Cikajovazmaj

@PsBoxSwitchOwner agreed that it costs, but its a cost you shouldn't/can't eliminate. It's like deciding out of all parts of your car to eliminate tires. You can do it, but you probably shouldn't.
Running beta testing is supposed to inform behavior under load, bottlenecks, user interactions with platform and among themselves.. Validate gameplay loop outside of confines of internal cherrypicked QA team.
But, it might all be OK and they end up delivering good, polished experience.

Isn't that beta like critical part of September release? Or does September release become a low key beta launch marketed as full release now?
In my experience every time beta was cancelled what it actually meant was "we'll fix it on prod".

Looks much more like GT7 to me (which in turn means much cleaner and better).
I'm just interested in how people who said they preferred more realistic pre-update look feel now?

Disclaimer: it genuinely looks good now.

I'm not sure if I watched the same video, but I've understood it as basically not being good at all. Uncapped mod is running in 30-40 territory, which is not good enough for VRR, and is choppy on regular display. 120 mode is all over the place, 30-120, and image quality is very poor (this actually might just be a mod bug).
Either way, it's a nice experiment for power users and DF crew, but I don't see it as actually viable or useful.

Special thanks to Tango Gameworks and other who helped them survive rough patch there..
On a more serious note, I think they have a great lineup that is actually coming out just in time to push all those conversion opportunities to resubscribe as their pilled up years are finally running out. I don't know if that is on purpose, but if yes it's a master mind move on MS side.
And, while I do think Sony's roadmap is lacking in comparison, I believe Nintendo's, for the last year of the system mind you, was very comparable if not better.

Well deserved, justice served.
Lesson learned is that sequel needs even more micro-transactions and story removed, double down on the crazy.

Tried this out myself (although on a PS5) and I must admit it impressed. Basically makes the game completely playable. If they did this pre-release game would have probably been a decent success (it's actually not that bad, just average with pretty boring start/begining).

I've beaten "the game" (used very loosely here) on Series S, and can tell you it does not look great. Resolution is just too low, which is a shame because through grain you can see quality art.
However, what helped me was playing on the OLED TV. I've started playthrough on a 27" LCD gaming monitor and that looked terrible, full of noise and shimmer. TV meanwhile produced a more blurred but pleasing image.

For what it's worth Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is my favorite game from that list. Such injustice that it didn't sell better.

@ridiculous_ties I mean, it drops to 615p most of the time.. it's just past the point of diminishing returns, which is fine as new games should target more powerful and common hardware (game looks incredible on X and decent PC). I just don't understand what Series S owners applauding the visuals see (or don't see), as it was clearly not the primary target.

@awp69 This is unbelievable information to me. I'm genuinely taken aback.
All PS narrative exclusives aside, Ghost of Tsushima I always believed to be a universally acclaimed great game. Like in every sense. Seems I was wrong.

Poll needs to be changed.. game looks very different on X and S. Stunning on X, but very low res and muddy on S. You can see that the art and design are beautiful, but the quality of the final rendered image is just too noisy due to poor FSR.

So I'm about halfway through on Series S and would like to leave a few comments:

• visuals on Series S are rough, really rough. Resolution drops low and FSR does not have enough data to work with. They also choose a lot of furry and hairy materials, grassy foliage, rainy backdrops.. all probably look wonderful on X, but are shimmering noisy mess on lower res machine. Unfortunately, this seems like a Unreal 5 engine signature.
• gameplay is more limited then I would have expected. Through most of the game character animations last for second (meaning you input forward and the character does moving animation that lasts few seconds). Movement is slow and through a very narrow corridor without logical boundaries (there are pebles Senua can't step over).
• combat is a repetitive chore. Would have been much better if cut completely.
• Senua as a character is still fun, her mental state and atmosphere work gloriously. There is potential for greatness if she was tied to a more "fun" game.
  All in all, after first 30 mins I actually thought it was better compared to my impressions as time moved on. If it was longer I probably wouldn't bother finishing :/

Tried the game finally, seems similar to the first one which is a good thing. Will see how it holds up over full gameplay.
That said, there is some delusion in this comment section if people are comparing a 5 hour visually stunning limited gameplay game to GoW:R, Spiderman 2, or HFW. If there were like 4 pillars of a good storydriven SP game, Hellblade checks 2/4, while the others check off 4/4..
I understand that sort of game is not everybody's cup of coffee, but as someone who happens to love that genre, you need to be realistic. There is just so much ingredients missing to be considered top of the genre.

