Blinx

They're excellent controllers, top notch price to performance as well. I feel like the rollout for the G7 Pro has been frustrating and somewhat mismanaged though. There's been a lot of delays and poor communication along the way. I also don't understand why they have two separate versions, it should just be one model capable of wireless and wired connection on Xbox and PC as standard. Apparently the upcoming Xbox wireless version will not be capable of wireless play on PC, why is it one or the other?

I will get one to replace my G7 HE, but when this wireless Xbox version arrives is anyone's guess.

I don't think its overall fate would have been drastically different because there's so many management, creative and culture issues at that studio. That said, I do think if the game was built in UE then maybe the content droughts wouldn't have been so severe. And maybe it would have stayed on the rails enough for single player to actually get the DLC.

Who knows. I guess we'll learn a lot from the state of this upcoming project. People keep saying their faith in 343/Halo Studios hinges on the next release. That couldn't be more true this time around, I'll probably be tapping out of the franchise if they mess this one up.

If they really up the quality of exploration and the naval combat, I'd definitely come back. That said, I would have massively preferred a straight up sequel.

It would be very hard to resist double dipping on various first party games on Switch 2. What I'd really like though is cross-save, not sure if that's viable or not.

If I could buy Halo MCC on Switch 2 and hop right into my existing save, I'm there. Same for Forza Horizon 5 and various other first party staples. Without cross-save as universal standard though, when push comes to shove I'd probably be very selective.

It's still a no brainer though, getting those franchises into the hands of new players makes too much sense to pass up.

I'd like some future platform news or at least a clearer signal of intent in that domain.

An Elite 3 announcement, with all the bells and whistles would be cool. Don't know if that rumour is still floating around or not.

Anything from the core franchises. I'd go nuts for a Combat Evolved Remake reveal. Wanna see what Toys for Bob have been cooking. Same for Double Fine. Clockwork Orange update feels long overdue. Perfect Dark as well.

As long as I walk away from this showcase with confidence in Xbox's next 18 months or so. I'll be happy.

They poured so many resources in crafting such an incredible world, I'll never understand why this didn't get a current-gen in more timely fashion. Not to mention DLC, Undead Nightmare II anybody?!

We will be there! Not early (access), but on time (on day one.) The setting, story and visuals have sold me. Sounds like it's well worth checking out.

RE5 played with a friend = fantastic!
RE5 played with Sheva AI = I sleep.

Nothing showing for me at noon UK time. Does it tend to vary when preloads become available for people?

Loved revisiting Spyro. I still think Xbox have missed a trick not updating these Activison platformers before dropping them on Game Pass. However, it has fairly slow pacing anyway so it's not as big of an issue as I imagined.

I wonder how slowly it'll roll out support for more titles after the initial 50? It's very nice to have this after waiting so long, but I'm already very curious about the limitations and blind-spots. It's only really a big draw if you can play the majority of your library. Once they're close to that, this is massive.

Starting to actually feel hyped for this now there's proper extended gameplay footage to pour over.

@UserTK-421 how does it lose its aura though? I'm not psyched at the prospect of all digital being the standard next generation - but the disc-less Series X is just another option. The standard unit isn't going away.

I'm digging this. Heard very good things.

@RentedPanda Yeah it's tough out there. I don't remember the game receiving much publicity when it launched either. And on top of that, on Series X|S it doesn't help that the 360 version is already backward compat, I'm pretty sure that version was on sale for a couple of quid earlier in the year.

Pulled the trigger on Braid Anniversary Edition since I loved that game back in the day. That's a heavy discount for something that only came out a few months ago. I believe the dev did say it wasn't selling very well on consoles.

Phil Spencer suggested there was plenty more they could have shown during their showcase a few months back. That created the expectation that there'd be some significant things shown off at Gamescom, but actually it was all rather low key with no real surprises or anything else. I'm quite disappointed.

Pretty hyped to play this, it sounds pretty scary.

It's so bizarre. It's always felt like they've had one hand tied behind their back in Europe. They absolutely can and should be competing in traditional marketing methods with Sony, that's how you get in the general public consciousness. All of these newer forms of targeted and online marketing do not make the same type of dent in that respect.

Case and point is how many people around Europe aren't really aware of Game Pass and what it is. It's so strange to see talk of Xbox potentially getting more hands-off in Europe, as though they actually tried at any point over the last generation or two to raise their profile in meaningful ways.

Series X was my entry point into Game Pass and my way back into the eco-system that I abandoned last generation because of the off-putting media slant they went with. While it’s been a bit of a slow burn, I’ve enjoyed it massively, though I think it’s fair to say in a way that’s less ‘traditional’ than ever before.

Game Pass itself has definitely been the biggest highlight. Through the service I’ve broadened my horizons significantly by discovering new genres and developing a taste for smaller indie experiences generally. And of course, at my own pace I was also able to go back and catch up on the Xbox One era first party games, which was great.

I’ve also satiated my nostalgia through back compat, replaying some of my favourite series such as Splinter Cell, Fable and Gears. As well as getting reacquainted with my absolute favourite franchise via Halo MCC.

In terms of fresh current gen experiences, it’s been way more of a mixed bag. I adored the likes of Hi-Fi Rush, Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2 and Flight Sim and had a very good time with big hitters like Halo Infinite and Starfield, but I wouldn’t say any of the latter knocked it out the park.

Overall it feels like Series X|S has been simmering rather than boiling over with content. I’m highly satisfied with my purchase, but it’s largely because what I want out of my console has morphed. I no longer have the time to throw into it that I did before, I’m less of a fan of what ‘modern games’ are now and happier to spend time reminiscing over older games while checking out things on a whim on Game Pass. It’s a solid B from me.

