Elbow

This is a shame, but I've only heard bad things about the relaunch. Hope the dev won't suffer layoffs due to this.

@Tasuki I mean there's 30+ year history of said company existing in a hardware space in multiple mediums: the first tablet in the 90s, the iPod competitor Zune, their own phone devices, and 24+ years of gaming hardware and accessories set to continue for at least several years. It's not entirely correct to say they're a pure software company.

That doesn't stop you from playing there, no, but you and I don't count. Think about it from a normal person's perspective, the people that don't go on sites like these. Do they buy the Xbox which is on the decline and has no exclusives and regularly getting PR black eyes because they have a fetish for tripping over themselves, the PlayStation which is far ahead and known for their first party games and is now also getting Xbox games, or even Nintendo which has the same argument as playstation?

It's not a console war thing, it's not wanting to see a competitor fall and give Sony or Nintendo more room to dictate how things should be done. EVERYONE loses if one of the consoles dies. If the PlayStation went under, it would be just as bad. If Nintendo went under, it would be just as bad. There's no fanboying here, sorry to dissapoint.

Edit: I changed the start of this post because it came off waaay too snarky and I didn't mean to, I apologize.

@NattyKing Yeah, and this will accelerate that death. I'm not saying that like it's a good thing, but Phil Spencer stepped in dog crap and wiped it all over Xbox with his choices over the last few years.

(Edit: yes this is hyperbolic to an extent, he's pushed great things like backwards compatibility and play anywhere, but these are few and far between. Edit 2: fixed the last word of the original message, my phone turned it into mush?? Sorry about that)

@Kaloudz Ten years in the future is actually an argument I make fairly frequently but against it. The idea of my library being held hostage behind a subscription fee when or if they phase out consoles is such an incredibly unappealing idea. No company is going to give you access to your library to stream for free, and having what I've already paid for held hostage behind a scenario like this is where I cannot abide.

@Tasuki Care to explain how I'm a troll for showing concern over my preferred system manufacturer accelerating their demise in the space?

@Millionski Xbox has already been struggling to keep third party devs.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/10/xbox-wants-more-feedback-from-devs-including-why-some-are-avoiding-the-platform

@donv2135

With very select games, (their MLB game was mandated to be on every system or the license holder would walk, and the Lego Horizon game is suggested to be a similar situation since Lego didn't just want one of their branded games on one system.) — I know Sony have been porting all of their games to PC, yes, and it's a good thing they're doing so, but it hasn't really hurt console sales.

Let me know when you see them port games of their own volition to Xbox, and not due to a licensing demand. For the record I would be happy to be proven wrong since this is a sucky situation, but I don't see PlayStation doing anything like this unless they're quite literally already kneeling in the guillotine.

"and you’re based on that what sony ponies would say" I don't know what you mean with this though. I haven't owned a Playstation since the PS3 and despise Sony's choices in the last few years.

@Kaloudz I never said Xbox was shutting down, but the console is absolutely going to suffer and see an accelerated death. We're the minority here, the average joe will see or hear that all of Xbox's games are on PlayStation and just go with that. "Gamepass? What's that? I can just get all this stuff on Playstation anyway so what does it matter?"

@Millionski Slippery slope began with the ports last year, but it was generally seen that if any of the "Big 3" (Halo, Gears, Forza) were ported, the end was nigh.

It is nigh, for the console. Sony's gonna have unrestrained control which is a horrible situation for everybody.

Edit: I added in the names of the 'Big 3' just to help with clarification.

@Kezelpaso I'm hoping the same, just wanted to clarify!

Console time of death: 1:30 PM CST.

It's a slow death rattle from here.

@Kezelpaso Hold on, a little known thing about GOG is that for games that are troublesome to run, they actually do maintenance work to get them to run on modern systems. The publisher has no hand in the support, it's all GOGs internal team doing the patching, making GOG-exclusive releases a novelty for that exact reason.

The Warcraft games that were on GOG were all patched by GOG, Blizzard had no involvement, to give an example.

Is there confirmation that Capcom themselves worked on this? It being GOG-only screams that it was the internal support GOG, not Capcom. But I can't find any info on it.

I'm still on an Xbone, but Eternal Strands looks really good. I'm torn between playing it on gamepass (streaming) or waiting for a sale on PC..

@Fenbops Apparently also have become kind of a support studio for other Xbox teams using Unreal Engine. Which makes sense because a lot of the staff at Coalition came from Epic with the migration.

They know how to make the engine sing.

@Isolte I would definitely also recommend at least a peek at Gears Tactics. You might not like the gameplay, but it does feel like a game right out of the "prime" era of Gears.

