Who is pre-ordering though? My guess is it is bots picking them up so they can be resold later.
Given another article that lists the prices it seems way overpriced. And they are already advertising the "accessories" you'll want which adds even more to the cost. You can get a reasonable laptop + controller cheaper than that. I mean if this is really just going to be streaming XBox games then it doesn't need particularly powerful hardware, just good internet speeds. At least you can use a laptop for something other than gaming. I mean if you're traveling on business do you really want to carry this + a laptop? Clearly this device isn't for me.
While I despise the modern sections, I don't think removing them from an older game's remake makes sense. Of course this could be so that their AC shared hub has something more in it than AC Shadows so this could be a marketing thing. They said they were moving the modern stuff into the hub so it might make sense to ensure your remake fits into this world.
>> Bring your game collection together with the new aggregated gaming library that shows your installed games from multiple PC storefronts, including your Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net and other leading PC storefronts, making it easier than ever to access your games in one place, whether you’re on a Windows PC or handheld device.
So basically what GOG Galaxy did like 6 years ago? Or how about Playnite? Don't really see the benefit of this. You still have to install the other launchers and they still have to run to play whatever game you are playing. The only difference is that you can use a single app to get there, again like others have been doing for a while.
Personally I used GOG Galaxy's integration and Playnite for a while and gave up on them. The premise is good but there are lots of issues. Just a short list that MS would need to solve:
All libraries use differing authentication. To work you have to authenticate to the library via this MS app. Authentication tokens expire and have to be refreshed or revalidated. Depending on the library this may be easy or hard. Steam is in the middle given it requires MFA each time because it sees a new device. Playstation, if they integrate with it, requires you use a browser and scrapping. BattleNet is OK but UPlay is also bad.
Integrations tend to be third-party so an update to the app may break integrations. If the security changes in the library then the integration breaks as well. There are lots of help articles online on how to fix broken integrations.
Apps tend to focus on a couple libraries so you lose access to features that other libraries have. For example you have groups on XBox and tags on GOG. They both tend to do the same thing but a generic app ignores those and requires you to retag/group games again.
If you have the same game over several platforms then telling the difference can be hard. While they may show a platform icon or something it tends to be hard to tell the difference.
Combining multiple libraries can result in lots of games making management critical and I've yet to find an app that does this well.
Metadata can be wrong and there is probably nothing you can do to fix it. I had games with the wrong cover images, bad data, etc and there wasn't anything I could do to fix it. Whatever system is used to pull the metadata is just wrong.
While I see some advantages to aggregated libraries, it doesn't really change how anything works and just adds another app to the list of things that are running just to start a game.
Exciting for who? More Copilot AI so MS can brag about how many people are "using" it. More features to play XBox on PC for those who care about that and to help MS sell more subscriptions for the service that you have to have for it.
I think it is pretty clear that if there is a next-gen XBox then it'll be the last one. MS is moving XBox to PC (Windows) and will require Win11 (or more likely Win12) to boost their numbers there as Windows is fumbling. They are also making a killing on AI so they are putting it into everything so they can show high #s of users (although not necessarily using it). I'm not aware of a single MS product update across any of their suites that had any major improvements in the last six months beyond adding more AI features. MS is going to keep going down this route until it is saturated. I really wish I could opt out of XBox updates if they aren't applicable to me.
MS is doing this because nobody wants to use the new Outlook app. It is a horrible step back from the existing client for many reasons.
The UX is the new, modern UX that MS has been forcing into all their apps. Most people aren't a fan.
It's putting in features that people aren't comfortable with including AI and forced integration with MS services like Office and Azure.
Perhaps the worst part is that it lacks some of the most common email client functionality that the old app and every other email client has. It's been a while since I looked at it but some missing features included: printing an email, forwarding an email message body to someone else, looking at email headers for suspicious content and even basic organization. It also has very limited import features from anything other than Outlook itself.
All you need to do is go to the feedback site for Outlook (or Microsoft Q&A) and you'll see the large amount of complaints and features that are missing. MS hasn't really shown any interest in adding a lot of this as they are focused on integrating AI and other MS services into it while dropping support for any third party email providers and customizations.
Asking MS to remove ads from the dashboard is akin to asking your favorite streaming service to remove ads from the start/middle/end of streams. It isn't going to happen.
