Lol, obviously someone told them my GPU sub expires May 1st!

Bought the physical version on XB360 many years ago and have it installed on XSX. Decided to buy the new version when it was discounted - I had £20 of reward points + £4.99. No sign of a refund for me (and I’m not expecting one) but oddly after I purchased the game it kept appearing as a 100% discount under the ‘Deals for You’ section on the store - apparently “Due to your interest in similar games”

….might be worth others checking to see if they can claim a free copy.

Can’t say I’m surprised with the slump - just look at the self-inflicted damage done over the past 2 years.

Sadly not a great outlook!

Reward points have been stacking up nicely - £30 credit so this holiday I’ve invested in…

XSX digital-
Ace Combat £4
Mass Effect Legendary Edition £5.99
Red Dead Redemption £24.99
Damage to my wallet - less than a fiver.

XSX physical:
COD Modern Warfare - £3
COD WWII - £3
Battlefield V - £3

PS5 digital-
Assassin’s Creed Shadows - £34.99
Resident Evil 4 - £13.99

And my New Year’s resolution was to buy less games - oh dear!

Good work all year from the guys at Pure Xbox - thank you and season’s greetings to all the staff and readers - always find this a friendly and helpful community, long may that continue 👍

Inbetween booze and mince pies it’ll be…

Series X - Age of Empires 4, Forza Horizon 4, Red Dead Redemption

PS5Pro - GT7, Cyberpunk, Ghost of Tsushima and AC Shadows

Merry Christmas!

I don’t need any more games but Ace Combat 7 for £4 is tempting

A shame there is no upgrade path for those of us with the XB360 physical version - a 75% discount would’ve convinced me to buy on XSX but as things stand I’ll just play the game on PS Plus Extra.

@Bmartin001 - sadly it sounds not. I’m in the same boat - would’ve been great for those of us that own the original on disc, even if there was a paid for upgrade path.

I’m subscribed on Ultimate until May but I’ve cancelled my renewal for the period beyond that. 50%+ price hike means it’s no longer the great value product it once was. Since cancelling I’ve spent about £80 (mainly from Reward Points) to purchase the games I want to keep and own.

Strangely, I’m really looking forward to a break from GP as my backlog has become absolutely ridiculous.

Sometimes less is more.

@Kezelpaso - many thanks Ben. I’ll do that.

I’ve never understood why CoD games just don’t simply install everything by default and then give you an option to uninstall bits you don’t want. I’m sure they’d have happier customers that way.

My current (XSX) install updated to this today…

Base Game 8.2GB
BO6:Campaign 38.5GB
BO7 Multiplayer 75.9GB

I’m only interested in the campaign. Do I need to install anything else? (eg what is BO7 Worlds Collide? 74.4GB)

Finally, do we need to keep the multiplayer part installed (I think I read the final level of the campaign is multiplayer?) or are we safe to uninstall that bit.

Thanks 👍

EDIT - I can see various Black Ops 7 Add-On packs - which of these should be ticked?

Eg….Gamepass Launch pack 1
Gamepass pack 1
Gamepass pack 2
Gamepass pack 3
Gamepass pack 4
Gamepass pre-order pack 1

Typical Call of Duty….they never make life easy do they?!

@Fiendish-Beaver - pretty much exactly what I’m thinking. They’ve all but killed Series consoles at this point so I’m hoping for a new XboxPC next autumn, launching with FH6, Halo remake, new Gears, Clockwork Revolution and CoD MWIV.

Interesting times!

All seems fixed to me - Store, Gamepass, Dashboard and games all now working fine again (U.K. 9.20pm).

I did do a restart when I first encountered the problem - not sure if that will help others clear out any gremlins.

Store and Gamepass button not working for me but I can still play games (U.K. 5.25PM)

I’m a sucker for TD and strategy games, so Dome Keeper might well scratch an itch. Will be interesting to see what Microsoft do with Gamepass for the second half of December - usually they don’t put much (or anything?) up during that timeframe but now with the price increases they might be wise to keep the games coming.

@Fiendish-Beaver - cheers for the tip. If a game allows then I usually save every 20-30mins so hopefully not an issue but thanks for the warning.