I'd like to remind people that 7/10 is not terrible, it still reviewed as a good game, just not great one. Which is fine, Hellblade 1 had very limited mass appeal. Personally, I just hoped this one would be different and give Xbox a win, but it is what it is.
@BIG3 giving it a go? That is like 1/4 of a game...

Bit disappointed, won't lie :/ either way, it's still decent and I'll give it a try.
@PJOReilly There is no mention of Series S specifically in the review, any details you could provide on experience there?

Phil getting blamed for all this, sitting in his room, playing Fallout, preparing to nuke everybody..

Xss exists...
Starfield patch ignores it...
Xss fears for it's existence...

@NEStalgia you sir made me laugh so hard 🤣🤣
Thing is, and this might be because English ain't my primary language, but that is exactly how Xbox leadership sound to me when they were giving updates. Nintendo/Sony will publish a professional text, Phil will do an interview full of pauses, lapses, contradictions..

On a separate note, I happen to like PS design over XSX, exactly because it sticks out. XSX/S is just efficiently boring, it's a thing you stick in a server room. Reminds me of Silicon valley, when they were building Black box..

@Kevw2006 I mean, it's completely possible they have pivoted and changed strategy from hardware sales mid-gen. Actually, if that model was failing, that is the right and commendable move.
It's just that in my observer eye, the other metrics are failing too.

@themightyant I have trouble understanding how current situation can be seen as anything but grim. On it's own, this could be seen as a flop in transitioned from business model (hardware sales), unless we factor in that game sales for MS owned studios are down, GP subs are stagnating, studios are closing, strong owned IP-s have been absent (ex. Gears), brand communication and PR is on an all time low.. and 3rd party developers are taking notice and have started being vocal about financial feasibility of Xbox ports.
MS can still pump money and turn this around in the long run, and most likely will, but things are looking as bad as they can based on all measurable indicators.

Tried it a while back, didn't really feel it, but that doesn't mean it's not a great game. Happy more people will get to enjoy it.

@Lupaie79 actually, if Sony was to step in and work with them on their next game as a 3rd party exclusive, that would be huge. Unfortunately, I think they burned some bridges there by selling to MS (while under exclusivity contract with Sony).

@Feffster technically nice clear messaging would have been just saying "yes" instead of "it was titles from across the whole slate", but good enough
CoD won't really influence my decision though, as I've never purchased one or played for over an hour. But HiFi Rush sequel could have

Imagine being a studio at Xbox, getting proposed by stakeholders you should take on a "smaller game" project next.. You can't win. You do good (like Tango) you get axed. You do poorly (like Austin), you get axed.
The dev studio dream at Xbox seems to be basically playing politics to get yourself in a CoD support team position for job security.

It was clear from the initial announcement this game will never actually get made and published. Or at least not in a good/hit way.
MS starting a "super group" dev studio was a first hint they have no idea what they are doing, as anybody who managed a team in their life can tell you there is years of data and behavioral science evidencing they DO NOT WORK!

Honestly, I just hope people will "vote with their wallet" and make MS feel their disgust in the language they best understand - money. That's all

Probably should have held on this for a few weeks.. it will only anger people more, I know it does me.

Well said. Unfortunately, he's probably getting fired or demoted for speaking up :/

Redfall was a terrible game, if I'm honest. But huge part of that is not on studio. Even Phil said he expected scores to be in 80-85 region based on testing.. many people tied to projections and release schedule of that game should be fired (including Phil) before the actual dev studio.

They literally closed the only studio that created any good 1st party game for Series console (HiFi Rush if that was ever in question). WTF? That game was even nominated for GOTY if I remember correctly.

