs, yes.
Said it before and say it again, I personally hate these performance options that have become standard this gen. And can see more and more ‘options’ given to use as the gen goes on. Of course the arguement thrown back at me is that “more options is good”… it’s also less reason to spend time properly optimising from the start 🤷🏻
Re: New Xbox Games Release Dates In 2023
@Moonglow I’m saying I’d personally be disappointed if after all this time, given all the games that were announced in 2021 (every one of them still yet to have a release date) that the only AAA game coming from MS studios is Forza…having invested in all these studios to finally get away from the diet of halo/Forza/gears…
Minecraft is its own separate beast and caters to an audience beyond console and gamepass. And I personally wouldn’t put Minecraft spin-off amongst AAA offerings, but then I’m not the audience for it. And have no idea if it has a AAA budget for it. So that’s an oversight by me.
The rest are Bethesda games, not Ms studio ones. Contribute to xbox output, yes. But not MS studio output in the AAA gaming space.
We’re in march now and still Forza and starfield don’t have release dates. It’s not looking like that event last June, with its bold statement/sentiment is going to age well…unless some news happens very soon
Re: Another Eight Games Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Soon (March 2023)
@BrilliantBill yeah this is true…we should have known then that 2022 wasn’t going how they had planned.
They seriously need to do something about their marketing though. They can have every big game on their in the world…if they don’t tell anyone about it the sub isn’t going to grow by any significant numbers. It will be really interesting to see how they market the likes of redfall, starfield, and cod should they get it. Personally my moneys on little to no marketing for redfall. And 50/50 on if they’ll bother with any real world promotion for starfield. Cod though…they surely have to go get their brand back associated with it
Re: Another Eight Games Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Soon (March 2023)
So today we’re learning that a reported 5-10million dollars only gets 1 year of guardians of the galaxy? You have to wonder how much spending, let’s indeed say 10million, on a 3rd party game that didn’t particularly sell well (though I enjoyed it greatly), nor was day 1, resulted in how many new additional subs to equal a success story… as opposed to spending 10million on some marketing for gamepass and Xbox…a marketing team currently with the budget of running a twitter account.
Re: Review: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - Team Ninja Unleashes Its Finest Soulslike Experience Onto Xbox Game Pass
@blockfight though I’ve not played this yet…I’d still suggest you start with Elden Ring, as I can’t imagine this being more accessible. Elden Ring will give you complete freedom from the start…so if nothing else, you’ll get to explore that world. Just remember you’re supposed to die in these games…that’s what feeds the addictive sense of accomplishment that makes them popular.
Re: Review: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - Team Ninja Unleashes Its Finest Soulslike Experience Onto Xbox Game Pass
Oh dear, there’s going to be pandemonium on twitter - a decent 3rd party get for gp day 1 doesn’t fit the narrative. Should be entertaining.
I for one will definitely be giving this a try. The moral system sounds interesting, and a bit like the nemesis system in lord of the rings with the repeated encounters getting additional buffs.
It will be interesting to see how well these type of games do in a post Elden ring world - the bar being incredibly high now…meaning expectations will be too.
Re: 'Sons Of The Forest' Dev Hints At Plans For Xbox Version In The Future
You’d think with the lazy pc ports we’ve been seeing on Xbox lately stuff that’s only on pc would come to Xbox pretty effortlessly. Hopefully this comes soon
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Discusses The Importance Of Platform Exclusives
@Kaloudz Starfield would have most definitely come to PlayStation…and more than likely been timed exclusive for a year like we’ve so far seen with all the other Bethesda games that were in development for both platforms. And had that been the case not one media outlet faking concern over Xbox making Bethesda games exclusive would have raised an eyebrow - just like they didn’t with the previous year long timed exclusivity’s. Just like they don’t with EVERY high profile AAA 3rd party game that sony has marketing to that either comes with a minimum of years exclusivity, or exclusive content.
The trouble is Phil Spencer himself - he’s a talking head. And often his messaging is confusing…setting himself up with ‘gaming for everyone’ etc. which just feeds outrage on hypocrisy on the rare occasions they do actually support their own player base with exclusive content - adding actual value to the console
Re: Xbox Team Visits Kojima Productions To Kick Off 'Exciting Journey Ahead'
Love what I’ve seen of overdose…looks pretty unique - like a mix of ‘her story/yelling lies’ and silent hill. Only playing from the perspective of a half naked Hasan Kahraman. Hopefully we won’t have to wait years.
