@Banjo- I am wondering if Stellar Blade will be coming, if Sony still has publishing rights. They've licensed older games to Bandai Namco with apparent stipulations that the games Namco ports can go to anything... but Xbox. Examples: Everybody's Golf Hot Shots, Patapon 1+2 Replay, Freedom Wars Remastered. On everything but Xbox, when Bandai has a pretty good relationship with Xbox otherwise.

I'm honestly surprised, in a good way, that the Atelier series is still getting Xbox ports. I was worried after Atelier Yumia apparently performed very poorly on Xbox.

Tales of Eternia also getting announced is great. Lot of Japanese games coming!

Wait.. Acai? ACAI? The guy who does tons of Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival streams/videos? He's involved with Stage Tour? I didn't even know about the game before now but okay. Now it's on my radar. Potential day 1. (He's done stuff like full combo'ing the Shrek movie in Clone Hero, and some other stuff I'm definitely not allowed to mention by name here lol)

Some interesting games here outside of that too.

I think Blade was a case of them announcing something way too early, again. Again. Again. Not that I'm suggesting it's cancelled or in development hell, but I'm sure that extra layer of red tape from having to be in constant contact with Disney for approvals is making development take WAY longer than it normally should.

@AgentGuapo It's more about keeping Xbox around as a console manufacturer, and as an extension of that, competition for Sony. Exclusives are a necessary "evil". The Switch wouldn't have done as well as it had without exclusives. You can see the major loss Xbox has had since 2013 and their exclusives drastically growing shorter as they tank in playerbase.

With this said, I have said and I will continue to say that Bethesda and Activision MUST remain multiplatform. I do not see them as Xbox. These stay multiplat, but Xbox' first party studios stay exclusive with exceptions for multiplayer only games like Kiln and Sea of Thieves.

Just Axel is a choice, I guess he's going to have a large presence story wise. If he's not, then I will be very annoyed why hes the only playable character.

That said, HELL YEAH CRAZY TAXI IS BACK!

It's a good.. restart, I guess, but Fable and Halo still going to PS puts a sour note on this. We'll see.

It's good exclusives are returning as it shows they're serious about the console. They're still putting Halo on PlayStation and you can't put the cap back on that bottle once it's done. Same with Fable.

People will still believe they just have to ignore the exclusivity and wait it out for the ogames to release on rival systems, especially since this looks like a half measured response.

I'm not upset exclusives are back (I'm actually very happy personally as this shows a belief in keeping Xbox around), but this method is just going to prolong their efforts if they really do want to bring Xbox back. A good start though, but they're gonna have to prepare for the long game with this route.

The only point they made I can't argue against is live service games being multiplat. That makes sense.

Good God. There actually are TOO many games being announced. It's a good problem to have for us. I played the first Marsupilami a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised, it's a really good Donkey Kong Country Returns style game.

Arizona Sunshine being another game torn from VR and adapted into a regular game is not surprising. It seems like VR is starting to notably wind down, so I think more will follow. And here I am having just got a Quest 3 earlier this year...

@Markatron84 Not the worst news to hear, though it does make me sad. DKR and Crash Team Racing are the gold standards of kart racers for a reason..

Still, if it's fun then I can't complain too much. Those games will still always exist.

If Yooka Laylee Kart is aiming to be the Diddy Kong Racing of this series, I might just die of joy.

@Fiendish-Beaver OH you're right, I completely forgot E33 was last year, I thought 2024 for some reason. I felt that way about Stray from 4 or so years back, the game where you play as a cat. It wasn't the best game ever made but it was a really cool game that had way more than you'd expect going on in it. I also just really love tabby cats.

Of course it was never going to win GOTY but I think it got nominated at least which made me really happy.

Shame Cronos didn't even get a nomination. I don't remember what else came out last year though, I generally play games well after the release date.

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm still fairly early into it I believe, just reached the Steelworks, but it's very good so far. The only reason I can think that it was snubbed is because it might have been too difficult for the panelists to play.

