Elbow

Still have my Rock Band 2 gear and a GH3 controller in storage. Dread having to dig them out and do something with them.

That stupid citrus-y Master Chief is so dumb that it wraps back around and I love it. I might actually buy a can of Fanta just to try and get it.

This might get me to re-re-re-re-replay it. I've played it wayyyy too many times. Still need to actually play the others. Beat 2, just wasn't the same as the first game.

EM is one of if not the best AAA studio. This sucks. They also worked on Deus Ex HR/MD games.

She's saying and doing all the right things so far... cautious optimism continues. I don't think she should be judged either way until she's at least had a year under her belt, so that's a long way off still.

Whenever I see that image of Jack Baker I always think it's a Kane & Lynch screenshot, haha.

I'm playing Nobody Wants To Die. Narrative single player game, futuristic retro-noir (odd combo for sure) that's really interesting. Death is illegal in a future where immortality has been achieved.

It's basically just a walking sim with some extra steps, but it's enjoyable.

A lot of these look really cool. I think The Expanse, Grave Seasons, Stranger Than Heaven, and maybe Alien Deathstorm are my big picks. Not sure how I feel on Serious Sam.. I really want to like the games but they always boil down to hold backwards/kite sideways and M1/right trigger for hours on end until credits roll. Gets super dull for me.

Was that Aaron Paul doing the post-trailer date/console info drop for The Expanse? wtf

@Bmartin001 Getting ahead of yourself a bit though aren't you? Not trying to talk you down, just a lot of the games in here aren't coming for a few months at least.

Christ. Rocket Racing closing down isn't a surprise, it never really took off. Still a shame. One of the Festival modes getting axed is really painful though, as I love the normal Festival mode and it feels like that's on borrowed time.

And Ballistic — Epic really sent it out to die and refused to give it more than couch cushion change for support. I'm actually mad about that, I LOVED Ballistic.

@Tasuki I have nothing against Diablo, I just sometimes like to play games that aren't drowning in bleak misery.

And I say that as a Dead By Daylight player lol

@shiningpikablu252 I didn't even consider that. That makes way more sense, thank you. Not sure why I didn't connect the dots.

I LOVED Dungeons, so I'm really excited for this. I wonder if it'll be like Legends and it'll actually all run natively in Minecraft itself (the Bedrock Engine), instead of being an Unreal Engine 4 project (so weird..)

if it's in Minecraft itself, then I can really see it having long legs and thriving with mods and community support. Man, if I can allow myself to be optimistic... this is gonna rule.

I'm going through Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story. I like the gameplay but the cyberpunk theme really doesn't mesh well with the story, it's kind of an odd combination.

And then, uh... I might finally try to finish Yars Rising. I love WayForward but the member berries in this one to Atari... while they're cool, also are really not something I like to actually play.

I wonder why it started a week earlier and practically two weeks later on those two particular years. Either way, thank you for the PSA — I completely forgot this was coming.

...my poor wallet.

Just keep in mind, this is a mobile port. I played some on Steam and was let down that it still had the mobile interface/UI.

It will still probably be perfectly playable, and that UI might even be better for console compared to PC. I hope it's good, I still love to boot up my GOG copy of RCT every so often and play around a little.

The problem is that, despite it being optional, they're pouring what limited resources they have into it. Not all of their resources, of course, but still going into it.

I've tried Gaming Copilot on the Xbox app multiple times to see if it helps. It never has, always coming up with nonsense or things not even related to the game.

Cortana was way better. At least you could ask weird stuff and play around with that tool.

@Brigurugi Marathon is a pretty trippy series. It started back in the 90s on Apple, their answer to DOOM. The stories in those games were surreal at times. Now it's this, which is very trippy in different ways.

Well, it's not going to set off the cheating apocalypse on certain cross-console games yet, but... give it time. The desperate will find a way to make it work, and stuff like GTA Online and Red Dead Online will be miserable. Whee....

Oh! Cool! I have this on Steam. It's a VERY neat game, if you're like me and never got to play them much in real life as a kid due to location or funds (..both me) this is a cool way to try them out. Physics for the machines are pretty accurate. The game outside of the machines is a little dry, but it's got a LOT to offer besides just coin games.

This makes me hope someday we get Tower Unite on consoles. Insanely unlikely, but I wish...