Re: Phil Spencer: Xbox Won't 'Play The Game' Of Adding Exclusive Content To Call Of Duty
@Kaloudz I just did a video on this. Pretty sure it was Brad Smiths confusing tweet after the EU court meeting that sparked these rumours. He later clarified it was just cod in the contract for Nintendo.
I really wouldn’t be surprised though if they go back on this and announce it’s all games. Saying that, up till this recent Phil Spencer interview, I wasn’t convinced he truly understood the importance of exclusives to grow a brand (xbox)and grow competition…so who knows how this eventually plays out…short of signing away the rights to put these games on gamepass I honestly don’t know what Sony is waiting for at this stage…but they’ve played things well so far
Re: Xbox's Future Isn't Reliant On Activision Blizzard Deal, Reassures Phil Spencer
The fact that this has even been a question to me demonstrates just how poorly xbox has been managed over the years to present such little faith in people/media. And you cant just put this down to 'media bias' like i see the xbox faithful presently doing on twitter. Brad Smith literally just showed us all how inept they've been.
Now the narrative turns to 'console sales don't matter' gp growth does. And whilst they've made no secret gp is their primary platform and the end goal is to have the service on every platform. Until they are on every platform they need that console growth...which in turn leads to GP growth (don't forget that GOLD, a terrible for value service, still has over the double subs that gp has...and gold is restricted to just console).
Basically xbox really need to change their messaging and grow some faith they actually value their console for customers to see value in their console. Marketing both console and games outside of the internet would help greatly.
Stopping the message of 'gaming for everyone' to a more dominant message of 'xbox is the best place to play' would also help
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer 'Excited' To Bring First Party Game To PlayStation Plus
I’d say this was a smart clever PR move by Phil Spencer…timed perfectly to show up Sony as being unreasonable. And used as another demonstration in how ‘transparent’ Xbox is…
Only this is an Xbox ceo who tweets about how much he’s looking forward to PlayStation games after delaying everything on Xbox…
It’s also a ceo who goes on about how he enjoys the ‘transparency’ Xbox have with gamers when Xbox is the only platform that constantly has gamers questioning their own value to them…
So who really knows with Phil. 🤷🏻
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Devs 'Aren't Playing The Exclusivity Game' With PlayStation
Sony apparently not paying for exclusivity yet this isn’t releasing day 1 on Xbox is even worse news when you consider it.
Re: Street Fighter 6 Is Officially Landing On Xbox Series X And S This June
Actually reminds me more and more of virtua fighter in its visuals. Not particularly a bad thing
Re: Microsoft President Questions Whether Gaming Consoles Will Still Be Around In 10 Years
A dedicated console will be around 10years from now…but it won’t be an Xbox one.
Re: Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Shows Off Its Frantic Gameplay, Coming To Xbox This May
Not feeling this at all.
Gameplay looks your standard shooting at bullet sponges till they drop...and repeat. It looks like the variety of Arkham games isnt really there. Frankly, i feel like i've already played this in Avengers. And then there's all the battlepass stuff etc.
And I don't know if its the passage of time as we've been waiting so long, or that it has had a graphical downgrade, but even visually it no longer screams anything special
Shame as this one has been waited for for so long. At least its out fairly soon i guess
Re: Working With Xbox Was 'Positive Experience', Says Team Behind Hi-Fi RUSH
@Kezelpaso There vision for Xbox was no Xbox. Now they’ve decided they quite like our money so their vision is a subscription service. A subscription service doesn’t survive on waiting for content. They need games out regularly and consistently. And given we all know how useless MS are at getting their own games out it makes sense buying publishers who are capable of managing their games.
The other alternative I think MS should be looking into is exactly what Sony do to fill their calendar and invest more in AAA 3rd party marketing ensuring these games get put onto gamepass day 1…rather than blocked for years.
Can we even name one 3rd party AAA game that Sony didn’t/doesn’t have the marketing rights to?
