Elbow

Steve was essentially a blocky Tommy Vercetti, so that is a very interesting pick to personify him lol.

Wow, those animals look bad. The visuals in this movie actually look like those old creepypastas of someone playing a SNES "and then Mario fell down the hole and SUPER REALISTIC BLOOD SPRAYED ALL OVER MY SCREEN".

Hopefully this gets the Sonic treatment, because those visuals are uuugggllllyyyy. It looks like a Disney Channel original series parody of what video games are.
...It looks like the CGI in an insurance commercial. (I can keep going.)

Probably have to wait for the inevitable mods on PC to get the original music. I really hope this doesn't mean Jimmy Urine's music is being stripped out, though. Suda51 and Mindless Self Indulgence were basically my power duo throughout my teenage years and seeing them work together on something blew my <HEAVY USE OF EXPLETIVES YOU CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT'S BEING SAID BEHIND THIS CENSOR> mind.

@GeneJacket Oh, that's a shame. I swear it was Beenox that made Web of Shadows, and I really liked that game, but I just checked and it's Treyarch (I think primarily, at least). I guess it depends how rushed the others were.

I didn't know Waltz wrote the games plot! I knew they at least had an artist from the IDW series, that's sick. I missed out on MiM since they pulled it from sale so quickly, but I still have Out of the Shadows... ha. If a miracle happens and they pull some of the good TMNT licensed games out of oblivion (would be nice to see Wayforward's TMNT metroidvania game too) I will buy them in a heartbeat.

This, if all this smoke leads to fire, is EXACTLY what I was hoping but would never expect them to do. For those unaware, Activision was a HUGE licensed game developer in the late 00s and 10s. Some of the games weren't great, some were fantastic, and some were average. But there was SO much. And even with the mixed average, the output doesn't deserve to rot and be forgotten.

Deadpool, Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, Marvel itself. Before Activision was the CoD machine, it was putting out tons of comic-book games.

@anoyonmus Ahh, combined with the sales, that helps explain it. Thank you. I do still hope the games that never saw an Xbox port see one perhaps next year, shadow drop them with the other incoming Capcom ports.

@GeneJacket I don't mind dated games, and Shattered Dimensions still seems like a fun time, even if just once through for the novelty. I'm surprised MIM actually took after the IDW comics, too!

@xboxjapanfan Though I don't play Halo in Japanese, I'm sorry you had to deal with VA changes. I hope it was for a good reason, but I doubt it was. 343 though is known for being downright sloth-like when it comes to sorting issues.

@Utena-mobile You and me both.

@anoyonmus I actually wasn't aware Great Ace Attorney wasn't on Xbox, so I would also add that to my list of games I hope now come over if Microsoft footed the bill for them to fix up the compatibility issues with Xbox.

Did they move their ports/collections to a new engine recently-- like is everything just on their RE engine now? If so, maybe that's why the newer ones are still releasing, though I'm just randomly guessing.

This is good news, however what of the unreleased Mega Man Battle Network collections? Will this finally follow, or was that not made on MT Framework?

Again, this is really good news, but if Capcom is just going to let prior collections never be released on Xbox even after this, that's not too reassuring.

@Utena-mobile I think it's still him trying to be the relatable/down to earth big chungus exec that is at least humble with flaws he's well aware of.

..Which, while nice on paper, not so great when perception around what he's in charge of has been so consistently poor outside of a few things (their summer event) they've almost eagerly tried to sabotage not long after showing. (Indy PS5 port confirmation before the Xbox version is even out.)

These were not all great games (referring to all games, not Transformers solely), but just bringing back all the licensed games Acti made would be great. I still kick myself for never picking up the Spider-Man games or TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan.

@themightyant Current live service games didn't begin as them, to the best of my knowledge. Fortnite didn't start as one, it was just a hail mary toss to copy PUBG's success but free to play, and it took off.

Starting a game from the jump as a "service" is what kills the game.

Also, I feel bad for the devs who got laid off. Rotten corporate world, where they keep their paychecks but fire people who had no choice with the decision of making XYZ.

There's a long list of games they've done this for. Resident Evil 4 is one of the earliest. Is anyone really surprised at this point?

I saw this and I'm psyched for it. Gex and Croc back in the same year like the 90s never ended!

Fun fact, if the trailer gave you Mario vibes, that's because Argonaut originally wanted it to be a game about Yoshi, but Nintendo turned them down. Turned out fine for Nintendo, but luckily us too getting Croc in the end!

@Scummbuddy I wouldn't hold my breath but it would be very cool to see happen. Warren was way too ambitious with this series, he had a ton of games planned..

@JoyfulFire You've probably already made your mind up but Back 4 Blood is also a good successor, especially after all the updates they made. They took a lot of the feedback from release to heart and improved a lot of the game. I haven't personally played WWZ yet, but let me know (if you get around to playing it while this comment is fresh) if it does live up to L4D.

