Brigurugi

My four pillars were: Crimson Skies, DOA Xtreme, DOA 3 and custom soundtracks. That's what kept me playing.

Nothing digital. I cannot trust MS and Xbox anymore and especially don't give a care over cloud anything. Bought a ton of physical games though most of which at or cheaper than sold digitally. Only positive with Xbox Gamepass and cloud commitment from MS is my Xbox physical collection gained almost 40% in overall value in 2025.

Just got a PS5 Pro, looked at a couple stores before ultimately purchasing from Amazon(best return policy and $40 cheaper) I saw most stores(Walmart, Target, Gamestop and Meijer) here in the States had varying amounts but all stores seemed to have at least 2 PS5s always with 1 PS5 Pro , a few Switch and at least 2 Switch 2's. Saw only one Xbox in 5 stores at Gamestop and it was a $649 Series X(weird that mine was $499 4 years ago). I paid $719 for the Pro and boy howdy, am I happy and impressed.

I wish this misguided effort went into physical conservation, securing old licenses, re-releasing old titles with FPS boost and making Xbox and the brand relevant again.

Been a long time since I've heard, read or seen any good will towards Xbox and nothing for Microsoft since Windows Xp was released.

@dskatter Right there with you. The only friends I have are my kids and outside of the Forza Horizon open world(I avoid interactions) never played online in anything with anyone in my near 50 years of gaming(Magnavox Odyssey my first console). Multiplayer to me is passing controllers around on the couch.

Karaoke Revolution/American Idol with the family and then we got into some 4 player action with NBA Street V3, Crimson Skies, Whacked! and Fusion Frenzy, all for Xbox.

None of the above, "I chose a cheaper option" and "I canceled GamePass this year" were suspiciously not listed. I checked all the Ubisoft games, however I canceled before the price hike and honestly just loving my backlog and physical collection.

Rough. Played FFVII two years ago. Free 2 Play anything will never see my time, especially a gatcha Chinese fighter and a whole bunch of leftovers that weren't good enough for the Christmas window. Finger's crossed Disco Simulator brings the funk.

Death Howl is the best game on this list, hopefully it transitions to XBOX as well as it deserves, these PC ports lately have been lacking.

All physical all year minus a few survivor-likes that got digital only. I bought or recieved 96 Xbox 1 or Series Games this year. Thanks to the GamePass hike and uncertainty of a physical future, everything skyrocketed in value. My Xbox only collection collectively hit $8600 using CIB value from two Meta collection sites and I was certified and insured with a value of $10k. Great year for physical collections.

Take off Assassin's Creed and Arc Raiders, add Hollow Knight, Keeper, ASUS Xbox Rogue Ally and Game Pass(overall). That's my list for biggest disappointments or let-downs in gaming this year. Awful year looking back. Thank Goodness for Steam and Switch 2.

@Skedaddle mark my words and check the predictive market. Should be all the facts you need. This will not happen and if it does a failed incomplete and incompetent rush job is what you will see. Much like Redfall. Merry Christmas

So we classify Davinci Resolve transitions as "technical feats" now?

If there was ever a news story that I could say I was unmoved by it would be this. No chance this game sees the light of day. The license will complete/expire and Marvel will not renew. They are betting everything on Doomsday, anything less than okay returns and I'd wager everything Disney sells Marvel.

Never understood why a big if not AAA but a sizable indie doesn't drop at or on Xmas on digital storefronts. Theaters do it, video stores did it and the reactions were always sell outs even if it were bad. People just want to blow money on Christmas to spend gift cards or to try out new systems, hand-helds, new TVs, even new Hi-Fis and headsets. I for one think dropping something like a new Fall Guys for families, or a tweaked out UE5 graphic showcase Santa Slays Simulator or arcade fun like Road Rash or SF Rush/NFL Blitz style for example. Something the family wants to watch you play or jump in and join. I bet it would outsell most Microsoft owned first party drops in it's first week. Especially if kept near or under $25usd. Holiday Headbangers in Hell sold 300k in this window a few years back(all consoles combined). Seems like truly untapped potential.

@Fiendish-Beaver I hope it was on sale amd you enjoy it. Merry Christmas!

