I’m sure there’s a lot of us Xbox fans that also grew up on Nintendo. Love both, but Nintendo will always remain my number one specifically because of Mario, Zelda, and fond memories of playing Bubble Bobble, Robowarrior and Sim City with my mom.
That said, and yes I’ll be trying to get it at launch, I can’t say I’m happy about prices, price increases, and paid for upgrades. I understand remaking a game to take advantage of specific Switch 2 features…. But there should be free performance/visual upgrades for those of us who don’t really care about the extra bells and whistles like built in guides, game chat, or mouse control options (tho this will be amazing for Civ 6/7!, and possibly EA tossing Sims 1&2 Legacy collections out way)
I’m still excited, and honestly impressed at the initial performance previews as well as the 120hz screen w VRR. Truly awesome considering 3 of 4 of its primary handheld competitors don’t offer that , only Ally does.
Really wish editors would point out that SNES and N64 games cost about the same back in the 90s, and given inflation in the states, we’d be looking at $130 per game if the game prices rose with the inflation over the years.
Granted im not happy to be paying more per game nowdays, already strapped for cash as is, but it could be so much worse….
Edit - adding a link for anyone curious as to what a 1996 TRU ad looked like….
Wouldn’t surprise me if indeed the Auto Save is messing something up. It’s insane but thinking back through to 360 so many games have had issues with auto saves, and many continue to release that way even in this generation. You’d think the companies would have that nailed down by now…..
I’m sure the patches will come to pc/steam, but hoping there’s also a patch in the works for Switch, plus a continuation of the series (plus Avowed) on Switch 2
Considering Sony released a Pro, I don’t think a new gen that’s fully backward compatible (and hopefully upgrades current gen games) is odd for Xbox. Just skip the Pro/MidGen refresh and go for a fully new one ahead of time. Especially considering I think this generation kinda started a year or so early given the circumstances that happened…. 20/20 hindsight there though.
That said, it would take a miracle and an immense amount of great advertising to shift focus from Ps5….. I also don’t think it would be possible without a native Xbox handheld. Remote is ultra nice, but I’d rather have native access anyway.
I do have a bit more of a tolerance to stuff in a way than others. I’m ok with lower fps/res having grown up on old IBM PCs back in the 80s. As long as the frame pacing isn’t off in a way that induces motion sickness (like GoW 2016 did for me on a PS4 Pro…) and I can adjust features like Motion Blur. Which I did disable/lower that and the camera shake stuff - this does improve performance too, but was mainly disabled for motion sickness reasons.
Being a parent twice over now, having games portable and playable in any room truly makes a heck of difference. And while I love remote playing my Series X on my Steam Deck, some games like Avowed I want truly portable and not reliant on my internet connection - which my daughters could be hogging.
Also, if you’re an SD owner and Xbox owner, get the XbPlay app on the Steam store. It works SO much better than the official app. You can set bitrate for 1080p which improves the image quality greatly - official app only does 720p. And moreover, XbPlay allows you to remote 360 games, official app does not. Was $6.99 or 7.99 last I checked. Incredibly worth it. Stream quality is infinitely superior to anything I tried with the official app.
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. On a whim I bought the Steam version so I could run it natively on my Steam Deck when I’m away from home. It’s runs surprisingly well considering it’s not fully optimized for SD yet and doesn’t have verification. Did need to turn off the default ray tracing and such, but I can run it all medium with a stable 30fps or I can set stuff lower and get a stable 40, or even 45 if I really tone stuff down. But 45 def compromises visuals!
Still, solid game and even more impressive optimization from Obsidian.
I doubt I’ll ever jump back into WoW, spent the first two years of its life living in its world. Was amazing, but takes up sooo much time.
That said, Steam community has a layout that changes WoW to a “console” version on Steam Deck, and FF14 has been a very successful MMO on consoles. If those both exist, then surely a console port wouldn’t be that difficult at this point….. (granted, Steam Deck has access to trackpads which help balance things a bit better for traditional pc controls….)
Carmack and Romero knew about how to make games more easily accessible to the masses and how that drives sales as well as interest in games. They famously gave away the first episode of Doom (1993), and if you wanted more you had to buy the other two episodes. And yeah, the first Doom was episodic originally for those that didn’t know! First episode was shareware, and last two were mail order only at the time.
You can brute force stuff to run on powerful hardware, sure, but true innovation comes from overcoming limitations and boundaries. Nintendo has proved that with systems like Wii, DS, and Switch….
Never been a Call of Duty player, but I’ve worked in the retail side of things for a time, and this whole thing should come as no surprise to anyone.
A game that historically sold better on PlayStation, would likely continue to sell better on that platform, especially if that platform has a larger install base, regardless of owner of the game title.
The only way to force more sales of the Xbox version would have been to offer exclusivity, which would have hurt overall sales.
For anyone who, like myself, is a GPU subscriber, just think about how many games you still purchase even though it’s on GPU….. I still buy most of the major titles I want just in case I don’t feel like subscribing to GPU for a time, or I can’t afford it, or the internet goes out.
For a lot of us GPU allows us to have access to a bunch of games we otherwise wouldn’t have bought or couldn’t afford to also buy, but a game series we are fans of, well game pass isn’t going to change if we were to buy the game or not in most cases. It’s a great service to give you further access to your games, give you instant access when your digital library is low like when you first purchase a system, and a great continued way to try out new titles.
I just got a Steam Deck in Sept and I love that thing, so amazing to have that kind of power in the palm of your hands. I’d still jump at an Xbox Handheld asap as well as Switch 2 (if it’s bc) asap. I’ve been a handheld lover since the original Gameboy, and truly fell in love with handheld gaming during GBA era and that love continued into DS, 3DS, Wii U, Switch and now Steam Deck.
To say I’m excited for the future of handhelds is an understatement! Truly haven’t been this excited for gaming since probably the 360 or even the n64
@nomither6 Def Jam was so awesome! Shame they never continued the series. Was also a fan of Backyard Wrestling on OG Xbox too. Always loved wrestling games where the finishers were just soooo over the top
@Banjo- Don’t blame ya or your parents on the N64 titles. I love my n64 (original launch model) but the price of games back then was nuts. Toys R Us was the main place to buy games as Babbages was usually sold out, but either way you were spending nearly $100 per game after taxes. Pretty sure for the time only Neo Geo beat Nintendo in higher MSRP…. The only system I DIDN’T end up getting back then. Central Illinois here. Wasn’t exactly the software or electronic capital of the US back during the 80s and 90s. 😂😂
@nomither6 Not far off. For the most part GC was better than N64, especially for third party games. N64 was during a time when 3D physics and worlds were first blooming and it was ROUGH. Especially early cameras. That said, IMO n64 had better first party games than GC. Mario 64, Zelda OoT/MM , DK, Banjo, Conker beat out most of Nintendos offerings on GC.
That said I’d probably choose GC overall just because of Eternal Darkness, Phantasy Star Online, and the Def Jam series alone….
@NEStalgia it’s not an addiction it’s a passion! I swear! 😂
As a parent I’m buying far more games than I have time to complete….. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but I wouldn’t mind having a pause button for all the life around me occasionally!