A demo for Xbox One, really? Wow. Not complaining. Still getting some neat stuff on the old One! ...Probably not for much longer, but hey. Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

The big (good) surprise is Tales of F is confirmed for Xbox. I'm glad Bandai isn't playing favorites! (That I know of.)

Now, Pac-Man REPAC World 2 please!

I do like the environmental art/detail. Movement/combat still seems stiff, like when the player character climbed up the root a few minutes in. The combat also seems a little stiff, like there might be input buffers (like when they swung again at the enemy while stepping away at 3:25) but that could've just been the player. I don't want to say anything for certain unless I've actually played it myself.

They definitely need to add more "oomph" to what I think was meant to be that slo-mo kill on that same enemy. A build-up of sound or a satisfying thwack at 3:48 as the enemy hits the floor after that slo-mo kill would add a lot. It's oddly quiet and 'unrewarding' as of right now.

@FatalBubbles Depends on who was the one playing. If someone from Obsidian/Xbox, yeah likely slow on purpose. Doing it more for marketing purposes to intentionally get better views at landscapes/areas and also so they don't go through TOO much in an hour.

Until it gets in the hands of a regular gamer that facerolls everything, just remember it's being done like this to market it.

I started playing that weird little game "Extinction". It's like Attack on Titan put through a World of Warcraft filter. Not sure why I always levitate towards these weird little games but that's my weekend!

@Utena-mobile CD have a weird dislike of true Lara. Practically seems like they were held at gunpoint to make those two spinoff Lara top down games.

I love the environment art/detail. I can't really get a feel for the combat from this video, I might just need to try it for myself to see if I'm imagining it being kind of stilted. Maybe it's a case of feeling better when playing rather than watching.

Is there a reason this took so long? That's so strange. Better late than never, I guess, but how weird.

@EVIL-C Thank you, I thought I was missing a sneaky link to the game or something. Much appreciated giving the link!

I'd be surprised if Crystal Dynamics was impacted. They're being double-funded by Microsoft & Amazon right now, so they're probably the "safest" developer Embracer has.

Not that it makes Embracer's disgusting implosion any better, but... some good news, hey.

Squirrel With a Gun is definitely not going to be a system seller but it looks so perfectly silly and stupid that I'm looking forward to it. Deranged 3D platformer? Hell yeah.

That's... a weird claim. I get he's poking a bit of fun at it too, but this just seems to open up potential for all kinds of confusion, explicitly mentioning Fable like that. I guess we'll see. Hope it's fun though.

@Fishmasterflex96 I get that you're frustrated but lashing out at others isn't going to help any discussion. Take a breath, remember this is just vidyo gaems.

There's two particular issues. What they're developing for, and then the talent involved. Also please note: I'm NOT saying this about Obsidian, nor am I going to make claims on any developers in particular. I'm just saying that, you can have the strongest hardware in the world. It can be twenty times as powerful as the Series X, and if the developers aren't given the proper tools, or have the know-how to optimize... you'll always have situations like this. Add in that they also HAVE to cater to the lowest common denominator (being the Series S in this case)

I imagine they work backwards from that weakest system, Series S, which is the primary console they develop for to make it less of a headache, and then let the 'better' hardware do the heavy lifting by itself. In some cases, at least, I doubt that happens in every case.

@andrewsqual That's a good point. I remember the Redfall impressions versus what that game ended up being, too. Though that one was undoubtedly a disaster from the start. I dunno, I hope Xbox finally gets something that's not a mismanaged mess, bungled to hell that's actually exclusive. So far the only true console exclusive it has is... well. Redfall. lol

Especially since we can't even consider Hi-Fi Rush an exclusive anymore.

@Markatron84 I mean this doesn't stop them from releasing it on console at the same time as a Steam release. It's a pretty weird choice, even while acknowledging no one wants to use the Xbox app/PC store.

I'm still not too pumped about this game, but the good previews are a relief at least. Here's hoping that delay is used to give it a really good spitshine.

@CallMeDuraSouka I mean, ultimately, a digital library with any storefront is a bad idea. One day, they will all close. Steam, PlayStation, Xbox. There is no such thing as an eternal storefront. Steam's likely not going anywhere anytime soon, but there will be a day that it does shut down. Far in the future, yeah, but it will still happen.

As per your question, it depends on if Microsoft can make a jump to streaming. I personally don't think so, because streaming-only is a purely awful idea for games, but they want that Netflix model bad. REAL bad. But your digital library, in that future, will be locked behind a Game Pass tier of some sort, even if you've purchased the games individually. Come the inevitable day there are no working Xbox consoles, the only option will be streaming the games you bought so long ago-- but you won't be able to just access them from the streaming library for free.

@RadioHedgeFund This argument is not as great as you think it is.

Why do you think your friends purchased a PS5 (or 4) to begin with? Exclusives, whether you like it or not, are exactly how a console thrives. Otherwise it's just which one you think is shinier. Nintendo would not be sailing high with an underpowered tablet that gets miracle ports of games like DOOM unless it was carrying something really special on it; the exclusives.

