@JaffeGaffe I'll probably get it at some point, just not at current prices. Still have another 1.5yrs of GPU so I can't get to the backlog of owned games for a while. Sales need to really be sales.
Made me look, but RDR is a hard pass, at least for me seems like RDR is being priced like an old fine wine... CAD$44.99 for RDR, yet for RDR2 it is now CAD$19.99 or $27.99 for RDR2 Ultimate. Yeah, nope on RDR...
My account is already flagged for unusual searches. Doubling searches would likely get me fully blocked, so nah, I'm not taking advantage of this offer... err I mean punishment.
For example, I can't earn any extra points for the Refer and Earn promotion as my account is already flagged for unusual searches... I just do one starting search & then search whatever Microsoft next puts in the Bing search drop down. So if I have unusual searches it's all Microsoft's fault.
@NeoRatt I'll say similar... Although I don't travel much, except to go fishing/camping & I am not gaming then... Being able to play on PC is all about future proofing my purchase. I play on Series X|S, ROG Ally & PC. Plus the writing is on the wall for xbox. I have GPU stacked for another 1.5yrs. That largely takes me to next gen console/PCbox. So content I buy now must take the future into account, it better be playable on PC since I doubt next gen Microsoft console/PCbox is going to be subsidized, it will not be cheap. I might just end up on a gaming PC for next gen.
@Banjo- Your reading of the tea leaves is quite a bit different than my reading, it already looks to me like Microsoft has given up on this generation of consoles, next gen whatever it is will be even worse: -You would be insane to buy an xbox console now. At least here in Canada I don't see Microsoft even trying anymore. Major retailers don't even sell xbox anymore & I gather that is the same in US & Europe. Plus Xbox is too expensive and there are no sales to speak of. You can now get a PS5 digital edition for the SAME price as a Series S & of course PS5 is way more machine than a Series S. Series X is going to cost like CAD$200/40% more than PS5. So you would be insane to buy either Series X|S consoles over a PS5 -PS5 already massively outsells Series X|S. Throw in price advantage of PS5 & no more exclusives on Xbox, the difference is only going to widen. The next 1-2yrs of this gen until next gen arrives is going to be brutal. -Not to mention more competition on the PC side with Steam Machine. Windows truly suks. Besides anti-cheat games, gaming on Steam OS is going to be the way to go. -PC storefronts (Steam, Epic, GOG, etc), & Playstation are going to eat Microsofts lunch. They are all going to be getting their 30% cut of sales and PC game prices are better than anything on Microsoft's shrinking ecosystem. There is no way Microsoft is going to able to subsidize their next gen console/PC. It is just not going to be price competitive, we already see this with Series X|S. There is no reason to think the economics will be any better for the next gen, in fact they will probably be only worse.
I hope I am wrong, because as a consumer, we all win with more competition, but at this point Microsoft/Xbox are already not competitive.
Even if I probably won't buy the Steam Machine I gladly welcome it.
Choice/competition for consumers is always a good thing. Especially when the competition is being driven by a company (Valve) that has a reputation for being pro-consumer. Even if you are not the target audience of the Steam Machine (too low powered) it will be a win for all consumers. One more choice for hardware & operating system, which minimally forces Microsoft to lessen Windows bloatware & improve Windows for all gamers.
No way, South of Midnight deserves GOTY. Combat was so repetitive and tedious. I played through to the end only because I had progressed far enough that I needed to see if it got better at the end, it didn't... Although, perfect GPU rental game... Never want to own it or play it again, so can't be GOTY.
@swedetrap Alan Wake 2 is on my wish list, but I don't think I am buying any more content on Xbox. Every game that I would want is always cheaper on PC & seeing that Microsoft is going that way anyhow, I don't want to have content locked to a platform that is going away.
We have reached the point of diminishing returns. There is not a huge immediate need for a Next Gen console. Series X/PS5 are effectively good enough for what most would need/notice. Case in point, Steam machine that arrives 5yrs after current gen & is projected to be slightly weaker than PS5/Series X. Current tech is not anywhere near obsolete.
Welcome to 2020... With the steam machine being weaker than both PS5 & Series X, it does not appeal to me. Seems like a step backwards. Although it does seem like it validates Microsoft NextBox strategy.
You can't separate the hardware from the software/content. Game Pass Ultimate has made Series X|S (own both) an absurdly great gaming platform & value for me.
Years of Gold level conversion for $1 to Game Pass Ultimate & reward points earned for more free GPU, has been an absurdly great gaming value. Sure on the surface I don't like the recent GPU price increase & that I can't directly convert reward points to free GPU, but it has still been an absurdly great gaming value. I almost feel guilty!
I haven't gamed seriously since the 80s when I was in high school, life got in the way... university, career, kids... Now all these years of almost free GPU has allowed me to build my gaming library with cheap sales. I still have 1.5 yrs of GPU stacked after which it will be time to catch up on the gaming library backlog. I will be gaming on Series X|S for many years to come.
Unless the current AI/datacenter buildouts suddenly stop, the crazy implication is PS5 & Series X|S are probably approaching appreciating asset status. Current technology has reached diminishing returns, they are good enough. Current gen consoles can be used for many years to come. Same goes with phones, it used to be if you upgraded every 2yrs you could notice a big difference, now there is barely a difference.
If recent memory & SSD price increases continue. PS6/NextBox are going to be crazy expensive for a difference that certainly casual gamers won't really notice a difference.
Well it really does seem Microsoft is serious about the Tik Tok threat. In that in order to compete Microsoft is moving to free video game playing that is ad supported, not too different of a model than tik tok or youtube. Of course it is still to be seen how much ads you have to watch vs how much gaming you get.
@fatpunkslim The thing is the the Xbox ROG Ally is literally (not figuratively) advertised as play all your games. If you didn't know that you can't actually play all your games, it would be a little more than misleading that you can only play your Play Anywhere games.
