Coletrain

Woman means business. This is all about brand image, turn that around and there's a very exciting future for Xbox as a platform and hardware provider

@fatpunkslim yeah, I was wondering specifically if these features would come to the OG Rog ally and Ally X to be honest

Are these just for the Xbox ally devices? I've been hoping they'd come to other windows handhelds but I can't find any info on it

I picked up dark souls remastered for £3.49 on loaded today, for Xbox. Can't do that on a ps5. See, there's all kinds of reasons people stick with these things!

@SledgeMaximus oh 100% it was stuttery and blurry as hell. Weirdly, didn't seem to matter when I was that age but now I'm a stability snob 😅

The DF coverage has just made it crystal clear that I'm not buying this. I had my time with it back in the day on PS3, it can stay there as a relic of my past

@Qozmyk have you had a play around? The UI is definitely better than it was 2 years ago, but it's still not quite right and I can't put my finger on what it is

@Banjo- you have to hope so mate. It's a fair source of embarrassment for them. I like the idea of advanced shader delivery, presume that will become standard on every Xbox studios game before helix arrives

@GeeEssEff oh yeah if you want to move from desktop back to Xbox mode it recommends a restart, presume that's to minimise background processes.

The only game I've found it makes a difference on was ff7 remake intergrade, which I can now play with auto vram enabled and have a decent 30fps experience with RSR on from 900p to 1080p. Honestly, I mostly play lighter games on the ally where you wouldn't notice any difference!

@GeeEssEff it's not too bad, I have it on Xbox mode by default then it's just "ctrl + alt + f11" to get into desktop quickly. I think I'd rather an option on boot up though where I could use mouse or dpad to select Xbox or desktop mode

I've been using this on a Rog ally for a while, couldn't measurably tell you if it's making a difference in terms of background processes. Hopefully get a nice test from DF soon

It looks like a relatively comfortable, thoughtful controller that unfortunately would not fit into my gaming setup in any way. Massive shame that it's having to come out as a standalone product as the steam machine looks quite interesting

I'll grab the eternal life of Goldman demo, FF7 rebirth can wait for the full game as my pre order is in!

@AI-Generation I loved the demo. Then when I heard it wasn't an 80 hour epic my interest piqued. Make games short again!

93, it's xbox' best franchise at the moment

@AI-Generation I'm gonna buy when it's on sale as I'm getting through a monstrous backlog at the moment. Game looks incredible though and I'm a single player kind of gamer

As long as it doesn't release the same year as the inevitable switch 2 OLED my wallet will be happy 🤣 but plenty to keep me going on the series X until 2028 or 29

@Banjo- well you e certainly put black flag through the ringer mate! Hope it loves up to the expectations 😎

Original got me a little bit, but it was ACII for me. Pretty much perfection

@MinervaX76 oh I totally agree mate, everything you've just said might as well have been on greek to me 🤣

Yup, I love remakes (ff7 is excellent IMO). AC I played 1 to 3 then stopped until origins so I'm really looking forward to playing AC4 for the first time

@J_Mo_Money I think they tend to get more engagement on Xbox news than PS news. It's a self fulfilling prophecy!

Please do dynamic game art like PS4 used to do, I loved the ff7 remake one with Tifa's song on it

@Jenkinss ah, then this explains why I have no clue - I don't play games online with friends 🤣 still do it the old fashioned way of going round to people's houses and taking it in turns (largely to escape from the kids once in a while...)

@Weebleman 🤣 think you've just won the internet for the day mate

I don't even know what discord is so this is very much "old man yelling at clouds" for me

@Fiendish-Beaver well, it's arguable that game pass was a bad move (certainly some here hate it, I don't I like the option) but yes ABK was likely a little above Phil's head. I think he could have seen that adding it to the service was the wrong move though, the thing shifts like hot cakes!

Yeah, I'm really enjoying having a brand focussed person at the top table, Phil was undoubtedly a gamer and a nice chap though, at least he was in any interview I've ever seen

@Banjo- oh I wholeheartedly agree. It looks like they've pretty much given up on Europe (excluding us) but I really want to see them challenge again in their home market!

@Banjo- I'm UK too bud. I've not noticed stock being a massive issue from the big retailers, and price rises haven't really been that bad here either.

Guess in a perfect world I'd love to see Xbox Series hit the 45-50 million mark all told and build the user base around that

I wonder what stabilise gen 9 means...more marketing and aggressive pricing for Xbox around holiday/GTAVI launch???