@Medic_alert one of the big reasons I made a switch to buying more digital titles is because I kept trading in titles for the latest games even if I hadn’t played the traded titles much and ended up always regretting the trades. Now I don’t trade anymore. However I do now have a massive pile of backlog titles across Switch, Xbox and Steam…. 🤦🏼♂️
I typically get them on Switch or Steam Deck for portability. But also, there are a lot of great ones I’ve double or triple dipped on - Fallout, Baldurs Gate, Witcher 3 (own on all platforms), Stardew Valley, Balatro, Vampire Survivors, etc….
I’m not quite sure why they have that rep…. I’ve heard good things about most of the Layers of Fear series, good things about Medium, and good things about Observer. Maybe those were just the exceptions to the rule?
And isn’t Silent Hill 2 Remake doing good?
Either way I’m rooting for em, no reason to root for a dev to do bad! That just hurts us gamers in the end, so I say bring it on and show us what you can do! You got this
Edit - sometimes devs take time to find their spot and rhythm, I get that. I know I read an article recently about such a team that kept making meh games for a long while (years and years) before they finally hit their stride and gave us an amazing game. Though I can’t recall which studio and game currently, but it was def one of the ones that got a lot of attention for being waaaaay better than expected.
@NeoRatt unfortunately I believe you’re 100% correct that eventually the industry will migrate fully to cloud streaming of games. It’s only a downside on our, the consumer end, of things. From a developer standpoint it makes things much easier to not have to build a game for different design specs of PCs and consoles. Just one version aimed at a computer with massive processing power. Not to mention it basically completely negates any worries of piracy.
Between exponentially expanding game sizes, limited storage, and such…. Yeah I think the push will end up to cloud streaming. But I do believe it’ll be a different cloud streaming than what’s currently in place. I think we’ll get a consumer protection act or something that guarantees Xx amount of years access to said game, or the distributors will offer us cloud storage packages to keep our licensed games in - much like digital games operate now, just without the drive being in our own houses. (Much like it seems MS is doing)
@TheEstablishment it truly is insane, but mostly in a good way. I can handle the move to digital and stuff, mostly prefer it due to no moving parts to break like disc drives and cart trays/ports.
Honestly my biggest gripe is how it’s become such the norm to release games in an unfinished state and just expect the consumer to deal with and wait for patches to bring it up to par. So annoying. I’m thankful for the ability TO patch, but NEEDING to patch is blah. I’ve gotten use to buying a game then needing to wait a year to play it properly - Bethesda game me this “patience” lol.
@TheEstablishment nah I knew that’s why I joked with it. This is a super smart move on MS part. I know from a consumer POV a lot of MS’s moves this year and last have been questionable, but as I was telling my friend they’re being super savvy going the direction they are. It ensures a nice stable future for them. You can only sell so many games on one console, so hitting “as many screens as possible” increases the possible target audience way further than just Xbox consoles or even including PC.
I was honestly thinking MS and Nintendo would end up working out a deal where there’s a limited selection of Game Pass titles on Switch…. Like MS studios titles like Gears, Ori, Fable, and maybe Fallout. Paying a royalty to Nintendo for the presence on the store, but also increasing possible GPU subs. Heck anything is possible anymore, the gaming world is a VASTLY different landscape than it was 30 years ago.
The joke part of me - “I pretty much already do this with Remote Play on my Steam Deck with XbPlay and my Series X…..”
Cool news tho, I’ve messed around with XCloud a bit and it works surprisingly well considering I’ve only got a 25mb/1.5mb DSL service. Remote was jank on my phone, but I works great with the Steam Deck / XbPlay app.
Now if MS could just rush along a proper Xbox Handheld with Native game support….
@anoyonmus You’d be correct, mechanics are not what’s at issue here, at least not as many people think or believe.
@Headpirate pointed out on NL that there’s a few patents TPC and Nintendo have regarding Pokémon, and most of it is the way those games handle databases - aka where and how info is stored on an individual level level for each and every Pokémon, moves, IVs, EVs, etc etc. To put in the utmost simple of terms, you could think of this lawsuit more like forging a signature. The way a database is coded, handled, accessed, and such is super unique.
In the way back times, TPC and Nintendo didn’t have the funds to license database stuff like SQL from Microsoft. It would have cost a fortune, and the royalties going forward in the future would have been insane. So they made their own database and techniques while also managing to not infringe upon MS’s SQL parents. Trust that this was an absolute monumental task. While Pokémon appears simple on the outside, it’s likely one of the most complex games at a databasing level.
It’s likely these patents that have been infringed upon. And as some one who’s coded and worked in DBA before, yes it’s definitely a thing worth patenting when you create your own from scratch.
This has nothing to do with holding a monopoly on the genre at hand…. If that were the case countless other monster tamers like MH stories, Coromon, Nexomon, etc would not exist, and more over Nintendo would NOT promote them hardcore in their directs and such.
Rather have a native Xbox handheld where I can play all my games whenever wherever I want.
Also would be content with an official Xbox remote player akin to the Portal. But I’d want them to thoroughly test on a broad range of wifi set ups with varying internet speeds first. I live in a podunk town where the prime (only real) options for internet are a monopoly cable company (Casscomm) for fiber and it’s very unreliable, super varying speeds even if you pay for the 1T package, and has horrible customer support, or ATT for DSL which is highly reliable and has great customer support, but is capped at 25mb down, 1.5mb up…..
@Banjo- You nailed it with the exclusive thing. I got to thinking awhile back - about first party titles, dev costs, install bases, etc.
With Xbox and Sony maintaining this “most graphical power possible” angle in the industry, the dev costs are just going to continue rising, even for first party titles. How do you adjust for that? Charge the consumer more and more until it hits a breaking point that they won’t pay? Or do you increase your audience allowing for more sales? The answer is the latter, and the exact reason why Sony finally started porting to the PC.
You can’t force your own install base to grow any faster really, but you can take a bite out of someone else’s install base by tossing titles on their platforms to increase awareness of your own presence. Even Sony is doing this with Lego Horizon, and I’m willing to bet there will be more of this stuff in the future for both platforms.
Nintendo I don’t see following this suit. Maybe with older titles in an NES/SNES type collection like Rare Replay is, but I highly doubt we’ll see Mario jump over with latest entries. Nintendo’s brand is big enough and strong enough to drive itself. Nintendo is much like Disney in that regard, hell they even have their own theme park now.
That’s something that you really couldn’t do with Xbox or Sony first party IPs. I mean you could build a theme park outta either one, but I highly doubt either would be as profitable. Not to mention to do it right, certain sections wouldn’t be family friendly - aka Halo, Gears, God of War, etc lol.
TL;DR yeah like it or not, the main way these companies can continue to grow is by diversifying their brand to increase their recognition and demand. The larger your audience, the more money you can potentially make. Let’s just hope they reinvest back into the brands, and make great games we want to play instead of just pocketing the extra cash.