Ads are how services make money, however that works and, in the case of MS, can get free screentime from you for their services, that cost money. If you never hear about some service then you'll likely never decide to start paying for it.
Honestly, as much as MS is pushing Copilot, I expect a future update to use AI to determine what ads to show you. More focused ads for the games you're playing based upon genres, play times, even related games. If you don't spend enough time on the dashboard to make this worth the effort then AI will just start injecting them elsewhere like before your game starts/resumes or whatnot. Hopefully we'll never get to mid-game ads but you never know...
I bought and started playing it as soon as it came out. But, as almost always happens, I play a few hours and then return to the game I was already playing. Because controls and systems are not standardized it is hard to pick up a game after walking away for months. So I much prefer to finish a game and then move on to the next one. I'm currently finishing my 3/4 playthrough of Witcher 3. Then I'll return to Oblivion. I play 1 RPG/open world game per platform at a time. Switching between FPS and RPGs isn't hard but RPG to RPG is confusing. I've restarted many a game because I couldn't remember the systems in use and I was beyond any "tutorial" levels such that mistakes were recoverable.
I don't use L4G myself but I'm not sure how you would lock it down without impacting legitimate people. Suppose you required a minimum GS, how much? If you go for a low number then it is trivial to either buy accounts that have existing GS scores or create an account and then running through shovelware to get 1000+ GS pretty quickly. And there are people who sell accounts like that already. Of course if I'm new to XBox I wouldn't be able to use the service at all. Furthermore if I wasn't good at games and/or weren't going for achievements then my GS is going to be low already.
You could require a minimum account age but this solves the problem only until the arbitrary time limit expires. For example suppose you say you have to have an account for 1 month. All you've done is delayed the problem for 1 month. I created a bunch of accounts today and next month I can start using them, while a new set of accounts are being baked. I can create many accounts every day and always have a ready supply of new accounts that meet any arbitrary account life limit. And, again, a new user would be negatively impacted.
Account history is also easy to work around given that I can buy accounts with games in them already. But what about GP where I don't own games and just rent them? Also, again, new users would be negatively impacted.
I think some basic levels of checking could be useful, but not foolproof. For example maybe you can't L4G on games you either don't have associated with your account or that you don't have a GP account (in which the game is available). You could also set up some limits on how many times you can post during a given timeframe. This is pretty easy to work around but, again, just trying to eliminate the most basic of bot attacks.
This is a problem plaguing a lot of areas and it is only going to get worse. Stopping bots, especially in the era of AI, is going to be difficult to do.
Not surprised. Although a quick scan shows that most things are going up approximately 25% it seems except the XBox Series X console which seems to have jumped $100 (??)
If your hardware is more expensive that just means you'll ultimately be selling less and people will be less likely to jump from starting-generation models to mid-generation models. They will wait for the next gen.
Game companies will be hit the worst I think. Except hardcore fans, most people will probably not buy games on release but wait until they are on sale. As such the initial sales #s will be (relatively) lower and more games will be considered (failures) with all the ramifications we're seeing today. Even now you can read a lot of review comments or announcement post comments and people are saying they'll wait and buy it when it is on sale. Some of this is just the fact that there are too many games out there and backlogs are full.
Gone are the days of a game selling millions of copies and making billions and the team being safe from layoffs. Honestly the game industry is out of control. Not sure if it is the greedy execs, the unrealistic expectations of shareholders, the unmaintainable approach to building games or what. Star Wars Jedi supposedly earned them $2 billion dollars and over 40 million players. How this cannot be a success and keep people employed is beyond me. The game industry is hopelessly broken if this is true.
While I haven't actually gotten to level up yet it appears they changed the bad Oblivion system where you had to game the skill system to ensure that if you wanted to increase an attribute that you used skills related to it. I think you had to increase all skills related to an attribute 10 times to get the option of a full 3 points for that attribute at level up. It was really bad. With the new system I think you can just apply your points to whatever attributes you want which means you don't have to micro-track skill increases. There are still major/minor skills but I think these just control the leveling up indicator (major skills only) and the starting points. The journeyman/expert/etc system is still in place as well.
I did notice the compass shows you the name of unvisited locations on the map when you get close enough. That is sort of nice because if you see a marker for someplace you haven't visited yet then you don't actually need to go there to determine if it is someplace you want to go. For example I really don't care about caves so if the map marker indicates a cave nearby it shows the name and I know I can skip it.
