Feffster

Just when you think you’ve seen everything…

@m3lvins - just a thought, and I’m not at all sure this will work but might be worth a try….

Do you subscribe to Gamepass Ultimate? If yes, the following might be relevant…

I installed CoD for the first time when MWIII released on Gamepass - maybe that’s an easier install for you? If you get MWIII installed ok then just search under Gamepass for Black Ops 6 and click - it should pre-load the campaign AND multiplayer from there - you won’t then need the launcher because you’ll already have it (& you can uninstall anything you don’t want from ‘Manage Game’)

PS - gaming on console really shouldn’t be this complicated, but I’m afraid that’s a sign of the times - Microsoft has made a pig’s ear of naming their consoles, describing the different levels of Gamepass and I’m finding exactly the same with Sony PlayStation - confusion over how they describe their different PS Plus subscriptions and plenty of weird anomalies on their store as to whether a game is for PS4, enhanced for PS5 or even PS5pro enhanced.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted and fingers crossed for a good game dropping on Friday.

@m3lvins - the advice above should work but if you are stuck…

From your Xbox go to the store.
Search “Call of Duty”
You’ll see lots of results - the ‘launcher/HQ/hub’ or whatever else you want to call it is just listed as “Call of Duty” - it’s got the logo of the person in a cloak and someone wearing a mask behind (see pic above)
Download this onto your Xbox. This isn’t a game as such - but from here you can control what bits of Call of Duty you want to install - so if you want MWIII campaign pick and install that, if you want BO6 campaign then do the same, if you want various multiplayer options pick them.

If you install something you later decide you want to uninstall then just look under the ‘manage game’ options from the Call of Duty installer and uninstall from there. If you delete something by mistake then don’t worry - you can always download and reinstall it.

There’s nothing very complicated about the way the game installs EXCEPT that it can install multiple games under one app, rather than as individual games. This means to play an individual title you will need to go through the Call of Duty launcher and decide what element you want to play - ie which title and which component,…campaign or multiplayer, etc.

Obviously you can’t access the Black Ops 6 part until the game launches (Friday) - but it is available to pre-install if you want to save all that hassle ahead of time.

Good luck!

CoD gets loads of grief for having “massive” files but I’m impressed with what Activision has done lately to address this - a second update yesterday reduced CoD HQ from about 40GB down to under 11GB, and not long ago it was over 100GB!

At the moment I have the campaigns for MWIII installed and BO6 pre installed at around only 120GB for everything.

That’s only c60GB per game - pretty decent especially when compared to the likes of Halo Infinite (109GB) and Far Cry 6 (101GB)

Hoping BLOPS6 is a cracking game - roll on Friday 😃

@RetroMan71 - no need to download (unless you want that campaign too)

COD Install size (on my Series X)…204.1GB

Call of Duty base game (HQ) - 41.4GB
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 pre-downloaded update - 93.4GB
Call of Duty MWIII Campaign- 53.9GB
Saved data (2 items) - 15.4GB (“Reserved space”)

Maybe the Reserved space is for the streaming they mentioned?

I’ve got a weird addiction to Age of Empires IV in skirmish mode at the moment. Nearly finished Crysis 2 remastered and will likely play some Forza Motorsport and Grid Legends. All on Series X.

Have a good one everyone.

Maybe Dirt will be replaced by EA WRC?

@Major_Player - yes, I have got a Series X.

Hopefully vrr will smooth out any frame rate drops on XSX and if they get to 60fps on series S then that’s phenomenal.

Really looking forward to this dropping on Gamepass, looks superb.

Fairly pathetic - hardly any GP additions and no sign of any old titles receiving FPS and/or resolution boosts.

I was hoping all along that the deal would go through - blindly/foolishly expecting a tonne of content dropping soon after on Gamepass. Instead we got 3 additions (eventually) and a price hike.

M$ seem pretty clueless with what to do with their new ‘toy’ - surely as a minimum they should have made Xbox the home of all things Call of Duty - but even the latest TV advert for BO6 fails to mention it is available on Xbox and Day One on GPU.

