BrandNewOldSchool

Gamepass is great for smaller developers as the service encourages gamers to try out stuff they normally wouldn't, which tends to benefit indie games.

Also, just try changing it now. You can't, for better or for worse. If I had to move back to paying full, even discounted, price for every game I play, I'd probably get a life and play a LOT less.

@Secryt

"it's hard to justify telling someone to go out and spend money on the Xbox ecosystem"

You mean apart from saving a shed-load of money if you have an unhealthy gaming addiction and like to play LOTS of games, not just 3-4 per year like a lot of Playstation gamers do.

In answer to the question at the top of the page, my answer is unequivocally yes, in a large part for the reason I just stated.

I can't keep up! But I try.

Is the game even any good. There are versions for 90 quid plus up there. I mean, Nintendo got nothing on these guys.

Will the more casual gamer be willing to stump up the cash for one of these? They won't get 100 million sales without those guys, but I'm not convinced many parents will be too enthusiastic to stump up 450+ (not even considering the impact of tariffs at this point) for the kids. I hope I'm wrong, but I think the S2 is not going to meet expectations. The WiiU came off the back of one the most successful consoles of all time, and floundered. Will lightening strike twice?

Tidy. Looks like my annual Minecraft session will have a shiny new reason to exist.

@Kaloudz Also the map for the first one is included in SOD2 so no need to do it. Having said that, I was very fond of the first game before the sequel bested it.

@IOI Yeah I can see your reasoning there, similar how Windows PCs are much more targeted for viruses over the Mac OS and Linux. On the other hand, the Xbox user base is still in the tens of millions and that is a HUGE amount of potential sales, so it doesn't really make sense to not attempt to utilize those numbers.

@BowsersBuddy Thanks!! It did seem strange; the idea that there was no way to turn it off. Seems I didn't dive deep enough into the menus!

I'm loving this game. It's not perfect, but I love anything stealth, and the combo of Star wars/open world/stealth is a winner for me. Nice to see the devs tweaking it into a better shape, though I wish they would give me the option to to turn off controller vibration which is constant when on the speeder.

This is by far my most anticipated game release of the year on any platform.

Have they added a vehicle for exploration? Can you take it to the main game? If so it's probably worth it if you enjoyed the main game which I did (despite its overly-analysed shortcomings).

@LogicStrikesAgain Ok, perhaps I'm overstating some aspects of the ugliness (as I mentioned, I was pretty sore at my purchase initially), and absolutely, Gran Turismo was astounding upon launch (though not a game I ever really wanted to play due to not really being a racer type gamer). Donkey Kong was super-ugly (no pun intended), with its weird pixellated clay-mation aesthetic. But Super Nintendo was a must have in our house as it was the first console to land the mighty Street fighter 2 (actually think it was a launch title). They were so desirable mine was actually the sole theft in a - clearly targeted - burglary of our house.

@LogicStrikesAgain

Well I was there, too, in my 20's no less, and it was the ugliest era I've been through. Yes a few games looked great, impressive even, but the majority were hard to look-at low-poly, poor texture. I actually was mad because I had a 3DO which I'd sold to finance the PS1 and regretted it almost immediately when my favourite game of the time, Space hulk, looked several orders of magnitude worse on the PS1. I'm not knocking or seeking to minimise the success of the PS1, and there were a few games I played the hell out of (GTA), I just remember thinking the graphics looked like turds then (we were just starting to see some absolutely stunning looking VGA style pixel graphics, which then all took a back-seat when the PS1 hit. Also, the move to 3d was crucial, and an incredibly important milestone in the industry which puts it above all other consoles of the time. But man, we had to go ugly to get through it.

@LogicStrikesAgain

Totally agree. PS1 era has to go down as one of the ugliest eras in all of gaming (not even the charm of clever pixel design which just about boosted the 8bit era into some sort of aesthetic pleasantry). We were so excited about the move to 3d, but boy did the PS1 push out some horrific looking polygons. PS2 was way better a look, although still quickly usurped by its later arriving competitors).

None of them, sadly. Just do not get the appeal at all.

Sadly, Hi-fi rush did absolutely nothing for me - nor Tango's previous output. I think I was pretty niche in not really getting upset about their closure (though I obviously huge have sympathy for the people whose jobs were lost in the shuttering).

@Fiendish-Beaver
Fair enough, I just don't see the implosion happening the way a few of you guys on here do, and missing out on a former Sony IP does not really fit into the thrust of your concerns. On Gamepass, the console has been doing just fine for my gaming needs - was hoping that I could play Frostpunk 2 on it, but it got delayed, so that was a bummer, I guess. Still think you're hyping the doom a bit.