I finally got started on Cronos The New Dawn, which has been interesting. It's definitely less horror and more tense/stress focused with inventory and item management especially during fights. The story is very interesting though, I'm enjoying that.

Otherwise, been playing very weird little side games. Cup Heroes which is a dumb little free to play game on Xbox. I don't understand why but it's very relaxing to play, so I've.. put way too much time into it over the last week and most certainly this weekend as well.

THE LAST RONIN! I never stopped believing in it still being worked on! What I didn't expect was it being given to Platinum and being worked on under Paramount directly. Black Forest Games wasn't up to snuff then, I suppose.

Finally. Ueda takes ages with his games.. I'm glad Epic was patient. This might be the game that equals that same sense of unease I got from Shadow of the Colossus!

I still wonder why GPU focuses so heavily on giving perks for free to play games. I suppose because they're cheaper to make deals for than other things, but it's odd lol

@Fiendish-Beaver I'll have to disagree with you on a lot of the Gears talk. The original is a huge reason why I finally got a 360, one of 3 games but it's THE game that pushed me over. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dismiss the fact that Gears had the same decline as Halo has. The first absolutely had horror elements in both Halo 1 and Gears 1, which were dialed down for the Hollywood/Michael Bay's wet dream action in both.

Gears 4 had a lot of excitement because of the way it was being marketed, and a direct quote of 'three people in the woods for one night' from Rod Fergusson, who oversaw the series when Microsoft acquired it. It turned out to be a fairly bog-standard action game choked to the gills with robots and explosives and destructive weather which was a far cry from what the marketing suggested. The multiplayer was also fun but poorly handled. Some old maps, tons of recycled base MP maps with a new skybox, and characters being trickled in over time, some just being reskins like Biker Marcus. lol

Gears 5 doubled down on the silliness, boiling away a lot of the heart. Marcus' rage filled cry about losing his last connection to Dom in that easter egg from 4 was just made into a silly 'tee-hee XD marcus luv tomaters eh?' joke by Del. The game buried a lot of character development and pure logic for the sake of having events happen. You're telling me after the end of 4, Marcus didn't check out the cave? Just gave 'em a thumbs up, "aight, awesome, nothing bad can happen from here" and just walked off? That's before getting to the trend chasing that chokes Gears 5 to death, too. Open worlds 'cuz they were popular, with nothing in them. "Make a choice" being shoved in to the narrative 'cuz that was also popular at the time with stuff like Wolfenstein and Telltales games.

Fortnite-tier emotes in multiplayer with truly atrocious pricing (this was fixed BUT it was there at release). Maps taking forever to release, some of them just re-releases of maps from 4, with them claiming "it'd take 6 months to make a single map for multiplayer". Characters being shackled to hero-shooter roles and even called Gears Heroes (as was the style at the time, too) AND massive resources being taken away by Escape Mode, while those said resources never ended up anywhere else as it died fast. Multiplayer characters also, again, being drip-fed in the same manner they were in 4.

The writing in 5 was bad. There was potential, but they made Kait truly unlikable as well as just kind of stringing along bits of plot, like finally giving Myrrah's origins a proper confirmation, while also just unceremoniously killing off one of the characters who canonically was strong enough to tear himself out of Snatcher's body just for a cheap emotional moment. If a better writer took a crack at it, I think the overall story could've shined a lot. The abrupt ending was also shocking, just a random big enemy made to go boom and ... that's it?

The campaigns are really watered down, multiplayer is still mostly fine. I also don't think the original trilogy is flawless; I can't stand actually playing Gears 2, but I went through the campaigns a ton and picked up all the Karen Traviss novels, to the point where I was actually super giddy to finally see the Boomer Lady as a playable character in 3. Gears 1's plot is also very sparse, but it at least gets a pass since it's building up a base for the future.

@FraserG Holy moly, I didn't realize how many events there were. Thank you for even attempting to keep up with them.

Ground Zero Hero (I swear it looks like a Simpsons alien at the start) and Toxic Crusaders are definitely on my radar. They look great. Go North is also a possibility.