Good news and slowly improving with each update - nice weather options added in the last one. Still plenty of tracks ‘missing’. I’d like to see Rio make a comeback in a future update.

Well that’s as clear as mud!…does the 137GB include Call of Duty HQ? (base game)

If yes, then lots of people will already have that installed (41.4 GB)

That will bring the campaign down to about 96GB, which is far from ‘huge’.

May also hint at a better length to this year’s campaign- MWIII currently takes up 53.9GB.

Looking forward to it - only a few weeks until it drops on GPU.

I own XB and PlayStation but personally I’m more intrigued by which PlayStation ‘exclusives’ Xbox gamers would most look forward to buying/playing on their next Xbox (assuming it is some sort of PC hybrid, which seems to be where the smart money is heading).

Just did a test and it says 63.55Mbps download, 16.28Mbps upload (using my wi-fi).

I’m not sure if that’s fast or slow, but it seems to take quite a while to download big files.

One thing I’d like to see is cheaper X/S storage expansion cards - so I could keep more X/S games locally. These things still cost a small fortune.

Finally got round to Hellblade 2, with headphones on. Why didn’t I play this earlier?! Have a good one everybody.

I’m sure I will love it but sadly can’t play for a couple of weeks.

@Tyrant_T103 - it doesn’t sound like the Series X ‘destroys’ the visuals - check out the recent Digital Foundry coverage, they were well impressed with how the game is looking (and running) on Series X (Gamescom build).

Couldn’t get to grips with the movement at all, only tried the training and decided it wasn’t for me. Will play the campaign when it lands but online multiplayer not for me. Hadn’t played CoD for years until MWIII dropped onto Gamepass and really like that, so I’m still hopeful this will be something I’ll enjoy.

Lol, I can’t even do the training. No idea how to sprint right and jump/slide….whatever I do doesn’t seem to work.

Nice, Age of Mythology Retold and looking forward to trying Riders Republic.

God I’m starting to show my age. Absolutely no idea what Discord is.

@FraserG - thanks Fraser, I was hoping that would be the case.

@FraserG - I’ve been tempted to get a month of Ubisoft + just to demo a few games before deciding whether to buy. I don’t want to stay subscribed for more than a month though - I see you mention turning off the recurring billing to address this issue. I assume by turning this option off it doesn’t affect my recurring billing option for GPU? (which I want to keep ON)…

Great review thanks. I’ve been playing plenty of AoE4 recently, so really looking forward to this on Gamepass.

Somehow MS managed to turn what should have been a very positive event into something controversial/negative.

Why they chose to announce Indy for PS5 now is a total mystery (no problem with the port, but why sabotage their own Christmas/holiday console sales by announcing now - just wait until the spring ffs!)….and in the process drag up the ‘what’s the point of an Xbox’ argument in the process.

Avowed 30fps on the final day also a downer for team green, whatever your views on frame rates. Few, if any, announcements or surprises (new Sniper Elite but not much else). The new hardware is expensive and underwhelming, no sign of a handheld.

On the positive side at least there’s a release date for Indy.

Gamepass this autumn/winter looks good - Age of Mythology, Black Ops 6, Stalker 2, Flight Sim 2024, Indy, Avowed and Atomfall, etc…so it’s not all doom and gloom by any means, even with the usual confused and unclear Microsoft messaging.

@FatGuyInLilCoat - it works really well with the controller, nice intro to get you used to the commands. To be honest I’m a single player gamer, so can’t speak for the online side of things or vs mouse & keyboard. Nice game though and it is one of those that you suddenly realise it has eaten up hours of your day without realising it.

Lots of AoE4 and some racing inbetween battles - Grid Legends, FH4&5. Might return to Starfield if there’s time. All on Series X. Oh and a bit of Kingdom Rush on iPad.

Have a good weekend everyone.

@Kienda - spot on, I’m exactly the same.

Not sure it will be my cup of tea but I’ll give it a go on Gamepass.

Good news on Stalker 2, Linneman knows his onions.

I see the trolls have been busy too! Sad little f##kers!

Been playing plenty of AoE4 in skirmish mode recently so I’m really looking forward to another good RTS coming soon.

