Toy Soldiers HD, Forza Horizon 4 and a bit of Flight Sim - all on Series X.

Indy, Avowed then Hellblade 2 (provided it has a performance mode). Flight Sim deserves some love but it is a storage killer.

And what about 2024 Call of Duty?….not everyone’s cup of tea, but isn’t it now ‘first party’? (even if there’s something weird going on with Microsoft not dropping ABK games onto Gamepass)

I just want them to say something that shows me my digital library won’t be unusable and worthless when we get to next-gen. Otherwise why would I spend any more of my hard earned £s on their store?

@abe_hikura - well said. For me you’ve hit the nail right on the head.

@Widey85 - totally agree. Sounds like a hastily arranged damage limitation event being cobbled together.

Not a good look for Team Green. Ironically, I’ve been multi platform in nearly every previous generation, right back to Atari 800 and CBM 64, but this gen I’m just Series X - thought it was all I needed.

I thought Microsoft might use ABK games on Gamepass to drive console sales, but nearly 4 months after the acquisition there’s still no sign of anything happening there. Meanwhile PS5s are selling like hotcakes, so it’s not like console sales overall are in decline.

I’m nearly all digital nowadays. As much as I’d like to think physical has a place for game preservation I think 5-10 years from now it’ll be virtually all digital and a decade or so after that it’ll be the same for streaming. I didn’t see that coming 10 years ago when I had a bookshelf full of 360 games.

B for me, enjoyed it but not quite as slick as last year.

Indy looks cool, looking forward to Hellblade and Avowed but it would have been good to know what hardware everything that was shown was running on…

@Kezelpaso - I’d love more titles added too. I’ve recently played through Half Life 2 on my Series X (The Xbox 360 Orange Box version) and it can be modded fairly simply and perfectly to 60fps (at 4K). I might have missed it, but I don’t recall Pure Xbox covering the news of the mod - yes, it is only possible for a minority of people and isn’t official but it is a nice work around for Xbox users that are interested in making a classic game run brilliantly on Xbox Series consoles in the same way that FPS boost improves performance.

Far cry 4 crashed several times for me (Series X) so I requested a refund and got one immediately. Good service.

It would be great if you could add more details to the list such as whether resolution is affected by 120hz mode. For example Grid Legends runs on Series X at 4k 60fps but 1440p 120fps (and lower graphical fidelity).

Choice is good - but often it is confusing!

@eire-shabba - yes, playing via The Orange Box and the recent ‘mod’ to give 4K60fps.

Getting towards the end of Half Life 2 on Series X. What a game (yes, I’m a bit behind the times!) Merry Christmas everyone.

Bioshock, The Orange Box and Halo Wars. All games I still play to this day (& now enhanced) on Series X.

More than I thought! - just checked and 16 games purchased. Only £46 ‘cash’ spent, the rest was Microsoft rewards. All digital.

@AlwaysPlaying - too true!

lol, I remember an era when you were just glad a game actually loaded (from a tape)….you could wait ages and the game would crash at 99% loaded, or just randomly and repeatedly as you were playing.

Ok games still crash but for 99.9% of the time the modern gamer is living a life of luxury. Sometimes we need to remember that.

@AlwaysPlaying - cracking game.

@gravelmonkey - agreed. I’m 2/3 of the way through and loving every minute. The recent unofficial fps boost for Series X/S makes it play like a modern remake and the graphics hold up brilliantly at 4k60fps.

Half Life 2 on Series X. Now running better than ever

For clarity you are not restricted to three searches on Bing in 15 minutes - you just get three searches that receive a 3 point reward in those 15mins (and that’s if you’re affected by the cooldown).

Strangely I was affected for week or so but as long as I now allow a couple of seconds between searches I now get rewarded, up to the 90 point daily maximum.

I find all this penny-pinching from Microsoft really odd after they’ve just spent 67billion on ABK. And the cooldown period will most likely have the exact opposite effect that Microsoft are seeking - they want us to use Bing as a default search engine and for me at least it was working - but if users are not going to get points then why wouldn’t they just go back to using Google?

I enjoy Far Cry and many other Ubisoft games. Looking forward to picking this up when it inevitably ends up on sale in the New Year. I hear there’s a nod to Crysis in the stealth/gunplay, so it sounds (and looks) like a decent title.

@Utena-mobile - it depresses me too. I wasn’t advocating that MS should do it, I was just illustrating a point and giving the ABK deal some context. The actual number of consoles they could have given away is likely in excess of 150million, as it will cost them less than 500$ to manufacture each. More still if we are talking Series S instead of X. Heck, that might be closer to 300million potential freebies.

Sobering numbers.

I assume M$ have some sort of plan for Xbox and Gamepass, but I’m lost to know what the business model is. Anyway, I’m perfectly happy with my Series X and Gamepass, so this is probably all way over my head and above my pay grade.

I think I’m right in saying that Microsoft could have given away 134 million Xbox Series X consoles (@$500 each) instead of buying ABK (134,000,000 x 500 = 67,000,000,000)

That might have ‘won’ the console war over night?