@Isolte Mixed bag. 4s campaign was the textbook definition of bland IMO, and I found 5 far worse. I say that as someone who adored the original trilogy and even have all of the books. (4s multiplayer was smooth as butter though. Great time.)

Of course you might like them, and if you have gamepass then you should at least give 4 a go. Despite my naysaying you might end up loving them, and if you do that's great.

I did mostly enjoy Gears Tactics too, it's a prequel turn based strategy game like XCOM that takes place during the original trilogy. Very fun. Some of the campaign cutscenes are obnoxious but the gameplay itself is really good and still manages to feel like Gears.

@JorutoHayabusa I'm probably one of only dozens of people, but I still buy a lot of games on my Xbone. The main purpose is to support Xbox, even if I have a gaming PC that would be preferable for some of the games I've purchased.

Though with this recent news I'm really concerned on if I've just been an idiot.. who knows if this library will still exist in ten years.

(I bought pretty much all of the Square Enix offerings available on Xbone, lots of indies and JRPGs, stuff that's Play Anywhere... even some double dip purchases I already have on Steam if I really like a game enough.)

Oh boy, a $15 fee to play something on a streaming service a few days early! You could buy a whole game for that and just play it until Avowed drops.

This is scummy.

Okay, trying to be as optimistic as I can about this... I still don't see how their console can possibly thrive with this. Even if they do release a handheld, what is the appeal? No exclusives, but you can buy the handheld to then... pay a monthly sub for games?

It's amusing that Redfall may end up being the final true Xbox exclusive.

@Moby We definitely need the big 3, but that is definitely in a console space... there's a real concern if Xbox does start releasing older games on other systems that people will just happily wait for these newer releases because "it will for sure release on Playstation". I've already started seeing that sentiment.

@Kaloudz The 7R stuff is weird, because apparently the exclusivity was extended by another year when Square released the PS5 port of the Part 1? After that I have no idea but I know Sony will trip over their own feet just to screw over Xbox. So I wouldn't be surprised by the extended exclusivity.

Honestly I'm just glad Square was NOT bought out by anybody. That was the huge relief.

@Millionski Is fable confirmed for this year? I thought that was still unconfirmed.

@Kaloudz They still have to abide by whatever deal they made with Sony. Could've been multiple years for all we know. It's clear though they're willing and ready to slam 16 & 7R down onto Xbox the moment they're able to, though.

@Cakefish oof, okay now I feel like a di**. Sorry about that. I hope your family is overall doing much better now

I dont know if this for sure guarantees a games pipeline working at peak performance BUT it is looking really good for Xbox right now. The first time we've been able to say that in what feels like EONS.

I hope the momentum continues. They're going to need it.

I've been eyeballing this re-release of Amalur for years now... might be time.

@Cakefish Uh, I was born in 92 and am currently 32 as well. N64 was "my" first console, though I always played my brother's NES and SNES before that. Stricter parents, perhaps?

Resident Evil 6 is an amazing video game, probably one of the best "summer blockbuster" tier action flicks morphed into a videogame.

Buuuuut it's not a good Resident Evil game. They really should've named it anything else, hell it may have even fared better with the Revelations sub-series name.

And it would be incredibly bizarre if this was the secret announcement... like what? I guess it would be confirmation that RE6 would not receive a remake but still, huh?

@Banjo- "Maybe because some fans of the competing system want Xbox to fail miserably."

There is definitely some of this, and a lot of armchair/internet user executives making comments (I'm one of them) as if they know the best way Xbox should be run.. but I will at least say in my case my negativity comes from a place of concern. I do not want to see Xbox die, drop out of the console race, or squander potential they have. I guess you can say it's on the tough love side.

Sorry for butting into this conversation. I just wanted to add some context for at least a few people around here who regularly come off grumpy (which I know I'm part of too.)

@somnambulance Nuh uh, Phil Spencer said games won't win a console war...

(I am taking his comment somewhat out of context but my God, what an outrageously stupid comment to make or believe.)

Xbox One! Aww, yeah. My ol' Xbone is still chugging along perfectly fine with releases like these.

@Millionski So turns out Wukong is not on Xbox because the devs are not good at optimization. Series S is technically the culprit, if you need an exact "why?" but the devs are new to console development and Wukong itself just is incredibly poorly optimized. I have no idea if Xbox can even help in a situation like that, because it sounds like the devs refuse the idea.

(That last sentence might not be accurate since reading translated comments can easily mistake intent of words, but this is the impression I got from reading their comments. Again, might not be accurate. Translating a statement exactly is a very tricky thing.)

