CaptainCluck

@Spider-Kev
You clearly won’t get much agreement on an Xbox enthusiast site, but I kind of agree with your sentiment. Gamepass seems cool right now, but is the Trojan horse for an all-digital future where we own nothing and games can be taken away forever. We had recent leaks that show the next Xbox won’t even have a disc drive and therefore the death of backwards compatibility. Starfield was a real disappointment and not even in Bethesda’s top five games. I’m starting to regret buying a Series X now, and hope Nintendo can create something compelling and powerful enough.

The original Lara Croft model and control scheme. Very happy with this.

It’s already very easy to get rich in this game with outposts if you plan it well. Can build some impressive cargo operations.

There are quite a lot of unlikeable NPCs in the game so I love that this is an option - as it always was for Fargoth, Count of Bravil and his Skooma addict son, Delphine, etc.

@Ocat My TV switches to HDR when I launch the game. Is that the Xbox doing auto-HDR? The auto contrast toggle really made it look detailed for me.

I spent hours exploring everything at Argos Mine and Kreet to gather resources. The scale is insane, especially when reaching New Atlantis, exploring the space port and jumping over the metro train into the water and walking far from the city. All the systems have clicked for me including the space combat. It was the first game that looked a little washed out with HDR on my TV, but I enabled dynamic contrast and it looks a lot more detailed now.

@somnambulance
There is an accessibility option to increase text size.

I thought a 7 was IGNs lowest score?

Europe and America are getting a really bad deal. I have a Singapore PlayStation Plus Premium subscription and the price is SGD104/£60/$77 for 12 months. Includes Games Catalogue, Classics Catalogue, monthly games and Ubisoft Classics. The only thing it doesn’t have is cloud streaming.

There is no debate. That is an absurd strike to receive. They’re possibly using AI or auto strikes.

It’s definitely possible but I think FFXVI and Pixel Remasters should be prioritised, then we will have ALL the mainline games 1-16 minus XI.

Good work by the CMA in scrutinising the deal and Microsoft’s Azure cloud dominance. They make the FTC look like amateurs. It’s pointless listening to people who only think a few seconds ahead and just want a few more games on their GamePass subscription.

They create some technically beautiful games, but lack creativity and quickly gets very boring. Skull & Bones just looks like an inferior version of AC: Black Flag and Sea of Thieves. Ubisoft’s best games were from Michel Ancel - Beyond Good & Evil, Rayman, King Kong - and BGE2 is vaporware at this point.

I like the simplicity of that main menu. New developers seemingly want to shove 10 different sections on a main menu to sell micro-transactions and battle passes.

I can’t even redownload my digital games on Xbox 360 because I moved to a new country than where I purchased and it just cancels the download on 79%. I’m glad they removed that on Series X.

Some great 360 games not BC: Quantum of Solace, Blood Stone, Singularity, LOTR War in the North, LOTR Conquest, Alpha Protocol, Riddick Dark Athena/Butcher Bay, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Space Marine, Brink, Jericho.

@AlexAtwell It's hard to predict. I wonder if governments would have made different decisions if they saw how Google, Facebook, Amazon and others monopolised the entire internet.

Microsoft obviously believe the UK is an important market - which is why they delayed the takeover again. They will give concessions and work out a deal. This isn't about acting important, but about protecting the internal market for the next two decades.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but the X360 BC version still has online functionality, The PlayStation and Switch version doesn't.

Win-win. Microsoft will get to close the deal, and the UK will extract further concessions for their market.

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3 months Xbox Live Gold voucher - converts to 2 months of GP Ultimate for those that don’t already have a sub.

Activision-Blizzard development teams dwarf Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda combined when it comes to numbers. They should probably get them making new exclusive IPs.

The CMAs only job is to protect the UK market in the long and short term. A bunch of “gamers” can’t really be taken seriously just because they want a few extra games on GamePass or to stick it to rival platforms.

This is really lame.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone. The UK will get further concessions from Microsoft, and the deal will be approved.

I just converted 3 years of XBL Gold a few days ago, after previously converting 2 years which ran out recently. Good timing but not so great for others. I think it will still work out much cheaper though, since 12 months of Gold is £40, so that will be 8 months of GamePass at £5 per month.

This seems like a more practical Star Citizen, with content and a main story that will actually release.

I just did the 36 months Xbox Live Gold 1:1 conversion a few days ago. Lucky timing!

GamePass is already losing value. Price increases and lower quality releases. At least it’s optional… for now.

Loved the inclusion of Ayoade. Strongly disliked the protagonist they used. I hope we can customise the main character because that one was an eyesore to look at.

Let’s just say this is good timing.

This definitely doesn’t remind me of Porsche.

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2
Deus Ex

This is fair. The EU market is different to the UK market and both have different goals. I’m glad there are competition watchdogs that can say no to big corporations.

If it’s the original trilogy or prequel era, I’m in.

FPS games that show the body when you look down are easily better.

Used them all and it’s easily the current Series controllers. The OG controllers are nostalgic but just feel too strange without LB/RB. The Xbox 360 controllers have a bad dpad and give me thumb blisters after extended use. The Xbox One improved all that and the Series controllers kept the improvements but added more grip.

The Xbox console community features are terrible and sanitised compared to the OG/360 days, because they're always worried about someone being offended. Discord is a must - which at least you can run on the console now.

@Kaloudz
Not sure about that. It’s a very thoughtful parody of facism and being in the meat grinder of war.

@BadAtPickingUsername
Being part of the EU means having these major decisions about your country taken away. The UK has the ability to standup to Microsoft and extract further concessions before approval or to outright block it. France, Belgium, Germany and Ireland do not have that oversight - which is why the deal easily passed.

Being a cat, hanging out with the strays and getting high on catnip would be an ideal life, so this is the next best thing.

@Sol4ris
The UK is a small country and I’m not sure what you’re talking about with empire complexion. The EU and Russia are building literal empires, and Microsoft are building a monopolistic corporate empire.

If it’s anything like Amazon’s Rings of Power, they shouldn’t bother. Amazon should be stripped of those rights.

The EU decision is not surprising, since their legal and regulatory structure exists to give all the power to multinational corporations like Microsoft and stop new challengers with all the red tape that they couldn’t possibly adhere to. The UK refreshingly standing up to multinational corporations, the EU, Russia, etc - where other countries dare not.

This deal is finished. The EU will echo the outcome of the CMA.

I haven’t read a single thing about the reasoning, but the CMA are so stupid because they won’t let Call of Duty on GamePass. The CMA just doesn’t understand us gamers at all. It’s so unfair!

Halo Infinite should just get rid of the seasons and do an entire relaunch with new single player and multiplayer content.

@Savage_Joe
Yes, I got new Saints Row vibes from it.

@Sol4ris
Sounds good - we don’t need even more dominance from US corporations. Weren’t you lot worried about that aspect due to things like “chlorinated chicken”?

A benefit to cloud gaming, but not to the UK or EUs tech industries.

I’m happy with this ruling. I like having console hardware and physical media, and I dislike cloud gaming. Hopefully Xbox can focus on making games again.