Fragpiper

It's as if Microsoft felt the need to one-up PlayStation in the internet's negative press game this week.

@HonestHick It will be interesting to see if Microsoft will optimize their games for it. Not a great look either way to be honest. They either look petty by not optimizing, or they alienate more fans by having their own games play best on PlayStation. Kind of a catch-22.

I also agree with your points. I play on a 77 C2. Resolution is important at this size and I'll happily take higher resolutions at higher frame rates. I'm thinking of moving my Multiplatform purchases to PlayStation as well.

@Romans12 Accounting for inflation, I believe the PS3 was more expensive.

I may pick it up. I get such a chuckle out of people upset about the disc drive. 95% of total gaming revenue in 2023 was digital meaning that physical is all but dead. Money talks.

Like people don't actually care about disc drives anymore do they? Like it's just something people like to get upset online, right?

Apple provides the services and access. That costs money and R&D. They deserve their cut. If places like Epic and Microsoft don't like it, guess what - they can build a better phone so that people would buy that option. You best believe that Microsoft takes a cut of profits for every computer licensed to run Windows. I don't understand this privilege that people think companies are entitled to use another platform's service for no money. That hurts companies, huts shareholders, and ultimately hurts the economy. It's like saying that everything should be sold at cost or just given away for free.

Got me to get a Ubisoft+ sub for a month or two.

@Fiendish-Beaver I won't say you're getting old... but in Inquisition you could pause combat to plan your movements You made me feel old because I played 1 and 2 when they launched but can't remember if that mechanic was in there too.

Ah yes, good to see the old windbag is stick kicking and just spewing BS like he always does. I've never fully understood why press seems to hang on to anything Molyneux says.

@Banjo- It depends on how you define "the ship" anymore. Is the ship Xbox Game Studios or the Xbox console hardware? Phil's choice of "platform" is really telling. If I had the option to play all Xbox games via Game Pass on a PlayStation I would. Would this hypothetical situation mean I jumped ship?

For the love of all that is good in this world, stop perpetuating timed exclusivity

This is indeed becoming tiring.

They need to play nice with Sony and get all of GP on Playstation. I'd happily use PS5 as my main and still happily pay for GP. Win-win for everyone.

We really need a chart to help navigate what different amounts of "A" mean when describing a game.

"console" is a general term. They can support "console" with their portfolio by publishing on Nintendo and Sony...

“Controversial?” Nope. Literally any other sector is utilizing it to increase productivity and the comments won’t age well. It’s like people complaining about computers replacing typewriters. As an average Joe I don’t find it controversial at all. It opens up different possibilities and jobs. And frees up time for people to do other things.

@Mustoe Some of us actually don't mind Microsoft trying new things. Go figure. It's like the comment sections on here actively wants Microsoft's gaming division to put itself out of business.

@Dan1283 lied about everything? How? They haven’t restricted access to anything they acquired. You can still purchase it just like you could before. They’re adding to the top GP tier so they’re actually expanding access. All they did was raise a price the same way every subscription streaming service in existence does.

@Steelydanman I don't feel let down. Like anything, it's a business. A business I enjoy and choose to spend my money at. One I hope continues so I hope they're making shrewd business decisions that aren't guided by 'feelings.' Playstation shows what happens when you're slow to change, they made just $600M in profit last year.

They've held out a long time compared to other streaming services. I support them and want the service to actually make money for them. At $20/mo it's still a steal.

@Robocrop_Duster Getting rid of physical releases would have practically zero effect on either Sony or Microsoft financially. No one wants to be the first to blink though because of the press that would follow.

At the end of 2023, digital was 83% of unit sales accounting for 95% of revenue industry wide. And if we're being honest, Switch probably made up most of the physical sales. Most people don't want physical and quite frankly, if maintaining physical drives and manufacturing is causing increased costs across the industry (R&D, hardware, supply chains, etc) I'd be first in line to cheer for its demise.

This right here is the future. Nothing glitzy or glamorous. Just another incremental step toward gaming as easy and ubiquitous as turning on a Netflix show.

I wonder if there hardware is anything special in the sense if there is game-specific hardware acceleration going on. Because I would think a universal app for TVs and streaming boxes would make a lot more sense. People who want to stream are probably people who don't want another box to worry about

Ok. This is what Xbox needed. Great job, Phil!

It’s been an incredibly entertaining few days on Push Square. Filled with tears of denial and fanboys reassuring themselves that they really had no interest in any of the games. lol

I love how everyone gets up in arms about this. It's as if keyboard warriors have no understanding of economics, shareholders, and profitability. People need to grow up and understand that this is business and not based on kumbaya feelings around a campfire.

Yeah. On one hand - good for them for having so many players it crashes. On the other - it's been 10 gd years Sony and Bungie! Get your acts together.

I mean it was a solid story and introduced us to new aliens... except the Endless didn't even appear in the game. (Although Halopedia calls the Harbinger an Endless but I'm pretty sure the game did not clarify that). The weird possibility of time travel could open up AMAZING things. Send 117 and The Weapon back to the Forerunner/Endless conflict.

But it sacrificed the possibility of a cool new story for a return to form which everyone said they wanted after Guardians.

But whatever. I'm just an average millennial who simps for Halo so I'll go along with whatever Microsoft puts out.

I had two RRoD on my 360. Microsoft's great response and easy repair system was hugely influence in my decision to keep sticking with them.