I'm surprised it hasn't been added to MCC, if a direct port is off the table. Wonder why, did the reception to it really kill the momentum? Or is the story not worth it? Haven't played it myself.

We're at the end of an era... Persona 3 Reload Expansion Pass will no longer just be sitting there, menacingly, on the Gamepass Perks page by the end of this month.

They better re-release or remaster or whatever the Dreamcast Ecco the Dolphin game.

Also those games were pure nightmare fuel. I don't know if anyone remembers that since the rest of the game was pretty brutal.

Japanese IP.. hmm. Decades of history makes me think it's a top tier announcement.

Dragon Quest 12?

I want South of Midnight to be good, but I still don't have faith in the combat. It looks incredibly weak from shown footage. Hopefully that will be changed, but Compulsion games have always been sloppy even with best intentions, so we'll have to see.

It's about time. This will make almost every mainline FF game (minus 11) available on Xbox for the first time... ever?
(Also yea 11 was on the 360 but I'm referring to current playable games.)

MS can't buy them, but they could do a partnership, couldn't they? Offer to fund or publish a few games in exchange for permanent gamepass inclusion.

I dont want anyone buying Ubisoft if possible, but trying to think of best case scenarios outside of that.

I LOVED HOTD2 and I'm going to be incredibly critical of this. Played it to death as a kid on my dreamcast... sshh don't tell my mom.

@Markatron84 The ultimate irony is that Halo was the Halo killer.

But I really think this will lead to an accelerated death for Xbox consoles. Especially if they plan to release another console... what do they think is going to happen?

I sincerely doubt an Xbox version of World of Warcraft would be done. The game runs on a staggering amount of legacy code that they delicately have to work around. The one thing I can appreciate about WoW is how much is actively going on at all times, even if there are no players around, and the constant building on top of previous content endlessly. And I can't imagine they could get something like WoW running on a new system without it being a Fallout 76 tier nightmare at release.

The closest I could truly see is it getting a cloud version, with some Xbox/Bnet link.

@themightyant I think Spencer confirmed without outright saying that pressure is on them now after the Activision buyout. I don't know where exactly the line is drawn (rumors that there are no lines, everything can come to rival platforms) though it's all but been said out loud that the money they spent on Acti is expected to be returned doublefold, and quickly.

@Medic_alert If it's available, I probably do. I bought Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on my One.

It's not just an Xbox problem, there are still TONS of PS4 users as well. These consoles will not die while receiving a steady release of games and the current gen systems only get a trickle of true generation exclusives. (Not referring to first party, just Series/PS5 only.)

I genuinely don't see an end to this until the next generation.

This used to pay out insanely well ($25-$30 a month) but has increasingly stripped away ways to earn/amounts while massively increasing the time it takes. I still do it, mind you, but it's a far cry from where it was in 2023. Notably they really clamped down around the time of the Activision buyout getting closer/finalizing.

I also want to argue that it's not free, because they're taking your data/information/search usage in exchange for the pennies. It's definitely not free, even if it isn't trying to grab your wallet. Hence why they ban anyone doing "fraudulent" or blatantly useless searches just to fill out their daily search limit. They aren't getting the necessary data from those.

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm pretty much in the same boat. Curious about Unknown 9 but not $30-60 curious. Here's hoping Bamco pull through on my prediction for a summer sale!

@Fiendish-Beaver Not many people played it so reviews will be scarce. On the bright side, Bandai Namco is the publisher, and they're the Japanese Ubisoft when it comes to putting their games on sale. I can almost guarantee Unknown 9 will be 75% by the Summer sale, or have a price reduction to the point that 50% off is in the range of $10-$15

Just a reminder, Everwild was announced in 2019/2020. As an Xbox One title. It's been going for five/six years since announced. That level of development hell is worrying. Especially since around the time of this games announcement Rare said they were becoming a "new IP factory".
Im not trying to spread doom and gloom, I just wonder what in the world has been going on with this game?

@InterceptorAlpha Oh yeah, that glorified fanfic was weird...

The ONLY reason I would accept them saying no is because of Halo still being in the works at Paramount during development of this series. aka: Paramount had a lot of control and sway.

If Microsoft said no of their own volition, I won't be surprised but I'll be heavily disappointed. Do everything but what people want.

Hmm.. besides the inevitable "play my backlog" response, I think actually I might finally sit down and try to play an RTS. I've always been intimidated by the genre, and while I love the Command & Conquer: Renegade spinoff (I still play it to this day! There are dozens of us, dozens!, still on servers!!) I've always been scared off by the proper C&C games. Never been that great at them... but maybe this is the year that changes.

Or, realistically, I'll still suck at them but at least manage to beat Red Alert 2.