But I think I am getting on board with Microsoft/Xbox new direction. We probably don't need a next gen console, unless you're really up at the premium end, which is what Sarah Bond is hinting at.
Heck I just logged into Amazon Prime Gaming, and I see that this is now fully branded as Luna. They have a decent selection of games, considering it is likely free for most (well included "free" for about 250million subscribers). Saw that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was there, so I tried gaming on non-gaming laptop via streaming & was very pleasantly surprised. With streaming games like Nvidia's Gforce Now, Luna, GamePass, streaming to SmartTV's, etc, it does seem like it is less and less necessary to have next gen console.
@soundsonic We have reached the point of diminishing returns in so many things. No need to worry that consoles could get too expensive, unless it's broken just keep your current gen console. You will probably not notice unless you compare side by side. I have both a Series S & X, after like 10 seconds of gaming on the series S, I forget that I thought the X looked better.
Also consider other diminishing returns: -Netflix 4K: I am trying a science experiment, I upgraded the family Netflix account to highest tier 4K for a month. So far no one has noticed & said anything... It's diminishing returns as I thought. -Spotify lossless: my daughter & boyfriend did blind hearing test on each other, they can't really tell the difference. -Just got Airpods Pro 3 vs my 2yr old Anker life P3 ear buds that cost 1/3 the price. I'm honestly disappointed that I really can't tell which sounds better, except that the Pro's noise cancelling is better, but for music & my non audiophile ears I honestly struggle to tell the difference. -Phones: do I really need to say anything here? New models are barely indistinguishable from the older models.
Sure new tech is better, but it's really getting to the point of diminishing returns and struggling to tell the difference.
@PressR2 Don't worry you are not really missing anything. So I did finish this game & have to say no doubt this is visually creative, but at the same time at no point did I feel like I was having fun playing this game, but more that I needed to see the end because of the hours already played... even through to the end it feels like a "walking" simulator, you are just going through the motions, just going through the map, no skill is required to play this game, you can't even die if you tried, "puzzles" are easy... I would have been upset if I bought this, glad it was a rental game on GPU...
I also completed Keeper. I would have to say my review is somewhat mixed. There is no question this "game" is 5star in terms of visual creativity, but otherwise flawed as a game... The game feels like a "walking" simulator ("walking" not to spoil anything...), there is zero skill required, you can't die, "puzzles" are very easy. This is the so called perfect rental game, there is no way I ever see myself playing this again. If this was not on GPU I would wait until it is 80-90% off before recommending anyone purchase this.
@PressR2 Honestly I can see why you uninstalled. I'm 2 hours into this walking simulator, there is no skill required, "puzzles" are not puzzling, no challenges. I'm trying to think of something positive to say... Ok, it is visually creative, designers must have been on hallucinogenics... It's a "good" game pass game, zero replay ability, there is no way I can see myself playing through again (if I do finish this...), so a perfect rental game, no need to own... Maybe this was a game meant for 5yr olds? I mean I immediately get it if I pickup Paw Patrol, but maybe the marketing needs to highlight how low skill this game is.
@Cvantez Exactly. Despite like half the people struggling with cost of living, there are also tons of people out there that are essentially looking for things to do/buy to spend their excess money on. To many these thousand dollar consoles is a small purchase they don't think much about.
Actual console sales is the reason rumors are believable. This gen, PS5 significantly outsells Xbox & the difference in sales is growing. There is a network effect with this, if all your friends are on PS5, why would you buy an Xbox? Not to mention you can buy Xbox titles on PS5.
It's obvious retailers will drop Xbox (eg Costco), or drop store space/visibility as sales continue to dwindle. The next Xbox being a PCXbox, is the only thing that makes sense at this point. I'm building PC library at this point.
Costco still has 6mo codes that work out to just under CAD$21/mo, which is much more appealing than $34/mo. Sitting in the fence at this point on stacking more GPU even at $21/mo. I think it might be best for me to selectively Subscribe when I really want GPU. I anyhow have two hobbies, fishing/kayaking during warmer months and gaming during the winter. At most I feel like I should only subscribe to GPU 4 months/yr.
I hate to say it, but with EA private equity buy out, they are going to be hiking prices & en$hitification will ramp up. The squeeze on prices is only going to get worse from all sides.
There is no question that the higher monthly fee is going to alienate many. It reaches the point that why not wait a bit & buy your games at a discount & own "forever". Heck, ok so for example they added Hogwarts Legacy to GPU, but I can buy that on CD keys for like half the cost of the new monthly GPU subscription fee. So essentially I can buy like 1-2 vintage Hogwarts Legacy type games/mo for the cost of a monthly GPU sub. Plus I'm obviously going to be selective in what I buy & buy games I like. Sure there is a huge volume of games available on GPU, but at the same time there are also a huge number of games I would not want to play on GPU.
Although I must say that I should not complain... 2yrs of Gold tier to GPU conversion for $1, then years of rewards for free GPU. So I can't complain, but if you are paying face value, GPU really does not seem like good value.
@SaltySpitoon957 Exactly my thoughts. Pricing is insane. Also double insane as a Canadian CAD$1,300?!?! It looks like we're paying the Trump tax as well. As I already have a ROG Ally, it's not like I was in the market to upgrade, but definitely a big no from me at these prices.
I am both surprised, but also not surprised that Costco Canada, basically has no Xbox hardware for sale. No consoles or controllers. Only a wireless gaming headset & gift cards available. Lots of PS5 hardware.
I have both series X and series S. X is on main family TV, S is in the basement. When I hop between them, sure the X initially seems shaper, but after a few seconds of playing I really don't notice the difference. The main thing I notice is less storage on the S, i need to be selective in what I install.
Buying used S is a fantastic deal. With no moving parts, little risk in buying used.