From a financial standpoint it makes the absolute most sense to reach the biggest audience you can with your ips in order to generate the most revenue. And the money is in the software, not hardware. Hasn’t been for years for Xbox or Sony.
This also makes the most sense on untested ips, as it’s easier to recoup your expenses having that larger audience rather than banking that half your install base will buy it. Even tried and true IPs can struggle to hit numbers like that while being exclusive to a console.
I say let ‘em cook and do what they do. They know better than any of us on how to improve brand recognition, increase profit margins, and turn that into good products for us to consume.
That said, we’re definitely into some weird times, far removed from the structure of ways gone by. My biggest fear is moving into a Netflix-esque cloud only future. Which I’m sure will happen, just not sure when.
I’d say it’s pretty important still, and won’t loose any more relevance until MS releases Xbox Handhelds. Co-op gaming on handheld via internet/bluetooth/WAN is much better than split screen tv - which is what I consider traditional local co-op. Traditional local is still good fun, but my family and I tend to prefer a local WAN session on our Switches in handheld mode rather than on the tv. Granted there are exceptions like a local session where there ISN’T a split screen, aka Mario Party, Smash, or Bluey.
I really want an Xbox handheld to go along with my Switch and Series X. But I really don’t want to deal with Windows again. I did PCs and pc gaming from 1985 to 2013 when my last rig blew. I’m done fiddling with windows, registries, etc to get things to work good, and done with spending ridiculous amounts to keep up with gaming.
Switch has ruined me for gaming because I want exactly that in a handheld - good form factor, amazing battery, and plug and play gaming ability. For those reasons I’m leaning toward a SteamOS, just wish it had native GPU support. Not a huge deal tho, as I can still remote play and most games I want to play I can buy natively on Steam sale.
Just waiting for more news on Xbox handheld and Switch 2 before I make any jumps to get a Steam Deck.
@SuntannedDuck2 If you liked Theme Hospital and Sim Tower, I’ve got some fun news for ya….. Two Point Hospital is a great spiritual successor to Theme Hospital (you probably already know this though!)
However, a lot of people don’t know about Project Highrise, which is an amazing Sim Tower successor!
@SuntannedDuck2 Oh lord, I haven’t heard anyone else say Road Rash in awhile. Last I played that was around Sega CD / Saturn era…. Loved the games but the rubber banding AI sucked hardcore, lol.
That said, there’s a spiritual successor called Road Redemption. I got the switch version but haven’t spent much time with it. It’s got rogue elements, which may actually benefit that type of racer.
@SuntannedDuck2 Yeah that’s the type of racers I liked, where I could start with a base/junker, and mod it up slowly but surely by winning money from races. Turismo and Forza didn’t click with me because when you’d build them up to a certain level they’d bump you up and force you into another class…. Sometimes I just want a demon of a car to lead the pack like I could do with an Elise on Sega GT or R34 on TXRZ….
The closest I’ve been able to find has been on Switch, Gear Club Unlimited 1&2…. Has a rewind feature for when ya biff it into a wall, which is a blessing and curse…. Would always tick me off when I raced perfect till the last second and then biff it…. But being able to rewind any mess up also removes any penalty for poor performance lol.
@OldGamer999 Yay I’m not the only grumpy gamer! Lol Been button mashing since 1985 and I mostly concur.
D4 I don’t agree with, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m biased toward D2 being superior in nearly every way. D4 is still too arcady and still retains too much D3. Love them going back to dark tone however. Should have went back to a focus on skills and skill trees instead of keeping damage tied to weapons and having enemy scaling. I feel like D4 is mostly D3 reskinned.
Forza is lost on me as racing peaked at Sega Gt, Tokyo Extreme Racer and Project Gotham I feel. Those were incredibly fun racing titles.
The rest of the list I agree with, solid titles you can’t go wrong playing.
Well that’s a shame. Personally speaking I’d rather have a 3rd person Mando game though anyways. Motion sickness with FPS, plus I just like being able to see my character.
Honestly speaking, they could probably use a very similar formula to Star Wars Jedi for a Mandalorian game and it would work well. There’s plenty of action adventure rpgs / souls likes that prove ranged weapons / playstyle can be an option.
Boy I have become too old….. I feel like there’s too many whiny people with voices now days..:: ugh.
They need to look at this from a business standpoint…. Having PS and Switch at the forefront advertises the fact that it’s now available on those platforms. Platforms which will likely have more increased sales at this current time versus the original platform it launched on. People will have already either bought it, played it, or have it wishlisted/backlogged on their Xbox. This gives opportunity to show the players that highly enjoyed it to see its on other platforms too if they choose to double/triple dip, and advertises to owners of only PS or Switch that “Hey it’s here in your system too!”
Ugh…. Some people… think before you speak or react to your emotions. Seriously. Y’all like Obsidian and MS? You want them to succeed and be profitable and last a long time? Let them do what they’re doing without the idiotic criticisms. Did you go to business school and study marketing and advertising? No? Then shut it. All your negative bs just leads to sheep mentality joining the crowd and causing a detrimental effect on what they’re trying to achieve which is success and profiting so they can continue to make great games for us! Sheesh!
To the naysayers about Xbox moving things to multiplatform…. Firstly we live in a vastly different age than the console wars of the 1980s and 90s. Secondly, at absolute worst case scenario Xbox has to dial back their manufacturing of hardware while increasing their software sales. Historically speaking, console manufacturing has cost Xbox money rather than made them a profit. So Xbox, financially speaking, can only grow by spreading games out to more markets. Nintendo, who is the stingiest with their IP, has even learned this with games like Mario Run and FE Heros on phones. It also strengthens their brand by getting more views and plays. More people in the world now days recognize Mario over Mickey Mouse, something I would have never thought possible 30 years ago. Think about that.
The trick to it all is to have the IP first, or in a different fashion. Allow the sales to stagnate in one market and move on. I’ll use older titles for an example - Fallout 3, FONV, and Fable 1-3. These games, financially speaking are most likely stagnated to the point of not making hardly any money a month, probably not even enough to cover someone’s rent, on Xbox. If Xbox decided to port them to Switch, they’d open themselves to a new market, and potentially 1M or more sales just to have those games portable, reinvigorating their sales while also boosting their awareness. Keep FO4 and FO5 on Xbox/Pc, and now you’ve got new players wanting to purchase an Xbox or windows pc just to play your titles. The same would work in reverse if Nintendo tossed the old NES/SNES titles for sale on Xbox. Those titles aren’t making Nintendo any money themselves (besides maybe a tiny a fraction from NSO subs), so it would only serve to boost some sales, and raise awareness potentially getting Xbox owners to purchase a switch to play the latest titles in the series. This is exactly why they did Mario Run on phones.
And using Starfield as an example jumping to Ps5. One big thing, it’s not an established franchise like ES or FO, but it came from a big company known for those established franchises. That said, it met lukewarm reception. This was most likely semi expected on their end. So releasing it on PS strengthens the brand, increases the sales, and all MS has to do is release some exclusive dlc, or hype that you can only play the sequel / FO5 / ES6 on Xbox. Eventually you’ll get people that jump and buy an Xbox/Pc. But again, software is what sells and makes profit, not systems. Both Ps5 and Series X are nothing more than affordable gaming PCs with proprietary OS where you as a consumer don’t have to fiddle with registry and other settings.
