@Markatron84 massive shame mate, still gonna pick it up and pray I don't feel the same!

@Markatron84 it was one of those demos that just totally subverted my expectations. So unique and captivating, couldn't put it down.

Did you get Mina the Hollower in the end? I vaguely remember that being a game we were both excited for

It's a real treat having these on Xbox. I don't care what the purists say about it not being faithful enough or taking too many liberties, both games are exceptional

Please tell me other people played the demo for The Eternal Life of Goldman? It was exceptional

@ilyn I agree. Got the email last night asking to verify my age for battle net. No thank you blizzard, I'll be ok for now

@Dodoo yeah I don't have a good answer for that 🤣 "diamonded" doesn't sound right to me either though

Didn't need to verify they just went off the age of my MS account. It's not a huge deal really in the context of gaming. I'm much less happy about the idea of digital passports

I'd go with Emerald Achievements. Rolls off the tongue nicely.

All I want is for any 1000g games to show me as having got all the base game achievements rather than changing my % when DLC is added...like a platinum...

@Markatron84 very good point with the identifiers. Good that digital can be on Xbox PC but I can't see 360 and OG discs being compatible with this programme

In terms of the article, no I don't think disc to digital will support delisted games. But in terms of what I personally value, which is play anywhere, I think it's incredible. I just bit the bullet on metaphor refantazio physical at £15 in the hope this comes soon.

For Helix, they have to do an external disc drive for this and I think they will. But new games won't be on disc. Not a chance.

I'll add Stuntman: Ignition into this for £2.99. getting me ready for the new Stuntman Hollywood game next year!

@PsBoxSwitchOwner fair point bud. Still a fair few retailers selling stock at the old prices so hopefully that'll last a couple months!

@Fiendish-Beaver perhaps you aren't a tad blindsided by your love of Gears here; just because it has live service elements doesn't mean it makes sense to release on PS5.

It has to attract people back to Xbox, and it really does look good enough to do that. In the same way universal praise for a god of war, astro bot or Spiderman 2 can attract people to Playstation

@Fiendish-Beaver apologies it took me straight to comment #29!

I think like you said Halo was too far along, but I've said before it was a completely stupid decision from whoever made it. Halo is the very DNA of Xbox.

And again we've chatted about Gears e-day, but it's a sacrificial lamb. Although looking at the sales figures for reloaded, doesn't look like that big of a deal to not release on PS5 anyway

@Fiendish-Beaver all signs point to a more focussed management structure so fingers crossed on all fronts! I know the layoffs were bad, but in terms of running a business I don't think she's put a foot wrong (apart from double fine, but they're a personal fave of mine...)

@Fiendish-Beaver I fully agree with your take on campaign evolved. There's a bit of money to be had on ps5 but the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

I actually don't think any major brand damage has been done here, Halo needs to fight for relevance again with a great next entry. Which will likely be exclusive again IMO

And now I know where I'm buying this. Was toying with steam or Xbox but this settles it

@HelloCraigo not really got an appropriate place to ask this but are you back writing for PX for good or covering holidays? I've always enjoyed the way you cover things (videos included)

@Sindayl I think SFS isn't something that's being used. Maybe like, 1 or 2 games this generation?

@BossBE I believe the "secret sauce" of ps5 is it's kraken data compression, meaning better throughput. Smaller game installs, data in and out of RAM quicker etc.

Still love the series x design though. Doesn't make a peep

Purely and simply, if it's "open" then they need some kind of agreement with storefronts that they get a cut. More and more, that model doesn't make sense with Steam (it does with epic and GOG), so that's what I'd go with. You can play your PC games, but not Steam. Valve aren't going to share that market, and you're not going to capture it.

What you can capture, however, is physical disc players. Such an easy win if they do it.

@Jaxx420 comment #7 absolutely on the money. They make games that I absolutely love, but the mass market doesn't

@SodaPop6548 hear hear

@MrStark the issue wasn't whether you were right or not, it was how it highlighted the frailties with digital ownership. One service error caused a worldwide issue. That's how fragile it is and why people rightly believe digital game ownership needs a rethink

Good transparency from Xbox here, think they're going to slowly start winning fans with their PR assault

Darwin's Paradox and Keeper. Good little pallette cleansers between bigger games

@NishimaruX I have to be honest here and say that I've really enjoyed what MS/Xbox have been putting out lately. But not this. This is insidious nonsense

@MrStark people are negative because it's the start of a slippery slope. It won't come to other tiers and not did I actually mention that, but new tiers will be created that involve paying with ads. Book it.

@MrStark not just elsewhere, everywhere that offers streaming. That's not being presumptuous, it's following a provable pattern. It's how all streaming services scale up on revenue.

Microsoft aren't somehow immune to this nor are they altruistic. It's a revenue driver to be expanded on after "carefully following the feedback"

@MrStark well, strongly disagree all you like but all streaming services have done the same thing. Remember how good a deal Disney plus was when it first came out? Now for that same initial price you get horrendous amounts of ads. Or, guess what, pay more and don't! Or pay even more again for access to a resolution that's been available for years!

Microsoft saying they're going to do something based on feedback does not mean that's what they're going to do.