Just a thought.

Decent games but let’s hope the terribly wooden voice acting gets a boost if there’s a sequel.

Hope they make it happen 🙏

I didn’t own an Xbox One but have owned all the other Xbox consoles.

Xbox Series X - BY A COUNTRY MILE

Four new road race events in the recent FH5 update so that will be getting a blast.

@FraserG “Something that he didn't bring up was Obsidian's Avowed, although perhaps it just slipped his mind at the time.”

Lol, let’s hope not. This bloke’s job title is Xbox President of Game Content and Studios ffs!! 😂😂😂

Doesn’t bother me but in truth I’ve never had a full screen on on my Series X. If I get one then it sounds like pressing one button will remove the add, hardly tricky!

What I find more perplexing is why anyone might buy this - it’ll be on Gamepass in a few months anyway so why shell out c£70 for it now?

Slightly off topic, but did they ever fix the audio (cut scene) issues on the first game’s remake?

Cocoon is genius!

Yes I had it and also the orange light of death for my first (fat) PS3. Microsoft replaced the 360 and I bought a new PS3 - both still working to this day 😃🤞

Great news on Dead Space and looking forward to trying Jusant.

A bit of a race fest - chopping and changing between Forza Horizon 4&5, Forza Motorsport and Grid Legends, all excellent in their own way.

A bit of Cocoon head scratching until my brain explodes, maybe a bit of AoE4 and I need to play more of Redfall now it has been patched & 60fps.

Very glad we didn’t get an ABK drop of games just to confuse me even more!

Have a good w/end everyone.

Played up to and just beyond the fire station and the improvement is plain to see. I need to play more but initial impressions are that it still seems a little bland - the dialogue, cutscenes and AI all need further work, but I’m not giving up on this yet. 60fps is a big improvement. At the very least it isn’t the embarrassment it was when it was pushed out the door half-baked.

I really don’t understand why Microsoft didn’t delay back in May and alter their release schedule to Starfield September, Redfall October (for Halloween) and Forza Motorsport early November.

@Romans12 -17GB Redfall patch today (downloading now). Hoping it irons out more bugs and adds 60fps performance mode at long last.

Would love to see a 60fps RDR patch for Series consoles, and for RDR2 also.

@NeoRatt - I’m not suggesting it hasn’t been a good year for Xbox, but MS themselves as good as admitted Redfall was a cluster-***k. It may have already been in development but it was delayed and then released on Microsoft’s watch - they are ultimately responsible for the content their studios release, so that is down to their management that when it arrived it was unfinished (and remains to this day unfinished with no clear messaging about when it will be). All I’m saying in relation to the ABK merger is that they have an opportunity and shouldn’t squander it (I’m a Series X owner so hope it goes from strength to strength).

Like all Xbox owners I’m looking forward to the drop of plenty more games onto Gamepass (CoD, Diablo, Crash, etc).

Longer term, it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft can maximise the deal by resurrecting old IPs (Hexen, Tony Hawk, etc) and nurturing some new ones. I just hope they don’t squander the opportunity and we start to see the benefit in the second half of this generation and into the next. Microsoft need to manage this well - no more Redfall type nonsense as we had with Arcane.

I’d love to see Dishonored 3, and would love to get a 60fps update/boost for Dishonored 2.

Maybe they could set the new game in England and call it Dishonoured.

@Kaloudz -well said and me too, I haven’t bought an ABK game since the merger was announced.

Hoping most of this content will soon be on Gamepass. Shouldn’t be too much longer now.

I’ve never been all that convinced by Ray-tracing but will give it a go, in all likelihood will end up just using the 4K60 mode. No interest in racing games at 30fps but fair enough including the option for those that want it.

Doesn’t look completely smooth on the VGC footage (looks nice but a bit stuttery in parts) - hopefully that’s down to their capture or this being a pre-release build.

@OldGamer999 - I think a 40fps mode or 60fpsVRR mode (even if not completely stable) would be worth implementing. Digital Foundry put up an interesting video speculating how either or both would be possible in theory. Hope Bethesda work towards this.

7/10 for me but I’ve paused at 15hrs. I’ve tried and tried to not let the 30fps bother me because there’s obviously a great game there but it is actually giving me bloodshot eyes (literally) and headaches. Probably not helped by playing on a big OLED.

Hoping the Digital Foundry video speculating whether a performance mode is possible will inspire Bethesda to add a 40fps mode or 60fpsVRR mode. Either would help me enormously 🙏🤞

AoE4 on Series X, very impressed!

@tallythwack - nothing major at all for me (Series X) but I’ve had one or two stutters in outdoor areas.

You could try clearing out any games in quick resume and/or do a system restart and see if that helps you.

Nice review. c10 hours in and enjoying more than I thought I would but it does give me a headache!

Wish someone could combine the best bits of Everspace 2 and Deus Ex with the scope, detail and storytelling of Starfield.

Then we’d have a game on our hands.