I remember being blown away by the graphics of the last Ninja. Those old isometric pixel games were amongst my favourite aesthetically in that era. Oh and as a bonus, the the last Ninja 2 came with a Ninja mask and poster folded up in its meaty packaging. Not sure I'd want to play them again though. In my experience, gaming nostalgia is a box best left unopened.

@Fiendish-Beaver

Eh? Plenty, and I mean PLENTY of games are on, and coming to Xbox. Are you really sincere? I just can't tell, nor do I ever implicitly trust anything I read on game-site comment boxes. If you are being sincere, I suggest you have a glass of water and calm the heck down on the hyperbole. And in all honestly, with regards to this game in particular, I can't imagine many Xboxers will be shedding tears at missing out on this.

edit: Also, just to add, there are 4 games coming to game-pass this week, one of which is Frostpunk2 (pc) which is one of my most anticipated games of the year (though sounds like it's b*stard hard). Pretty decent from where I'm standing.

@tho_mi

This news sucks terribly, and the questions around the true intentions/benefits of the Activision acquisition (just realised those two words rhyme) are questions yet to be fully understood (apart from the obvious benefits of owning one of the the World's most popular gaming IP). Don't you think "I was in favor of it back then, but oh boy, I did not expect Microsoft to basically abandon their own ecosystem that quickly" is a tad hyperbolic, no? Where is the sentiment that Microsoft/Xbox are about to abandon their own ecosystem come from? There are tens of millions of us in that ecosystem, that's not a customer base anyone can just abandon without truly catastrophic damage to the brand.
Of course, you are at liberty to feel however you wish to feel on the matter, but I just think, respectfully, that you are overreacting slightly on this matter.

*Edited typos make my brain hurt

Yuck. Job losses always suck.

*Edit

To add, my daughter just finished her Masters in Game art and design and 5 years ago I felt like she was getting into a great, ever growing industry and profession. These days I don't think that anymore and I pray that she can find good, consistent work in her field. Though the above job losses aren't in that particular part of game development, the industry in general is baulking a little right now. I'm just hoping she can code some indie gold and buy me that Porsche I've always dreamed of.

@Kienda
All great points - we must all try to live within our means and adjust our expectations accordingly and so naturally nobody likes a price-rice. The fact that in this economic environment a lot of the rises in price are a result of greed-flation makes the rises even more galling for the majority of us. I'm sure Microsoft/Xbox are guilty of taking advantage of these trends (as are most, if not all Corporations and services in the economy), and yet I'm also quite certain that GP is not a cheap service to run and that Corporate laws and share-holders will expect these services to run with, at the very least, decent profits.
Having said that, if affordability is your main concern, then all entertainment services are going to add an increasing strain on your finances. So if you have unhealthy gaming/filming/musical needs, the subscription model is one that is likely to give you more bang for your buck, though ownership of said media is off the table, (a considerable barrier if that's important to you).
I have 3 kids; two little ones who are not old enough to get into gaming (and I'm considering holding that off as long as realistically possible), and an adult daughter who lives with her partner in Dorset. She is as addicted to gaming as I am (all my fault - bought her a 3DS when she was 4 which has made her a lifelong Nintendo/gaming lover) She and I share my Xbox account and all my GP benefits with the game-share trick, so she can, from the other side of the country, play all the games that I can without paying a penny. I keep thinking it's going to get pulled by Microsoft one day, but we've been doing this since Gamepass day one, and with XBL and its content prior, and no-one has pulled the plug on it yet.

Sorry for the long post...

@Muddy
Hi - new member here (though lurked for donkeys). Hope everyone is tickedyboo? Felt compelled to create a login to try and counteract all the unnecessary and often unfair negativity I keep reading (I know, gamers right?, but I can try). I'm not here to flame or troll, but feel that there is quite a lot of disingenuous commentary around gaming in general, and it's such a shame.

Back on topic: I Honestly don't understand how anyone who uses gamepass can say it doesn't represent good value for money (apologies if I've misunderstood the gist of your comment). Especially if you have a terrible gaming addiction such as myself. I've been gaming since the early 80's, and I cannot think of a time where you could play more games for as little money as we can with GP. Not even those halcyon days of £1.99 Mastertronic and Codemaster games can compete (not to mention the general standard of games today is MUCH higher, even when you throw nostalgia into the mix). I would honestly pay more than the required sub if I had to - If I were to pay for all the games I've played on GP my bill would have run into the thousands. As for whether the sub model help or hinders the industry at large, well, that's a story we'll have to watch unfold. But if we're talking about gamers getting value for money, GP is leagues ahead of any system I've used throughout my considerably long gaming career.