JayJ

Well obviously the new Forza is going to be Horizon 6, not sure why they are even trying to hide that, if it's anything else everyone is going to be very disappointed.

Well I like it a lot better than Sony's streaming handheld, that's for sure. Design doesn't look as attractive but the fact that you can properly install games on this Xbox handheld means that doesn't matter, it's far more than just a screen with a controller attached that can stream stuff. That said I bet these will be pretty expensive and it really competes directly with my Steam Deck.

It's looking like Xbox is doomed right now. Hardware has become overpriced, games no longer exclusive, cancelling plans for a handheld, it's just not a brand with a bright future right now.

@Fishysensei Same here. Could never understand the need for watching these shows just to watch the trailer for some game a few minutes before it's all over the internet.

@Brigurugi Well I've been playing the game and I noticed improvements.

I thought WRC10 was great, not a fan of Generations though. As for Milestone I think they really peaked with Ride 4, fantastic game, GOAT motorcycle game even, but Ride 5 felt like it went backwards and I just haven't been a real fan of their latest work.

As for KT's TDU Solar Crown I think that became a good game over time. I think the criticism was mostly deserved in it's early days but the game I've been playing has been very enjoyable as a big fan of the old TDU titles.

Impossible, I was told Avowed was a big hit that everybody loved!

Maybe. I have a ton of Xbox games in my library so it would probably be worthwhile. I just feel like the handheld market has become oversaturated lately though and I only have use for so many handhelds.

Odd, I think it's just kind of an ugly controller anyways lol

Well it's better than Avowed.

@Jenkinss Exactly. Streaming = some corporation has all the software and all of your access can be taken away whenever. People can say what they want about downloading, but owning software in your library and being able to download and install it does work as preservation, especially if you take your console offline. I have multiple Xbox One consoles I took offline and they all have a bunch of games from my library I downloaded and installed on them, and they work. With streaming it's like you're completely tied down to your internet connection and bound by the subscription service, and these services have a bad tendency of eventually removing games you might like.

I was interested until they said streaming.

Nope, that's a no-go for me.

I think the N64 game is an all-time classic and probably the most sophisticated FPS of it's era right along with Half-Life. It's sequel however was just so so, not a bad game but nothing spectacular. This new one looks like more of that.

@RiverGenie Yeah I'd say handheld battery powered air dusters are an essential item for any electronics enthusiast. Much better than the old duster cans and saves you a lot of money in the long run, and they work very well. I usually just put it up to the intake and exhaust holes and it does a good job of blowing most dust out.

I remember how partial disassembly and cleaning was basically a necessity when it came to the old PS4's. Something about the PS4's design made it prone to collecting dust in areas that would cause issues like the old "jet engine" fan noise complaint. Seems like I haven't had that issue on other consoles for the most part.

Looks like it would be difficult to use and take a lot of time to get used to.

How about getting rid of ads? That would be great.

Honestly I don't think I ever truly completed Oblivion.

I don't think I'd call it a trilogy. Doom 2016 felt very different from Doom Eternal, and this looks a straight up Doom Eternal sequel.

I always felt like Minecraft is the worst game to be concerned about graphics with. Like this was never meant to be a game to show off realistic lighting or high-end detail with. A part of the appeal with Minecraft has always been the simplicity.

I'm hoping they can get a 60fps performance mode on PS5 Pro.

I just bought a PS5 Pro over the weekend lol. Makes sense how Sony would completely dominate right now, Microsoft seems like they have the worst ideas and approach to Xbox right now. I mean raising prices on their consoles was the final blow for me, made it obvious how they aren't even trying to compete anymore. They have become far too complicit with Gamepass being everything and their ridiculous "everything is an Xbox" campaign right now. It's like I'm done, I'll just be buying everything on PS5 for now on. No reason to be into Xbox anymore.

Backwards compatibility was the best thing Xbox had going for it but it seems like that was mostly during the One and early Series era.