It also shows the approximate steps to your next objective on the compass. That is pretty nice because it helps gauge how far you need to go. Skyrim I think just made the marker bigger as you approached but that can be hard to judge since it is already small on the compass.
I think the character faces are wonky. Even in the character creator I couldn't find an easy way to make my character not look like a neanderthal. The noses and foreheads are huge, the faces look too wide and, while there seems to be a lot of options, none of them really matter much. For example I like to make my characters have red hair. While you can set the hair color it doesn't actually seem to do too much. With all the gradient settings (which I tried in all directions), there was very little change in actual color. The # of options for noses and chins and whatnot are just overwhelming and many didn't seem to have much of an impact. I much prefer to be able to select a pre-defined model and then adjust it as needed. The character creator in this remake is one of the worst of the modern generation.
Performance wise the game stutters when you're moving the character creation options pretty quickly. It was noticeable and blocky. In game the blockiness is less noticeable except when you load into an area or move around quickly.
I did have one freeze while working my way through starting prison area. The assassins jumped us and I started to swing with my sword. While the music played everything else froze. I had to terminate the game and restart.
The "bad" Oblivion navigation for inventory, map, etc has been partially redone but it still isn't great. I want to be able to quickly save games and whatnot. Yet I have to open one of the nav sections, then navigate over to System to be able to save/load. That should be a single button click really. Navigating everything else is a little better than Oblivion but still garbage.
Overall though I'm enjoying getting back into my 2nd favorite ES game.
Morrowind definitely. It was the first ES game I played and while I walked away from it early on, I did eventually go back to it and loved it. Of course the expansions for it are a must as well.
After that then Fallout 3 with the DLCs. I recently replayed it on PS (minus the DLCs) and it really is missing a lot without them.
After that then maybe Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
There are 2 types of AC fans these days - pre-Origins and post-Origins. Pre-Origins players like stealth and minimal-RPG, post-Origins players like more combat and RPG. It depends on where Shadows lands as to which fans will like it. It sounds like Shadows is trying for something in the middle so I suspect it'll land like Mirage did (which was marketed to pre-Origins fans). I think it'll do better than Mirage but not be anywhere near as good as Origins. People are tired of AC and its bloat. Valhalla did well numbers wise but I don't know that it did well in terms of people actually finishing it or even liking it that much. As such I think early #s will be weak but if people actually like it and finish it then we'll see the #s go up as more people buy it.
Since it won't be on GP or PS+ at release it'll lose out to a lot of core players who could help "sell" it. It'll be on Ubi+ but unless they have a sale on that service I doubt people will get the service long enough to play the game either. I think it'll be mediocre in terms of consumer reception even if critics like it. Once it does release on GP/PS+ then I think it'll do better but depending on when that happens will determine if Ubi actually benefits from it.
Personally I think critics will like it but it won't sell enough to help Ubi. It is only after Ubi releases to GP/PS+ that it'll start to become popular enough but those sales won't probably help Ubi either.
It is also illegal in almost, if not all cases. If you read the T&Cs for pretty much every software you use, outside open source, then they always say the same thing "It is illegal to decompile or reverse engineer the code". That is what is happening here. Irrelevant of your view on whether this is good or not, it is most likely illegal and amounts to piracy. It remains to be seen whether any publisher/developer decides to go after this project.
Justifying illegal behavior based upon "abandonware" or "unavailable" status is never a good thing. Illegal is illegal unless the owner of the code gives their approval.
It's happened before. It doesn't matter whether you rush out and grab it now or not. MS has historically stripped the license of the users who got something for free/reduced when they shouldn't have. The next time you start the game it'll fail because your license is gone.
It is a pretty trivial query for them. Get all the users who have the game but haven't either previously purchased it or who didn't buy the bundle during the sale. Then revoke the licenses. If this hasn't already been done then I suspect within a couple of days. So play quick if you got it for free.
Doom 1 was good, Doom 2 was better, Doom 3 was mostly viewed as a step up in gameplay but a step down for the series by most veterans.
Assassins Creed 1 was good, AC2 was better, AC3 was not well liked (ignoring the AC2-based sequels).
Mass Effect 1 was good, ME2 was better to a lot of people, ME3 was not as popular.
Dragon Age Origins, DA2, DAI - same
Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, Doom TDA - newcomers may like it but I suspect veterans will look back on what the previous 2 entries had and will either see it mediocre or bad.