@Cakefish Same, I'm over the hill, slow reflexes, original was too challenging for me. I highly doubt I'll play Silksong much, but glad it's on GPU so I can give it a try & not waste money buying it.
@xxk7xx Yeah, I can't see how this ends well for the unionization effort. These workers are like between a rock & a hard place. It is too easy to outsource to somewhere else with a lower cost of labour and with the pace of AI progress, I would be very worried...
Teammates, colleagues & friends have essentially no value other than to pump up CEO wealth. Keep fuelling the ever widening pay gap.
In the old days, you could understand job cuts if a company had hit on hard times. Now companies rake in Billions in profits & cut people without any regard to doing things with loyalty... retrain, reassign to other areas of job growth, reduce head count due to normal attrition, offer early retirement packages, hiring freeze, etc.
Now it is just buh, bye! Need to pump up the CEO bonus...
I don't even know why anyone would pre-order a game now. You pay top price (wait a few months) & you get to do free QA for the company (wait for the bugs to get sorted out).
There are already so many good games to play & people must have huge backlogs, go play something else for a few months. Price is guaranteed to drop even if this comes in at $70 instead of $80
I literally watched a Youtube video yesterday on the rise of piracy... I try to be a good sheep & buy legal content... BUT I am being punished for not sailing the seas...
To be honest I know that I actually didn't "Buy"/"Purchase" any Movies as it is really a license that can be revoked at any time, however my expectation was that the main risk is the company I bought the license from going bankrupt, which I just could not see Microsoft doing. Well obviously after no longer selling new content, there is going to reach a point where it doesn't make sense for Microsoft to keep the servers.
Kinda frustrating I built so much content (Movies & TV shows) & basically it is only a matter if time until I lose all the content due to Microsoft greed.
Starfield is the posterchild of why Game Pass has value, boring game, saved me wasting money buying it.
As I recall Starfield was the reason Microsoft bought Zenimax/Bethesda for $7.5Billion as they were scared Sony would get an exclusive on Starfield, so they bought the developer to prevent that. Starfield definitely does not live up to the hype/expectations.
The beauty of the Series S|X is it's a dying console generation. Lots of great deals in the used market. I picked up a used Seagate 1TB drive for like 1/3 current new retail price. Definitely not worth the new price given no moving parts, used is just as good as new. Although lots of people literally high on the prices they asking for used Series hardware, the rush for the door is accelerating. Quite frankly I don't mind... I like value & Microsoft still doesn't know what it is doing... Microsoft rewards is so broken, still easy to earn free GPU every month.
Definitely not. I have an Asus ROG Ally Z1 extreme, I always thought it was a niche product. Got it free with an ASUS laptop & I find that it really is a product that does not have a clear lane to exist.
If I am at home I would rather game on the Xbox Series S or X connected to a big screen. If I'm on the go, the Ally is too big to say fit in a pocket, so I have to bring a backpack. If I have a backpack, then I might as well bring the laptop & a controller as I would prefer to game on the bigger laptop screen.
So in conclusion at home, console wins. If I had a gaming PC, I would say gaming PC would also win. And if I am on the go, laptop form factor wins.
Now if you don't have a home console or laptop, then I guess you could argue for its existence with a dock to connect to a bigger screen for home use, and portable for use on the go...
I'm too old to overpay for this stuff... I'm not paying extra for scalped: electronics, shoes, concert tickets, sports tickets, etc... I'm just playing video games in winter & fishing in the summer... The only reason things like a boxed toy figure or video game or comic book can be with fortunes is because they are rare, no one thought they would be collectible so were used, abused & disposed of, now everything is a collectible & thus can't really be that rare & unique if there are tons of copies of the stuff in existence & saved like they are a precious museum piece.
@VeganHerpes Similar, it is May 17 & I have earned almost 10,000 points so far this month & for sure will get over 15,000 this month with another 14 days left to the month. 12,000 points for GPU, means I earn enough points for GPU every month.
Now some may say the grind is not worth it or do something else with your time to earn money as earning points is less than minimum wage... sure fair enough if you find grinding out the points annoying, each to their own.. but in my books it is easier than ever to earn points. I literally earn all my points having breakfast. I don't know how efficient you guys are with your breakfast or if you can monetize that time (ie. earn money while having breakfast), but it is not that annoying to me to pump out some searches while waiting for water to boil & cook food (soft boiled eggs or oatmeal) or eat cereal (how fast do you chew/swallow, slow down... taste the food...). I'm up before everyone else in the house, so it is not like I have anyone else to say do something else with my time, eg. have a conversation etc. And now you literally don't need to play games as you don't need to earn achievements, just launch a game & let it sit.
The only points thing I don't bother doing is play jewel as you actually need to play it & complete a level
Xbox Series has been outstanding value!!! Nothing comes close!!! Sure Xbox Series are now obviously the betamax and losing market share to the VHS is going to accelerate, but that does not change the fact that owning both a Series S (got free with retail chain store points as PS5 too popular & impossible to get) & Series X (bought used) has been incredible value: -Years of games with Gold conversion to Game Pass Ultimate -Easier than ever rewards points farming that still earns a free GPU monthly subscription each month for minimal effort. I am basically done collecting daily rewards points during breakfast even if I am busy as you don't even need to play games anymore (eg. previously you actually needed to earn achievements by playing games, now you just launch the game)... Launch game on console, launch on PC & let them sit till rewards pops & do the searches while I eat breakfast...
@M20B25 Well as stated the digital Ultima III (actually Ultima's 1 -IX) are not gone, they are in my GOG library & playable. My floppy discs are unplayable to me. So where is the real value?
edit: OK I did a ebay search... apparently my boxed floppies might be worth hundreds (I would be shocked...), but who knows if there are any transactions at those ask prices? All I can say is I wouldn't pay hundreds of dollars for the floppies & then still need the digital version to play the game... which is where we are at with current physical discs.