It's kind of bizarre when the spiritual successor has a more authentic and fitting art style than.. whatever this is.

I'm still happy they're bringing the series back, but it doesn't give me much confidence in what they're doing.

@TheGame004 Yeah, that would make a lot more sense..

I mean I love Combat Evolved and would be interested in any update, but unless you're going retool the game and maybe expand some things, it seems a bit pointless.

I try not to buy into the speculation and gossip, but it's hard not to get hyped with everything that's being mentioned. If they deliver 60% of this, then it's one of the best showcases Xbox have had in a very very long time.

Give me more of that Remedy Connected Universe please and thank you.

Circling back to this to say, this controller rocks. It's been my go-to on Xbox for a long time now and it really is fantastic. Extremely comfortable form factor, excellent back buttons with locks, good customisability and button mapping options within the app.

The only shame is that Gamesir seem to be running into issues with Microsoft over their 1000Hz mode, which was absolutely brilliant. Its since been dropped from the app for Xbox, though it's still available on PC and I hear it's a firmware thing so technically you could keep using it on Xbox having updated it on PC.

Quite looking forward to finally trying this collection out.

Niche and/or AA games like Hi-Fi Rush is what drew me into the current gen of Xbox and Game Pass. If there's going to be less and less room for such first party experiences in Microsoft's vision for the future, then its appeal to me personally goes down considerably too.

More to the point, it's hard to have much confidence in a vision that is morphing to this extent without being laid out coherently for those who are part of the eco system. There's more uncertainty than ever, they are bouncing from one PR disaster to the next, the messaging and timing of these things is consistently poor.

I will always be fascinated by the Xbox brand, but my actual commitment and confidence levels towards it continue to be in flux.

I'm desperate for remakes all the way through to Underground. It's such a shame what happened to Vicarious Visions.

Perish is right up my street. Age of Water sounds pretty cool too.

I definitely see myself returning to finish it off. My aim is to see as much as I can in one play-through, because I have too many frustrations with its design to go any further than that.

I bought a 1TB expansion card around a year into owning a Series X, and I've never looked back since. I rarely think about these things now.

I also think your internet speeds are a major factor for this kind of thing. You can play pretty fast and loose if you have good download speeds, but if you're not in that position, I can see how managing your installed games requires more strategy.

Didn't expect to ever see this happen! Loved Blood Dragon back in the day. That Collectors Edition is pretty impressive. I'm tempted..

Really pleased to see them adding this, always nice to have the extra versatility when cloud gaming.

Is k+m support live for these games now for everyone? Or is it an Insider/preview thing at this time?

Looks like it's time to hop on Trepang2 and Penny's Big Breakaway. I'm tempted by Mirage but can probably line that up with a month's worth of Ubisoft+ at some point.

I got annoyed at feeling like I had to 'plan' everything so I bought a 1TB expansion card for my Series X a couple of years ago. No regrets as I'm able to keep some large multiplayer games installed (Forza, COD, Halo Infinite, MCC) while also being able to spontaneously download whatever I want from Game Pass.

Proprietary storage was a big mistake in my opinion though. I haven't seen anything that justifies it in my opinion.

@Vordus my advice is focus on upgrading launch as quickly as possible. I noticed one mid-game difficulty curve, but once I got multi-launch most things became a bit of a breeze.

Also, there's some really robust accessibility options (like invincibility) which you can turn on without effecting any achievements. Handy for those who just want to focus on the story and such.

@Dimey Thanks for the heads up on the demo!

Dang, that really does look fantastic.

With the way the industry is evolving, the level of clarity fans are demanding is probably not something they can offer. It's an incredibly difficult situation.

By proxy of not getting out ahead of this, they've fumbled it big time from a PR point of view imo. They don't get to set the narrative now.

IF this is true, it's probably a considerably easier pill to swallow for people who own all platforms or already consider their gaming PC the primary centre of the Xbox eco system. But I can see why anyone who exclusively games on Xbox consoles, and has their whole library there, is alarmed.

It's not really the games going elsewhere so much as the feeling that the Xbox console platform could disappear. Sure the Series X/S is always going to be there, but lets not pretend the concept of carrying your digital library forward hasn't been a thing for several generations now. It would be different if this approach was adopted at the start of a generation, but mid-way through one? Depending on the reality of the situation, that could be a very bad look for them.

Lets see how they address this. I'm concerned about various aspects of this, but until there's official word on this I'm trying to withhold judgement personally.

Nice one. Grabbing both of GTA4's DLCs, haven't played them in a very long time.

Totally agree that the Max Payne games are very tempting too.

I wonder if it will be a sequel or something new. Honestly I'd quite like them to try something a bit different, but staying within survival horror.

I hope it's real, lovely design.

It looks absolutely stunning to me. I was expecting it to be third person like a lot of people, but considering what the gameplay emphasis seems to be I can definitely get onboard with first person.

Please, my back catalogue and my wallet can only take so much.

@AhabSpampurse couldn't agree more. It's just waffle that gets a bit tedious. I'm not sure anybody really wants that in there, they should aim to make the focus as lean as possible. Talking heads are definitely fat than can be cut.

@dok5555555 I think that's a WWE 2K game with mods. He's not in Fight Forever yet, the roster for that game is very dated and they've been slow to update it. No Joe as of yet!

Valhalla is good but super-bloated. I'd recommend taking one or two breaks during your play-through! And that's just the base game..

I hope it has bumpers. I assume it does considering they put them on their Duke.

I've always had automatic uploads off, but I don't understand why they can't attach age ratings to uploaded/shared captures. That seems like the most straight forward solution.

I can see why unapologetically hardline policies like these bothers some people, especially when there's more practical ways to go about it.