Cakefish

So far I haven’t had to open up the XSX to clean it out as it’s still whisper quiet after almost 5 years. I don’t smoke though.

@Matthewnh unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. The hardware architecture of both nextbox and PS6 are set in stone now, the major design features can’t be changed (well not without completely scrapping everything and starting over anew which they obviously won’t do). If these consoles release in let’s say 2030, then it’ll just be a Switch 2 situation where the internal hardware ended up being pretty dated by the time it eventually launched.

Now whether this actually matters considering the PC hardware market is equally impacted by the RAMageddon is a very valid and fair counterpoint to raise and also it’s not like Switch 2 has struggled to find success despite the older tech. My point here though is that a longer gap until the next generation launches won’t actually result in better hardware as all the R&D was done based on the original assumption of launching in 2027.

I always said late 2027 but that was before the RAMageddon, so a delay to 2028 unfortunately makes a lot of sense. I do not expect any proper announcement/reveal this year if the release is indeed pushed back beyond 2027.

While the biggest franchises did bother with ports (Final Fantasy and Death Stranding) I worry that these slightly more niche ones won’t, even after the exclusivity period expires. Where are Stellar Blade and AI Limit for example? Still not bothering with Xbox. I really don’t like this annoying inconsistency with third party ports and with sales of Xboxes flatlining this situation is very unlikely to get better anytime soon. We’ll see what happens, but I won’t be surprised if six months pass and there’s still complete radio silence — hopefully I’m wrong on this prediction.

I bought MIO on Switch for some upcoming travels later this month but if I didn’t specifically want it portable I would’ve played it on Xbox, so I personally think it’s a great addition. Reviews have generally been very positive overall. I’m looking forward to playing it.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah I only ever use cloud for these rewards quests so I’m one of these ‘fake’ cloud users lol

I’m currently just relying on cloud on mobile devices for these quests to avoid the electricity costs. Electricity is so damn expensive here in UK I doubt it’s worth purposely farming these quests. Last time I checked the electricity cost of Xbox + TV/PC + monitor running for the required time each day completely negated the points value.

I’m really struggling at the first boss of Code Vein 2 — the character creator…

@themightyant yeah it means all these infographics end up looking the same. You have to zoom in and squint to see the changes from the last one… and the one before that… and the one before that… and the one before that. Seriously I just looked at all the infographics from the past year, they all look almost visually indistinguishable because they’re dominated by the historical games rather than the upcoming ones.

Nice! I’ve been yearning for some more abstract game-neutral backgrounds for ages now. I’ll definitely check these out!

Edit: they don’t look as nice as I was hoping, I’m going to have to stick with the Keeper background.

Well the lack of any obvious adverts makes it look visually clean at first glance, but I’m not convinced it would be suitable for console. Look at that big redundant play with friends row for starters, not everyone needs that. No quick access to the settings either. Be careful what you wish for, if it comes to console it’ll be guaranteed to have adverts anyway and could be a downgrade in other areas.

@Godot25 ah no I was talking about Xbox games on PS5, not PS5 hardware sales.

Ironic they can’t even commit to towing the ‘everything is an Xbox’ line in their own financial reports. They keep calling out PC and Xbox separately 🤦‍♂️

Now I can’t help but wonder; if PC is up, cloud is up, PS5 is up… that only leaves Xbox being massively down as the only explanation for the drop? I can’t help but see that as an ominous sign for the future.

The RAM shortages means it’s probably not happening in 2027 anymore. If PS6 is delayed, I don’t see how Microsoft would fare any better when they have far less enthusiasm for hardware to begin with.

The deluxe edition was mistakenly listed at £55 for months. They honoured preorders when they corrected it, so a nice discount for all Xbox owners who got in early.

I’m okay with the review scores as it sounds like an improvement over the original, which I enjoyed, so I’m sure I’ll have fun with this too. Soulslike is essentially my favourite genre and anime styling + soulslike is still a pretty unique combination, at least on Xbox.

I won’t get a chance to play the ‘early access’ as I’m travelling cross country to visit my very ill gramp in hospital, quite possibly to say goodbye for the final time. I’ll definitely be needing a distraction at the weekend so will dive right into this then!

Really not surprising considering the Series S exists.

@Fiendish-Beaver great news! I realise the character creator is already out so I might actually spend my weekend on that instead.

I may dabble in Once Upon A Katamari in the meantime, but I’m really just waiting for Code Vein 2 next week.

@Fiendish-Beaver did you preorder CV2 in the end? They’ve now corrected the pricing error on the Xbox store with the Deluxe Edition, it’s now £75 as on other platforms. My preorder at £55 went through though and hasn’t been cancelled. So the gamble paid off handsomely! 😁

@RegnumSolipsi Phil Spencer tweeted about playing it in Oct 2024 so it was definitely playable to a certain extent (https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/10/xbox-boss-namedrops-marvels-blade-and-everwild-following-recent-studio-visits)

@Markatron84 That’s a very fair point, I’d completely forgotten that was just a Jez story. Damn it Jez, muddying the waters like this.

That’s exactly the same as what they said about Everwild. Words are meaningless honestly.