I honestly don't see what all the physical complaining is about, if you want a complete game on disc it's going to be buggy. That ship of physical game preservation has basically sailed.
In the old days, game devs had to make sure the shipped product was the final product since issuing patches was going to be cost prohibitive (sending out new cartridges, floppy discs, optical discs...).
Now that you have digital delivery, you can keep patching at basically no cost. So pressure to get games out means, games are basically "good enough" from the developers point of view, they ship, fully knowing they are going to be multiple post launch patches. I'm not saying that I support launching buggy games, but that's the way it is now. If you own physical, you're still going to need the patches, so preserving what is on disc doesn't make much sense.
Heck the first game I really played day in day out was Ultima III. I still have the original floppy discs, but even though I have the physical discs after almost 40yrs later the physical discs are still unplayable since I don't own any hardware to play them. So even though I have physical floppy discs that's are fully playable I still had to purchase digital versions & rely on GOG digital game preservation if I want to play Ultima III.
@FatGuyInLilCoat Honestly if you're on chapter 7 & you already find it stale.... let me save you from unnecessary frustration, stop playing South of Midnight & move on to Clair Obscure!!! Combat in SOM is too repetitive it is a chore! I finished SOM, mainly because I felt I got so far into the game I needed to finish it.... don't bother you're not missing anything special.
I feel like I want to complain about price increases, but honestly with all the boneheaded marketing Microsoft has done (Game Pass Gold to Game Pass Ultimate conversion for $1... then beneficial Core to GPU conversions) they probably need to increase prices for all the cheap GPU people have been enjoying.
@TheGameThrifter I don't know if it is marketing rights, but it makes sense either way. PS5 outsells Series consoles at least 2 to 1, then of that "1" there is another at least 2 Series S to 1 Series X sales. I will go out on limb and say on the Series S GTA6 is not going to look like the trailer... So it makes sense to promote PS5.
At this point we just need to recognize Series sales are playing second fiddle...
Dredge was given away free on Epic Games the past Christmas Eve. It does have good reviews, but I'm not playing this on game pass. Too many other games to try to keep up with. I'm tackling Clair Obscure now & Oblivion is next. I'll play Dredge when I don't subscribe to game pass ultimate any more
Well as I recall from Activision takeover, Phil said something to the effect of... If Microsoft sells a game on PS5, Sony takes a 30% cut for basically doing nothing. Then uses that revenue to compete fiercely against Microsoft. Of course the real goal is to get 100% of your own game sales on your platform, plus 30% of everything else that sells on your platform, but if your platform lost the console race... Then let's face it, bragging about game sales success on PS5 is really about making lemonade from lemons.
Next gen xbox better be a PC, because I can't see how a console gamer will choose the next xbox console over PS6, when it's obvious the choice is either PS6 or PC to get the best/most games.
@Cakefish Game started off great for me, but likewise completely agree that combat was very repetitive, it is like each checkpoint you get to you need to do the same combat x3 + limited variety of enemies. I finished the game, mostly because I had got far enough that I wanted to see the end, but getting there was a chore.
There is no way I am ever playing this game again. Zero replayability.
Comments 117
Re: Xbox Crowns Its Biggest Third-Party Game Pass Launch Of 2025
Definitely GOTY for me! Not surprised it is biggest GP launch of 2025.
Re: Red Dead Redemption For Xbox Series X|S Has A 50% Launch Discount
@JaffeGaffe I'll probably get it at some point, just not at current prices. Still have another 1.5yrs of GPU so I can't get to the backlog of owned games for a while. Sales need to really be sales.
Re: Red Dead Redemption For Xbox Series X|S Has A 50% Launch Discount
Made me look, but RDR is a hard pass, at least for me seems like RDR is being priced like an old fine wine... CAD$44.99 for RDR, yet for RDR2 it is now CAD$19.99 or $27.99 for RDR2 Ultimate. Yeah, nope on RDR...
Re: Microsoft Rewards Is Allowing You To 'Double Your Points' Until Early December
My account is already flagged for unusual searches. Doubling searches would likely get me fully blocked, so nah, I'm not taking advantage of this offer... err I mean punishment.
For example, I can't earn any extra points for the Refer and Earn promotion as my account is already flagged for unusual searches... I just do one starting search & then search whatever Microsoft next puts in the Bing search drop down. So if I have unusual searches it's all Microsoft's fault.
Re: Xbox's Latest Free Game Has 3 Separate Versions And 3000G Worth Of Achievements
It's what Napoleon said... You can get men to do anything for some trinkets or pieces of ribbon... My gamer score needed an easy boost 😁
Re: Poll: How Important Is The Xbox Play Anywhere Program To You?
@NeoRatt I'll say similar... Although I don't travel much, except to go fishing/camping & I am not gaming then... Being able to play on PC is all about future proofing my purchase. I play on Series X|S, ROG Ally & PC. Plus the writing is on the wall for xbox. I have GPU stacked for another 1.5yrs. That largely takes me to next gen console/PCbox. So content I buy now must take the future into account, it better be playable on PC since I doubt next gen Microsoft console/PCbox is going to be subsidized, it will not be cheap. I might just end up on a gaming PC for next gen.
Re: Deals: Xbox Black Friday Sale 2025 Now Live, 2000+ Games Discounted
@Banjo- Your reading of the tea leaves is quite a bit different than my reading, it already looks to me like Microsoft has given up on this generation of consoles, next gen whatever it is will be even worse:
-You would be insane to buy an xbox console now. At least here in Canada I don't see Microsoft even trying anymore. Major retailers don't even sell xbox anymore & I gather that is the same in US & Europe. Plus Xbox is too expensive and there are no sales to speak of. You can now get a PS5 digital edition for the SAME price as a Series S & of course PS5 is way more machine than a Series S. Series X is going to cost like CAD$200/40% more than PS5. So you would be insane to buy either Series X|S consoles over a PS5
-PS5 already massively outsells Series X|S. Throw in price advantage of PS5 & no more exclusives on Xbox, the difference is only going to widen. The next 1-2yrs of this gen until next gen arrives is going to be brutal.