This is definitely going to impact the Outbreak games with their endless bundles. Which is a long time coming, and I actually enjoy those games for the jank fests they are.

If this is made in mind with removing all the OS bloat and is intended to be their answer to Linux inherently running games better on same hardware due to less processes/forced garbage running... then that's a huge deal.

Still an uphill battle for Xbox, but still. Huge.

@Grumblevolcano The Xbox port certainly wouldn't have that mouse mode, though, unless it's just something you can do by plugging in a keyboard/mouse. But doesn't PS5 support that? (I don't know if they do, just wondering.)

Whoever came up with it was very out of touch. As much as I like the idea of expanding where you can access your library, that marketing very much felt like the worst way to go about it.

@shoeses Not putting it past LRG. I'm glad I grabbed it when it was on sale for all of 30 seconds a few days back. Super scummy of them.

I don't suspect any NEW games from the OG Xbox/360 era. Just what's currently here. Which... I mean that IS good, but I feel like the wording should be much better. It's going to set up a lot of unmet expectations if hunches are correct.

This is pretty bad. I use Crew and that is still fine, but these price nerfs are squarely being done to wring more money out of people. Fortnite, despite a lot of flak, was THE gold standard for rewarding players. Getting nearly double what you might pay from battle passes was genuinely fantastic.

This sucks. Crew, at least, isn't losing any passes, but wow. The price changes are truly dreadful.

SIN Reloaded is pretty cool. I played through a good chunk of it ages ago, it's a real decent 90s FPS. If you've got a hankering for a shooter from that era and have played everything else, you can't go wrong giving it a go.

And BLOOD, my beloved.. I never thought we'd see the day where Death Wish became an official expansion added to the game. It's a HUGE fan expansion.

I've been playing a lot lately. Banishers, Bounty Star, Atlas Fallen, Routine, Indiana Jones, Total Chaos, Crime Scene Cleaner, The Gunk, Atomfall, Patrick Star Game, Creatures of Ava, Eternal Strands, Flintlock, My Friendly Neighborhood, and The Grinch.

That's just in two months. Really been carte blanche with this, stuff I would not have purchased but was interested in playing.

I don't think it'll be worth to sub every month to ultimate, but it's definitely good if you want to try a huge variety of games

Also to note: Every game I listed I 100%d, except Atlas Fallen. Still playing it, just slowly.

Also, Bounty Star just has stellar music. Absolutely fantastic.

FYI Jurassic Park collection is being delisted soon. If you've ever thought about it, this is THE time to bite!

Oof. I thought it might limp along longer, but.. yeah. I can't say I'm surprised. I'm not cheering for the failure, but it's not really the most shocking announcement.

Some good ones here, Dead island 2 at that price is incredible.

I will politely disagree with one statement in this article though! Saints Row 2 is most certainly the gold standard for the series. I liked 3, it just.. lost a lot of the flair the second game had. Went too far in one direction instead of towing the line between serious (plot) and over the top (gameplay/side activities.)

Yakuza found this sweet spot too, and I think that's why it exploded in popularity.

I don't think much is going to change this year. Or at least, not right away. If there are any rapid changes immediately, I think that's more a sign that the new head is rushing into things, which isn't too reassuring.

If she sticks to her words, she'll take some time-- maybe we'll see some changes or announcements in the second half of this year. Hopefully good ones.

I'm intrigued. It sounds cool!

I've sat squarely in the middle (maybe leaning a little optimistic) on how I feel about the new CEO. I want her to be a great change but we'll have to see. I hope he's right, and I do think in general it was probably time for new blood.

MAXIMUM CARNAGE! No way! I LOVE that game. Anyone who has never played it before, if this is how you're going to be introduced to the game... the band who composed the games OST, Green Jelly, took VERY liberal inspirations from Black Sabbath songs. Just thinking about the boot-up/main menu song for Maximum Carnage on SNES is getting me pumped.

If you imagine in certain stages you're hearing Mob Rules... you're not imagining it. AND IT'S AWESOME! Carnage NEVER DIES!

(Separation Anxiety being included is also awesome.. I love any Venom/Carnage media.)

Edit: ...It's LRG. aaaagggghhhhhhh

First, panic, because despite my armchair complaining over the last few years, I am definitely not fit to run a company. Second, rely on people who've been around for ages and know what they're doing.