@IOI @Fiendish-Beaver @PsBoxSwitchOwner 100% agreed. I don’t see how it’s possible to interpret this in any other way when stacked on top of all the other previous statements they’ve made and of course the Fable/Halo day one confirmations etc. The moment they said Halo was a day-and-date PlayStation franchise from now on, any lingering ambiguity died for me personally. The evidence is simply overwhelming at this point.

Crystal clear to me. The intention is day one PlayStation launches for everything, it’s just a resourcing issue for the smaller dev teams that will generate ‘accidental’ timed exclusives.

I still find it really surreal that is developed by Game Freak.

I love Double Fine (Psychonauts 2 still my favourite first party XSX game) but this does nothing for me personally. Just not my preferred genre, this multiplayer brawler thingy. That’s fine though, not everything can be my cup of tea.

Looks pretty darn good. The NPCs had proper janky facial animations and lip syncing though — that really stood out to me as the rest of the presentation looked really polished.

@Markatron84 well depending on what it ends up being if it does ever make it to a final product it may be a blessing in disguise. Some bastardised live service monstrosity wouldn’t really do the original justice. I just want to see Jade & Pey’j again in a decent narrative adventure!

@Martsmall it looks like BG&E2 survived (for now) as it’s mentioned in the CH4 portfolio.

I heard good things about MIO in the reviews so I’ve purchased it on Switch for the portability factor, it’ll be my travel game next month.

I have the 1TB Expansion Card, which I bought back in 2021. I also have a 512GB SATA SSD and 4TB HDD connected via USB. Maxed out all the storage currently, because of Game Pass.

My Ultimate expires in early March so not long now. I’m still undecided on what to do. I may do the conversion thing again, I guess I’ll have a better idea after the direct and seeing what Fable actually looks and plays like.

Hazelight games not being on the NA list while being on the EU list is an interesting difference between regions.

@FraserG yeah I just looked it up myself! I agree with the high metascore. The game has aged like fine wine too, maybe partly because rail shooter is a dead genre these days so nothing has superseded it (a bittersweet thought). The cutting edge graphics, timeless art design, and wonderful music also play a huge role in the graceful ageing of the game. It was the very first game I ever bought for my XSX in fact! I wish Sega would bring PD back from the dead.

No this is an outrage, where is my beloved Panzer Dragoon Orta? 💔

Edit: apparently ranked all the way down at #25 with a score of 90. At least it has a decent rating that I can agree with.

Halo 1 & 2 on my cousin’s Xbox. I got my own Xbox later in 2005(ish).

It needs major updates. The PC app is abysmal, absolutely horrendous. You can easily hide and filter/sort your library on XSX but you just can’t on PC. Games just can’t be hidden. Such basic functionality just missing. It’s atrocious, it’s woeful. Ahhh I hate it so much!

@FraserG another of those Xbox controller cakes then? Maybe it’s the elite version this time around. Or more of those Xbox Kristy Kreme doughnuts. Or maybe following on from the mini fridge they’re doing an Xbox air fryer this year.

@FraserG a sign of a promising year indeed! 😊

Nothing this time around because I need to focus on finishing Metroid Prime 4 and Once Upon A Katamari and then Code Vein 2 arrives later this month.

You missed Code Vein 2! I’m eagerly awaiting it. I’m getting soulslike withdrawal symptoms over here 😅

Backlog TLC and deciding what to do with Game Pass when my current subscription expires in March.

So 1000 USD converts to ~742 GBP with today’s exchange rate. Seems reasonable enough. But do I add +20% VAT onto that or assume that’s the retail price I pay including VAT? Ahhh the rules of this poll are too vague! 🤯

It’s going to boil down to the final specifications and the execution of the software (just how much of a PC is it really).

Thank you for being a great resource for Xbox news/reviews/opinion pieces. Plenty of interesting things happening this year!

@OldGamer999 I was assuming it’ll be digital only regardless as it’s supposed to be a PC. Probably some sort of disc drive attachment sold separately for backwards compatibility purposes, but I’m not sure I forsee any new games being published physically.

That’s a shame. They can’t redesign the SOC so it will just be outdated architecture upon arrival as Switch 2 was. Darn

Very excited for Code Vein 2, so much so I already preordered it!

For Xbox specifically:

• Nier Automata
• Split Fiction (3x)
• Pumpkin Jack
• South of Midnight
• Lies Of P: Overture
• Little Nightmares 3
• Keeper
• Borderlands 4

Poor Split Fiction, so close to making the top 10 yet still too far 😭

Merry Christmas everyone ✨🎄✨

@Fiendish-Beaver haha you’re welcome! I really enjoyed the first game too, it seemed perfect for a sequel as there were definitely a few areas they could improve further and I thought the formula had so much potential. Hopefully they don’t cancel our preorders, but the pricing has been that way for literally months now, so they clearly aren’t paying close attention! Just don’t spread the word too far and wide 🤐😉

Merry Christmas btw!

8 in total (if we’re counting DLC separately, 7 if not). This year I purchased:

• Split Fiction
• Lies Of P
• Pumpkin Jack
• Lies Of P: Overture
• Code Vein 2
• Little Nightmares 3
• Once Upon A Katamari
• Borderlands 4

The reason I preordered Code Vein 2 so early is because there’s a pricing error on the Microsoft Store where the Deluxe Edition is being sold for Standard Edition pricing. £20 cheaper than other platforms. Don’t tell Bandai Namco 🤫