-Not to mention more competition on the PC side with Steam Machine. Windows truly suks. Besides anti-cheat games, gaming on Steam OS is going to be the way to go.
-PC storefronts (Steam, Epic, GOG, etc), & Playstation are going to eat Microsofts lunch. They are all going to be getting their 30% cut of sales and PC game prices are better than anything on Microsoft's shrinking ecosystem. There is no way Microsoft is going to able to subsidize their next gen console/PC. It is just not going to be price competitive, we already see this with Series X|S. There is no reason to think the economics will be any better for the next gen, in fact they will probably be only worse.
I hope I am wrong, because as a consumer, we all win with more competition, but at this point Microsoft/Xbox are already not competitive.
Re: Rumour: Steam Machine To Be 'Priced Like A PC' Rather Than Traditional Xbox Or PS Console
Even if I probably won't buy the Steam Machine I gladly welcome it.
Choice/competition for consumers is always a good thing. Especially when the competition is being driven by a company (Valve) that has a reputation for being pro-consumer. Even if you are not the target audience of the Steam Machine (too low powered) it will be a win for all consumers. One more choice for hardware & operating system, which minimally forces Microsoft to lessen Windows bloatware & improve Windows for all gamers.
Re: This Xbox Game Studios Adventure Deserved More Nominations At The Game Awards 2025
No way, South of Midnight deserves GOTY. Combat was so repetitive and tedious. I played through to the end only because I had progressed far enough that I needed to see if it got better at the end, it didn't... Although, perfect GPU rental game... Never want to own it or play it again, so can't be GOTY.
Re: Deals: Xbox Black Friday Sale 2025 Now Live, 2000+ Games Discounted
@swedetrap Alan Wake 2 is on my wish list, but I don't think I am buying any more content on Xbox. Every game that I would want is always cheaper on PC & seeing that Microsoft is going that way anyhow, I don't want to have content locked to a platform that is going away.
Re: Xbox Series X|S: How Their Prices Have Changed Over The Past Five Years
@InterceptorAlpha Crazy! 😦
Re: Xbox 'Best Rated' Sale Now Live, Packed With Indie Titles At Up To 90% Off
@CallMeDuraSouka Agreed. Microsoft is cooked. Steam is eating Microsoft's lunch. I'm using my next 1.5 years of GPU to collect PC Games on sale.
Re: Analyst Questions Whether Next Xbox & PS6 Could Slip To 2028 Following GTA Delay
We have reached the point of diminishing returns. There is not a huge immediate need for a Next Gen console. Series X/PS5 are effectively good enough for what most would need/notice. Case in point, Steam machine that arrives 5yrs after current gen & is projected to be slightly weaker than PS5/Series X. Current tech is not anywhere near obsolete.
Re: Talking Point: What Does The 'Steam Machine' Mean For Xbox's Next-Gen Console Plans?
Welcome to 2020... With the steam machine being weaker than both PS5 & Series X, it does not appeal to me. Seems like a step backwards. Although it does seem like it validates Microsoft NextBox strategy.
Re: It's A Big Birthday For The Xbox Series X, So Let's Look Back At Our Review From 2020
You can't separate the hardware from the software/content. Game Pass Ultimate has made Series X|S (own both) an absurdly great gaming platform & value for me.
Years of Gold level conversion for $1 to Game Pass Ultimate & reward points earned for more free GPU, has been an absurdly great gaming value. Sure on the surface I don't like the recent GPU price increase & that I can't directly convert reward points to free GPU, but it has still been an absurdly great gaming value. I almost feel guilty!
I haven't gamed seriously since the 80s when I was in high school, life got in the way... university, career, kids... Now all these years of almost free GPU has allowed me to build my gaming library with cheap sales. I still have 1.5 yrs of GPU stacked after which it will be time to catch up on the gaming library backlog. I will be gaming on Series X|S for many years to come.
Re: Sony Exec Suggests PS5 Is Far From Finished, And It's Likely The Same For Xbox Series X|S
Unless the current AI/datacenter buildouts suddenly stop, the crazy implication is PS5 & Series X|S are probably approaching appreciating asset status. Current technology has reached diminishing returns, they are good enough. Current gen consoles can be used for many years to come. Same goes with phones, it used to be if you upgraded every 2yrs you could notice a big difference, now there is barely a difference.
If recent memory & SSD price increases continue. PS6/NextBox are going to be crazy expensive for a difference that certainly casual gamers won't really notice a difference.
Re: Xbox Has More Competition From TikTok Than PlayStation, Claims Microsoft Exec
Well it really does seem Microsoft is serious about the Tik Tok threat. In that in order to compete Microsoft is moving to free video game playing that is ad supported, not too different of a model than tik tok or youtube. Of course it is still to be seen how much ads you have to watch vs how much gaming you get.
Re: Microsoft's 'This Is An Xbox' Ad Evolves As Holiday Marketing Ramps Up
@fatpunkslim The thing is the the Xbox ROG Ally is literally (not figuratively) advertised as play all your games. If you didn't know that you can't actually play all your games, it would be a little more than misleading that you can only play your Play Anywhere games.
But I think I am getting on board with Microsoft/Xbox new direction. We probably don't need a next gen console, unless you're really up at the premium end, which is what Sarah Bond is hinting at.