@Fiendish-Beaver here's the difference as I see it though: all Spencer's big moves (post de-bundling kinect, although I wasn't an Xbox player back then) were a bit of a dud. I think he probably deserves his flowers for rekindling relationships with Japanese Devs (Squeenix in particular as I'm a huge FF lover!), but the ABK acquisition and resulting game pass rises are now a part of his legacy.

With Asha, it's like she's come in and been like "guys, what the eff have you done to this brand??" and gutted it.

And I hope she actually does read your opinions and those of people like you, I'd rather sanity prevail than the die hard "everything exclusive!" crowd 🤣

@ILuvGames that's exactly how it feels from the outside. I get what some people are saying that it's suspicious to all happen so quickly, but for me (at least IMO) it's crystal clear that game pass price reductions and clear brand messaging weren't happening under Sarah Bond, who had basically gone all in on cloud and PC

@Fiendish-Beaver have to disagree with you for the first time buddy, she's turning the brands perception on its head. No way you could convince me that this was already in Phil or Sarah's pipeline. She's clearly got more influence with Satya than we gave her credit for

Got to give it to her, she knows how to whip up a crowd. Xbox brand is getting better and more proud by the day

@Balaam_ I'm not sure which way I want to play it yet. If I buy it then I'll inevitably need to buy a GP essential sub to enjoy the online elements too, so it may be more effective to sub on for 3-4 months and play it to death.

I bought around 15 games whilst subbed to GPU and I'm slowly working my way through them now, which has been more rewarding than using game pass to be fair. Own pace and all that

@FarmDog08 really good point. It feels like it might be worth waiting just a smidge longer to find the best value for the individual.

FH6 might make me chuck that sentiment out of the window though...

@TheSimulator here he is, Mr Happy. Am I not able to build up positive memories in 4 and half years? Perhaps you've missed my comments where I've said series X is my favourite console since the PS2?

Think that's the last I need to say on any of your comments

@NintendoByNature having the exact same thoughts man

@johnedwin why does that mean I need to broaden my horizons though? I have a switch, and if I wanted a ps5 I would have bought one.

I've no idea why a few people are so passionate about buying games instead of using game pass ultimate, but sometimes I buy and sometimes I use game pass. Choice is good.

@GeminiX53 that's more referring to small indie games from my point of view. Not a chance I'd have touched cocoon or sea of stars or blue prince without GP, and they were all excellent. Hardly entitled for it when I've purchased other much larger games during that time though.

@GeminiX53 I get what you're saying, but I would personally still find value in day 1 Xbox game studios stuff (minus COD)

I don't think it's an entitled children thing, it was just such an easy and cheap way to play a load of new games, that I knew I wouldn't need to go back to once played.

Well done Asha and Xbox, this was the right call

Edit: showing £16.99 on my app, still £10.99 for premium and £6.99 for essential

@SuntannedDuck2 the impulse triggers when used are pretty great. The best implementations for me have been Forza horizon 5, hellblade 2 and (weirdly) FFXVI.

I'm not sure if I like the idea of tension in the triggers, I know they're used in ps5 but I think the take-up on it from Devs is like, 10 games? Maybe less.

Hope they asked for gyro and HD rumble/haptics in the pad! Still hyped for Helix even without those though

@TheSimulator what a weird and untrue statement. Jog on pal

@ilyn I am praying that they do hit the mark critically! Although I'm a starfield lover so my objectivity here is more questionable 🤣

@ilyn well there's not being convinced and there's the reality with that one. I agree that we can't rely on them to make it a masterpiece, but I'd still call it a system seller if it launched with Helix. There's few games franchises THAT big, but TES is one of them for sure.

@fiendish-beaver this is what I mean, if a game releases PC only then effectively it is a Helix exclusive (in "console" terms at least) - it's all going to get more confusing before they settle on a strategy no doubt! PS for sure gets people through the door with high quality exclusives, although I'd argue that superior branding and marketing play a much bigger role in their success

@Fiendish-Beaver FWIW I don't think exclusivity will be the right play for tentpole releases. BUT they should play on the fact that PC only releases are not going to be available on PlayStation when Helix rolls around, which is a pretty good differentiator

@ilyn I completely agree. TES6 would be the only one they have in the chamber for me. I don't think exclusivity is a good strategy for them outside of AA releases

What does exclusivity mean though? Just Xbox? Xbox and Microsoft store? Xbox, MS store, Steam and Epic?

Either way some form of exclusivity would be a wise move but only if the games were system sellers, otherwise no point limiting your audience

@Fiendish-Beaver yup, I dropped it and started playing my mountain of owned games even before the 2nd price increase. It just wasn't worth it.

In fairness, premium is worth it, but I just don't NEED it right now