@Fiendish-Beaver - great news. Looking forward to trying it out on Gamepass and nice to know Xbox has the best console version for a pleasant change!

Time will tell, but as I said at the w/end - they need to fix the dodgy framerate and constant stutters, fix the dumb moments of ai (troops and covenent) and fix the 2-D sky. And watching again today there’s even some weird lod pop-in….hopefully it’ll all get sorted otherwise I’ll just stick to the MCC.

No worries about that at all, I think 99% of Xboxers are long past all that by now. My only worry is whether they’ll get performance on all platforms ironed out (plenty of stutters and hitches in the pre-release footage shown yesterday). Also there’s still room for improvement in the graphics and ai - the sky looked completely flat - obviously just a 2D backdrop - and both the troops and covenant showed some remarkably dim moments in yesterday’s footage.

I’m still hopeful though and look forward to playing on whichever platform turns out to be the best place to play this remaster.

PS5Pro - yet more Cyberpunk 2077 & Ghost of Tsushima (100+ hours combined so far and loving every minute of both). Also playing one chapter of Until Dawn each evening - what a complete yawn fest so far…I’ll carry on in the hope it improves but more in hope than expectation. Anyway, glad it’s a PS plus title and not a purchase.

XSX - yesterday’s announcement made me fire up Halo MCC and play through the Silent Cartographer level and also replayed a few levels of Halo Infinite -this morning - looks, sounds and plays great, especially in 120hz mode. Halo 1,2,3, Reach & Infinite all great games and definitely ripe for Unreal 5 upgrade/ports to PS5. Not bothered so much for 4&5 and ODST.

Happy gaming all, have a good one 👍

I’m a bit underwhelmed - graphics look decent but certainly not spectacular and there’s definitely plenty of work still needed to smooth out the frame-rate stutters and dips. Hopefully it’ll all be fine come release day but I can’t help feeling it has been FOUR YEARS since Infinite….surely the studio must have a lot more cooking than an unfinished remake of a remake?

@OldGamer999 - well said. I’m exactly the same. I can see a world where I buy the PS6 and the next-gen Xbox/PC hybrid but if there’s any chance that it brings back my PC gaming nightmares (admittedly from decades ago) then I’m steering well clear.

It has to be a smooth, console like experience or I’m out.

Keeper - finally got it working after a few hiccups and a reinstall.

Only an hour in and hoping it improves as it’s been pretty dull so far (reviews suggest it will).

Also AoE4 on XSX and Ghost of Tsushima & Pure Pool on PS5.

Happy gaming, have a good w/end all.

Sounds great but I’m unable to play currently on XSX - installed via the app earlier in the week, notified by my Xbox that Keeper was ready at 4pm, tried to play but it says do I own the game…asks for a disc to be inserted.

Have tried ‘manage my game’ but to no avail.

Will uninstall and reinstall to see if that helps!

@Kezelpaso - no problem Ben and thank you. Hopefully all will be (Double) fine on Friday! 😀

@Kezelpaso - Ben you mentioned that Keeper is available to download but I just tried (3pm Tuesday) and it isn’t available for me (in the U.K.)

Weirdly it also says Keeper is not included in my subscription and that I need to upgrade to Ultimate, but I’m already a GPU subscriber and paid up to May 2026.

I guess the low price point means we should keep expectations in check?….but it’s Double Fine so I’m looking forward to trying it out.

I often replay favourite levels rather than whole games. Plenty of old games that are regulars on the playlist that I can dip into for a quick 20mins or even an hour or two - FH4 &5, F1 2024, skirmishes on Age of Empires 4, Halo Wars 1&2, the ‘overhead’ air support missions from CoD games. Recently I’ve gone back to AC Odyssey and have also revisited Dishonored. Titanfall 2 is another I need to find time to repeat…..the problem is there’s still so much new stuff to play too…a good problem to have!

@themightyant - absolutely spot on. I’ve been there since Day 1 with OG XB but have no sympathy for them at all - they did this to themselves and have all but wrecked the brand.

I have no desire to see XB fail, but they really need to sort themselves out, and quickly.

The ‘it’s only 4 games’ nonsense stopped me buying games on the XB store & ridiculous price hikes mean I’m out of Gamepass when my subscription expires.