Third, probably push for smaller games and experimental stuff. Try to reach out to creators in the Banjo-Kazooie community to make stuff, like a Banjo-Builder game or something. Indies are also vital.

He did a lot of good, though it's hard to look at the studio purchases without remembering the closing spree they had several years back, including Tango Gameworks. They were the only studio I cared for from Bethesda (played and 100%'d both Evil Within games before the acquisition was even an idea), so that torpedoed all my interest, personally..

Not trying to rain on a positive post for him, it's just the studio acquisitions definitely has a bold asterisk next to it.

Hardly a surprise. I don't know what anyone higher-up expected. I guess maybe they hoped it would take off quicker, but massive, massive damage has been done to their console brand by making exclusives, well, not exclusive anymore. I'm sure it helps their bottom line, but going that path hurts their console sales, which in turn hurts sales on their software (or rather/more importantly for them: third party purchases on their own storefront), or gamepass subs...

I dunno. On one hand I'm not against games being available anywhere, but on the other- it's inevitable that is going to sway casuals away.

Edit: clarified something a bit more above so in case someone read this earlier, sorry, I wasn't super clear on one of my points (mostly referring to sales/purchases from xbox's own storefront)

@Kaloudz I will say that I am cautiously, with a huge emphasis on cautiously, optimistic on the change. The new leader doesn't have much experience with gaming but at least is hearing out the community via twitter/X. It might all end up just being performative, but the statements so far are good.

@Millionski the only thing you can truly say @Kaloudz is guilty of is being optimistic, which can be pretty hard to come by around here

I've been very sour on him the last few years but I'm also shocked that he's retiring before the next console release. Or maybe he's doing it now so that whatever hardware may be coming won't be overshadowed by his exit.

I'm torn on xbox, but I still like them. So I hope whatever happens next is good, but... we will see.

@shiny-enzo I really hope you enjoy it! I've never played co-op myself, but I'd like to sometime.

@Nightcrawler71 Yes, that's how I've played it. I do eventually want to try co-op, but it's fully playable solo.

TMNT Splintered Fate is VERY good. Its kind of an offshoot of the IDW comics, written by Tom Waltz, and is inspired by Hades, I've heard. Never played that myself, but SF is incredible.

Just urging anyone with even passing interest to check it out, it's SO good. And my undying love for TMNT is only partly influencing my statement here.

Hours later edit: Just adding for clarification for those skimming. Splintered Fate is fully playable in single-player, and also has 4 player online co-op play via crossplatform (Nintendo Switch, Steam & EGS, Xbox, and Apple Arcade) - it's REALLY good. And the soundtrack is just WONDERFUL

@somnambulance True, that's a good point, but nowadays I think a majority of people are wary. Companies abuse pedigrees all the time now. "From the makers of Mass Effect comes Anthem, comes Veilguard, comes Andromeda." as just one example of a studio riding on coattails of those who aren't there anymore OR were severely mismanaged.

@ZYDIO Not bad, just... average, I guess, in every mark. Combine that with being a game in an over saturated genre that doesn't do anything special, AND hyped by Geoff Keighley as a new breed of shooter.. basically it would have to be someone's first pvp hero shooter to win them over, I think. The only thing I really ended up personally liking about the game was the world art/detail.

@chesheer Yeah, I'm still not sure. I thought maybe a few humble statements during the weeks leading to release would've done wonders. "We hear the reception and hope you will play to help us guide the game to a better path as it releases." etc.
Instead.. nothing. So weird all around.

Their plan was mind boggling. Hit the ground running, win over the world, be super popular, swim in the money like McDuck.

That's it. No backup plans if reception wasn't golden? So bizarre.

I do feel bad for those laid off, and those still there. Having to deal with management that is clearly out of touch.

I still have a monthly $10 auto renewal set at 8,750 points, so it seems maybe that was grandfathered in. Sucky change, though, MS can't help but make things less appealing at every turn.

This is why I finally bought a Series X at the end of December. Safe bet these will be supported until 2030.

@Hotrod74x2 I do too, and it can be really difficult day by day. There are still communities you can look around at; there's plenty of communities/groups on Reddit. /r/gamingphotography and /r/VirtualPhotographers/ are two that immediately come to mind.