Bob_Tempura

UE5 performance issues aside, SH2 Remake was a quality game on Playstation so I'd expect it to be well worth playing on XBox too... Plus that's a tasty discount to launch at too.

@Balaam_ I would imagine it's just been ported as is, faults and all. Last I heard Bloober Team weren't involved in further updates for the Playstation version (Konami's decision). It'd be nice if there was some proper optimisation done for this release and the PS version gets those fixes in an update, but knowing Konami it's unlikely as they love doing the bare minimum.

@Balaam_ 100%. All Bond cares about are the metrics for her reports. It's quite clear that she couldn't care less how this is achieved, just as long as those metrics rise. Sarah Bond is unfortunately just another suit, through and through.

I'm not in favour of hard delisting games... If people have bought them then they should at least remain available to download.

But... What even are these games? Can't say I've ever heard of even one on that list. Did anyone ever even buy them in the first place?

XBox anywhere is an absolutely fantastic idea, and it's been cool to watch it roll out and evolve.

With that said, I hate this marketing push. Those are devices that can play XBox games, they are not an XBox. The laptop and the XBox Rog Ally are both PCs. They play PC games and also allow you to stream XBox games from the cloud or your XBox.
I get what Microsoft are going for, but it's just so cringe inducing.

Also, counter point for "if you can play an XBox game on it, it's an XBox"...because the Rog Ally plays PC games, it's able to play Playstation Studios games. That doesn't make it a Playstation...although by Microsofts own logic, it would. It's just stupid.
Hell, you can emulate games on your phone, laptop, said Rog Ally, but that doesn't mean we should all start calling those devices Dreamcasts or N64s 🤦🏻‍♂️

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying any attention to this device. Sadly Microsofts "everything is an XBox" push is understandably confusing for more casual gamers or those who dabble rather than the enthusiast side of gaming.

Unfortunately the "worst" thing, or at least the major gripe that seems to come up in the majority of reviews/feedback about the Asus Rog XBox Ally system seems to be the operating system... You know, the one part that Microsoft themselves are responsible for. We've seen everything from it needs more time, more updates, and more stability, through to games run better with a non MS OS installed on the device. Again, this is no surprise if you understand handheld PCs as this has always been the case, however this particular device was supposed to ship with an overhauled OS that resolves those issues... Which sadly just isn't the case right now.
Hopefully they can get it where it needs to be sooner rather than later.

It's sounding very much like it's going to be a PC in console form factor to sit in your living room... A PC that will have XBox emulation.

If so, it'll be an interesting experiment, but depending on price it may just be better to build your own PC (especially if the console doesn't support upgrading hardware, and at this stage it's safe to assume/ask why would it?).
I'm definitely interested in the idea of a more open system, but everything seems to be pointing away from XBox as a console, and more towards XBox as an idea...a vague label construct of wherever you play Microsoft published games, or more specifically, access their Game Pass service.

Remember, Phil Spencer said he didn't see $1000 consoles as being the way to grow the market (when the PS5 Pro launched), but it sounds like this new XBox could be even further north of that price point. But then Microsoft aren't trying to grow the market anymore, they're trying to push more platforms for Game Pass to increase that Monthly Active User KPI.

Anyway, it's gonna be an interesting couple of years as the information on the Next Box and PS6 appear. I'd like to say exciting, but I'm keeping my expectations in check.

I've just started over on Cyberpunk 2077 so I'm very much enjoying that atm.

I'll also be having another run at ARC Raiders for the server slam ahead of launch.

"The biggest point of contention with the "X" seems to be the software and the fact that it's not necessarily a console-like experience"

But isn't the software (Windows 11 with Full Screen Experience) the major selling point for these devices?

And Microsoft pushing the "everything is an XBox" angle is really to blame for people's misconception of what these new handhelds can do. They were always handheld PCs with optimisation for running games on Windows 11 and a dedicated XBox streaming app.

I'm not knocking the devices, they were always going to be beefy handheld PCs, but it sounds like some more work needs doing on that OS before they can really shine. And a reduced price point wouldn't hurt either (I know, I know, current economy etc).

Gotta be Psychonauts 2 for me.

It's not an easy choice though with Grim Fandango, Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle on the list, but they were all
(excellent) remasters.

I've got a lot of love for Brutal Legend too, although I never liked the way it took a hard left into becoming a tower defence game. The open world adventure part was so much better imo.

@DeadSpace I haven't had a chance to get stuck in yet, hopefully this weekend! I'll let you know.

@FraserG it's to artificially increase the value. "sure, you're paying more, but look at all this extra stuff we're giving you that you didn't ask for!".

Worryingly, it's the same sort of principle that live service games, specifically micro transactions take when they sell bundled packs. Put the one or two things people want in the bundle, then add their premium currency, extra stickers or whatever tat they can that nobody wants and inflate the value. (Bonus points for them if they put some of the tat content up for sale with silly price tags too so people can believe they're getting a perceived "bargain").

We all knew the price hike was coming, I guess just before the handheld device launches is as good a time as any for MS to lock in those gamers. But at twice the price of the Premium tier it really is hard to justify Ultimate, let alone even consider it unless you just have to have your games day one. (or if you're a big fan of the games that get the "bonus" content... Fortnite Club for example).

I might just let my subscription lapse this time around and just pick it up here and there for certain releases. I've been feeling the same way about PS Plus (currently on Extra) too tbh.

@Coletrain it's really sad that the review codes for XBox aren't being sent out a) on time, or b) at all. I mean, we can always look at the PC and PS5 reviews to get an idea of how the games are, but if the XBox games being reviewed dwindles then like DF said, it's likely they'll end up being dropped due to cost, time and punctuality (like they said, if they put out a technical analysis a week or two after launch, they just aren't getting the same views as they do on the videos they have out on day one).

Hopefully it won't come to that.

@OldGamer999 to be fair, Silent Hill (as a series) was never really about the combat. This is the first game where combat is front and centre.
I've seen a few reviews mention the lack of standard enemy variety, which is a shame, especially when the bosses seem to be praised for the most part.

Still picked it up day one though. Silent Hill is one of my favourite gaming series, despite the ups and (oh so many) downs its had. Resident Evil is the king of survival horror, while Silent Hill has always been the king of psychological horror.

@ButterySmooth30FPS it's a very valid point though. Once a store stops stocking a product it can be very hard to get that product back on their shelves. Even future iterations, unless they have a runaway success.

The worst thing that can happen (for gaming) is that they slowly shrink their game stock for that platform too, eventually phasing it out. I've seen it happen for too often in the past...especially for non gaming specific retailers.

If course, in an ideal world there would be somewhere where people could go and actually try out the new handhelds. The Microsoft stores would have had this covered, but sadly they all closed their doors back in 2020 😓

I don't mean to be funny, but the Microsoft announcement for Flight Simulator 2024 coming to PS5 and PSVR 2 was genuinely more hype than this entire show.

Good to have Forza Horizon 6 confirmed though.

Definitely interested in seeing what Microsoft have in store for us, but I'll check out the show on catch up.

Surely it's time for Microsoft / Asus to confirm the XBox Rog Ally prices?! We're only a month out for the launch 🙈