We have to remember that these are still companies. Yes we love them, but making us happy is second to a bottom line. And as long as they’re making money, they aren’t going anywhere. All three of the major console devs could ax their hardware divisions and rebrand as game only devs and they’d still be making money, still would be around. The only one that might get a profit hurt from doing so would be Nintendo, as they try to make their consoles affordable while retaining profit. MS and Sony usually don’t, at least not for the first few years. Those years they’re sustained by software sales, which just proves that sustainability.
So yeah, don’t think that by tossing a couple franchises on other console it’s going to hurt them, it’s not, and only serves to strengthen them.
Phil, just please port some older stuff to Switch - Fable 1-3 and Fallout 3/NV. Having those portable would be absolutely amazing! And would likely print you money….. like an obscene amount.
“Cleaning house” is the first task of new management/ownership. So it’s not surprising in the least. Sad for the people having to find new jobs and possibly suddenly loosing a “work family” they’ve come to know and love.
A lot of people didn’t grow up with games in the 80s and 90s, or don’t remember, when the MSRP on a game was truly just a suggestion to retailers. You can find scans of Toys R Us or Babbages selling stuff like Killer Instinct for $85+. That has to be equal to $100+ in today’s economy.
Not saying $70 is great, but it could be much worse!
Awesome, glad it kept ya going! Now if y’all would kindly drop Fallout 3 and NV on Switch…. Maybe even FO4…. I’m positive you could fund all future Starfield and ESO6 endeavors. Please and thank you kindly!
@Xbox_Dashboard I’d love that, and double dip if they decided to bring it switch. I’ve already got the Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind, etc collection there, and that would complete it,
Still wishing they’d bring Divinity 1 over as well.
@Xbox_Dashboard @GamingFan4Lyf If ya wanna see “pinnacle” optimization you guys should look at NBA2k23 file size! /s
But seriously, how bloated are games gonna get before even one SD Card/SSD/HD isn’t enough?
The gaming as a whole is just eager to hit 20k rez and 1k fps….. but what about storage?!? We seem to have solved the loading issues this Gen, but next Gen storage is going to be an absolutely massive issue if it isn’t solved soon.
Thinking of Nintendo as pinnacle developers, which they are, they’re also absolute masters at file compression. I’ve noticed a few games downloaded at roughly 3-4gigs but unpacked to 12-15gigs. Being in a crappy internet area, I’d LOVE for that to be a thing with my Xbox. Instead of downloading Hogwarts at 70-80gigs and taking me all night, compress that waaaaay down, and let me download a file size of 20-30gigs instead!
Edit - Forgot to add that I’ve seen NBA2k on switch isn’t much better off, somewhere around 50-70gig last I heard, putting it at 1st or 2nd place for largest file size on Switch.
@GamingFan4Lyf I was thinking this same thing. I hate the term “lazy developers” cause that’s not true/accurate in a lot of cases, like this one.
People don’t really think about how the coding side of things works in games, but the easiest analogy I can think of is you have 4 people all taking turns painting a picture. Say they’re trying to copy the Mona Lisa. Each one adding a portion to the overall picture on every pass - a lot of times without giving direction on the next step that should happen / the steps that have happened already. It’s very hard to achieve an exact outcome when one person is in control, let alone when you add multiple hands to the project. So each piece of the Mona Lisa is going to look different, and may not align properly.
Instead of going back through to clear code and tidy things up, it’s usually brute forced through processors and ram. This is especially true for pc titles where system specs vary wildly and it’s just easier to allow the code bloat.
The awesome addendum to it all though is when the code gets heavily optimized for a lower end spec, like with BG3 here, just how much extra you’ll benefit on the higher end side of things. Doom 2016 was a prime example of amazing coding to the point where that same game runs fantastic on Switch and like 5mill fps on X/Ps5/Pc 😂
Sounds like some certain scenes were getting a bit too busy for Series S to properly process. My guess is that either OS or other resources were taking up the VRAM that was needed to process those scenes adequately and it was causing either massive frame drops or full crashes. Likely the same bottleneck that’s been causing issue with split screen on Series S.
Sounds like a solution has been achieved, but what said solution is I couldn’t be sure. Maybe MS showed them how to dial back the systems usage of RAM/VRAM, or they reengineered the game engines handling of those peaks.
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Re: Former Xbox Exec Throws Shade At Switch 2, Says It's A 'Hard Pass'
I’m sure there’s a lot of us Xbox fans that also grew up on Nintendo. Love both, but Nintendo will always remain my number one specifically because of Mario, Zelda, and fond memories of playing Bubble Bobble, Robowarrior and Sim City with my mom.
That said, and yes I’ll be trying to get it at launch, I can’t say I’m happy about prices, price increases, and paid for upgrades. I understand remaking a game to take advantage of specific Switch 2 features…. But there should be free performance/visual upgrades for those of us who don’t really care about the extra bells and whistles like built in guides, game chat, or mouse control options (tho this will be amazing for Civ 6/7!, and possibly EA tossing Sims 1&2 Legacy collections out way)
I’m still excited, and honestly impressed at the initial performance previews as well as the 120hz screen w VRR. Truly awesome considering 3 of 4 of its primary handheld competitors don’t offer that , only Ally does.
Re: Nintendo Switch 2's Crazy Game Prices Could Be Terrible News For Xbox Fans
Really wish editors would point out that SNES and N64 games cost about the same back in the 90s, and given inflation in the states, we’d be looking at $130 per game if the game prices rose with the inflation over the years.
Granted im not happy to be paying more per game nowdays, already strapped for cash as is, but it could be so much worse….
Edit - adding a link for anyone curious as to what a 1996 TRU ad looked like….
https://www.gamingbible.com/news/1996-ad-shows-ps1-n64-games-stupidly-expensive-647465-20230104
Re: Atomfall Players Share Tips For Fixing 'No Sound' Bug On Xbox
Wouldn’t surprise me if indeed the Auto Save is messing something up. It’s insane but thinking back through to 360 so many games have had issues with auto saves, and many continue to release that way even in this generation. You’d think the companies would have that nailed down by now…..
Re: Xbox Dev Obsidian Announces New Turn-Based Combat Feature For Pillars Of Eternity
I’m sure the patches will come to pc/steam, but hoping there’s also a patch in the works for Switch, plus a continuation of the series (plus Avowed) on Switch 2
Re: Talking Point: Is It Too Early To Release A New Xbox Console In 2027?
Considering Sony released a Pro, I don’t think a new gen that’s fully backward compatible (and hopefully upgrades current gen games) is odd for Xbox. Just skip the Pro/MidGen refresh and go for a fully new one ahead of time. Especially considering I think this generation kinda started a year or so early given the circumstances that happened…. 20/20 hindsight there though.
That said, it would take a miracle and an immense amount of great advertising to shift focus from Ps5….. I also don’t think it would be possible without a native Xbox handheld. Remote is ultra nice, but I’d rather have native access anyway.
