Cakefish

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 The game has aged like fine wine too, maybe partly because rail shooter is a dead genre these days so nothing has superseded it (a bittersweet thought).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 🤫

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah I don’t think it’s intentional bias though. I think it’s just natural unconscious bias from staffing niche outlets with a bunch of super fans of that brand and their particular style of games. You can see the ‘home advantage’ play out with NintendoLife too.

I think Split Fiction suffered from not having the novelty factor that It Takes Two benefitted from. Additionally it got quickly overshadowed by the Clair Obscur hype train.

Then when it later launched on Switch 2 it was overshadowed by Mario Kart World, Cyberpunk 2077, and Donkey Kong Bananza.

@Fiendish-Beaver it got 75 on PC and 79 on PS5 so potentially the Xbox reviewers were wearing nostalgia goggles whilst reviewing!

@Fiendish-Beaver ah I should’ve scrolled up before I commented. We made the same joke. Great minds think alike!

It’s actually 29.99%.

Switch 2 games mostly. I’m finishing up Kirby & the Forgotten Land and then will move onto Metroid Prime 4.

I could bring my Xbox with me too when I travel, but honestly there’s not much I’m currently playing there right now so not really worth the hassle.

I still need to finish Once Upon A Katamari, but otherwise I’m just waiting for Code Vein 2, which I’ve already preordered — pretty darn excited for that one!

Split Fiction, my beloved 🥰

My personal GOTY, no doubt about it!

Not perfect, but literally no game is. It’s just so creative, polished, refined, and fun. A real gem. A masterpiece of co-op gaming.

No because GTA 6 will win, assuming it’s not delayed into 2027.

On PC I played: God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (& Frozen Wilds), Horizon Forbidden West (& Burning Shores), REPO, PEAK, and Keeper.

On Xbox I played: Nier Automata (until the ‘real’ ending), Split Fiction (three times over), South of Midnight, Pumpkin Jack, Lies of P Overture, Little Nightmares 3, Borderlands 4 and a little bit of Once Upon A Katamari (but haven’t finished it yet).

On Switch 2 I played: Sonic x Shadow Generations, Kirby & the Forgotten Land (still need to finish the epilogue), and I intend to play Metroid Prime 4 over Christmas break.

So majority Xbox; maybe 50-60% in terms of playtime? PC maybe 35-45% ish? Switch 2 probably 5-10%.

@Fiendish-Beaver ahhh yes I see! Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

@fabio1 the logic is that now that everything is an Xbox we can simply get our Xbox wrapped from Steam’s, PlayStation’s, and Nintendo’s year in reviews instead. Truly genius strategy you see!

@Fiendish-Beaver sorry I don’t understand the reference? 😅

I’m clearly out of touch with the kids, I’d never heard of it before the Black Friday sales data news nor seen any adverts or promotion for it anywhere. What an enigma.

@InfamousOrange yeah I’m gonna play Metroid Prime 4 that week 😁

@InfamousOrange yes, though they announced it’ll be be available in January so that it includes the entirety of December.

Ah they saw my complaint about rewards quests skewing the stats and took it personally.

Mixed bag year honestly

On the one hand; hardware cost increases way beyond the competition - boo! Also massive Game Pass price hike - boo!

On the other hand; the first party output was fairly decent overall (especially Keeper) and third party additions to Game Pass were pretty good too.

I feel 2026 needs to be better overall though. Less of the bad, more of the good please.

Keeper for sure. A great game. Not on par with Psychonauts 2 the XSX GOAT, but it’s a lovely little adventure in its own right.

I also tried South of Midnight and it was okay, but just okay — it didn’t blow me away like for other people.

We still haven’t even got Stellar Blade though, come on Sony, throw us a bone why won’t you.