Re: UK Authority Proposes Excluding Call Of Duty From Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal
@Would_you_kindly and also no online paywall. It’s all *****
Re: UK Authority Proposes Excluding Call Of Duty From Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal
@dreadful nah you’ve got it a wrong. Sony aren’t pathetic…they’re protecting their interests and winning. IT’s Microsoft and Xbox that are pathetic! Bending over backwards at the expense of what’s best for their own customers - US!
This is a company that could buy Sony ten times over…yet bending at the knee. When all they need do is pay for exclusivity deals and drain them dry…for far less money than 68billion.
But Phil told us from the start that Sony aren’t their direct competition. And Xbox have been telling us for years they don’t particularly care about their console or those that invest their hard earned money in it.
So maybe it’s us that are really the pathetic ones…trying to convince ourselves MS care about gaming and it’s community because we fell for buying the £500 box.
Re: Microsoft Announces New Special Edition 'Stellar Shift' Xbox Controller
If they put as much effort into putting out and marketing games as they do their controllers Xbox they wouldn’t be constantly last place. Seriously, Xbox’s priorities are head scratching
Re: UK Authority Suggests Excluding Call Of Duty From Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal
They should do it…and then buy the marketing rights to cod and put their own customers first by forgetting ‘parity’ nonsense and offering all the exclusive benefits PlayStation players have been enjoying for the last decade. As well as ensuring it still comes to gamepass day 1.
Ezpz solution that makes everybody happy, right?
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think We'll See Hellblade 2 On Xbox In 2023?
No. I honestly think after such a quiet 2022 the only game coming out of MS studios this year is Forza - a game that’s had countless delays and likely to get another one pushing it to the back half of the year, and basically confirming no hellblade 2.
Hellblade and avowed next year.
Re: The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Patch Improves Ray Tracing Performance On Xbox Series X
@Dsswoosh I’m surprised more devs aren’t doing what the Rachet and clank devs did and aim for 40fps with raytracing. It’s a good sweet spot for visuals and performance on current hardware.
But then on a whole ray tracing has been very overrated
Re: Talking Point: Would You Like To See The New 'Forza Motorsport' In VR?
Vr makes racing games so much better. GT7 having the full experience in psvr2 is great news after how limited it was on psvr.
Unfortunately I won’t be playing it any time soon as there’s no way im buying a headset that costs more than the ps5 itself.
Ms really needs to get in on VR…place a bit more competition in the market and bring these prices down.
Re: Forza Motorsport Features 500+ Cars And 'Cutting Edge' Ray Tracing, Launches In 2023
No release date means this is likely destined to be their holiday game this year. Which frankly is embarrassing and they shouldn’t get a pass on - not after making such a big deal everything shown in June would be out within that 12 months. It’s like it’s impossible to go a year without Xbox showing how incompetent they are at getting out these games.
Also, if it’s delayed to the later half it likely means ms studios only have this to put out this year…which is also frankly embarrassing at this point.
Game looked great though in the limited gameplay they actually showed
Re: Arkane's Redfall Releases This May On Xbox Game Pass
Visually this is a real mixed bag - some areas look decent. Some look completely void of shadows resulting in a more washed out look.
Gameplay wise looks inconsistent too. the ability to approach things how you like is welcome. But the AI looks as basic as it can…transforming vampires into nothing more than bullet sponge zombies. And why are there vampire hordes?…this was expected but still disappointing that they haven’t used vampires in a more clever way, playing on personality and trickery. Though that would ask the game to be more story focused I guess.
So yeah, mixed showing for me…but then I’ve been pretty unsure of this from the very start.
I guess we’ll wait and see. Unfortunately for MS games can’t just be judged on them being on gamepass now when they’re pricing them at £70 too. Hopefully this will result in more quality control in their output.
Re: January's 'Forza Monthly' Livestream Will Be All About The New Forza Motorsport
I’m just really hoping they haven’t pushed a load of mobile like mechanics in it like they did with Forza horizon. And I really hope online works day 1.
Also, this is one genre where ray tracing could actually make a difference. I hope they spend at least a little time in cockpit view so we can see how raytracing benefits mirrors. The days of scenery disappearing constantly should be left to last gen by now.
Re: Forspoken Isn't On Xbox Yet, But It'll Still Have Achievements At Launch
Ah cause you never seen it it must never happen…got it. These billion/trillion dollar companies investing in timed exclusivity for several generations and decades of gaming know nothing compared to your genius. 👌
Re: Xbox Exec Wants Fans To Keep Developer_Direct Expectations In Check
Xbox always do this…hype up their event for weeks prior and then last few days tell it’s starving fanbase to keep expectations in check. It’s a lovely dance.