Re: Xbox's Avowed Is 'One Of The Best' Unreal Engine 5 Games So Far, Says Digital Foundry
@VeganHerpes I’m quite happy with it!
I do have a bit more of a tolerance to stuff in a way than others. I’m ok with lower fps/res having grown up on old IBM PCs back in the 80s. As long as the frame pacing isn’t off in a way that induces motion sickness (like GoW 2016 did for me on a PS4 Pro…) and I can adjust features like Motion Blur. Which I did disable/lower that and the camera shake stuff - this does improve performance too, but was mainly disabled for motion sickness reasons.
Being a parent twice over now, having games portable and playable in any room truly makes a heck of difference. And while I love remote playing my Series X on my Steam Deck, some games like Avowed I want truly portable and not reliant on my internet connection - which my daughters could be hogging.
Also, if you’re an SD owner and Xbox owner, get the XbPlay app on the Steam store. It works SO much better than the official app. You can set bitrate for 1080p which improves the image quality greatly - official app only does 720p. And moreover, XbPlay allows you to remote 360 games, official app does not. Was $6.99 or 7.99 last I checked. Incredibly worth it. Stream quality is infinitely superior to anything I tried with the official app.
Re: Xbox's Avowed Is 'One Of The Best' Unreal Engine 5 Games So Far, Says Digital Foundry
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. On a whim I bought the Steam version so I could run it natively on my Steam Deck when I’m away from home. It’s runs surprisingly well considering it’s not fully optimized for SD yet and doesn’t have verification. Did need to turn off the default ray tracing and such, but I can run it all medium with a stable 30fps or I can set stuff lower and get a stable 40, or even 45 if I really tone stuff down. But 45 def compromises visuals!
Still, solid game and even more impressive optimization from Obsidian.
Re: Xbox App Recommends Trying Out Delisted First-Party Game, Confusing Fans
“We think you’d enjoy ‘MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE’!”
“Kiss my……”
Re: Xbox Appears To Have Mistakenly Teased World Of Warcraft For Console
I doubt I’ll ever jump back into WoW, spent the first two years of its life living in its world. Was amazing, but takes up sooo much time.
That said, Steam community has a layout that changes WoW to a “console” version on Steam Deck, and FF14 has been a very successful MMO on consoles. If those both exist, then surely a console port wouldn’t be that difficult at this point….. (granted, Steam Deck has access to trackpads which help balance things a bit better for traditional pc controls….)
Re: DOOM's OG Creator Praises Xbox Game Pass For Removing 'Barriers'
Carmack and Romero knew about how to make games more easily accessible to the masses and how that drives sales as well as interest in games. They famously gave away the first episode of Doom (1993), and if you wanted more you had to buy the other two episodes. And yeah, the first Doom was episodic originally for those that didn’t know! First episode was shareware, and last two were mail order only at the time.
“The first taste is free!”
whispers
“Welcome to your new addiction….”
Re: Xbox Boss Dismisses Idea Of Removing The Series S Parity Clause
You can brute force stuff to run on powerful hardware, sure, but true innovation comes from overcoming limitations and boundaries. Nintendo has proved that with systems like Wii, DS, and Switch….
Re: Xbox Game Pass Didn't Hurt Overall Black Ops 6 Sales, Says Analyst
Never been a Call of Duty player, but I’ve worked in the retail side of things for a time, and this whole thing should come as no surprise to anyone.
A game that historically sold better on PlayStation, would likely continue to sell better on that platform, especially if that platform has a larger install base, regardless of owner of the game title.
The only way to force more sales of the Xbox version would have been to offer exclusivity, which would have hurt overall sales.
For anyone who, like myself, is a GPU subscriber, just think about how many games you still purchase even though it’s on GPU….. I still buy most of the major titles I want just in case I don’t feel like subscribing to GPU for a time, or I can’t afford it, or the internet goes out.
For a lot of us GPU allows us to have access to a bunch of games we otherwise wouldn’t have bought or couldn’t afford to also buy, but a game series we are fans of, well game pass isn’t going to change if we were to buy the game or not in most cases. It’s a great service to give you further access to your games, give you instant access when your digital library is low like when you first purchase a system, and a great continued way to try out new titles.
Re: Xbox Boss Says Everything Is On The Table When It Comes To PS5 Ports
Ok cool, how about Fallout 3/4/NV or Fable1-3 on Switch? Please and thank you! Want me some portable Fallout or Fable goodness!
Re: Rumour: Xbox May Be Gearing Up To Reveal Handheld Device In 2025
I just got a Steam Deck in Sept and I love that thing, so amazing to have that kind of power in the palm of your hands. I’d still jump at an Xbox Handheld asap as well as Switch 2 (if it’s bc) asap. I’ve been a handheld lover since the original Gameboy, and truly fell in love with handheld gaming during GBA era and that love continued into DS, 3DS, Wii U, Switch and now Steam Deck.
To say I’m excited for the future of handhelds is an understatement! Truly haven’t been this excited for gaming since probably the 360 or even the n64
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
@nomither6 Def Jam was so awesome! Shame they never continued the series. Was also a fan of Backyard Wrestling on OG Xbox too. Always loved wrestling games where the finishers were just soooo over the top
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
@Banjo- Don’t blame ya or your parents on the N64 titles. I love my n64 (original launch model) but the price of games back then was nuts. Toys R Us was the main place to buy games as Babbages was usually sold out, but either way you were spending nearly $100 per game after taxes. Pretty sure for the time only Neo Geo beat Nintendo in higher MSRP…. The only system I DIDN’T end up getting back then. Central Illinois here. Wasn’t exactly the software or electronic capital of the US back during the 80s and 90s. 😂😂
@nomither6 Not far off. For the most part GC was better than N64, especially for third party games. N64 was during a time when 3D physics and worlds were first blooming and it was ROUGH. Especially early cameras. That said, IMO n64 had better first party games than GC. Mario 64, Zelda OoT/MM , DK, Banjo, Conker beat out most of Nintendos offerings on GC.
That said I’d probably choose GC overall just because of Eternal Darkness, Phantasy Star Online, and the Def Jam series alone….
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
@NEStalgia it’s not an addiction it’s a passion! I swear! 😂
As a parent I’m buying far more games than I have time to complete….. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but I wouldn’t mind having a pause button for all the life around me occasionally!
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
@Medic_alert Np, add to cart, I mean have a great day and happy gaming! 😂
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
@Medic_alert one of the big reasons I made a switch to buying more digital titles is because I kept trading in titles for the latest games even if I hadn’t played the traded titles much and ended up always regretting the trades. Now I don’t trade anymore. However I do now have a massive pile of backlog titles across Switch, Xbox and Steam…. 🤦🏼♂️
I can’t win…. Lmao
Re: Talking Point: Xbox & Nintendo Switch Owners, How Do You Split Your Third-Party Purchases?
I typically get them on Switch or Steam Deck for portability. But also, there are a lot of great ones I’ve double or triple dipped on - Fallout, Baldurs Gate, Witcher 3 (own on all platforms), Stardew Valley, Balatro, Vampire Survivors, etc….