Still interested in Next-Gen, but Xbox need to pull a rabbit or three out of that (now tattered) Green Hat.

Always interested in new hardware. Been on this journey since Pong, Atari 2600 & 400, etc, - and look where we are now.

Fascinated to see how all this develops.

@REALAIS - that's ok then. Thank you for providing clarity where one of the world's largest corporations failed to do so!

@PartyMarty - that looks like a scam email. £275.99 does not divide by 12 into an exact number.

As usual, completely mixed messages coming out of Microsoft & this sounds like a panic reaction to the cancellations.

After the news regarding the 50% increase I checked my recurring billing and it clearly had the new (increased) price - so I cancelled.

(I’m in the U.K.)

Should’ve locked Day 1 CoD behind an annual subscription to GPU - that way gamers couldn’t dip into for a month, play the game and then exit.

Much more gamer friendly than locking it behind Fortnight Crew, Ubi old stuff and a massive price hike.

Ghost of Tsushima - first playthrough - loving it!

On XSX - yet more AoE4, and a bit of Gears.

Have a good one everyone 👍

I gave them my feedback - I’m subbed until May 2026 but I’ve already cancelled my renewal.

Last year I had some landscaping done in my back garden. I got 3 quotes. First two quoted £2-3K, the third guy quoted £12-13K but said “it might cost a few £K more, depending on how the job progresses”. I think Microsoft might be that third guy - he doesn’t really want the job, but if you pay him a fortune he’ll do it (and laugh all the way to the bank).

Well I’ve always had a soft spot for Team Green (and that’s despite owning a PS5Pro too) but this is a step too far for me. I’m subbed up to May 2026 and then I’m out.

I will keep my Series X and buy a few of the games I play regularly such as AoE4, but £23pm isn’t justifiable in my world.

@Nexozi - good work mate 👍

@Nexozi - I read the same yesterday but this morning (1st October) I was still able to redeem 12,000 points for 1m GPU (I’m in the U.K.)

I was previously getting 8,000+ points per month so it’ll be interesting to see how the changes pan out by the end of the month.

@FraserG I got to 12,000 points this morning and was still able to redeem against 1m GPU without any fuss (I’m in the U.K.)

Just checked my order history reward points have covered my GPU subscription for 10 of the previous 12 months.

I totally get it that people are disappointed with less rewards - but that sort of level of generosity can’t be sustainable.

Fraser - On a positive note…from today there are more points being given for using the Xbox app, and for playing Gamepass games. The ‘extra’ points seem to be if you subscribe to GPU which must be where Microsoft wants its players. The monthly bonuses for playing 4 (or 8) Gamepass games have also increased.

@johndoe89 - that’s interesting. I thought it was just me that struggled with slow download speeds on PSN but it’s interesting to hear you also have the same. Not sure why but XSX downloads are way quicker for me.

“This survey is not allowed for your country”

…I am in the U.K.

Pretty much a given that we’ll see something Halo related next year, minimum being another remaster of CE. COD 2026 (MWIV?) also.

@Fiendish-Beaver - I think I’m being dim! I can see what you’re saying now - not that the DLC will be free, but that the first DLC will be bundled with the PS5 version of the game.

Apologies for being thick!

@Fiendish-Beaver - yes mate, there were a couple of other purchase options on PS5 (over the ‘Standard’ edition) but they were higher priced compared to the base game.

I’m sure all the DLC will come to PS5, I’m just saying that I doubt that Microsoft will give anything away for ‘free’ - especially as this is one of their premium IPs.

Doesn’t affect me as I own XSX & Pro but it does seem a little odd to me - at this point you have to assume (with everything they’ve done since Feb 2024) that they don’t care about console sales, so why bother with an exclusivity period?

@Fiendish-Beaver - I really can’t see them throwing in a free DLC with the PS5 version. The add-ons for FH5 are paid for extras on both consoles (and the PS5 version came out c4 years after the Xbox game). Time will tell I guess.

I know the ‘demo’ was something of an illusion, but I thought it showed a lot of promise. I hope the project can be resurrected at some stage as it’s an IP worth saving and a game I’d love to play.

@Fiendish-Beaver - you’re welcome. Hope you get enough points for some good freebies 👍