Buying this on my PS5 Pro!

Xbox feels cooked, Phil has ruined the brand with his "everything is an Xbox" approach. It's just going to be little more than Bethesda/Actibliz in the future with Gamepass being the only "Xbox" thing still remaining.

Do I still enjoy having my Xbox consoles? Yes, because of everything they have to offer from the past. Do I plan on staying with Xbox after this gen? No, I don't see the reason. My One and Series consoles have me well covered when it comes to my digital library, and I don't see any reason to continue investing in this brand beyond this generation.

I am going to be buying most my games on PS5 for now on and if I stick to a console for next gen it's easily going to be a PS6. I am over subscriptions for the most part as well, I just don't like having to pay routine fees for services if I am not really into the latest offerings they have. I only want to stick with the basic Gamepass Core or PS+ Essential, and when it comes to that PS+ is by far the better service with it's monthly games while Gamepass Core only seems to offer the same few games forever with not much in the way of new offerings to feel worthwhile outside of being a necessity for online gaming.

I will probably just go PC next gen to be honest because I am so tired of feeling forced to pay for subscriptions on consoles.

That is 64GB of RAM or storage? Hard to believe a handheld would have that much.

I have been into gaming for most of my life, owning every major console going back decades. I have a big collection of games and seem to buy and play enough games to this day to put me in the top single digit percentile of users for every year-end review. That said even I can't justify spending the kind of money they want to be charging now a days, and if they continue down this path, I am just going to retire from keeping up with the console industry and stick to PC and what I already got.

Thing is if someone like me is talking and thinking like this, when I have a lot of spending money, far more than most people these days it seems, what are things like for the average Joe? I can't see this industry greed being sustainable much longer.

Huh, well that's quite the narrative.

Problem is the price of these subscriptions has been going up as well.

Honestly, the only real smart way to buy games anymore is to simply wait for a sale. I started doing this as soon as every AAA game started releasing with $100+ ultimate editions. No way I am paying the full asking prices on most of these games anymore, but if I time it right, I can get the games I want for a very reasonable price.

I don't see the point in buying into early access anyways. Most games release in an unfinished state these days needing months of patching.

You would have to be insane to buy the 2TB Series X in the US by this point. It literally costs more than a PS5 Pro, an actual upgrade console with improved hardware performance that is objectively superior hardware. Considering how that has been Xbox's biggest market, this pricing is basically dooming them.

Xbox needs to fire Phil by this point, the entire brand is going down the drain real fast.

Remember how consoles used to get discounted years into a console generation? Yeah, to say things are moving in the wrong direction is a bit of an understatement this gen. I am just glad I bought a 1TB Series S with an Xscreen last year, there is no way I could justify doing that now. Heck I remember eyeing one of those 2TB Series X consoles as a possible upgrade for my old launch SX, now there's no way I would consider that at $730, that would be $800 after tax! Simply outrageous to be asking that much for a console, heck if I would spend that much I would buy a PS5 Pro because at least it's a proper upgrade.

Honestly, this console industry if really pushing me towards going all PC in the future.

This does look cool but as someone who already has several nice mechanical keyboards this is a hard sale for me, a real style over everything attraction if anything. Xbox does feel like an appropriate platform to be combined with an gaming PC though, I do like that about this.

@Kaloudz I think the series really peaked with Far Cry 3 and it was basically lightning in a bottle.

Original Far Cry was basically the original benchmark PC gaming game before Crysis, and it was really popular at the time when it released. I don't think it aged that well, but it was a good start for the concepts and ideas that Far Cry games later became known for. Far Cry 2 was kind of an odd entry, they were trying out a lot of new ideas with that one that they quickly abandoned after. 3 is when they really got everything just right, and 4 was basically trying to expand upon that with 5 feeling like the best attempt at expanding upon it. Then 6 happened and the whole formula just felt really stale by then and it lacks the characters and story that made 3 such a classic.