Re: Bloober Team Says It's Done Making 'Sh**ty Games' As It Prepares For Cronos: The New Dawn
I’m not quite sure why they have that rep…. I’ve heard good things about most of the Layers of Fear series, good things about Medium, and good things about Observer. Maybe those were just the exceptions to the rule?
And isn’t Silent Hill 2 Remake doing good?
Either way I’m rooting for em, no reason to root for a dev to do bad! That just hurts us gamers in the end, so I say bring it on and show us what you can do! You got this
Edit - sometimes devs take time to find their spot and rhythm, I get that. I know I read an article recently about such a team that kept making meh games for a long while (years and years) before they finally hit their stride and gave us an amazing game. Though I can’t recall which studio and game currently, but it was def one of the ones that got a lot of attention for being waaaaay better than expected.
Re: Xbox Settles Lawsuit With 'Gamers' Who Tried To Sue Over Activision Blizzard Deal
@TheSimulator Microsoft just playing the waiting game because they know in 8-12 months Ubisoft will be 60-80% off its original price.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Reportedly Let You Stream Your Own Games Very Soon
@NeoRatt unfortunately I believe you’re 100% correct that eventually the industry will migrate fully to cloud streaming of games. It’s only a downside on our, the consumer end, of things. From a developer standpoint it makes things much easier to not have to build a game for different design specs of PCs and consoles. Just one version aimed at a computer with massive processing power. Not to mention it basically completely negates any worries of piracy.
Between exponentially expanding game sizes, limited storage, and such…. Yeah I think the push will end up to cloud streaming. But I do believe it’ll be a different cloud streaming than what’s currently in place. I think we’ll get a consumer protection act or something that guarantees Xx amount of years access to said game, or the distributors will offer us cloud storage packages to keep our licensed games in - much like digital games operate now, just without the drive being in our own houses. (Much like it seems MS is doing)
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Reportedly Let You Stream Your Own Games Very Soon
@TheEstablishment it truly is insane, but mostly in a good way. I can handle the move to digital and stuff, mostly prefer it due to no moving parts to break like disc drives and cart trays/ports.
Honestly my biggest gripe is how it’s become such the norm to release games in an unfinished state and just expect the consumer to deal with and wait for patches to bring it up to par. So annoying. I’m thankful for the ability TO patch, but NEEDING to patch is blah. I’ve gotten use to buying a game then needing to wait a year to play it properly - Bethesda game me this “patience” lol.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Reportedly Let You Stream Your Own Games Very Soon
@TheEstablishment nah I knew that’s why I joked with it. This is a super smart move on MS part. I know from a consumer POV a lot of MS’s moves this year and last have been questionable, but as I was telling my friend they’re being super savvy going the direction they are. It ensures a nice stable future for them. You can only sell so many games on one console, so hitting “as many screens as possible” increases the possible target audience way further than just Xbox consoles or even including PC.
I was honestly thinking MS and Nintendo would end up working out a deal where there’s a limited selection of Game Pass titles on Switch…. Like MS studios titles like Gears, Ori, Fable, and maybe Fallout. Paying a royalty to Nintendo for the presence on the store, but also increasing possible GPU subs. Heck anything is possible anymore, the gaming world is a VASTLY different landscape than it was 30 years ago.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Reportedly Let You Stream Your Own Games Very Soon
The joke part of me - “I pretty much already do this with Remote Play on my Steam Deck with XbPlay and my Series X…..”
Cool news tho, I’ve messed around with XCloud a bit and it works surprisingly well considering I’ve only got a 25mb/1.5mb DSL service. Remote was jank on my phone, but I works great with the Steam Deck / XbPlay app.
Now if MS could just rush along a proper Xbox Handheld with Native game support….
Re: Palworld Dev Pocketpair Responds To Nintendo Lawsuit
@anoyonmus You’d be correct, mechanics are not what’s at issue here, at least not as many people think or believe.
@Headpirate pointed out on NL that there’s a few patents TPC and Nintendo have regarding Pokémon, and most of it is the way those games handle databases - aka where and how info is stored on an individual level level for each and every Pokémon, moves, IVs, EVs, etc etc. To put in the utmost simple of terms, you could think of this lawsuit more like forging a signature. The way a database is coded, handled, accessed, and such is super unique.
In the way back times, TPC and Nintendo didn’t have the funds to license database stuff like SQL from Microsoft. It would have cost a fortune, and the royalties going forward in the future would have been insane. So they made their own database and techniques while also managing to not infringe upon MS’s SQL parents. Trust that this was an absolute monumental task. While Pokémon appears simple on the outside, it’s likely one of the most complex games at a databasing level.
It’s likely these patents that have been infringed upon. And as some one who’s coded and worked in DBA before, yes it’s definitely a thing worth patenting when you create your own from scratch.
This has nothing to do with holding a monopoly on the genre at hand…. If that were the case countless other monster tamers like MH stories, Coromon, Nexomon, etc would not exist, and more over Nintendo would NOT promote them hardcore in their directs and such.
Re: Poll: How Much Would You Pay For An Xbox Series X Pro?
Rather have a native Xbox handheld where I can play all my games whenever wherever I want.
Also would be content with an official Xbox remote player akin to the Portal. But I’d want them to thoroughly test on a broad range of wifi set ups with varying internet speeds first. I live in a podunk town where the prime (only real) options for internet are a monopoly cable company (Casscomm) for fiber and it’s very unreliable, super varying speeds even if you pay for the 1T package, and has horrible customer support, or ATT for DSL which is highly reliable and has great customer support, but is capped at 25mb down, 1.5mb up…..
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Comments On Indiana Jones PS5, And Microsoft's Plan Moving Forward
@Banjo- You nailed it with the exclusive thing. I got to thinking awhile back - about first party titles, dev costs, install bases, etc.
With Xbox and Sony maintaining this “most graphical power possible” angle in the industry, the dev costs are just going to continue rising, even for first party titles. How do you adjust for that? Charge the consumer more and more until it hits a breaking point that they won’t pay? Or do you increase your audience allowing for more sales? The answer is the latter, and the exact reason why Sony finally started porting to the PC.
You can’t force your own install base to grow any faster really, but you can take a bite out of someone else’s install base by tossing titles on their platforms to increase awareness of your own presence. Even Sony is doing this with Lego Horizon, and I’m willing to bet there will be more of this stuff in the future for both platforms.
Nintendo I don’t see following this suit. Maybe with older titles in an NES/SNES type collection like Rare Replay is, but I highly doubt we’ll see Mario jump over with latest entries. Nintendo’s brand is big enough and strong enough to drive itself. Nintendo is much like Disney in that regard, hell they even have their own theme park now.
That’s something that you really couldn’t do with Xbox or Sony first party IPs. I mean you could build a theme park outta either one, but I highly doubt either would be as profitable. Not to mention to do it right, certain sections wouldn’t be family friendly - aka Halo, Gears, God of War, etc lol.