Well below what I'm paying for on Internet. Next to Steam, XBox has the worst download speeds for reasons I don't understand. It's like they are band limiting calls or maybe it depends on the game where newer games that may be downloaded more often are cached in more regions to speed up downloads. Or perhaps it is tied to whether you have a GP subscription or not. It would look bad for a GP service to be slow to download.
I suspect they are prioritizing downloads, and where the downloads are stored, based upon popularity, region and perhaps whether you have a subscription or not.
Fortunately it downloads fast enough that it rarely matters.
When it was announced that MS would start putting yet more ads on the XBox, which I paid for and didn't have ads when I bought it, I thought great. Most of the ads are for selling GP, which I'm not buying, or games that MS can make money off of, undoubtedly by making a deal with the publisher such that they get "free" ads to users.
But what really annoyed me to the point I rarely use my XBox anymore is when they added full page ads. Now the marketing was "it only happens when you start your Xbox" but that was a lie. It happens when you resume your XBox as well. Since I let my XBox go to sleep when I'm not using it, you know to stop wasting power, I get it whenever I return to my Xbox to play it. Every single time. What's even worse is that MS is now recommending that you change your power save mode on XBox to "save the power" which will also trigger the full page ads even more. It is clear that MS doesn't feel they are getting enough money from XBox and GP subscriptions such that ads are the only way to continue to make money.
PS isn't this bad yet. They advertise their PS+ stuff right now. But I suspect Xbox is a glimpse at the future of PS and most likely Switch. Heck even Windows is doing this crap now...
@Frmknst I refuse to spend money on a game subscription that is as bad as GP Ultimate. Beyond the weekly sales it really doesn't add any value to those who don't play a lot or those who want to replay games years later. It is no different than Gamefly and equivalent services that used to exist(?).
I spend less money in a year on the few games I actually care about then a GP subscription costs. Given that GP is not growing nearly as fast as MS wants it is clear that GP has reached its saturation point. When they shut down Gold then the numbers went up because everybody was converted to GP but as soon as the conversion subscriptions ran out then the numbers started dropping again, based upon the news that I read at the time.
Either MS is going to have to seriously change the benefits to draw more people in or they are going to have to offer better bundles. The cost keeps going up and the benefits aren't keeping up.
"...And to make it even easier we will also ensure that all your top 100 searches are for games that are on Game Pass and either we published or we're getting loads of money to advertise..."
So, so sick of having full screen ads on my not cheap Series X whenever it comes out of hibernate mode (not just restart as was originally advertised) AND all the ads for GP that I don't intend to purchase AND all the ads for games that I have no interest in. This is one thing that PS5 gets right.
@Savage_Joe It says so in the fine print for Ultimate. If you already have Gold then that time will be converted into equivalent in Ultimate and it is a one way, permanent conversion. Once that happens you cannot go back to Gold. You have to cancel your Ultimate subscription and then get a Gold subscription again. At the beginning of the year MS was raising the price of Gold for new customers but not existing. If they were to decide to do that again in 2022 then those folks who switched to Ultimate and then decided to go back to Gold would be counted as new subscribers I wager.
You're entitled to your opinion but Ultimate is no different than Gamefly or other services. If you want to rent games to play then it is your choice but it isn't for everyone and MS recognizes that as they haven't done away with Gold yet.
Read the fine print though. I got one and haven't redeemed it because I'm sticking with XBox Gold until they get rid of the program. Game Pass is just a game streaming service. As soon as you stop paying the monthly fee all the games are gone. You don't actually own them. Personally I like owning games.
If you already have Gold and redeem the trial then you're Gold is gone forever. This is MS trying to be sneaky and get their Pass #s up before end of year and try to get more people switched from Gold.
Replace `Xbox` with your favorite platform or console of choice (e.g. PS, Steam, iPad). Is there any that don't require INet access at some point? Why is this remotely a big deal to anybody who owns one? At most a warning label on the box but honestly that is like putting a warning label on a TV saying you have to have power for it to work.
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Re: The ROG Xbox Ally Is Rapidly Selling Out At Retailers Around The World
Who is pre-ordering though? My guess is it is bots picking them up so they can be resold later.