It's like the first 3 Far Cry games were really forward thinking, then then 4, 5, and 6 were basically more Far Cry 3. The spinoffs were hit or miss, I think Primal and Blood Dragon were the only good ones.

Honestly even as someone who was really big on Gamepass during it's early years it has really fallen out of favor with me as of recently, so much so that I let my subscription expire and downgraded to Core when I went to renew. For me the reason is simple, these latest games they offer simply don't really appeal to me and I feel like I have checked out everything else over the years I had it.

The price of the Ultimate subscription is just too expensive to justify, the problem I got with it is simply how these subscriptions can only get so expensive until I start asking why spend all they're asking for a subscription when I could just spend that money buying the games on sale that I actually like or find interesting.

I think getting older has a lot to do with this as well, it's like I'm at the point where it feels like a year goes by too quickly for me to have much in the way of premium subscriptions anymore. I just rarely seem to really get my money's worth out of them and the time for me to renew seems to come up too soon.

So that's basically the issue for me, the price has gotten expensive enough to where I really question the value and subscription access just doesn't appeal to me with the way I approach video games now a days. So now I'm happy with just sticking to Core and focusing on my backlog.

Yikes, sounds like something I am best off avoiding.

How is it this hard for them to simply make a couple games work offline?

Glad they're doing this though because The Crew is probably one of the few things from Ubisoft in recent years that I have liked, and it doesn't seem like Ubisoft will be around much longer.

Not sure how it could be taking Microsoft a long time to get a payment platform together, they actively run a multitude of storefronts that readily accept and process payments no problem.

Wow, exactly what I have no use or desire for.

@Kaloudz There is a big difference between a game being delisted and a game being no longer playable. A game getting delisted is like physical copies no longer being produced, that should have no impact on your ability to enjoy what you already purchased.

@NishimuraX I am tired of being disappointed with today's video games journalism. Seems like everyone on gaming sites is a sellout now a days. It's why I no longer care about what they think.

Whatever Ubisoft, I am now comfortable with not owning your games. Heck I am getting comfortable with you no longer being in business. Bye!

As for me this game is a reminder of why I am happy I dropped Gamepass Ultimate and downgraded to Core. This doesn't appeal to me at all. If you love it, well good for you I guess, but I am not sold on it at all and I have no shortage of games to play that actually interest me. Gamepass has only seemed to become a worse deal over time and if they keep upping the price that will only become more obvious.

The two games are completely different and only share the same theme. Game devs can't stake claim to an entire concept for a video game. It's like the Harvest Moon IP holder going after any game with farming in it like Stardew Valley. In fact just about all of the ideas in Drug Dealer Simulator originated elsewhere.

I feel like Xbox took all of the good momentum they had this gen and ruined it lately.

This review reminds me of why I stopped trusting reviews

Yeah, it really does feel like Switch 2 has the worst reveal since the Xbox One, but at least Microsoft had the good sense to quickly abandon everything that everyone hated about it.

First off I rarely ever buy new $70 games as it is, it's gotta be something that I REALLY want badly, like I know 100% sure that I definitely want to play it and will definitely enjoy it sort of thing, and even then I seem to wait for a sale most of the time.

As for Gamepass, Ultimate already got too expensive for me to justify considering the quality of games they've been releasing lately. I downgraded to Core.

I went from not really caring about the Xbox handheld to suddenly having a strong interest in it. If I'm going to be paying $450 for a Switch 2 it's like I might as well be cross shopping it with something like this now, and if Nintendo wants to start charging $80 - $90 for their games the prospect of me getting a next gen handheld with access to games I already got from Xbox, along with the much lower price games will likely have on the Microsoft store makes the Xbox handheld look a lot more attractive.

Gamepass Ultimate has already become too expensive for me to justify anymore.

@GeeForce Yeah most of the animated backgrounds are really disappointing, just minimal animation on a lot of them.