TL;DR yeah like it or not, the main way these companies can continue to grow is by diversifying their brand to increase their recognition and demand. The larger your audience, the more money you can potentially make. Let’s just hope they reinvest back into the brands, and make great games we want to play instead of just pocketing the extra cash.
Re: Former Xbox Exec Defends Phil Spencer's Recent Decisions As Head Of Xbox
From a financial standpoint it makes the absolute most sense to reach the biggest audience you can with your ips in order to generate the most revenue. And the money is in the software, not hardware. Hasn’t been for years for Xbox or Sony.
This also makes the most sense on untested ips, as it’s easier to recoup your expenses having that larger audience rather than banking that half your install base will buy it. Even tried and true IPs can struggle to hit numbers like that while being exclusive to a console.
I say let ‘em cook and do what they do. They know better than any of us on how to improve brand recognition, increase profit margins, and turn that into good products for us to consume.
That said, we’re definitely into some weird times, far removed from the structure of ways gone by. My biggest fear is moving into a Netflix-esque cloud only future. Which I’m sure will happen, just not sure when.
Re: Talking Point: Is Local Co-Op On Xbox Still Important To You In 2024?
I’d say it’s pretty important still, and won’t loose any more relevance until MS releases Xbox Handhelds. Co-op gaming on handheld via internet/bluetooth/WAN is much better than split screen tv - which is what I consider traditional local co-op. Traditional local is still good fun, but my family and I tend to prefer a local WAN session on our Switches in handheld mode rather than on the tv. Granted there are exceptions like a local session where there ISN’T a split screen, aka Mario Party, Smash, or Bluey.
Re: Asus ROG Ally X Reviews Suggest It's The Best Xbox Handheld Yet
I really want an Xbox handheld to go along with my Switch and Series X. But I really don’t want to deal with Windows again. I did PCs and pc gaming from 1985 to 2013 when my last rig blew. I’m done fiddling with windows, registries, etc to get things to work good, and done with spending ridiculous amounts to keep up with gaming.
Switch has ruined me for gaming because I want exactly that in a handheld - good form factor, amazing battery, and plug and play gaming ability. For those reasons I’m leaning toward a SteamOS, just wish it had native GPU support. Not a huge deal tho, as I can still remote play and most games I want to play I can buy natively on Steam sale.
Just waiting for more news on Xbox handheld and Switch 2 before I make any jumps to get a Steam Deck.
Re: Former Ubisoft & BioWare Devs Announce 'Eternal Strands', Coming To Xbox In 2025
The Legend of Fenix: Colossus Hunting. I’m intrigued. Will toss this in the watch list
Re: Do You Agree With The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Series X|S Games Of All Time?
@SuntannedDuck2 If you liked Theme Hospital and Sim Tower, I’ve got some fun news for ya….. Two Point Hospital is a great spiritual successor to Theme Hospital (you probably already know this though!)
However, a lot of people don’t know about Project Highrise, which is an amazing Sim Tower successor!
Re: Do You Agree With The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Series X|S Games Of All Time?
@SuntannedDuck2 Oh lord, I haven’t heard anyone else say Road Rash in awhile. Last I played that was around Sega CD / Saturn era…. Loved the games but the rubber banding AI sucked hardcore, lol.
That said, there’s a spiritual successor called Road Redemption. I got the switch version but haven’t spent much time with it. It’s got rogue elements, which may actually benefit that type of racer.
Re: Do You Agree With The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Series X|S Games Of All Time?
@SuntannedDuck2 Yeah that’s the type of racers I liked, where I could start with a base/junker, and mod it up slowly but surely by winning money from races. Turismo and Forza didn’t click with me because when you’d build them up to a certain level they’d bump you up and force you into another class…. Sometimes I just want a demon of a car to lead the pack like I could do with an Elise on Sega GT or R34 on TXRZ….
The closest I’ve been able to find has been on Switch, Gear Club Unlimited 1&2…. Has a rewind feature for when ya biff it into a wall, which is a blessing and curse…. Would always tick me off when I raced perfect till the last second and then biff it…. But being able to rewind any mess up also removes any penalty for poor performance lol.
Re: Do You Agree With The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Series X|S Games Of All Time?
@OldGamer999 Yay I’m not the only grumpy gamer! Lol Been button mashing since 1985 and I mostly concur.
D4 I don’t agree with, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m biased toward D2 being superior in nearly every way. D4 is still too arcady and still retains too much D3. Love them going back to dark tone however. Should have went back to a focus on skills and skill trees instead of keeping damage tied to weapons and having enemy scaling. I feel like D4 is mostly D3 reskinned.
Forza is lost on me as racing peaked at Sega Gt, Tokyo Extreme Racer and Project Gotham I feel. Those were incredibly fun racing titles.
The rest of the list I agree with, solid titles you can’t go wrong playing.
Re: EA Cancels Respawn's Star Wars First-Person Project, Was Reportedly A 'Mandalorian Game'
Well that’s a shame. Personally speaking I’d rather have a 3rd person Mando game though anyways. Motion sickness with FPS, plus I just like being able to see my character.
Honestly speaking, they could probably use a very similar formula to Star Wars Jedi for a Mandalorian game and it would work well. There’s plenty of action adventure rpgs / souls likes that prove ranged weapons / playstyle can be an option.
Re: Xbox First-Party Title 'Pentiment' Seems To Run Much Better On PlayStation 5
“It’s not a bug! It’s a feature!”
Scrolled all the way and didn’t find it, so I posted it!
Re: Obsidian Blasted By Xbox Fans For 'Prioritising' PS5 & Switch Versions Of Pentiment
Boy I have become too old….. I feel like there’s too many whiny people with voices now days..:: ugh.
They need to look at this from a business standpoint…. Having PS and Switch at the forefront advertises the fact that it’s now available on those platforms. Platforms which will likely have more increased sales at this current time versus the original platform it launched on. People will have already either bought it, played it, or have it wishlisted/backlogged on their Xbox. This gives opportunity to show the players that highly enjoyed it to see its on other platforms too if they choose to double/triple dip, and advertises to owners of only PS or Switch that “Hey it’s here in your system too!”
Ugh…. Some people… think before you speak or react to your emotions. Seriously. Y’all like Obsidian and MS? You want them to succeed and be profitable and last a long time? Let them do what they’re doing without the idiotic criticisms. Did you go to business school and study marketing and advertising? No? Then shut it. All your negative bs just leads to sheep mentality joining the crowd and causing a detrimental effect on what they’re trying to achieve which is success and profiting so they can continue to make great games for us! Sheesh!
Re: Hi-Fi RUSH Is Making Its Way To PlayStation 5 Next Month
To the naysayers about Xbox moving things to multiplatform…. Firstly we live in a vastly different age than the console wars of the 1980s and 90s. Secondly, at absolute worst case scenario Xbox has to dial back their manufacturing of hardware while increasing their software sales. Historically speaking, console manufacturing has cost Xbox money rather than made them a profit. So Xbox, financially speaking, can only grow by spreading games out to more markets. Nintendo, who is the stingiest with their IP, has even learned this with games like Mario Run and FE Heros on phones. It also strengthens their brand by getting more views and plays. More people in the world now days recognize Mario over Mickey Mouse, something I would have never thought possible 30 years ago. Think about that.