Not dissing the other games listed, just doesn't seem like they're my kind of games.

I'm surprised anyone ever sees 48 hour early access and gets excited. These games rarely come out of the gate at their best anymore. And in a years time, the DDE will be 50% off. Early access ain't gonna mean much then.

I'm not trying to downplay it, just.. who really jumps for these early access releases when it takes months for modern games to even be at their best?

@smoreon Something like that would be a Nightdive hail mary toss. I believe they could do it, but the funds required and playing ball with Atari would make that all tricky.

I'm glad they at least are aware.. now so long as they eventually move past just being aware!

I loved Ignition. The writing and voice acting was funny, though it was just poking fun at Hollywood. The level that mocked the Dukes of Hazard reboot with Johnny Knoxville was pretty good, and I say that as someone who likes Johnny.

Looking forward to this. Hope they get the tone right.

Oh my god, this is exactly what I've been hoping for! I played the hell out of the SNES and N64 Toy Story games.

Oh wow. Shredder's Revenge finally leaves. It's been a good 4 year run. God, I can't believe it's been that long.

@Odium To be fair, Nintendo is just releasing a remake of a remake of a remaster of a remake. The only new "content" is online MP.

Edit: May have got the order backwards, but the point still stands.

@Bartig Holy crap, someone else remembers Vexx! I was looking around recently to find out why it never even got a barebones modern day port. Guess this game will just have to scratch the itch.

@Deshalu I'll say, as a super casual COD player, that ever since they switched to characters with "personality" in multi-player instead of nameless grunts, all their unique operators/playable characters have been dreadfully boring. There's not a single one throughout Blops 6 or 7 I found interesting, and I don't even particularly want to play as any of them as they feel worse than the nameless grunts of World At War, for example, because they try too hard.

Each Operator is trying SO hard to look marketable and cool that they all feel like homogenized gruel, and even the joke characters are too stupid or lean too far into "ayy weed lmao" that Seth Rogan has probably wet himself and passed out from laughing at them.

So when they offer something actually unique, which is a crossover skin... kinda hard to turn my nose up at it.

A lot of these are finally at a good discount, 67% turns into $1.70 (roughly) for some of these smaller XBLA games. Not a bad deal.

The good first step part is a relief to hear. I genuinely wondered if they'd just sit back, arms crossed behind their heads, and say "we saved it!" without doing more.

Exclusives truly will show where they end up heading. If they stay multiplat, the console is clearly just being given some easy changes while they wind down hardware plans.

Wow. That's very sudden. They're eager to finally rid the shackles of the 8th gen, which is understandable... though also a little questionable since Switch 2 is just a PS4 pro spec wise, right?

Here's to another 10 years of PS5/Series support!

...ahaha, the world sucks right now.

The end of an era! Now maybe the Xbone and PS4 can finally rest.

My poor, poor wallet..

Unfortunately the only one that will move the needle is exclusives coming back. If they don't commit, there's no real way to come back in any large capacity.

@SpecialT How is Mixtape? I've heard conflicting things. Also, love the pfp. Ghostbusters 4 life!

Finally finishing Silent Hill 2's achievements, and playing Spray Paint Simulator because it's leaving gamepass soon and I didn't even know it was on the service 'till I saw the leaving soon warning.

Maybe Cronos The New Dawn tomorrow.

@DennisReynolds Huh?? What the hell happened then? That's wild.

These sales have shown me some wild indie games/lesser known games that never got so much as a light nudge in terms of marketing push. I never knew Azure Striker Gunvolt had multiple sequels, let alone a spinoff series.

I also appreciate these curated lists. I've said it before, navigating these sales on console can be a nightmare. Thank you, PX staff!

Good Lord. I dread to think what the file size was before the optimizing...

@WhiteRaven yeah I don't know why I'm doing that. Everything looks fine and when I check later it's like I've vomited word salad on the screen.

I'd be a little wary of Sweeney praise, as of late hes oversaw some massive fumbles. Still, so far so good with Asha.

