Cakefish

Okay my interest in this particular device has significantly waned now that DF are saying it’s below the XSX performance-wise. A potential future more powerful version would definitely interest me greatly though.

@IOI yeah same here, this is definitely a tempting device for me personally, pricing dependant. The fact it’s much more aligned with current consoles specs than the future rumoured Xbox does give me reason to hold off though, so I’ll see how things shake out next year. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on this for sure though!

All hail the GabeCube - yes I stole this name from Reddit. It’s perfect though!

I made comments in the past about how the biggest threat to Xbox’s future vision will come from Valve. Doing exactly this. If the future of Xbox is PC, then this is what Xbox will be competing with, not so much the PS6.

Yes specs-wise this is more aligned with current consoles than the rumoured next-gen devices, but those aren’t expected until 2027 at the earliest so Valve will have time to iterate. Could quite easily see a beefed-up SKU a year or two later, much like how they made a fancier Steam Deck model. I’m sure this is just the start of their plans. And we don’t know the pricing of any of these devices yet.

The gauntlet has been thrown down by Valve! I hope Microsoft can rise to the challenge and offer fierce competition.

I can say the same about most publishers honestly. It feels many publishers are holding back currently, for one reason or another. I was expecting a great deluge of third party games but instead it’s just a mere trickle. Hope that changes in 2026.

@TrollOfWar lol the ultimate monkey’s paw moment, I can too easily envision this cursed possibility!

I hope so. Please don’t just be Switch 2. Don’t get me wrong, Switch 2 would be great for the handheld factor, but obviously not 60fps due to the hardware limitations. So yeah, fingers crossed for an XSX port 🤞

Interesting read! I personally joined the party in early 2021. Firstly with the XSS in March and then a few months later upgrading to the XSX in May. And though this console is 4.5 years old now, it’s holding up very well. Never even needed to dust it and it’s still whisper quiet - that’s good engineering right there! I personally prefer the current home screen to what was there originally, though it’s certainly far from perfect (hello adverts). The hardware is starting to feel a bit aged in comparison to my more modern PC, but that’s just the typical lifecycle of a console, nothing unusual there. As long as games keep giving me the option of 60fps performance modes I’ll be content. Here’s to two more years of XSX - there’s still life in this little box yet!

Series S is fine and all, but it’s just not for me personally. Too many 30fps caps and other compromises. I don’t regret upgrading to the Series X at all. It was an accessible entry point to Xbox, but I soon realised that I needed more than what it had to offer.

May just became prime real estate again for video game releases!

Fable has to be 2026, right? Right? It’d already be six years since the first reveal. Xbox trying to break Metroid Prime 4’s announcement-to-release record or something? Stop announcing games way too early!

Wow this could actually give Sony a distinct advantage as Steam is just outright better than the Xbox app in pretty much every way imaginable. Xbox would still have the sizeable head start of course, but Sony could really catch up if the cross buy works through Steam (and supports cross save too, that’s vitally important). Even if it’s just their own proprietary launcher it’s still a clear win for consumers and validates the direction Xbox has been heading in. Cross buy and cross save via Steam would revolutionise gaming, but kinda sounds too good to be true.

@Weebleman I think what I’m trying to say is while Asus is the manufacturer for Xbox Ally and undoubtedly care much more about raw sales, Microsoft still needs devices like this (and the next- Xbox) to be an overall success to generate interest in the Xbox app. The purpose of this FSE experiment is to grab some more of the PC market that Steam currently dominates. I don’t think that can really happen if PC handhelds (and next-gen Xbox) continue to be niche slither of the overall PC market. And we know that Microsoft doesn’t have unlimited patience, if something isn’t driving the growth they’re after, they will axe it.

@BAMozzy the way I see it is that this controller-optimised version of Windows is an experiment. It needs to drive user engagement to the Xbox app (on Xbox Ally and all the other handhelds it eventually rolls out to) or Microsoft could lose interest in developing FSE further if it doesn’t meet their targets. FSE is tied to success of the hardware that it runs on, as few PC gamers will bother running it on their custom desktops or even laptops with proper mouse & keyboard setups. The current Steam/Xbox apps just offer a better experience for mouse & keyboard users. FSE is designed specifically for the controller-first experience and that’s handhelds and eventually (presumably) the next Xbox PC hybrid device (I still have no idea what to call it lol). So I think controller-focused hardware needs to succeed so that Microsoft stays invested in developing FSE for the long term. That’s my take on this whole situation!