Heck I just logged into Amazon Prime Gaming, and I see that this is now fully branded as Luna. They have a decent selection of games, considering it is likely free for most (well included "free" for about 250million subscribers). Saw that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was there, so I tried gaming on non-gaming laptop via streaming & was very pleasantly surprised. With streaming games like Nvidia's Gforce Now, Luna, GamePass, streaming to SmartTV's, etc, it does seem like it is less and less necessary to have next gen console.
Re: Sarah Bond: Our Next-Gen Console Will Be 'Very Premium' & Informed By ROG Xbox Ally
@soundsonic We have reached the point of diminishing returns in so many things. No need to worry that consoles could get too expensive, unless it's broken just keep your current gen console. You will probably not notice unless you compare side by side. I have both a Series S & X, after like 10 seconds of gaming on the series S, I forget that I thought the X looked better.
Also consider other diminishing returns:
-Netflix 4K: I am trying a science experiment, I upgraded the family Netflix account to highest tier 4K for a month. So far no one has noticed & said anything... It's diminishing returns as I thought.
-Spotify lossless: my daughter & boyfriend did blind hearing test on each other, they can't really tell the difference.
-Just got Airpods Pro 3 vs my 2yr old Anker life P3 ear buds that cost 1/3 the price. I'm honestly disappointed that I really can't tell which sounds better, except that the Pro's noise cancelling is better, but for music & my non audiophile ears I honestly struggle to tell the difference.
-Phones: do I really need to say anything here? New models are barely indistinguishable from the older models.
Sure new tech is better, but it's really getting to the point of diminishing returns and struggling to tell the difference.
Re: Review: Keeper (Xbox) - A Memorable Puzzle Adventure From Xbox Studio Double Fine
@PressR2 Don't worry you are not really missing anything. So I did finish this game & have to say no doubt this is visually creative, but at the same time at no point did I feel like I was having fun playing this game, but more that I needed to see the end because of the hours already played... even through to the end it feels like a "walking" simulator, you are just going through the motions, just going through the map, no skill is required to play this game, you can't even die if you tried, "puzzles" are easy... I would have been upset if I bought this, glad it was a rental game on GPU...
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Critics Think Of Keeper On Xbox Game Pass
I also completed Keeper. I would have to say my review is somewhat mixed. There is no question this "game" is 5star in terms of visual creativity, but otherwise flawed as a game... The game feels like a "walking" simulator ("walking" not to spoil anything...), there is zero skill required, you can't die, "puzzles" are very easy. This is the so called perfect rental game, there is no way I ever see myself playing this again. If this was not on GPU I would wait until it is 80-90% off before recommending anyone purchase this.
Re: Review: Keeper (Xbox) - A Memorable Puzzle Adventure From Xbox Studio Double Fine
@PressR2 Honestly I can see why you uninstalled. I'm 2 hours into this walking simulator, there is no skill required, "puzzles" are not puzzling, no challenges. I'm trying to think of something positive to say... Ok, it is visually creative, designers must have been on hallucinogenics... It's a "good" game pass game, zero replay ability, there is no way I can see myself playing through again (if I do finish this...), so a perfect rental game, no need to own... Maybe this was a game meant for 5yr olds? I mean I immediately get it if I pickup Paw Patrol, but maybe the marketing needs to highlight how low skill this game is.
Re: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About The ROG Xbox Ally
@Cvantez Exactly. Despite like half the people struggling with cost of living, there are also tons of people out there that are essentially looking for things to do/buy to spend their excess money on. To many these thousand dollar consoles is a small purchase they don't think much about.
Re: Xbox Journalist Says Latest Rumours Are 'A Huge Challenge For The Brand Right Now'
Actual console sales is the reason rumors are believable. This gen, PS5 significantly outsells Xbox & the difference in sales is growing. There is a network effect with this, if all your friends are on PS5, why would you buy an Xbox? Not to mention you can buy Xbox titles on PS5.
It's obvious retailers will drop Xbox (eg Costco), or drop store space/visibility as sales continue to dwindle. The next Xbox being a PCXbox, is the only thing that makes sense at this point. I'm building PC library at this point.
Re: PSA: You Can Still Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate For $19.99 Right Now
Costco still has 6mo codes that work out to just under CAD$21/mo, which is much more appealing than $34/mo. Sitting in the fence at this point on stacking more GPU even at $21/mo. I think it might be best for me to selectively Subscribe when I really want GPU. I anyhow have two hobbies, fishing/kayaking during warmer months and gaming during the winter. At most I feel like I should only subscribe to GPU 4 months/yr.
Re: 'Price Increases Are Never Fun For Anybody' Says Xbox Exec Defending Game Pass Changes
I hate to say it, but with EA private equity buy out, they are going to be hiking prices & en$hitification will ramp up. The squeeze on prices is only going to get worse from all sides.
Re: Here's A Breakdown Of All The New Prices For Xbox Game Pass As Of October 2025
There is no question that the higher monthly fee is going to alienate many. It reaches the point that why not wait a bit & buy your games at a discount & own "forever". Heck, ok so for example they added Hogwarts Legacy to GPU, but I can buy that on CD keys for like half the cost of the new monthly GPU subscription fee. So essentially I can buy like 1-2 vintage Hogwarts Legacy type games/mo for the cost of a monthly GPU sub. Plus I'm obviously going to be selective in what I buy & buy games I like. Sure there is a huge volume of games available on GPU, but at the same time there are also a huge number of games I would not want to play on GPU.
Although I must say that I should not complain... 2yrs of Gold tier to GPU conversion for $1, then years of rewards for free GPU. So I can't complain, but if you are paying face value, GPU really does not seem like good value.
Re: ROG Xbox Ally Prices Finally Revealed, Pre-Orders Now Live
@SaltySpitoon957 Exactly my thoughts. Pricing is insane. Also double insane as a Canadian CAD$1,300?!?! It looks like we're paying the Trump tax as well. As I already have a ROG Ally, it's not like I was in the market to upgrade, but definitely a big no from me at these prices.