I'm not making an argument that Indiana Jones should be exclusive, because I think Bethesda and Activision should remain third party (which does include Starfield and Redfall despite the memes, yes), completely, but there would be no PS5, there'd be no Halo Infinite, if they weren't building off exclusives of the past. This is not a mentality that has just 'gone away', it's just one CEOs in charge are trying to push to justify that nuking their hardware division is a solid plan.

Let's not even consider the point that Sega was circling the drain for a time after leaving the hardware space. They only held on thanks to Isao Okawa saving them with debt forgiveness, not due to porting their games to other platforms.

I'm glad to see this. I haven't played Callisto Protocol yet (still on Xbone, not leaving a game like this up to the fate of streaming input delays) but I loved what it was trying to do. Glad they're getting a chance to try more with it-- I guess that means it sold well enough to keep experimenting with? That's very good.

Yeah, this purely has to be in preparation for a PS5 port alongside or not long after the Xbox version. Man is it tough being a fan of this blobby green mess right now.

@Moby Nobody saying that believes it's going to happen tomorrow morning. It's a gradual, slow process they keep alluding to. I think five years from now will look a hell of a lot different. I hope I'm wrong of course, but too much stuff keeps happening rapid fire to think it's all coincidence.

If it walks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck... you get it.

I'll say it again, it's a good thing Bethesda and Activision are staying third party. I hope that's what this entails. That said, it's definitely not just going to be just those. Phil flew too close to the sun and his wings made of dollar bills began to burn away, and he's dragging the hardware legacy down into the abyss with him.

I think we're going to see the end of Xbox as a console due to Phil's actions. Not right away, but slowly. I hope I'm wrong, but that death bell will be ringing wildly if any of the Big 3 get ported.

@Utena-mobile Phil has already lied about Indiana Jones being Xbox exclusive, so announcements in exclusivity are worthless. I'm personally not even upset about Indy going multiplat, I don't look at Bethesda or Activision and think they are Xbox. I'm just mad about how purely awful their marketing, messaging, and handling of this situation has been.

So this is how it ends. A slow burn of exclusives just being timed, eating further into their poor hardware sales, only spurring them further into a rush to release more and more on rival hardware.

The ouroboros eats its own tail as it cries that good games don't sell hardware.

Ask how the exclusive strat is working out for Nintendo as you're gobbling down on your right ankle, Phil.

Microsoft is always reactive, never proactive. It continually boggles the mind. This has to be some deep seated culture thing with the company. At least that shared Microsoft email was humble and acknowledged the issue-- if only it wasn't another r e a c t i v e response after bad PR.

Submerged is a neat little game. If you need a synopsis: It's a post apocalyptic world, flooded, and you are on a boat in this medium sized city rowing around buildings and clambering up half submerged skyscrapers tangled with trees and vines, getting onto buildings to climb around and explore to find medicine to help your sick sister. There's no combat that I recall, it's purely rowing and exploring the world via an Assassins Creed style climbing system.

I played it on Switch and have fond memories despite the obvious visual downgrade it had there. If you like platforming, "beautiful apocalypse" settings, or just low stress games, it's a good one IMO. Pretty cheap on sale.

@Utena-mobile This is EXACTLY what I was hoping to learn, thank you. I knew it wasn't a perfect port but I didn't know it was basically recreated on the fly. This is cool as hell to learn. I might hold off for the inevitable Halloween sale just to see if it does go cheaper.

Thank you again! And if you do want to go indepth feel free, knowing it's kind of a Frankenstein's monster situation makes it even more fascinating.

I thought for a time that we were getting to a point where games would start getting so obnoxiously large that Xbox would hope we'd just pick the streaming version instead.

Yes I fully admit that is a crackpot theory right now, but sizes like this game get the noggin workin'. Glad they are at least somewhat improving it. Red Dead Online's "standalone" version still downloading the single player campaign was a 10,000 IQ play....

I know you only mentioned it to help soothe the emotions of the 360 store closing, but we lost so many games in that closure that it feels a bit like a dash of salt in the wound.

Still tempted on Metal Gear and Silent Hill, but I've heard before the 360 Silent Hill collection is a mess. Anyone have any insight on that?

@user0 That was already a thing in an old SmackDown vs. Raw game. 2010 maybe? When the match started online, a little display card would pop up emulating the real show with "Sponsored by: X" with a logo of some brand. It changed every so often, so it was updated regularly.

And we know the dire 360 dashboard. It was not acceptable back then, certainly isn't now. ESPECIALLY if they show it to paying subscribers. Disgusting.

@cburg I am not at all trying to defend the movie, but did TT have anything to do with it? Do they own Borderlands or just the publishing rights? I thought Bobandy was totally in control there.

Honestly, surprised it took them this long. I think they immediately sniped the original Genesis games off Steam/Xbox when they announced Origins. They were downright sloth-like here.