Coletrain

@Dm9982 you've hit the nail on the head as to why I don't think Sony will follow suit, the API. If they change to something compatible with PC like DX then all PS4/5 games that currently run natively will have to be emulated.

All their expertise lies in the console environment, with Nixxes being their porting specialists (I think they might have even acquired them recently?) and that presentation that Mark Cerny did with AMD last year hinted at project amethyst being an even better compression engine than kraken! Not sure you can leverage that for PC builds directly.

I'm sort of on the side of, yeah they will go full hybrid just not for ps6 I guess

@Dm9982 I agree with everything except Sony following suit. Maybe a PC launcher but not full PC yet...

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I really like XboxEra but the guy that reviewed this game frequently comes across as not interested in anything other than competitive multiplayer. This should have been a Jon or Jesse review

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm too impatient buddy, plus my gaming time is typically a couple hours tops a night when kiddies are in bed so need to get this done before rebirth arrives!

I'm waiting for the price to drop a little (it's an older game now after all), but the demo runs like a dream on both the Xbox and Rog ally on performance mode.

So happy it's here now.

@Fiendish-Beaver the PCBox is the one that stands out to me as having the most potential (in terms of what excites me, not so much in how many units it would sell) so that's the one I'd like too, hopefully a 25 year anniversary announcement later this year eh! (Although I'm not holding my breath...)

@Fiendish-Beaver ah I see, yes you're probably right if you're going to stay console only I think ps6 remains the only choice (switch 2 notwithstanding)

My incentive is based on a desire to move towards PC gaming soon anyway (plus my reward points pay for most of the games I buy), I've enjoyed the flexibility of the ROG Ally as a little taster. But for you, I feel like you're sorting of answering your own question in that PS5 is the safer place to buy to avoid the choice paralysis!

@Fiendish-Beaver I'd say my incentive when buying games on Xbox mostly now comes down to play anywhere, which I feel gives me the choice next gen of the NextBox or a normal gaming desktop.

If I were to buy games on a ps5 then the most logical step forward would be a ps6 because I can't move around to different types of device. I lose my perceived future freedom.

To be honest though, I don't think us as gamers can go wrong either way. I love my series x, and I'd equally have loved a ps5 if I'd gone that direction. The Xbox ecosystem has now become a preference for me, and that's my ted talk on why I'm still incentivised to buy games on it 🤣

I like play anywhere and check for it when purchasing too, which I'm sure is like many others. Those who don't find it useful or whatever, that's fine, but it means that if the nextbox isn't quite what I want I can go full desktop and still have all those games. It's brilliant future proofing

I use my Rog ally z1e as a PC in the day too, tonnes better than my old one. The flexibility is insane, and it's so good that I've not even been slightly tempted to get a switch 2 (until an oled model arrives...)

I love the customisation of these devices, I've set up several manual power profiles that I assign to different games and apart from changing the vram settings now and again it's pretty much spot on!

Create a brilliant and valuable subscription model, jack the prices a few times then introduce ad tiers. It's why I've gone back to the traditional buying my own games model.

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm certainly not one to get involved in the type of thing it was pushing in that one scene, but I watched it online and it would have in no way put me off of the game. Life is far too short to care so much about it. I haven't played veilguard but only because I haven't played the prequels, and I suspect as a fantasy RPG it would be right up my alley!

@Scrubchub veilguard was done over online for one specific scene, feel like this one was just knocked for being poor at launch but it certainly looks a load better now. Think your opinion on this one is very on the money bud

Storage is fine, play games and delete them. They'll still be there if I want them later. I think I have 19 games installed right now but only 3 AAA titles

You're pretty safe to play this one, then go back and play the OG (it's only a small part of the overall 7 experience), definitely gives it more weight!

I played it in 2021, a long time after I'd last played ff7, then played ff7 again on switch last year to warm me up for this and rebirth. I cannot wait.

I think control but more open world and with less guns could be really great, really looking forward to this one. Hopefully loads of points of interest on the map, and we all know remedy tell a great story.

Both Hellblade games are completely unique experiences and I loved what they did. Not every 1st party game needs tight combat, 20-30 hour length, upgrade paths etc etc. sometimes it's great to just get something different.

Hellblade 3? Yes please.

Nice. I wish this was an industry standard, would give so many games a late sales boost

@themightyant I sort of get what you mean. I love just driving around and listening to the music but needs some variety. Fh4 and 5 might as well have been the same game

@OldGamer999 ditto

MS and windows get a lot of hate and I get that it's trendy, but just specifically the FSE? I've used it and it's fine.

Obviously it's a first attempt and it will get slicker, more responsive and more intuitive over time. I'm still down for the pc console hybrid idea, could be spot on for me

Yeah given the big push to cloud on 2025 and X cloud coming out of beta a WiFi connected controller makes total sense. Bundle it with a few TVs and fire sticks to get people interested in game pass.

My dream however is the Xbox controller with the ps5 haptics...

@themightyant I think it'll have a decent enough price drop to say, £25 or less quite quickly. FF16 only held out at full price for about 6 weeks from memory? And this one is even older!