Given another article that lists the prices it seems way overpriced. And they are already advertising the "accessories" you'll want which adds even more to the cost. You can get a reasonable laptop + controller cheaper than that. I mean if this is really just going to be streaming XBox games then it doesn't need particularly powerful hardware, just good internet speeds. At least you can use a laptop for something other than gaming. I mean if you're traveling on business do you really want to carry this + a laptop? Clearly this device isn't for me.
Re: If The Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake Is Real, It Could Be Very Different From The Original
While I despise the modern sections, I don't think removing them from an older game's remake makes sense. Of course this could be so that their AC shared hub has something more in it than AC Shadows so this could be a marketing thing. They said they were moving the modern stuff into the hub so it might make sense to ensure your remake fits into this world.
Re: Xbox Begins Public Rollout Of Steam & Other Storefronts On PC App
>> Bring your game collection together with the new aggregated gaming library that shows your installed games from multiple PC storefronts, including your Xbox library, Xbox Game Pass, Battle.net and other leading PC storefronts, making it easier than ever to access your games in one place, whether you’re on a Windows PC or handheld device.
So basically what GOG Galaxy did like 6 years ago? Or how about Playnite? Don't really see the benefit of this. You still have to install the other launchers and they still have to run to play whatever game you are playing. The only difference is that you can use a single app to get there, again like others have been doing for a while.
Personally I used GOG Galaxy's integration and Playnite for a while and gave up on them. The premise is good but there are lots of issues. Just a short list that MS would need to solve:
While I see some advantages to aggregated libraries, it doesn't really change how anything works and just adds another app to the list of things that are running just to start a game.
Re: Here's What's Included In The Xbox August 2025 Update
Exciting for who? More Copilot AI so MS can brag about how many people are "using" it. More features to play XBox on PC for those who care about that and to help MS sell more subscriptions for the service that you have to have for it.
I think it is pretty clear that if there is a next-gen XBox then it'll be the last one. MS is moving XBox to PC (Windows) and will require Win11 (or more likely Win12) to boost their numbers there as Windows is fumbling. They are also making a killing on AI so they are putting it into everything so they can show high #s of users (although not necessarily using it). I'm not aware of a single MS product update across any of their suites that had any major improvements in the last six months beyond adding more AI features. MS is going to keep going down this route until it is saturated. I really wish I could opt out of XBox updates if they aren't applicable to me.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Is Giving Away 500 Points For Just A Few Minutes' Work
MS is doing this because nobody wants to use the new Outlook app. It is a horrible step back from the existing client for many reasons.
The UX is the new, modern UX that MS has been forcing into all their apps. Most people aren't a fan.
It's putting in features that people aren't comfortable with including AI and forced integration with MS services like Office and Azure.
Perhaps the worst part is that it lacks some of the most common email client functionality that the old app and every other email client has. It's been a while since I looked at it but some missing features included: printing an email, forwarding an email message body to someone else, looking at email headers for suspicious content and even basic organization. It also has very limited import features from anything other than Outlook itself.
All you need to do is go to the feedback site for Outlook (or Microsoft Q&A) and you'll see the large amount of complaints and features that are missing. MS hasn't really shown any interest in adding a lot of this as they are focused on integrating AI and other MS services into it while dropping support for any third party email providers and customizations.
Re: Xbox Insiders Can Now Remove Tiles On The Dashboard, And It Looks Weird
Asking MS to remove ads from the dashboard is akin to asking your favorite streaming service to remove ads from the start/middle/end of streams. It isn't going to happen.
Ads are how services make money, however that works and, in the case of MS, can get free screentime from you for their services, that cost money. If you never hear about some service then you'll likely never decide to start paying for it.
Honestly, as much as MS is pushing Copilot, I expect a future update to use AI to determine what ads to show you. More focused ads for the games you're playing based upon genres, play times, even related games. If you don't spend enough time on the dashboard to make this worth the effort then AI will just start injecting them elsewhere like before your game starts/resumes or whatnot. Hopefully we'll never get to mid-game ads but you never know...
Re: One Month On, Oblivion Remastered Has A Pretty Low Completion Rate On Xbox
I bought and started playing it as soon as it came out. But, as almost always happens, I play a few hours and then return to the game I was already playing. Because controls and systems are not standardized it is hard to pick up a game after walking away for months. So I much prefer to finish a game and then move on to the next one. I'm currently finishing my 3/4 playthrough of Witcher 3. Then I'll return to Oblivion. I play 1 RPG/open world game per platform at a time. Switching between FPS and RPGs isn't hard but RPG to RPG is confusing. I've restarted many a game because I couldn't remember the systems in use and I was beyond any "tutorial" levels such that mistakes were recoverable.