@MrStark Balaam is overwhelmingly negative on all hookshot sites, however, taking away the way in which he's delivered his message, looks at netflix and prime video. Excellent services who decided that if you wanted to KEEP ads away from your core experience, you can pay more or suck it.

So, he's got a point here

@MinervaX76 it's their "we let Michael Higham review a game again and forgot he knows nothing about games"

For god's sake he's a tech editor and doesn't understand how PC gaming works. I remember him discussing the Xbox ally x specs on podcast unlocked when it was announced and having no idea what they meant

Absolutely incredible news. I don't find Xbox OG games much fun on a 4k set but a 7 inch handheld with enhanced pixel counts? Yes please!

@Sindayl human being don't typically choose the best path, they choose the path of least resistance.

It's a damn shame that playstation chose to do this. They've lost their way

Well, the vehicle sections are some of the best bits of Halo so I'm in 😁

@Fiendish-Beaver absolutely. Love the gears campaigns mate!

@NishimaruX extremely pertinent point. Our digital ownership should not be compromised by any hacks, scams or otherwise bad actors.

Microsoft were bang out of order here and lied through their teeth with their initial response.

@Reyalsfeihc there are some quotes from different interviews, but they have some newer quotes that are referenced as a direct GR+ interview

@Fiendish-Beaver the campaign! As good as gears multiplayer is, I'm more of a story gamer. I only discovered gears of war 4.5 years ago due to being a ps1-4 gamer but it's incredible

@Fiendish-Beaver yes perhaps we will have to disagree 🤣 gears and other games of it's ilk doesn't rely on a constant stream of updates as it's only way to play which makes it a game with live service elements. When I play it it won't be a live service game to me so how can it only be classed as a "live service game"?

Day 1 for smaller (not XGS) titles that want the financial certainty that comes with a game pass deal, not day 1 for tentpole AAA titles (but let them drop onto Premium after 1 year)

That's what I would personally THINK is a more sustainable model for the 1st party studio employees. They get to live and die by their own budgets and success (minus marketing, which Xbox can get a LOT better with!)

@Fiendish-Beaver no, because playing the base game is not dependent on upgrades. It's a game with live service elements. The multiplayer is live service 100%.

Remember, live service is just a term that was coined because games like Fortnite existed and had predatory monetary transactions. FIFA too. For 2 decades we just used to call online multiplayer "online multiplayer"

Are all Ubisoft games live service games because they put out new pointless skins for single player content? Google might say it is, but you've been gaming long enough to know they're single player games with live service elements.

Like, you can accept the Google explanation if you want but when you apply some thinking then you can call nearly any game with a multiplayer element "live service"; it's not what the term was coined for.

Also, live service sucks. It's predatory and has never interested me one bit. I'll play e-day for the campaign though 😁

@Mr-Cage I'm with you and not with you on what live service is 🤣 gears e-day isn't a live service game in the traditional sense of the word, as playing it doesn't rely on constant updates. The multiplayer component is a live service element of the game.

I do think it's important to distinguish a "live service game" to a game with "live service elements"

@FreasurePlanten ah, just reading comment #27; I had totally forgot about the series s profiles which explains my above issues with AAA fare but less so with indie titles

@HonestHick I think I sometimes forget that it's quite different in the states. UK only has 2 server centres and so none of us are ever that far away from one. I will say though, that I forced higher bitrate through better xCloud last year and it made a meaningful different to stability!

@FreasurePlanten yeah, they would want to keep subs. I still find the prospect of paying for it instead of a console a non-negotiable personally, but business-wise you're absolutely right.

@Seioni I've found it varies greatly by game. So, a few examples where it worked more or less flawlessly for me on Ally: Cocoon, Sea of Stars, South of Midnight, Hades. HOWEVER Black ops 6, Indiana Jones and Starfield were full of artifacting that made it look like the resolution was constantly shifting and it was horrible and painterly to my eye. Mind you, not played xCloud for about 9 months now so could be better?

@FreasurePlanten well, yeah my cloud future is very hypothetical and is more if consoles were replaced by cloud gaming. One huge difference between gaming and other media though is that gaming isn't static. 4k video feeds need what, 10mbps at the most? 4k gaming is closer to 35mbps and that's with compromised image quality due to unpredictable user camera inputs. I hope they find the answer.

@HonestHick I've not researched it enough, but I don't think it's too much down to the quality of the server blade, I think it's the permitted bandwidth that's the biggest factor. Xcloud still won't permit 4k streaming because it allows no more than (I think) 20mbps

@FreasurePlanten I agree that it's fantastic, but it's also an expensive subscription which sort of defeats the point for me. After 2 years of paying for premium you'd have been as well off buying a 2nd hand console.

Hopefully economies of scale reduce the cost and this popularity of actual good cloud gaming services!

If the future of home "console" gaming became cloud based, I'd have 2 very simple demands:

1. No subscription fees. If we're forced into that future then it should just serve as a platform.

2. It has to be artefact free and as latency free as current console gaming is.

And that's it. I'm fine with cloud gaming, but it just doesn't really work right now. It's great for simpler games, 2.5D stuff, visual novel style games etc. but AAA fares much less favourably.

Grabbed Darwin's paradox and Keeper for a combined £20.48 and happy as Larry with both

Sharing some of the above sentiment, if the performance is going to be garbage again then don't bother with the remasters Bethesda.