Re: Forspoken Isn't On Xbox Yet, But It'll Still Have Achievements At Launch
@Sebatrox timed exclusive are far from useless - we’re talking multiplat games. Why do you think both continue to invest in timed exclusivity? Because it serves no purpose? Think.
And like I said, if you can’t afford to buy the publisher the next best thing is buying the rights to the game for a window of a couple of years. This is a tactic that has worked well for Sony…whilst Xbox players tactic of just waiting has worked great so far for the likes of final fantasy 7 eh.
Also, like I said, along with timed exclusivity comes marketing rights. Marketing right are invaluable - getting the message out that these games are on your system to casual gamers who end up thinking these games are only on said system. Not only that they’ve allowed Sony to actively block games from appearing on gamepass for years regardless of timed exclusivity.
The likes of elder scrolls and next doom being only on Xbox are long term gains (if they even end up being exclusive - which trust me is no given). And results in us have years with very few AAA exclusivity. Where as timed exclusives are short term gains but instant games…allowed for an empty calendar to be filled. Ensuring momentum is kept. And subs keep growing. Ms is investing in timed exclusives too for this reason. And again, it’s worked just peachy for Sony who have a console that always ends up selling more than Xbox - who are backed by a trillion dollar company and ALWAYS end in last place.
So yeah, timed exclusivity is useless. 🧠
Re: Forspoken Isn't On Xbox Yet, But It'll Still Have Achievements At Launch
@Meehanuk_1987 sony certainly know how to get the most out of these timed exclusive deals…never any of this 3 month exclusivity window with Sony. Always at the very least a year…often 2. Spending money with a real purpose for their player base. And that’s how you compete when you can’t afford to buy the publisher…you buy the marketing and timed exclusivity of their games instead. Cheaper. And the gains are far quicker. Remind yourself we’re still yet to see a Bethesda exclusive on Xbox…whilst Sony still has one on PlayStation…and didn’t have to spend close to a single billion for it.
Re: Forspoken Isn't On Xbox Yet, But It'll Still Have Achievements At Launch
@Dezzy70 when I first played the matrix demo it was this first time this gen I felt I’d seen a noticeable leap. I think the unreal 5 engine will bring the graphical leap this gen still. But devs aren’t investing in AI…we’re getting the same games only prettier. And it’s been that way since the dawn of Xbox.
Infact it’s getting worse now as devs shift focus away from story driven games to games they can more micro monetise…meaning less investment in things like AI.
The biggest gameplay leap I’ve experienced since going from 2D to mario 64 was simply playing gran turismo on psvr for a few minutes - was enough to sell me on the thing. Was fully transformative.
The gameplay mechanics in psvr games aren’t anything new…in fact they’re often made simpler with far lower budgets, worse AI, and far less ambitious story telling. But the dimension change is big enough to carry it. And when you get full proper games like skyrim and resident evil in VR…that have no compromise in terms of gameplay and ai and story…then it really does offer that next leap in gaming that’s as big if not bigger than 2D to 3D.
Psvr 2 should offer less chance of motion sickness if you’re prone as there should be an elimination of drifting. But I remember hearing story’s from the weak stomached before trying psvr for myself…was enough to put me off getting it for years. Once I tried it though I’ve never once felt sick. But affects people differently. Definitely something you need to try for yourself.
Re: Forspoken Isn't On Xbox Yet, But It'll Still Have Achievements At Launch
@Dezzy70 if you want to experience that big a leap from 2D to 3D again then the only thing that’s going to offer it is vr - completely transformative. It’s a shame MS won’t get fully behind VR as it needs more than sony in the console market for it to grow. But the leaps already real enough…and psvr 2 looks like a far more noticeable generational graphical leap than this gen compared to last has been so far. The price point of it is way off though… so won’t be picking it up day 1…but if Sony actually support it with more than a handful of games this time round it’s definitely something to look into if you want to experience that next step in gaming
Re: New Xbox Games Release Dates In 2023
Not surprising but would still be disappointing if ms studios only has one game to release this year in the shape of Forza. I’d hope to see hellblade 2 towards the back end of the year…otherwise they have nothing after June? I can’t imagine anything else is ready…like avowed and fable.