@Fiendish-Beaver it re-uses assets from the Achilles game prior and created a sort of hybrid survivor/tower defense. Looks great, runs well and is packed with content for the price. There is tedium and can be difficult but I was able to 100% in game and Xbox achievements under 40 hours and had a blast getting there while seeing all there was to see. You can become quite OP with fun weapons, lots of characters and towers add a different wrinkle to a somewhat crowded genre nowadays. $15 went a long way for the dedicated

What happened to Mile High Taxi? It's been listed under coming soon for almost 2 years. I've read It's not great on PS5 but I was intrigued by a 5th Element style Crazy Taxi.

My list compiles of mostly digital only and DLC I have played. Finished up AC Origins and Valhalla DLC, Wreckreation, Rage 2 and it's excellent DLC, Just Cause 3 Bavarium Heist, Phantom Liberty, All the great survivor/bullet hell types that dropped like Achilles Survivor and I loved Ball X Pit.

I would just like to say that Divinity 2 is boring as heck(I completely understand the mid reviews on og realease and saved me a bunch of money as I chose this as a cheap primer to see if I'd like Baldurs Gate, I will not) and is also a shining example that we desperately need an official XBOX mouse and keyboard.

As someone with 150 hrs in FM and over 500 in GT I notice... Forza Motorsport and the Xbox ecosystem of FM players is about as toxic as MS allows them to get, full of cheaters and beggars while also constantly banning and kicking players for seemingly minor reasons.

GT player base seem far more refined, polite, helpful and supportive. All I ever heard in FM was hate for the game, others and MS. The love Gran Turismo players have for the game is leaps and bounds ahead of Forza Motorsport. I'll take relaxing and welcoming over a toxic chore any day.

Cast and Chill on Switch 2 and finishing up Rage 2 DLC now that the game seems to finally run well on Series X and it's pretty dang good. Skipped it when barely playable on Xbone

Oh yeah... MS owns ABK! Funny you'd think that would be something memorable with all the re-releases and licenses put to fantastic use, and they wouldn't churn out gatcha foreign market trash or bad sequels to bad sequels. MS/ABK know consumers like me would avoid products and speak out against mismanagement if they were to mishandle or gatekeep and drop more SnoreCraft while sitting on over 100 different possible IP's that aren't licensed to anyone but gamers. Wait... what?

@FraserG Rock N Roll Racing was already on GP in the Blizzard Collection and always worked without lag and had functional menus and saves, not to mention Quick Resume. The Ant Arcade system in general is hugely flawed and gets worse the more they add.

1 million uninstalls as well.

I waited almost 3 years for this game for it to be dropped unceremoniously out of the blue. I am massively disappointed. I hate all of the UI and menu system to the point I won't build anything, the lack of true camera settings and a performance mode really hamper the experience when I'm not getting dashboarded or clip an invincible light pole. It's like beamNG and Paradise had a baby delivered by a stork that was contracted by Wish. Bears resemblance to a more fun better time like Paradise through an askew mirrored lense. Huge bummer but I won't be helping cause it ain't getting much better even if I do, not on Xbox at least.

So basically 3 games, at likely $40, then discounted to whatever magic price(65% off) Capcom feels appropriate and will always be that discount price in the discount rotation. Which you can count on every 6 weeks. No chance I ever pay full price for a Capcom game ever again, even if Strider showed up in a game with Tron Bonne riding in a car from Auto Modellista shooting down airplanes in 1942... Never pay full price for Capcom, Warner, EA or 2K... 3.5 weeks is average for first discount.

@Blastfemur funny, I didn't see any blight, homeless encampments, streets of only food waste or 15 million cars clogging every street, no smog, no rats, gerbils ferrets, bi-lingual signs and ads or black/brown people. LBC myself, looked too clean and waayyyy too white washed or made by foreigners only seeing LA on the internet.

Need this one to be a lot less linear and contain wilder more varied environments. Never really felt like L.A. or an interpretation, just a cartoon land. Maybe takes place on an actual island this time? Long Island perhaps?

The entire honorable mention list is far ahead of the Top 5 list for me. I played one of those games in the top 5 for more than 5 minutes. On Xbox for my top 5:

Achilles Survivor
Wreckreation
Hell Is Us
Atomfall
Assassin's Creed: Shadows

Does it make vanilla Silksong any fun to play? When a game becomes a chore and no longer a game why do we praise them so much? I had the same issue with Wukong and Khazan. Just felt like a job that I wasn't getting paid for and I actually paid money to do this, for what? Clout? With whom? Not anymore. I refuse to bend or git gud again. I'm tired and my hands hurt. I'll take a million God of War(og) or DMC or Assassin's or Far Cries over another punishing game. I'm to old for this sh..

