@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

@IOI massive agree on the $20 idea. Pay an extra 10 if you want CoD day 1 and fortnight crew, so only pay the current price for those behemoths but normal prices for everything else

Game looks incredible. Usually when Ryan McCaffrey likes a game in preview it turns out to be awesome too

After years of nothing, yes I'm very happy to see a renewed focus on basically anything. Still no idea if it's a smokescreen but Asha's reign has been tonnes better than Phil and Sarah

EDIT: mirroring above comments, achievements needs one step further. The best suggestion I've seen is to separate base game achievements from DLC ones, just like PS does

As someone who was new to Xbox just over 4 years ago I'd go MCC and Gears 1-3. Psychonauts 2 is a gem as well.

Of more recent ilk south of midnight is really unique, and obviously indy

@darylb24 yeah I'm good with 30 when the visuals at 60 are poor (or performance is too shaky), I'm just less certain that I'd want that in a racing game!

@Banjo- if a game is dropping from say 60 to 55 FPS in hectic content it's not too bad for me, but when it's all over the place I just have to change it. Hogwarts legacy without VRR I had to drop to fidelity mode almost immediately on series x.

@themightyant I'll have the 40 option one day...for now I'm a 60hz non-VRR pleb but I do 40fps on other devices and love it

@themightyant I had a good go with the 60fps mode and it holds up quite well for the most part. I don't know if it's age or exposure, but I've become quite sensitive to frame time issues so 30fps has become a good fall back for me

@Banjo- oh it's coming buddy, just need another 2 years until the smallest stops touching...

I do have a decent VRR monitor but it's not the same as a big telly, but my mate has a big VRR oled for his PS5 and it's gorgeous

@Banjo- put everything up high on a wall lol! The number of times I come into the living room after work and my series X has been turned on because the smallest one can't resist buttons...

@Banjo- ah to have a VRR TV in the living room, alas the kids are still at the screen touching ages so I'm not wasting my money on one yet 🤣

@Fiendish-Beaver I have no doubt that these things would have been in some form of development prior to her taking the helm, but I have strong doubts that all this positive console stuff would have seen the light of day under Sarah Bond. She just seemed so blinkered by the PC and cloud side of the ecosystem.

But whatever the behind the scenes stuff is, it doesn't matter because the very visible improvements and their delivery has been under Sharma. Even if it's just PR BS, she's bleddy good at it!

Yet more great stuff for Xbox owners under Asha's tenure. I already loved my Xbox but now I'm becoming proud of the brand

@Kezelpaso oh yeah no I meant no dig at you Ben, just a weird choice from Playground! Suppose it's for the YouTube capture

I love that you got a preview code but realistically who's gonna play this at 30fps? Anyway, sounds like it's shaping up to be exactly what we want it to be 😎

Any starfield afficionados got a preference on mode? I personally plump for the 30fps quality mode, super smooth and I can't deal with the frame dips in new Atlantis and akila.

@Weebleman yes it can get tiresome but I see the same on PS so suppose it brings some "balance" to my hookshot media consumption 🤣

One day, we might all realise that both PlayStation and Xbox make some exceptional hardware and games

@VisitingComet1 have to agree. The dualsense features are really cool, but it's the first pad I've ever held that doesn't feel natural out of the gate.

I'd love haptic feedback on the helix controller, adaptive triggers aren't as cool so not too fussed there

I agree, they're genuinely trying to give indie Devs some visibility. Not specifically an "indie" but look how this kind of partnership can turn out with something like Clair Obscur

Currently playing super meat boy on a mini holiday in lake district, must be one of the OG Xbox live arcade games

Keeper, get in my library. It was a price drop or a move to premium that was gonna make me play it, this'll do nicely

@Weebleman I've no idea what your deleted comment was but I've always found your posts to be balanced and sensible mate. Was it the ps5 pro call out?

I have not bought a ps5 pro but happy for people that have, PSSR 2.0 looks exceptional