Fingers crossed they do the 12 month window thing again come e3 and hellblade is prominent
Re: Halo's Joe Staten Provides Update Following 343 & Microsoft Layoffs
@Kaloudz I echo this for the single player…I’m not sure how well they’d fear for mp though.
A better fit would be one of the cod dev teams if they manage to get abk. I would however like to see halo move to the unreal 5 engine.
Either way, 343 have had their chance…it’s time someone else was given a chance with halo. Personally I’d like to see the series branch out more and actually build upon the franchise - it’s still iconic enough to be instantly associated with Xbox …so there’s life in it yet. They have countless talented wrpg dev teams now - I’ve been banging the drum for a halo rpg for years. That world is pretty rich and could be fully explored and exploited under decent story tellers.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer Wants To 'Inspire Joy' Amid 'Culture Of Criticism And Cancellation'
What the hell is Phil on? The players who bravely carve out time to play their games?…the only braveness Xbox community has shown over the years since Phil took over is vocally put out there their belief that “this is going to be the year xbox release games”
Inspire joy by delivering on your promises. Phil’s such a talking head this generation without actually delivering. He sets himself up - I don’t know of any other ceo who’s loves the limelight as much…whilst still being in last place. Successfully relying on him ‘being a gamer’ as a pass…because we somehow think we relate to him.
Thankfully “this is going to be the year they release games”…it has to be. All of daddy’s money has to pay off…the speed at which it’s taken though to deliver the main selling point of the subs they’ve been charging for over 5 years is pretty crazy.
As for gamings goal being to inspire joy - gamings goal these days, and going forward, is to make as much money out of us as possible - generally at the expensive of quality. Let’s not kid ourselves it’s not - look how the landscape has changed…from full games to games with locked content in their menus day 1, to loot boxes, to season passes, to microtransactions, and soon to NFTs. Gamings goal is to deliver less for more…and this is the huge attraction for MS with the ABK deal…where they can have a greater push into the mobile market as well as pushing mobile mechanics within console games. And it’s not reserved just for MS…they’re all at it. This gen will see far more GAAS games than ever before.
Re: Former Halo Developer Blames 'Incompetent Leadership' For Layoffs At 343 Industries
@robe I liked halo infinite too actually. But when you consider the money invested in it. The extra year delay and it still being released missing main features. And general lack of content and variety…something clearly went wrong.
And then when they’re pushing a live service version of it with the mp but failing to regularly support it…then it you start to get the backlash.
And now that they’re going to be charging £70 for these games then expectations in them should grow with the price. Of course ms have the shield of gamepass to rely on…but that will get a price rise too soon enough.
Re: Former Halo Developer Blames 'Incompetent Leadership' For Layoffs At 343 Industries
@BrilliantBill maybe…I mean that’s the real reason they’re buying publishing houses rather than just developers isn’t it?…to help ensure games actually come out. The problem is the difference between working effectively for yourself and working for somebody else - you generally try harder when working for yourself. So these publishers have been getting games out consistently before MS now suddenly have a big bag of money to rely on regardless of hitting release dates…this will naturally lead to games getting more delays. I mean last year we already saw this with Bethesda…how often did they miss their release dates by a year before being acquired by MS.
Usually delays are good for the gamer at the end of the day…which any other publisher this is true. MS however it’s not…nearly every game they’ve announced since Phil Spencer has seen long delays and ultimately still been released half baked. It’s easy enough to track as there’s been so few games…but the big ones have been crackdown 3 and recently halo.
Of course there’s some out liars under MS …playground games have appeared to be competent in getting games out regardless of MS management. And the coalition was pretty productive last gen. But you do get a sense that there’s been a realisation amongst ms game studios that with ms’s hands off approach they can simply get paid for doing very little… helped all the more by the backlash towards ‘crunch culture’ in recent years. When 500+ people can’t steadily regularly release content you know somebody is taking the piss.
And now of course they’ll complain about lack of management when they’re no longer reaping the rewards of that lack of management.
Re: Former Halo Developer Blames 'Incompetent Leadership' For Layoffs At 343 Industries
@BrilliantBill The thing you should remember is that this problem isn’t just unique to 343…it’s every MS first party studio. They’re all in a state…either fallen apart, like the initiative. Had games delayed, cancelled, or completely started from scratch since first shown…like pretty much every studio under them, most recently Rare.