Brilliant game and free with a voucher that Microsoft kindly sent for buying the expansions. For me, this is the best racer on Xbox.

@OldGamer999 - I’m no expert at all but guess it will work in a similar way to Flight Sim?….I think the game seamlessly downloads textures while you are playing, so that they do not need to be installed on the console. My internet connection isn’t great, but it works fine on that game.

@Dimey - spot on. I used to come to this site for Xbox news, not Pure BS or Pure PS Rumour. Quite enlightening that there is no mention on this site that this week’s FH5 update includes four new Road Racing events for Xbox players. That’s fact and of interest to Xbox players, why on earth would they want to know such things when it is more fun to spread rumour and gossip?

Looking forward it, especially Stalker 2, Indy, Avowed, Flight Sim, Shattered Space, Black Ops 6, Age of Mythology and Atomfall. Would be nice if there’s an update/more info on Mixtape too.

Quakecon 8-11th August?….Quake III Arena remaster as a showdowdrop?…..maybe just wishful thinking.

Disappointing but let’s not forget how incredibly generous Rewards are for those that have them in their region - rewards have paid for my Gamepass Ultimate for the last 4 consecutive months, and for 6 out of 8 months this year….and the next 2 months are already covered by rewards……so this is hardly something to have a panic attack about.

Just finished MWiii so will go back and replay some of my favourite missions. Also playing FH4, FH5, Toy Soldiers HD, Halo Wars 1&2, and getting near the end of Exhumed, which is a brilliant Saturn remaster. All on Series X. Happy gaming everyone.

Hopefully the real story here is that it means Indy must be confirmed for 2024 - why would they sit on Avowed if Indy was behind schedule?

Delaying Avowed to February makes good business sense to give Vessel of Hate and Shattered Space expansions more chance to sell in good numbers pre-Christmas.

MWiii, Exhumed and FH4 all on Series X.

@FarmDog08 - I’m also only really talking about the campaigns, not too bothered about multiplayer. Particularly looking forward to the 2019 Modern Warfare & MWII if they make it onto Gamepass.

Enjoyed COD2, MW and MW2 on 360 but thought World at War was a bit naff. I missed the Xbox One generation completely so it all seems quite fresh again to me - really enjoying MWIII on GP. If it is one of the worst ones then it’ll be happy days catching up with the series (hopefully all on GP eventually).

I didn’t find it complicated at all - simply install the CoD HQ, go to ‘Manage Game’ and install what you want (for me that’s the campaign only, I’ll install zombies & multiplayer at a later date).

Campaign is much better than I thought it would be. Being useless helps - I’m five hours in and only on mission 4! Really enjoying it so far and a great addition to Gamepass.

@NEStalgia - that’s one way to look at it but for me I don’t want to buy anything and everything simply because it is cheap. I’m quite happy to use Gamepass for first party titles and view it as an easy way to demo lots and lots of other titles, maybe stuff I’d never unearth or invest in. Don’t think I’ve played Crash or Spyro since PlayStation 1 (or was it 2) - so I’m not frothing at the mouth, but I am curious enough to download and try if they hit the service.

That’s definitely bordering on the ridiculous. Speaking of updates, what’s the latest with No Man’s Sky for Xbox?…

Edit - well that’s uncanny - No Man’s Sky update is downloading as I type this.

Looking forward to it, haven’t played any of the CoD campaigns since XB360.

Would love to see some of the early CoDs given a resolution boost but that’s just wishful thinking. Hopefully plenty more ABK games to be added to Gamepass over the coming months - and not before time.

That’s Turnover, not even Gross Profit. And the bottom line is Net Profit, after all costs are deducted - which will be way less than the headline number quoted in this article.

We all want ‘value’ for service but profits are also important (and a good thing contrary to what some think) - without them there would be no point to Microsoft’s investment in Xbox/Gamepass and no prospect of future improvement.

Reward Points cover my GPU subscription 8-9 months of the year so I reckon this’ll cost me an extra 50p per month. Doesn’t seem to me like the sky just fell in.

@Ricky-Spanish - I didn’t get a code via email, mine came via the Xbox app - so it might be worth checking messages on there if you haven’t already. Hope it turns up for you.