@BAMozzy I think sales kinda matter in this case, because good sales demonstrate to Microsoft that it was worth spending all the extra resources and effort to streamline Windows for a better gaming experience, vs all the other handhelds that preceded the Xbox Ally which just shipped with bog-standard Windows. The future of the PC and console merger holds so much promising potential and it all hinges on Microsoft staying highly motivated in this vision in the long term. We don’t want them to suddenly get cold feet if Xbox Ally fails to generate the Xbox app engagement metrics that they were looking for.

Tough one to score I agree. It’s short, doesn’t have much gameplay/puzzle depth, or much replay value. On the other hand, it’s a stunning work of art both visually and musically. The atmosphere and vibes were so good throughout. I loved the attention to details in every scene, all the little quirky alien creatures, so imaginative and cool! The bond that formed between Twig and the Lighthouse was very cute and endearing too.

Psychonauts 2 is still a clear tier above in my opinion, but I thought Keeper was still a great game.

Sorry lads and ladies, I had to cast my vote for Split Fiction instead.

The list shows what a good year it’s been for games though!

Never give in to scalpers, it’s really not worth it!

It would provide so much nostalgia, yes please to a (good) remake!

Hey PX, you might want to make an article how the Xbox Ally (the non-X one that uses RDNA 2) has just lost full driver support from AMD:

“RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 graphics cards will continue to receive driver updates for critical security fixes and bug resolutions. To focus on optimizing and delivering new and improved technologies for its latest GPUs, AMD is placing the Radeon RX 5000 and RX 6000 series (RDNA 1 and RDNA 2) into maintenance mode with the AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 25.10.2 release. Future driver updates with targeted game optimizations will be focused on RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 GPUs.“

Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-confirms-focus-shifts-to-rdna3-and-rdna4-rx-6000-and-rx-5000-lose-day-1-game-optimizations

@ilyn yeah with the PS5 Pro already at £700 it wouldn’t surprise me either if this were £1000.

Keeper was a real pleasure. What a majestic experience.

@themightyant haha yes, probably will age just as gracefully as his other 2024 quote about how their exclusivity strategy won’t be fundamentally changing. Only for Xbox to proudly announce that Halo is a PlayStation franchise from here on out just the following year. Zero consistency! Phil’s quotes do seem to age like milk.

“ which is also likely to deter customers as Xbox Series X|S continues to be slowly phased out”

It’s just kinda sad to read this. It’s true of course, but it’s also a bit depressing.

Sorry Routine but 4th of December is Metroid Prime 4 day!

I’ll add it to my backlog if it’s good.

@Tdx oh absolutely, they are objectively different. If they weren’t then the whole Play Anywhere thing would be entirely redundant. The very fact Play Anywhere exists and is needed demonstrates that PC and console are very much separate platforms (for now).

@themightyant the five year old XSX is £500 already. No chance whatsoever that the next one will be £600 (sadly). I think it’ll very likely be even more than the PS5 Pro. If all the rumours come true (Steam plus no multiplayer paywall) then they won’t be willing to subsidise the hardware. It’s going to be sold for a chunky profit margin.

Could be $999 so that the famous quote that Phil Spencer made last year about not selling $1000 consoles stays technically correct lol. Looking at Xbox Ally X currency conversions that would mean £800! I think that’s a much more realistic number to expect.

@Sindayl yeah it’s a great point, both the Steam and Xbox backwards compatibility integration need to be seamless. Having some awkward dual boot system where your Xbox library is confined to a deprecated legacy OS that never gets updated whilst all the new games and Steam lives on the Windows side wouldn’t be a very elegant solution at all. One OS, one login (well aside from Steam obviously), all the games seamlessly integrated - that’s the dream!

Good luck to them in finding another publisher, hope it works out in the end.

@JayJ yeah absolutely agree, plus also I really enjoy nerding out about console/PC specifications and all the things that come along with rendering games on local hardware (I’m a big fan of Digital Foundry). So everything moving to cloud streaming only would feel so incredibly sterile and boring to me. I definitely think much would be lost if that were ever to happen. So that’s another reason why I will never fully embrace the cloud!

@teknium_ same for me, I noticed that last night too

@JustinSane Metroid Prime 4 makes this December a very interesting month. For me and all the Metroid fans out there. There’s dozens of us!

For Xbox specifically I’m very excited for Code Vein 2 in late January!

This is why I’ll never embrace cloud streaming. It’s fine as an additional option of course, but it can’t ever be acceptable to be the only way to access our games. The ability to play games offline is so incredibly important!