Xbox has had a huge problem for generations now…that they keep throwing money at hoping that that will fix. Meanwhile studios continue to mainly exist without structure and focus…leading to games rarely being released and ultimately what we’re now seeing…layoffs.
Meanwhile Phil Spencer continues to win awards.
Luckily the problem can only get better with them taking on aload more studios and staff…
Re: Another Four Games Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Soon (January 31)
Both telling lies and donut county are well worth playing through. Some easy achievements to be had too.
Re: Report: 343 Industries 'Hit Hard' By This Week's Job Cuts At Microsoft
Maybe they’re moving away from 343 doing halo. As not often does less people equal things getting done quicker. And don’t most of these first party studios also hire aload of contractors on top?
Phil’s already hinted before at the idea of halo using the ID engine…them having it could prove fruitful.
If they have activision they’ll also have plenty of other choices in studios that specialise in fps genre.
Either way it sounds like ms are finally deciding to manage these studios and cut the ever growing money pits they’ve become…as they’ve had so many staff and produced so little over the years…clearly something wasn’t working
Re: Roundup: Atomic Heart's Final Previews Arrive Before Next Month's Game Pass Launch
Reads pretty underwhelming. And after looking forward to scorn all last year I’ll learn to keep expectations in check with this.
Thankfully it will be on gamepass, where I’ll definitely be jumping on it day1.
Hopefully when the reviews do hit they’re kept honest.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer 'Honored' To Receive New York Game Award
Amazes me how much praise and awards Phil gets…he’s released like a handful of games since being head of Xbox. Less than half getting any sort of critical acclaim. He gave up the marketing rights of cod…which they’re still paying the price for. He gave up the chance to have marvel licences exclusive. He released a console with zero first party support in its second year…he also got huge accolades last year claiming it ‘wasn’t right’ to raise prices during an economic crisis…knowing they had no games to release that they could raise the price on (and also after attempting to double the price of gold peak pandemic)…then soon as they do have games actually on the horizon the price ‘finally’ goes to £70… and didn’t he still managed to pick up a best publisher award in 22??. Crazy how far a good public image can take you.
But as that one guy will say… well deserved Phil.
Re: Rare's Everwild Team 'Warming Up' For 2023 As Work Continues On New Title
@Dreamcaster9999 played the shooting mechanics in sea of thieves? Perfect dark under them wouldn’t feel great - rare are only rare in name since perfect dark came out. Also it takes forever for rare to release anything other than expansions
Let’s just hope crystal dynamics are more on the ball
Re: Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas everyone. Let’s see what next year brings
Re: High On Life Is Now Officially One Of The Biggest Xbox Game Pass Launches Of All Time
I’m playing it. I’m enjoying it. And finding myself looking forward to going back to it. Was surprised to see it review so poorly on here…till I read the review of someone clearly offended along the way.
Only complaint I’ve had so far are some of the boss fights are a bit of a chore.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Critics Think Of Dead Space-Like 'The Callisto Protocol'
Funny isn’t it, when this was first shown the buzzword around it was ‘dead space’… now when it’s released it seems like reviewers are surprised and saddened it’s basically dead space
Re: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Is Now Available With PC Game Pass
Pc gamepass has had a pretty good year, Better than console gamepass. And not a mp paywall in sight… 🤔
Re: Todd Howard On Starfield's Xbox Exclusivity: 'It's Just Awesome'
The main benefit to gamers for exclusives has always been, and should always be, a level of polish not seen in multiplatform games. Hopefully we see this translate to Bethesdas. I’ve very little doubt, regardless of delay, it will still come out full of bugs.
I’ve never been concerned how this game looks though. Personally i love the art direction they’ve taken this.
The one disappointment from Tom Howard’s recent interview was that it looks like the alien races are resigned to the creatures you’re fighting…the population you engage in conversations with being human. Be a real shame if this is true
Re: Xbox Series S Drops To Lowest UK Price Yet For Black Friday 2022
£189 is a pretty good answer to those asking the other day why does the series s exist isn’t it?
Great price for a gateway to get into ‘next gen’ games and a gamepass sub
Perfect price for a secondary console