Re: Xbox L4G Users Frustrated Over Constant Spam From Bot Accounts
I don't use L4G myself but I'm not sure how you would lock it down without impacting legitimate people. Suppose you required a minimum GS, how much? If you go for a low number then it is trivial to either buy accounts that have existing GS scores or create an account and then running through shovelware to get 1000+ GS pretty quickly. And there are people who sell accounts like that already. Of course if I'm new to XBox I wouldn't be able to use the service at all. Furthermore if I wasn't good at games and/or weren't going for achievements then my GS is going to be low already.
You could require a minimum account age but this solves the problem only until the arbitrary time limit expires. For example suppose you say you have to have an account for 1 month. All you've done is delayed the problem for 1 month. I created a bunch of accounts today and next month I can start using them, while a new set of accounts are being baked. I can create many accounts every day and always have a ready supply of new accounts that meet any arbitrary account life limit. And, again, a new user would be negatively impacted.
Account history is also easy to work around given that I can buy accounts with games in them already. But what about GP where I don't own games and just rent them? Also, again, new users would be negatively impacted.
I think some basic levels of checking could be useful, but not foolproof. For example maybe you can't L4G on games you either don't have associated with your account or that you don't have a GP account (in which the game is available). You could also set up some limits on how many times you can post during a given timeframe. This is pretty easy to work around but, again, just trying to eliminate the most basic of bot attacks.
This is a problem plaguing a lot of areas and it is only going to get worse. Stopping bots, especially in the era of AI, is going to be difficult to do.
Re: Xbox Is Raising The Price Of Consoles, Games And Accessories
Not surprised. Although a quick scan shows that most things are going up approximately 25% it seems except the XBox Series X console which seems to have jumped $100 (??)
If your hardware is more expensive that just means you'll ultimately be selling less and people will be less likely to jump from starting-generation models to mid-generation models. They will wait for the next gen.
Game companies will be hit the worst I think. Except hardcore fans, most people will probably not buy games on release but wait until they are on sale. As such the initial sales #s will be (relatively) lower and more games will be considered (failures) with all the ramifications we're seeing today. Even now you can read a lot of review comments or announcement post comments and people are saying they'll wait and buy it when it is on sale. Some of this is just the fact that there are too many games out there and backlogs are full.
Re: EA Cuts Hundreds Of Jobs, Respawn Announces Two Cancelled Games
Gone are the days of a game selling millions of copies and making billions and the team being safe from layoffs. Honestly the game industry is out of control. Not sure if it is the greedy execs, the unrealistic expectations of shareholders, the unmaintainable approach to building games or what. Star Wars Jedi supposedly earned them $2 billion dollars and over 40 million players. How this cannot be a success and keep people employed is beyond me. The game industry is hopelessly broken if this is true.
Re: Oblivion Remastered: All Changes, Additions & New Content
While I haven't actually gotten to level up yet it appears they changed the bad Oblivion system where you had to game the skill system to ensure that if you wanted to increase an attribute that you used skills related to it. I think you had to increase all skills related to an attribute 10 times to get the option of a full 3 points for that attribute at level up. It was really bad. With the new system I think you can just apply your points to whatever attributes you want which means you don't have to micro-track skill increases. There are still major/minor skills but I think these just control the leveling up indicator (major skills only) and the starting points. The journeyman/expert/etc system is still in place as well.
I did notice the compass shows you the name of unvisited locations on the map when you get close enough. That is sort of nice because if you see a marker for someplace you haven't visited yet then you don't actually need to go there to determine if it is someplace you want to go. For example I really don't care about caves so if the map marker indicates a cave nearby it shows the name and I know I can skip it.
It also shows the approximate steps to your next objective on the compass. That is pretty nice because it helps gauge how far you need to go. Skyrim I think just made the marker bigger as you approached but that can be hard to judge since it is already small on the compass.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Oblivion Remastered?