I really hope in a years time we don't look back and say "if only we knew how bad things are about to get.."

So, staying optimistic, I want to believe she's got a huge list of things that Phil handed to her as a "these are things I WANTED to do before the AI reckoning hit us."

I also hope they are VERY careful with any purchases they may make in the future. Seriously. As much as Eidos Montreal or Remedy would fit as an Xbox studio, the corpses of some of their studios shut down recently are still lukewarm.

I won't forget or be thrilled for new purchases after something like that.

Playasia wants to keep selling physical games, of course they're going to rally against this. If the program is as explained, it wouldn't be the same as Nintendo horrid game key card system at all. Send disc for a digital code to redeem.

I probably won't do it myself for a good few of my games, I do have sentimental attachment to some. From a time and a place that I can look back on with the actual case in my hands, but I think this idea is good on paper.

The actual execution, if it gets that far, will be the important part.

@Stocksy So ill say they do make some good stuff. Or have published good stuff, but their problem is definitely on the corporate side (go figure lol).

Smaller games, less marketing, they've only really picked duds to market. They have put out good stuff, it's just not typically the big blockbuster stuff that gets attention. Coupled with their spending spree to receive funds that was based on a handshake agreement (idiotic), they're their own worst enemy.

I genuinely believed Embracer was great, still think their developers are. But wow, the corporate side is rancid. As are almost all corporate sides.

@NeoRatt She seemed nice, but yeah her plan for Xbox was doing more harm than good.

@NeoRatt You're right, and I shouldn't have worded it as "the 360 servers will probably die if the fee goes away..." since they absolutely would.

I'm still sore on them shuttering the Xbox 360 marketplace a year before the 20 year anniversary.

@Kingleo31 It's become apparent that Phil was being told what to do during the last few years. This is not to shield him from all criticism (which I have a lot of), but he definitely wasn't behind, or at least wasn't thrilled about, a lot of the choices being made. Him getting less vocal and up front about what was going on was telling. The Phil of the last two years is not the same one we knew years ago, who would've spoken so candidly like he did on the bizarre yes-man blunder that was Redfall. 2024 and on was a corporate clamp down.

So with that said, I'm still optimistic about Asha, since it seems the bean counters have finally let Xbox breathe again with her coming into the position; and them wisely jettisoning Sarah Bond's horrid marketing push.

9 hrs later: I was out of my mind when I first wrote this, because this was a borderline word salad. I have no idea what I was doing but I edited the post to be more readable. The same point is still made, now just without the "I wrote this while having a medical emergency" tinge it had.

This isn't the first time they've done this. Wasn't it some weird "& Friends" labeling they tried with publisher names? Now they're just piggybacking on the LotR branding? So weird.

I get the request for free online multi-player, but the problem everyone ignores is that it's going to be the kiss of death to Xbox 360 servers. And then, before long, a lot of smaller games from the Xbone and Series generations.

I really think the fee is why those are still around, and will be around, until the fee goes away.

So it's a really difficult balance..

Xbox games* should not be on PlayStation, though.

*Activision and Bethesda do not count, they stay multiplat. Multi-player games like Kiln stay multiplat. Fable and Gears should not be on PlayStation, unless Gears EDay gets a standalone MP version, but even that's kinda iffy.

@Tasuki Hmm. I might bite. I definitely don't think it's something I'd play online. I'm one of those people who forget how to do even basic combos (like a hadouken for example) when pressured.

It does my heart good to see TMNT get a specific mention. Splintered Fate is VERY good. Fantastic music, fun gameplay, great voice acting. There are some games in here I might pick up.

Is Mortal Kombat 1 beginner/incompetent fighting-game-player friendly? I suck at fighting games. Horrifically, absolutely, irredeemably bad at them. ...but with that said I also want to try to beat the snot out of people as Peacemaker.

I have Medium, haven't played it yet. How would you rate it? I used to depise Bloober, but SH2 genuinely turned things around as much that it's like a new company just using the old name.