The trick to it all is to have the IP first, or in a different fashion. Allow the sales to stagnate in one market and move on. I’ll use older titles for an example - Fallout 3, FONV, and Fable 1-3. These games, financially speaking are most likely stagnated to the point of not making hardly any money a month, probably not even enough to cover someone’s rent, on Xbox. If Xbox decided to port them to Switch, they’d open themselves to a new market, and potentially 1M or more sales just to have those games portable, reinvigorating their sales while also boosting their awareness. Keep FO4 and FO5 on Xbox/Pc, and now you’ve got new players wanting to purchase an Xbox or windows pc just to play your titles. The same would work in reverse if Nintendo tossed the old NES/SNES titles for sale on Xbox. Those titles aren’t making Nintendo any money themselves (besides maybe a tiny a fraction from NSO subs), so it would only serve to boost some sales, and raise awareness potentially getting Xbox owners to purchase a switch to play the latest titles in the series. This is exactly why they did Mario Run on phones.
And using Starfield as an example jumping to Ps5. One big thing, it’s not an established franchise like ES or FO, but it came from a big company known for those established franchises. That said, it met lukewarm reception. This was most likely semi expected on their end. So releasing it on PS strengthens the brand, increases the sales, and all MS has to do is release some exclusive dlc, or hype that you can only play the sequel / FO5 / ES6 on Xbox. Eventually you’ll get people that jump and buy an Xbox/Pc. But again, software is what sells and makes profit, not systems. Both Ps5 and Series X are nothing more than affordable gaming PCs with proprietary OS where you as a consumer don’t have to fiddle with registry and other settings.
We have to remember that these are still companies. Yes we love them, but making us happy is second to a bottom line. And as long as they’re making money, they aren’t going anywhere. All three of the major console devs could ax their hardware divisions and rebrand as game only devs and they’d still be making money, still would be around. The only one that might get a profit hurt from doing so would be Nintendo, as they try to make their consoles affordable while retaining profit. MS and Sony usually don’t, at least not for the first few years. Those years they’re sustained by software sales, which just proves that sustainability.
So yeah, don’t think that by tossing a couple franchises on other console it’s going to hurt them, it’s not, and only serves to strengthen them.
Re: Xbox Team 'Excited' And Wants To 'Learn' From Bringing Games To Other Platforms
Phil, just please port some older stuff to Switch - Fable 1-3 and Fallout 3/NV. Having those portable would be absolutely amazing! And would likely print you money….. like an obscene amount.
Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Obsidian Game On Xbox?
The list of great games they’ve made is longer than “Long **** Johnsons’ ****, and he had a ******* long ****”.
Cheers obsidian! I hope Avowed is just as good! I’m a bit leery about it with how actiony it is over their past titles, ngl.
Re: Microsoft Cuts 1,900 Jobs Across Xbox, Bethesda And Activision Blizzard Teams
“Cleaning house” is the first task of new management/ownership. So it’s not surprising in the least. Sad for the people having to find new jobs and possibly suddenly loosing a “work family” they’ve come to know and love.
Re: Capcom Has Officially Raised Its Prices With The Arrival Of Dragon's Dogma 2
A lot of people didn’t grow up with games in the 80s and 90s, or don’t remember, when the MSRP on a game was truly just a suggestion to retailers. You can find scans of Toys R Us or Babbages selling stuff like Killer Instinct for $85+. That has to be equal to $100+ in today’s economy.
Not saying $70 is great, but it could be much worse!
Re: Todd Howard Reflects On Morrowind's 'Huge Success' On Xbox, Admits It Kept Bethesda Going
Awesome, glad it kept ya going! Now if y’all would kindly drop Fallout 3 and NV on Switch…. Maybe even FO4…. I’m positive you could fund all future Starfield and ESO6 endeavors. Please and thank you kindly!
Re: Larian Achieves Breakthrough With Baldur's Gate 3 On Xbox Series S
@Xbox_Dashboard I’d love that, and double dip if they decided to bring it switch. I’ve already got the Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind, etc collection there, and that would complete it,
Still wishing they’d bring Divinity 1 over as well.
Re: Larian Achieves Breakthrough With Baldur's Gate 3 On Xbox Series S
@Xbox_Dashboard @GamingFan4Lyf If ya wanna see “pinnacle” optimization you guys should look at NBA2k23 file size! /s
But seriously, how bloated are games gonna get before even one SD Card/SSD/HD isn’t enough?
The gaming as a whole is just eager to hit 20k rez and 1k fps….. but what about storage?!? We seem to have solved the loading issues this Gen, but next Gen storage is going to be an absolutely massive issue if it isn’t solved soon.
Thinking of Nintendo as pinnacle developers, which they are, they’re also absolute masters at file compression. I’ve noticed a few games downloaded at roughly 3-4gigs but unpacked to 12-15gigs. Being in a crappy internet area, I’d LOVE for that to be a thing with my Xbox. Instead of downloading Hogwarts at 70-80gigs and taking me all night, compress that waaaaay down, and let me download a file size of 20-30gigs instead!
Edit - Forgot to add that I’ve seen NBA2k on switch isn’t much better off, somewhere around 50-70gig last I heard, putting it at 1st or 2nd place for largest file size on Switch.
Re: Larian Achieves Breakthrough With Baldur's Gate 3 On Xbox Series S
@GamingFan4Lyf I was thinking this same thing. I hate the term “lazy developers” cause that’s not true/accurate in a lot of cases, like this one.
People don’t really think about how the coding side of things works in games, but the easiest analogy I can think of is you have 4 people all taking turns painting a picture. Say they’re trying to copy the Mona Lisa. Each one adding a portion to the overall picture on every pass - a lot of times without giving direction on the next step that should happen / the steps that have happened already. It’s very hard to achieve an exact outcome when one person is in control, let alone when you add multiple hands to the project. So each piece of the Mona Lisa is going to look different, and may not align properly.
Instead of going back through to clear code and tidy things up, it’s usually brute forced through processors and ram. This is especially true for pc titles where system specs vary wildly and it’s just easier to allow the code bloat.
The awesome addendum to it all though is when the code gets heavily optimized for a lower end spec, like with BG3 here, just how much extra you’ll benefit on the higher end side of things. Doom 2016 was a prime example of amazing coding to the point where that same game runs fantastic on Switch and like 5mill fps on X/Ps5/Pc 😂
Re: Larian Achieves Breakthrough With Baldur's Gate 3 On Xbox Series S
Sounds like some certain scenes were getting a bit too busy for Series S to properly process. My guess is that either OS or other resources were taking up the VRAM that was needed to process those scenes adequately and it was causing either massive frame drops or full crashes. Likely the same bottleneck that’s been causing issue with split screen on Series S.
Sounds like a solution has been achieved, but what said solution is I couldn’t be sure. Maybe MS showed them how to dial back the systems usage of RAM/VRAM, or they reengineered the game engines handling of those peaks.