I think the character faces are wonky. Even in the character creator I couldn't find an easy way to make my character not look like a neanderthal. The noses and foreheads are huge, the faces look too wide and, while there seems to be a lot of options, none of them really matter much. For example I like to make my characters have red hair. While you can set the hair color it doesn't actually seem to do too much. With all the gradient settings (which I tried in all directions), there was very little change in actual color. The # of options for noses and chins and whatnot are just overwhelming and many didn't seem to have much of an impact. I much prefer to be able to select a pre-defined model and then adjust it as needed. The character creator in this remake is one of the worst of the modern generation.
Performance wise the game stutters when you're moving the character creation options pretty quickly. It was noticeable and blocky. In game the blockiness is less noticeable except when you load into an area or move around quickly.
I did have one freeze while working my way through starting prison area. The assassins jumped us and I started to swing with my sword. While the music played everything else froze. I had to terminate the game and restart.
The "bad" Oblivion navigation for inventory, map, etc has been partially redone but it still isn't great. I want to be able to quickly save games and whatnot. Yet I have to open one of the nav sections, then navigate over to System to be able to save/load. That should be a single button click really. Navigating everything else is a little better than Oblivion but still garbage.
Overall though I'm enjoying getting back into my 2nd favorite ES game.
Re: Talking Point: What Other Bethesda Remakes Would You Like Xbox To Greenlight?
Morrowind definitely. It was the first ES game I played and while I walked away from it early on, I did eventually go back to it and loved it. Of course the expansions for it are a must as well.
After that then Fallout 3 with the DLCs. I recently replayed it on PS (minus the DLCs) and it really is missing a lot without them.
After that then maybe Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Re: Talking Point: Assassin's Creed Fans, Do You Think Feudal Japan Will Live Up To The Hype?
There are 2 types of AC fans these days - pre-Origins and post-Origins. Pre-Origins players like stealth and minimal-RPG, post-Origins players like more combat and RPG. It depends on where Shadows lands as to which fans will like it. It sounds like Shadows is trying for something in the middle so I suspect it'll land like Mirage did (which was marketed to pre-Origins fans). I think it'll do better than Mirage but not be anywhere near as good as Origins. People are tired of AC and its bloat. Valhalla did well numbers wise but I don't know that it did well in terms of people actually finishing it or even liking it that much. As such I think early #s will be weak but if people actually like it and finish it then we'll see the #s go up as more people buy it.
Since it won't be on GP or PS+ at release it'll lose out to a lot of core players who could help "sell" it. It'll be on Ubi+ but unless they have a sale on that service I doubt people will get the service long enough to play the game either. I think it'll be mediocre in terms of consumer reception even if critics like it. Once it does release on GP/PS+ then I think it'll do better but depending on when that happens will determine if Ubi actually benefits from it.
Personally I think critics will like it but it won't sell enough to help Ubi. It is only after Ubi releases to GP/PS+ that it'll start to become popular enough but those sales won't probably help Ubi either.
Re: Hundreds Of Delisted Xbox 360 Games Now Have The Potential To Return On PC
It is also illegal in almost, if not all cases. If you read the T&Cs for pretty much every software you use, outside open source, then they always say the same thing "It is illegal to decompile or reverse engineer the code". That is what is happening here. Irrelevant of your view on whether this is good or not, it is most likely illegal and amounts to piracy. It remains to be seen whether any publisher/developer decides to go after this project.
Justifying illegal behavior based upon "abandonware" or "unavailable" status is never a good thing. Illegal is illegal unless the owner of the code gives their approval.
Re: Xbox Glitch Sees Alan Wake Remastered Get 100% Discount
It's happened before. It doesn't matter whether you rush out and grab it now or not. MS has historically stripped the license of the users who got something for free/reduced when they shouldn't have. The next time you start the game it'll fail because your license is gone.
It is a pretty trivial query for them. Get all the users who have the game but haven't either previously purchased it or who didn't buy the bundle during the sale. Then revoke the licenses. If this hasn't already been done then I suspect within a couple of days. So play quick if you got it for free.
Re: Talking Point: Will DOOM: The Dark Ages Become id's Best Modern DOOM Game?
The "curse of 3" says no.
There are exceptions to the curse, of course...
Re: Talking Point: What Is Your Download Speed On Xbox These Days?
Well below what I'm paying for on Internet. Next to Steam, XBox has the worst download speeds for reasons I don't understand. It's like they are band limiting calls or maybe it depends on the game where newer games that may be downloaded more often are cached in more regions to speed up downloads. Or perhaps it is tied to whether you have a GP subscription or not. It would look bad for a GP service to be slow to download.
