Feffster

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.

^ actually I lied….just remembered I do the daily quiz things on Bing too. Quite good fun while I’m slurping my morning cuppa!

The last 3 months it has paid for my GP ultimate, so no complaints (auto redeem 10,500points per month). I imagine it will comfortably cover the subscription cost of my GPU for 8-9 months of the year with very little effort - I search on Bing, open the Xbox app when I remember and play games on my series X. Nothing else.

Avatar, Toy Soldiers HD, Halo Wars, GRID Legends and FH4 - all on Series X.

I’d like to see some of the older CoD games finally drop onto Gamepass, I think we’ve been patient long enough now.

Got mine via the Xbox app this morning (didn’t receive an email). Couldn’t redeem the code at the Xbox store but it redeemed fine via the website. A shame it will have to be withdrawn from Gamepass but Microsoft have handled this well.

FH4 (and thanks for the token Microsoft), Toy Soldiers HD and EA Sports footy - think I need to up the difficulty, beat Arsenal 8-0 this morning playing as Accrington.

Much more optimistic. Interested to see what they do next gen. Software output ramping up nicely too.

Absolute top game. I still play it regularly and love the changing seasons and in-race changing weather and lighting - the way the early/late sunshine reflects off the snow and ice and the way a race can start in heavy rain/snow but clear by the final lap into glorious sunshine is something that is done better in this game than any other. Of course, the ‘arcadey’ feel to the racing makes it accessible to play and a blast to most (but I get that those who prefer a sim may find it not to their liking).

I thought the delisting would happen one day, but not until FH6 was announced. Good work by Microsoft by offering the game for free to those who have bought content in the past. I believe I’m correct in saying they did similar with FM7 when it too was delisted.

I can see me still playing this for years to come. An all time classic console racer that will be missed on Gamepass.

Getting a bit weird now that these ABK games are still not on Gamepass. Won't be long before it is a year since the acquisition.

And why are videogame journalists not asking Microsoft what their intentions are regarding these older games? The IGN/Phil Spencer interview was an open goal to ask what's happening.

@themightyant - I think we are comparing apples and pears? The Eurogamer headline was presumably just designed as click bait to get a discussion going (which, fair play to them, it did!) The actual install size is listed as 122GB on the Xbox store. The 320GB install isn’t referring to the base BO6 game (which is what most of us will be installing).

Anyway, it is what it is….I’m not overly fussed how big it ends up being - I will download, play, delete and move on. Simples!

@themightyant - the implication (yesterday on Eurogamer ) was that you’ll need a 320GB install to play Black Ops 6 on Xbox. That was misleading as the install includes a lot more than the just base game and things that won’t need to be installed.

I haven’t played any of the recent COD games but can agree they are big files.

My post above was simply alluding to the prospect that Flight Sim 2024 may well be even bigger. It wasn’t a criticism of that game or what it is striving to achieve, just a speculative observation about file sizes.

So, more fake news then - Eurogamer was full of it yesterday with tales of a 320GB install. It was obvious that was for the whole nine yards complete with MWII, MWIII and BO6.

I have no interest in the multiplayer so I will just install, complete the campaign once or twice and then uninstall.

Flight Sim 2024 might be interesting though…

Watched this morning and highly impressed. My only criticism is the continued lack of any news re ABK games on Gamepass. As a minimum I think they missed a trick by not releasing at least one or two old Black Ops games onto GP, just to whet our appetites.

@EdgarTheBug - I think the 300GB thing is a bit misleading. That’s for the entire app and MWII and MWIII as well as Black Ops 6. I think the Series version of BO6 is about 85GB and the cross-gen bundle c120GB (so hopefully not quite as ridiculous as some are making out).

I’m not bothered about the always online thing for this title - I’ll play through the campaign once or twice on Gamepass and then uninstall anyway.

Had a stake through its heart the minute it was pushed out the door. I’d still like to know which individual made the call not to delay its release, that person is culpable for the ensuing embarrassment and the ultimate demise of Arcane Austin. Shame on you whoever you are.