@OldGamer999 presumably there would only be one version of the game. The console/PC schism would cease to exist. It would just be the Windows version running on all devices.

@SalaciousCrumb Valve is able to protect sensitive Steam user info just fine without a paywall. I don’t think you need worry about that. Microsoft has plenty of money available to fund proper account security.

Such a device would be ‘chef’s kiss’ as far as I’m concerned. I’m all on board for this, it’s the dream come true.

I’d be perfectly okay with paying more for the hardware upfront, as long as it actually outperforms PS6 in practice. The rumoured specifications indicate that it should do.

Time will tell whether all this plays out the way that I really hope it will.

It’s not dead, it’s just sleeping permanently.

Official Xbox account posting 30 second clip of Master Chief twerking to the backdrop of Doja Cat WHEN?!!!

@OldGamer999 my Game Pass is stacked until early March next year. The end is fast approaching! I looked at the numbers and it’s currently £9/month to renew for 15 months at current conversion rates and prices. That’s not too bad, so I may well take that option if 2026 ends up being as stacked as they’re currently promising it to be. We’ll see! If not I’ll simply downgrade to Essential.

My XSX is going nowhere for the remainder of this generation. I love this console, exclusives or no. My beef with multiplatform is regarding my major concerns about the long term sustainability of a closed platform that has no exclusive content. Of course, the rumours are staying that the next Xbox will actually be an open platform as it’ll be merged with Windows PC - and obviously Xbox leadership are strongly hinting that this is their plan too. So an open Xbox that can access Steam while also having backwards compatibility with all the console games (already confirmed) resolves all my concerns about long term viability of the platform and would be absolutely perfect for me!

@OldGamer999 well it could also be that, despite proclaiming exclusives to be completely antiquated and that modern players don’t care about them, they secretly behind the scenes don’t actually believe in what they are preaching. So they pick and choose certain games to be intentional timed exclusives. This wouldn’t really make sense, as it flies squarely in the face of their recent public statements saying that multiplatform is the best thing since sliced bread, but who knows anymore with Xbox leadership? I choose to believe the theory about it being a matter of resources, but ultimately if it turns out that they simply aren’t being honest in their public statements - well it wouldn’t be all that shocking anymore lol

@OldGamer999 probably was too far into development before the sudden switch to multiplatform focus 1.5 years ago, so the PlayStation version simply needs more time to bake in the oven and they don’t want to delay purely for the sake of simultaneous launch. We saw the exact same situation happen with Indiana Jones recently. Meanwhile, the likes of Gears of War Remaster, Halo Remake, and The Outer Worlds 2 aren’t as large, complex projects so could release day and date on PS5. This is my theory.

Borderlands 4 also has kinda jank foliage. Something to do with nanite not properly supporting vegetation in earlier versions of UE5 I’m guessing? Sadly it appears we’re still seeing games based on those much older versions of the engine.

Once Upon A Katamari for singleplayer.

Borderlands 4 for cooperative multiplayer.

@TheGameThrifter your first paragraph in comment #18 mirror my thoughts exactly. If exclusives truly didn’t matter anymore in the current market then there would’ve been no need for the damage control that we saw early last year and the blatant ‘boil the frog slowly’ strategy they’ve employed since then. They could’ve just been honest and said ‘yeah we’re 100% multiplat now’. The fact they didn’t speaks volumes.

I’d be despondent about the state of Xbox if I weren’t aware of the future plans to merge the platform with PC. It’s the saving grace of this rapid change in strategy, as PC is not reliant on exclusives to survive and thrive. This is just an awkward transition phase until next generation hardware course corrects.

And thus the final domino falls…

I’m still really not a fan of this marketing campaign. It still tries to pretend that this is all one happy little unified platform when it’s not, it’s two distinct platforms in the form of PC and console. We know now that merging the two together is the long term goal for next gen hardware, but we’re simply not there yet. This ad campaign is putting the cart before the horse.

@Matthewnh yeah the disc drive is £70 RRP now. They reduced it down to that sometime last year if I remember correctly.

I’m confused why you’re including the fancy luxury controller though? The Pro already comes with the standard DualSense controller. It’s not like Switch 2 where the Pro 2 controller is light years beyond the joycons, the default PlayStation and Xbox controllers already have great ergonomics.

@Matthewnh it’s £770 RRP? £700 for the console and £70 for the disc drive attachment.

God-tier feature, but yes it should go much further back in time than just 30 days to reach maximum utility.

It’s finally here! Katamari week!