I suspect they are prioritizing downloads, and where the downloads are stored, based upon popularity, region and perhaps whether you have a subscription or not.
Fortunately it downloads fast enough that it rarely matters.
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
When it was announced that MS would start putting yet more ads on the XBox, which I paid for and didn't have ads when I bought it, I thought great. Most of the ads are for selling GP, which I'm not buying, or games that MS can make money off of, undoubtedly by making a deal with the publisher such that they get "free" ads to users.
But what really annoyed me to the point I rarely use my XBox anymore is when they added full page ads. Now the marketing was "it only happens when you start your Xbox" but that was a lie. It happens when you resume your XBox as well. Since I let my XBox go to sleep when I'm not using it, you know to stop wasting power, I get it whenever I return to my Xbox to play it. Every single time. What's even worse is that MS is now recommending that you change your power save mode on XBox to "save the power" which will also trigger the full page ads even more. It is clear that MS doesn't feel they are getting enough money from XBox and GP subscriptions such that ads are the only way to continue to make money.
PS isn't this bad yet. They advertise their PS+ stuff right now. But I suspect Xbox is a glimpse at the future of PS and most likely Switch. Heck even Windows is doing this crap now...
Re: Lots Of Games Are Reduced By 90% On Xbox This Weekend (August 1-6)
@Frmknst I refuse to spend money on a game subscription that is as bad as GP Ultimate. Beyond the weekly sales it really doesn't add any value to those who don't play a lot or those who want to replay games years later. It is no different than Gamefly and equivalent services that used to exist(?).
I spend less money in a year on the few games I actually care about then a GP subscription costs. Given that GP is not growing nearly as fast as MS wants it is clear that GP has reached its saturation point. When they shut down Gold then the numbers went up because everybody was converted to GP but as soon as the conversion subscriptions ran out then the numbers started dropping again, based upon the news that I read at the time.
Either MS is going to have to seriously change the benefits to draw more people in or they are going to have to offer better bundles. The cost keeps going up and the benefits aren't keeping up.
Re: Lots Of Games Are Reduced By 90% On Xbox This Weekend (August 1-6)
The sales table is a little misleading. The sales prices are for people who have GP Ultimate. If you don't then the sale doesn't apply.
Re: Xbox Is Making 'Filtering' Improvements To Your 'My Games & Apps' Library
"...And to make it even easier we will also ensure that all your top 100 searches are for games that are on Game Pass and either we published or we're getting loads of money to advertise..."
So, so sick of having full screen ads on my not cheap Series X whenever it comes out of hibernate mode (not just restart as was originally advertised) AND all the ads for GP that I don't intend to purchase AND all the ads for games that I have no interest in. This is one thing that PS5 gets right.
Re: Xbox Is Offering 5 Free Months Of Game Pass To Lucky Gold Members
@Savage_Joe
It says so in the fine print for Ultimate. If you already have Gold then that time will be converted into equivalent in Ultimate and it is a one way, permanent conversion. Once that happens you cannot go back to Gold. You have to cancel your Ultimate subscription and then get a Gold subscription again. At the beginning of the year MS was raising the price of Gold for new customers but not existing. If they were to decide to do that again in 2022 then those folks who switched to Ultimate and then decided to go back to Gold would be counted as new subscribers I wager.
You're entitled to your opinion but Ultimate is no different than Gamefly or other services. If you want to rent games to play then it is your choice but it isn't for everyone and MS recognizes that as they haven't done away with Gold yet.
Re: Xbox Is Offering 5 Free Months Of Game Pass To Lucky Gold Members
Read the fine print though. I got one and haven't redeemed it because I'm sticking with XBox Gold until they get rid of the program. Game Pass is just a game streaming service. As soon as you stop paying the monthly fee all the games are gone. You don't actually own them. Personally I like owning games.
If you already have Gold and redeem the trial then you're Gold is gone forever. This is MS trying to be sneaky and get their Pass #s up before end of year and try to get more people switched from Gold.
Re: Xbox Dev Responds To Report That DRM Is A 'Serious Problem' On Xbox Series X
Replace `Xbox` with your favorite platform or console of choice (e.g. PS, Steam, iPad). Is there any that don't require INet access at some point? Why is this remotely a big deal to anybody who owns one? At most a warning label on the box but honestly that is like putting a warning label on a TV saying you have to have power for it to work.