People complaining about price increase are out of touch with reality, really. It's childish to imagine pricing would stay the same for forever. I would be very concerned if CoD didn't come to GP. To me that means the every 1st party game, day one promise is broken and It'll massively erode trust in Xbox and see cancellations of GP left and right. For people complaining that they don't play CoD they're missing the point - games you play could be next to get the day 1 axe. It's a slippery slope. And at a certain point to avoid confusion people'll just hop to Sony where you understand the model at least.

@Ricky-Spanish it’s not that I don’t hear you. But at the end of last year digital was 83% of unit sales accounting for 95% of revenue industry wide. And I’d bet Switch drove physical far more than either Xbox or PS although I don’t have that data. Physical is just something the industry doesn’t even remotely care about any longer.

It’s a perfect GP game for me but I wouldn’t pay for it.

As someone who was avidly into raiding with my clan, I feel like that issue is more about end game. They need to provide experiences for the single players that are more than what is there. I get the incredibly satisfying feeling of raiding with a team of people you know, but the level grind was just too outrageous. But Bungie knows their user base and they make the process addicting as a gambling simulator with pretty skins. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but I also see it for what it really is. The cost of cosmetics has gotten pretty outrageous too.

Is there any actual meaning behind AAA? Are there other designations?

Planet of Lana was a joy to play!

Both Plague Tales

Sonic Frontiers. I went into it with low expectations but greatly enjoyed it. And the 'checklist' quests were fun because it actually meant something and the classic stages were just the right length and difficulty.

Tales of Arise: I'm not a JRPG player (like ever) but Tales of Arise sucked me in with its absolutely unique story and voice acting. I actually 100% it and that's saying something as I have only have 5 100% games. It's one of those games that you almost wish it had a skip to next cutscene option (looking at you Guns of the Patriots). I've since tried a couple other JRPS and nothing even came close to keeping my interest.

FWIW I don't think we discuss that Sony needs something to vitalize them as well. They're not comfortable. The news industry focused on when they cut jobs a couple months back but didn't really focus on the actual financial reports. Their operating income has declined 75% (Seventy-Five percent!). Plus their recent announcement of new new major 1st party games until next year.

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/sonys-latest-announcement-reveals-trouble-in-a-billion-dollar-industry#:~:text=But%20Sony's%20operating%20income%20for,continuation%20of%20an%20upsetting%20trend.

@TheGrizMan I'm 10000% with you and I think Microsoft should be concerned that (I believe) many of us feel this way. Since the 360, ANY multi-plat release was a no brainer for me to buy for Xbox. I have also owned every Playstation. I have 247 games on Xbox and about 20 on Playstation. Now for the first time I hesitated when I got Dragon's Dogma 2 on what console to get it on.

My logic is starting to be that maybe I don't BUY any game for Xbox anymore and just use it when a Game Pass game comes out I want to play. If I had to guess, many people feel that particular way. And maybe Microsoft is ok with that now, but what happens next gen when people understand that they get a PS6, play a lot of ported MS games, and for those of us blessed with decent internet, just cloud stream the others?

Like maybe they don't care and maybe they even want to leave the console biz. I could see an argument for producing a slightly inferior platform (cloud streaming) for the low barrier of entry of a simple streaming stick. I don't have answers, but I do know I'm at the least confidence I have had in the Xbox console experience. I believe MS will continue to make great, big games, but I don't know if they care about console players anymore.

And to clarify I don't own a PC nor will I ever. And maybe perhaps I'm just not the gamer that Microsoft cares about any longer.

Oof that voice over actor though… hope that’s not the in-game one bc I don’t know if I could do a whole game listening to that over-the-top dramatic recitation

@Banjo- 100% I think the only way they can stem this is by announcing new hardware (that's already been leaked anyway) versus just saying things. This week has given me pause and I'm starting to consider moving my multi-plat purchases to PS5 going forward and just keeping Game Pass with Xbox. I think this coupled with the recent Take-Two leak/announcement (whatever) that PS5 has twice as many consoles out in the wild really does make one start to wonder about 3rd party releases.

@Darylb88 you know… that could be very smart on their part. It’s already leaked so reiterate to fans games are considered on a “case by case basis” and then officially announce it to help show they are still in the hardware biz. I could see it

I bet 90% of the people who complain about 4 never played it.

As a die hard Halo fan that fondly remembers standing in line in for Halo 3, I am in 100% support of taking the helmet off. I enjoyed the show. Oh well I guess I’m in the minority.

It’s definitely the Dreamcast 2

@Banjo- that’s correct. As your friend from across the pond she is a progressive Biden appointment who wants more government control. She’s requesting a 4x bigger budget for the FTC and her stance on blocking big business is well documented. It 100% is political agenda

Kahn is testifying to Congress judiciary committee today. I hope they grill her on this appeal and blatant disregard of tax payer’s money to advance her agenda.

The salt at Push Square is strong

@Feffster +1 for Asobo. They have the chops to compete with Naughty Dog

Yeah honestly quite excited for this. I’m agnostic and own both consoles and it feels more necessary than ever to have both to really enjoy the market.

I would love a mid cycle refresh that would let me play games like Hogwarts Legacy and Jedi Survivor at 4k 60 on its fidelity setting. To me that would be very much worth the money.

Oof the frame rate dips are noticeable and annoying. I’m normally not particularly phased by dips and although I play with VRR I have never been bothered by tearing. But it’s rough. If you dip low enough for me to notice you got some issues

@Jenkinss thank you - my thoughts exactly.

@BRT15 I have to agree. As an ardent fan of the 2 & 3 remakes I couldn’t shake the feeling this looked less impressive. But it was one area so I’ll reserve judgment. But good to know I wasn’t alone.

@Kaloudz to be fair it says “Nintendo platforms” which could be more about a Switch successor than the Switch itself.