Re: Major Retailer Seemingly Clearing Out Xbox Series Stock In Certain Regions Right Now
I am both surprised, but also not surprised that Costco Canada, basically has no Xbox hardware for sale. No consoles or controllers. Only a wireless gaming headset & gift cards available. Lots of PS5 hardware.
So like has Microsoft given up?
Re: Opinion: The Value Proposition Of Xbox Series S Is Better Than Ever In 2025
I have both series X and series S. X is on main family TV, S is in the basement. When I hop between them, sure the X initially seems shaper, but after a few seconds of playing I really don't notice the difference. The main thing I notice is less storage on the S, i need to be selective in what I install.
Buying used S is a fantastic deal. With no moving parts, little risk in buying used.
Re: Talking Point: So, Is Hollow Knight: Silksong Worth The Hype On Xbox Game Pass?
@Cakefish Same, I'm over the hill, slow reflexes, original was too challenging for me. I highly doubt I'll play Silksong much, but glad it's on GPU so I can give it a try & not waste money buying it.
Re: 450+ Diablo Devs Vote For Union Representation Amidst Concerns Around Job Instability
@xxk7xx Yeah, I can't see how this ends well for the unionization effort. These workers are like between a rock & a hard place. It is too easy to outsource to somewhere else with a lower cost of labour and with the pace of AI progress, I would be very worried...
Re: Microsoft CEO Comments On Recent Xbox Layoffs, Doubles Down On AI
Teammates, colleagues & friends have essentially no value other than to pump up CEO wealth. Keep fuelling the ever widening pay gap.
In the old days, you could understand job cuts if a company had hit on hard times. Now companies rake in Billions in profits & cut people without any regard to doing things with loyalty... retrain, reassign to other areas of job growth, reduce head count due to normal attrition, offer early retirement packages, hiring freeze, etc.
Now it is just buh, bye! Need to pump up the CEO bonus...
Re: Microsoft Reverts Price Increase For The Outer Worlds 2, Will Launch For $70 On Xbox
I don't even know why anyone would pre-order a game now. You pay top price (wait a few months) & you get to do free QA for the company (wait for the bugs to get sorted out).
There are already so many good games to play & people must have huge backlogs, go play something else for a few months. Price is guaranteed to drop even if this comes in at $70 instead of $80
Re: Microsoft Movies & TV Is Officially Ending, Which Will Have A Big Impact On Xbox
I literally watched a Youtube video yesterday on the rise of piracy... I try to be a good sheep & buy legal content... BUT I am being punished for not sailing the seas...
To be honest I know that I actually didn't "Buy"/"Purchase" any Movies as it is really a license that can be revoked at any time, however my expectation was that the main risk is the company I bought the license from going bankrupt, which I just could not see Microsoft doing. Well obviously after no longer selling new content, there is going to reach a point where it doesn't make sense for Microsoft to keep the servers.
Kinda frustrating I built so much content (Movies & TV shows) & basically it is only a matter if time until I lose all the content due to Microsoft greed.
Re: Talking Point: After Almost Two Years, How Do You Feel About Xbox's Starfield In 2025?
Starfield is the posterchild of why Game Pass has value, boring game, saved me wasting money buying it.
As I recall Starfield was the reason Microsoft bought Zenimax/Bethesda for $7.5Billion as they were scared Sony would get an exclusive on Starfield, so they bought the developer to prevent that. Starfield definitely does not live up to the hype/expectations.
Re: Xbox Quietly Releases New 4TB Expansion Card For Series X|S
The beauty of the Series S|X is it's a dying console generation. Lots of great deals in the used market. I picked up a used Seagate 1TB drive for like 1/3 current new retail price. Definitely not worth the new price given no moving parts, used is just as good as new. Although lots of people literally high on the prices they asking for used Series hardware, the rush for the door is accelerating. Quite frankly I don't mind... I like value & Microsoft still doesn't know what it is doing... Microsoft rewards is so broken, still easy to earn free GPU every month.
Re: Talking Point: Will You Be Buying The 2025 Xbox Handheld From ASUS?
Definitely not. I have an Asus ROG Ally Z1 extreme, I always thought it was a niche product. Got it free with an ASUS laptop & I find that it really is a product that does not have a clear lane to exist.
If I am at home I would rather game on the Xbox Series S or X connected to a big screen. If I'm on the go, the Ally is too big to say fit in a pocket, so I have to bring a backpack. If I have a backpack, then I might as well bring the laptop & a controller as I would prefer to game on the bigger laptop screen.
So in conclusion at home, console wins. If I had a gaming PC, I would say gaming PC would also win. And if I am on the go, laptop form factor wins.
Now if you don't have a home console or laptop, then I guess you could argue for its existence with a dock to connect to a bigger screen for home use, and portable for use on the go...
Re: The Witcher 3 Xbox Controller Sells Out, Instantly Targeted By Scalpers
I'm too old to overpay for this stuff... I'm not paying extra for scalped: electronics, shoes, concert tickets, sports tickets, etc... I'm just playing video games in winter & fishing in the summer... The only reason things like a boxed toy figure or video game or comic book can be with fortunes is because they are rare, no one thought they would be collectible so were used, abused & disposed of, now everything is a collectible & thus can't really be that rare & unique if there are tons of copies of the stuff in existence & saved like they are a precious museum piece.
Re: Talking Point: Xbox Fans, How Are You Getting On With Microsoft Rewards In 2025?
@VeganHerpes Similar, it is May 17 & I have earned almost 10,000 points so far this month & for sure will get over 15,000 this month with another 14 days left to the month. 12,000 points for GPU, means I earn enough points for GPU every month.