But ofc, they had to aquire ActivisionBlizzard.. yeah, I'm getting rid of my XSS as soon as my GP runs out (which is in less than 2 months) and ain't looking back!

Oh, I see they are patching Starfield in preparation of PS5 release..

It's a genuine surprise Grounded is not flying at 60-120 FPS on both current gen consoles. Game ain't that much of a looker..

Far better game then reviews would suggest, or at least it was to me. PS2 comparison makes sense, as it's rooted in that simpler time of gaming by design.
I don't think this was ever an exclusive, just a small studio targeting less platforms. But I might be wrong. Either way, Xbox is missing games in the genre and this one is a valuable addition.

Time to preserve them titles by porting to Sony and Nintendo platforms..

If MS needs to decide their strategy based on a single old game re-release... They are way more sc**wed then I thought

Finally the big heads are rolling. Instead of firing 2000 grunts that only made what they were told to make.
Good luck to him and others leaving, but fresh perspective is very much needed on Team Green.

30 fps can look differently depending on game design and engine. An example of a similar game where I would expect 30 to work would be A Plague Tale 2, which ended up being terrible at the target for me.
However, I've played through first Hellblade at 30 fps and it was absolutely fine. I expect the sequel to be ok too.

Definition of mediocrity. It's a X360 era, nothing special game. Unfortunate, as the western setting is actually cool and full of potential (and I don't ask for much, I recently played through Call of Juarez Gunslinger and had fun).

Instinctively I feel bad when I see these articles, but once I open 'em it becomes clear that if I really wanted to play games to be removed, I would have done it a long time ago.

Diablo 1 & 2 used to be my favorite games, but then 3 came along and turned it into something.. different. Haven't really cared as much for it since.
I hoped 4 would pull me in, but yeah, gave it a few hours and choose to play Sea of Stars over it :/

Taking over the title of the most useless console refresh ever from PS5 Pro, just mere days after leak.. MS you have done it again.

Would be totally fine without it...

@HonestHick Xbox might also have to figure out how to get their budget work because nobody likes to infinitely lose money. All these moves lately indicate MS is working very hard at trying to fix it actually.
I'm not sure all 3 will be fine, and in a way I don't care. Video games market is in a need of tectonic change, a disruption on a level of what PS1 was to SNES. I don't know, maybe AMD or NVIDIA accept the risk and enter market with their own vertically integrated platform.

Couple of opposing (not really) thoughts.. I see a scenario where every storefront would be available on any console hardware+PC as an Xbox consumer utopia, while at the same time it would almost certainly be the eventual death of Xbox hardware as we know it. Quite frankly, it might also be the end of GP as we know it, since the existing model has not reached much traction on the "open" PC platform.
It's a tricky situation as I don't believe MS is in a position where GP is so much better then competition that they can advocate open market, in a way Netflix can for example. GP appeal is in XSS being a $250 box to play many games natively without lag. If users can get a better or similar library elsewhere, but still use your cheap hardware, they will (which is why I think that hardware has to die out in "open" scenario, and subscriber number might plummet instead of rise).

I'm actually worried about what this means for Game Pass. Assuming MS hardware is discontinued, what would be my incentive to get GP? Sony and Nintendo will keep their services, will GP become a perk (like EA)? I'm assuming neither is letting standalone GP service on their platform. PC GP has been in the gutter, so that ain't a way forward..

Depending on how things play out, I would be interested. Honestly, I'll decide based on what next Nintendo thing is, but I'm planning on only a single handheld device and Xbox GP machine could be it.

Whole thing feels like negotiation tactics to me.. which, good for them, fair game.

Pretty sure there would be something in ID@Xbox deal requiring you to release on Xbox for getting a "porting to Xbox" grant 😃
I mean, seriously, this is not a street market deal, it's MS contracting with an Indie dev. They had their a$$ covered.

@Burnfeeling not sure how winning this would be.. it would burn every bridge with current user-base they had (Series console would end up being a 4-5 year flop that had negligible number of first party releases).
What would raise a average consumers confidence in Xbox as a brand to invest in a new machine? I would prefer them to go different market route, PC handheld with "Windows for gaming - patent waiting approval" OS.