I'm really looking forward to this one, played in 2021 but not the intermission part. Graphics were gorgeous and it feels just right to me

@MagicCat I did not know that, thank you!

@FraserG oh balls. Well, I'm sure ultimate is still only £13 on Amazon so that might be the route instead!

@RentedPanda thanks, must have been my bad

Premium to quickly bash through outlaws is exactly how I wanted to use that subscription level.

Obviously this is by design, and we have all speculated different reasons why, but it'd be nice if MS just came out and said why they were constraining supply.

Surely, SURELY they will do a stock drive for gta6

Yakuza like a dragon. Love Yakuza, love turned based combat, should be a dream!

@BattleMonkey I'd like to think Sony will take one last swing for it, after all, at the moment their hardware and platform are the same thing so they need more consoles out there. I guess Xbox don't because they already have a foot in the PC ecosystem. (EDIT: and cloud subscription model could get a lot bigger)

If Sony went super high on console pricing then I don't know where they go from there, I don't see them putting out a PC storefront any time soon so the lines would keep going down with them relying so heavily on 3rd party software sales within PSN

@Elbow kingdom hearts, good shout I haven't re-bought that yet! I've been playing the pixel remasters on Rog ally, absolutely perfect for them 👌

@Elbow good call. I'm working on 16 at the moment, got 1-9 hanging around too. Can't wait for remake and rebirth. It's a good year for FF fans on Xbox!

@BattleMonkey yeah, but not because of worse specs than ps5 pro, but because Sony needs quick hardware sales for next gen market entry. Even in 3 years time, $750 isn't going to fly with a lot of consumers outside of the forums bubble we live in, so I would predict Sony sticks with the loss leading model. What are you thinking bud?

I'd pay up to £800 based on what we know of the device, but it will all come down to what it's doing Vs spending probably £550 on a ps6

@fatpunkslim I get where you're coming from, Xbox has had a fantastic year in terms of games, starting the windows FSE, 3rd party game pass games etc. I've enjoyed the heck out of my Xbox, as always.

Still, there's little doubt in my mind that all the media coverage has damaged Xbox's brand from a consumer point of view. Now I just want them to reposition, decide what their lane is and HOPEFULLY build a bit of goodwill in 2026

I bought hogwarts legacy physical, but everything else is reward points plus insane discounts. My backlog is embarrassingly huge right now.

I checked my ps account (as a former PS4 owner) and my Xbox digital library is 3 times bigger due to the insane discounts and cheap ecosystem Xbox offers

Phew, more time to get through remake intergrade in a relaxed manner 😃

Hear hear! I love it for exactly the same reasons. Sometimes the gameplay doesn't need to be the focus, and I can think of no better narrative driven game this year

Played this really unknown indie game, Clair Obscur or something? That deserved more love probably.

My serious pick is South of Midnight. I adored the art style and the music/cutscenes were top notch, love when studios are creative like this

RIP Vince, you've created some of my favourite gaming memories from COD4 to Titanfall 2, and recently the jedi games. Rest easy sir.

Finishing FF16 finally (must be nearly done, 70 odd hours in now!) and diving into GTA definitive editions (I know they're a bit rubbish now, but guilty pleasures and all that)

@kanedase7en Xbox ecosystem is the best by a mile, discovered that myself 4 years ago so welcome too!

That said, there are some Nintendo franchises I can never turn my back on so I'm happy to have both

Been playing the demo, it plays perfectly. I cannot wait to play this game again. Last played on PS4 but never played the intermission part.

Been playing a lot of FF16 this year and this demo has given me a timely reminder that the remake is an absolute gem of a game, makes 16 look amateur in comparison!

I've gone 90% Xbox, maybe 5% pc handheld and 5% switch 1.

I do love the novelty of play anywhere on my Rog ally, but the series X on a TV is the most pleasing console I've ever played

SoM but haven't played keeper yet and I think that would top it. Wonderfully creative output this year

All as expected. I ran the demo on Rog ally at 60fps, 15w and 18w mode, handles 720p and 900p like an absolute champ

LFG! Special game, can't wait for the full release

@FraserG think there's a typo in first paragraph with the year!

Anyway, on the game, it isn't my kind of thing but at least it isn't a total F2P piece of crap so I can only wish Bungie the best

@Fiendish-Beaver seems to be the only question that our gaming media (journalists?) aren't asking directly to the developers. They're happy to make the same ascertain you and I would and decry that it didn't have extra time in the oven, but there has to be a really simple explanation (even if it's just that the publishers didn't care any more)

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah that's a very good idea. The original reviews for cyberpunk 2077 for example were rightly awful, then some outlets did a 2nd review for the 2.0 update and it started getting 8/9/10s and lo and behold it's sold millions since that update

Oh no, not another generic black myth / Wu Chang clone that we will miss out on for a year and not buy anyway, how will we cope!

It's one of those games, it looks fine, but it's a brand new IP and limiting early sales on an unknown IP is a strange play nowadays. Even rise of the ronin didn't do super well, and that was from an established developer. Weird weird weird.