Now some may say the grind is not worth it or do something else with your time to earn money as earning points is less than minimum wage... sure fair enough if you find grinding out the points annoying, each to their own.. but in my books it is easier than ever to earn points. I literally earn all my points having breakfast. I don't know how efficient you guys are with your breakfast or if you can monetize that time (ie. earn money while having breakfast), but it is not that annoying to me to pump out some searches while waiting for water to boil & cook food (soft boiled eggs or oatmeal) or eat cereal (how fast do you chew/swallow, slow down... taste the food...). I'm up before everyone else in the house, so it is not like I have anyone else to say do something else with my time, eg. have a conversation etc. And now you literally don't need to play games as you don't need to earn achievements, just launch a game & let it sit.
The only points thing I don't bother doing is play jewel as you actually need to play it & complete a level
Re: Talking Point: Do You Feel You've Had Value For Money With Your Xbox Series X|S?
Xbox Series has been outstanding value!!! Nothing comes close!!! Sure Xbox Series are now obviously the betamax and losing market share to the VHS is going to accelerate, but that does not change the fact that owning both a Series S (got free with retail chain store points as PS5 too popular & impossible to get) & Series X (bought used) has been incredible value:
-Years of games with Gold conversion to Game Pass Ultimate
-Easier than ever rewards points farming that still earns a free GPU monthly subscription each month for minimal effort. I am basically done collecting daily rewards points during breakfast even if I am busy as you don't even need to play games anymore (eg. previously you actually needed to earn achievements by playing games, now you just launch the game)... Launch game on console, launch on PC & let them sit till rewards pops & do the searches while I eat breakfast...
Re: 'Huge' Number Of People Cancelling DOOM Pre-Orders Over 'Botched Physical Release'
@M20B25 Well as stated the digital Ultima III (actually Ultima's 1 -IX) are not gone, they are in my GOG library & playable. My floppy discs are unplayable to me. So where is the real value?
edit: OK I did a ebay search... apparently my boxed floppies might be worth hundreds (I would be shocked...), but who knows if there are any transactions at those ask prices? All I can say is I wouldn't pay hundreds of dollars for the floppies & then still need the digital version to play the game... which is where we are at with current physical discs.
Re: 'Huge' Number Of People Cancelling DOOM Pre-Orders Over 'Botched Physical Release'
I honestly don't see what all the physical complaining is about, if you want a complete game on disc it's going to be buggy. That ship of physical game preservation has basically sailed.
In the old days, game devs had to make sure the shipped product was the final product since issuing patches was going to be cost prohibitive (sending out new cartridges, floppy discs, optical discs...).
Now that you have digital delivery, you can keep patching at basically no cost. So pressure to get games out means, games are basically "good enough" from the developers point of view, they ship, fully knowing they are going to be multiple post launch patches. I'm not saying that I support launching buggy games, but that's the way it is now. If you own physical, you're still going to need the patches, so preserving what is on disc doesn't make much sense.
Heck the first game I really played day in day out was Ultima III. I still have the original floppy discs, but even though I have the physical discs after almost 40yrs later the physical discs are still unplayable since I don't own any hardware to play them. So even though I have physical floppy discs that's are fully playable I still had to purchase digital versions & rely on GOG digital game preservation if I want to play Ultima III.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 10-11)
@FatGuyInLilCoat Honestly if you're on chapter 7 & you already find it stale.... let me save you from unnecessary frustration, stop playing South of Midnight & move on to Clair Obscure!!! Combat in SOM is too repetitive it is a chore! I finished SOM, mainly because I felt I got so far into the game I needed to finish it.... don't bother you're not missing anything special.
Re: Talking Point: Will Xbox Game Pass Get A Price Increase This Year?
@GuyinPA75 I think the saying goes... Is the Pope Catholic?
Re: Talking Point: Will Xbox Game Pass Get A Price Increase This Year?
I feel like I want to complain about price increases, but honestly with all the boneheaded marketing Microsoft has done (Game Pass Gold to Game Pass Ultimate conversion for $1... then beneficial Core to GPU conversions) they probably need to increase prices for all the cheap GPU people have been enjoying.
Re: GTA 6 Trailer 2 Has Arrived Ahead Of May 2026 Release On Xbox Series X|S
@TheGameThrifter I don't know if it is marketing rights, but it makes sense either way. PS5 outsells Series consoles at least 2 to 1, then of that "1" there is another at least 2 Series S to 1 Series X sales. I will go out on limb and say on the Series S GTA6 is not going to look like the trailer... So it makes sense to promote PS5.
At this point we just need to recognize Series sales are playing second fiddle...
Re: Indie Hit DREDGE Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 6)
Dredge was given away free on Epic Games the past Christmas Eve. It does have good reviews, but I'm not playing this on game pass. Too many other games to try to keep up with. I'm tackling Clair Obscure now & Oblivion is next. I'll play Dredge when I don't subscribe to game pass ultimate any more
Re: Three Xbox Games Revealed As Best-Selling PS5 Titles Of April 2025
Well as I recall from Activision takeover, Phil said something to the effect of... If Microsoft sells a game on PS5, Sony takes a 30% cut for basically doing nothing. Then uses that revenue to compete fiercely against Microsoft. Of course the real goal is to get 100% of your own game sales on your platform, plus 30% of everything else that sells on your platform, but if your platform lost the console race... Then let's face it, bragging about game sales success on PS5 is really about making lemonade from lemons.
Next gen xbox better be a PC, because I can't see how a console gamer will choose the next xbox console over PS6, when it's obvious the choice is either PS6 or PC to get the best/most games.
Re: South Of Midnight Passes 1 Million Players With The Help Of Xbox Game Pass
@Cakefish Game started off great for me, but likewise completely agree that combat was very repetitive, it is like each checkpoint you get to you need to do the same combat x3 + limited variety of enemies. I finished the game, mostly because I had got far enough that I wanted to see the end, but getting there was a chore.
There is no way I am ever playing this game again. Zero replayability.