Performance Performance Performance. A 60fps quality mode. Can they make a full game that is kinda close to the last Senua? But an actual full game with active mechanics not just a walking sim?

R.I.P. Rob Reiner. Not much for gaming today, sad news of a director with a run of films in the 80s that kicked me in the chest as a kid and helped form who I am. Stand By Me, Princess Bride and Misery will forever live in my head. Castle Rock logo always warmed my heart to see. Your influence will be missed. Have fun storming the castle!

@brettvsgodzilla Performance-wise the game is gorgeous especially with the Series update(occasionally something wonky happens but just adds to the charm). I have two separate saves(playthroughs) one at 80 hours another over 100(but you can breeze through the story under 40), there's a New Game+, hard mode and another 35 hours between both DLC. Some may call it bloated but I love ticking off locations and improving my weapons of choice(of which you have many to choose). I find the game easy, even the first time through, probably easiest in the series on normal difficulty.

As far as historically, I've spent hours just taking and composing photos and just exploring. Its a wonderful game world to live in and I revisit often. I for one loved this Ubisoft. This was peak of that era.

Assassin's Creed: Origins, Curse of the Pharoah dlc. I revisit this amazing game yearly or to be reminded why I love gaming or when needed. I still find new stuff in this gem and this dlc is gorgeous, 25 hours and perfect for a weekend.

Never had I physically saw air leave a room so fast as it did after this announcement at TGA. Snuck under the radar because if radar had picked it up, Hegseth would have double tapped it, it looks that bad.

Even $70 for incomplete, feature-less, Game Pass content is too much. Game Awards last night showed us where Xbox future is going. Nowhere but another store front with their hook being no games, just different leveled tiers at wildly varying prices and Black Ops 12.

Ace Combat, Screamer and Star Wars Galactic Racer/ORep and a heck of a lot I will never ever play. Otherwise seemed to count more games without an Xbox tag than those with. At least advertised last night. Not a good look.

Only proves that every nominee knew of their win or loss at the game awards. Awful expensive plane tickets, hotel and accommodation for 90% of the nominees if they all flew in to lose. Paid compensation had deep pockets last night. Felt like an actual award show.

Maybe they can sell it to Netflix or Skydance. COD, GamePass, Phil, the snotty black lady... all of it. If you're going to run your games and company into the ground burn everything on the way there.

This was sub mediocre, budget spent on voice-over and clearly not actual gameplay. A short yet tedious walking sim an awesome cast and not enough game. Would have been better as an animated short for something like Love, Death & Robots.

Bloodwake, Quantum Redshift, Brute Force, NFL Fever, Kakuto Chojin and dang skippy better be a DOA:Beach Volleyball in the cards for 2026.

Edit: also Soul Calibur II with all modes and Spawn

@themightyant you want Paramount/Skydance, far more consumer friendly. You're looking at some form of internet reading this, look into why Skydance is better and see the litany of reasons and schooled in the church of business ethics.

Fingers crossed. Ellison will not run WB into the ground and loves video games. Wants in a AAA publisher role really bad. I support Skydance and never a company run by former EA execs in Netsux.

@Runex2121 You loved the Kinect? Imo the Kinect was where everyone turned on MS and started the beginning of eternally being last place or DNQ in the sales wars.

@dskatter my collection value sits at just over $10k and 75% is Xbox. Mostly Xbone generation and up. Can't leave a link here, however, even sold at a low end, it would be a nice DP on a vehicle or jet skis!

@dskatter Price Charting has it steadily climbing since Nov 2023. Current "CIB" value is $423. PS5 $349. Only the Switch 2 worth more "CIB" at $451.

As a collector with hopes of passing on to my kids. XBOX in its entirety is the best bang for your collecting dollar. Almost every new 3rd party release is limited from start. New games will keep their value if truly 3rd party.

Bummer, but this news sends the value of my collection up a percent or so every time an MS failure like this gets reported, especially hardware resale, keep shooting yourselves in the foot Microsoft.

It's a real world RPG, no fantasy hook, a la Kingdom Come(sans setting). A police angle of some kind, agent or avoiding police and agencies. Nothing quite like it, expands on past unsuccessful ideas.