Matthewnh

@IronMan30

Whenever I notice your comments, I always think that it is good to see that other people appreciate Bill Hicks.

A fantastic comic. He only ever told the truth, and people would laugh. An utter legend.

I have my copy, but it was not free.

I did not keep my 360 disc version. I have RDR2 on disc, but not the first game.

So I bought a copy from the Xbox Live store. But that digital copy was the 360 version, not the Series X version.

So I now have the Series X version, and got the older one refunded.

Any idea how long it might take to process that refund?

Either that was much more complicated than it should have been, or I screwed up somewhere.

@JaffeGaffe

Not a problem. Just go to

Xbox.com/refund

I did, and it was sorted out within an hour.

Got it. All sorted out. I have just checked, My Games and Apps.
Red Dead Redemption now comes under the “optimised” tab.

@Titntin I agree, that was so much more difficult than it needed to be.

@Kezelpaso

After having mistakenly gotten rid of it, moving house, I bought myself a download copy of RDR Xbox One, from the Xbox live store, yesterday.

Will this version automatically become the new upgraded one? I cannot yet see anything that indicates this is now the Series X version of RDR.

Edit: an hour later.

I have found the Series X version on the store. I have got a refund of the 360 version, and the updated one is presently being installed.

@Cakefish

I was going by the prices I found online.

Console £700
Disc Drive £90
Dualsense Edge Joypad £190

Total £980

Sure, maybe I exaggerated slightly, but not by much.

@Gabrielmpf

Just wanted to tell you that I like your avatar/profile pic.

I have lots of good memories of Mirrors Edge. What a fantastic and unique game that was. Enjoyed Catalyst, too, but did not think it was quite as good as the original.

For a quick comparison, the high-end current-generation PS5 Pro already costs £1000. Assuming you want one with a disc drive.

I can only imagine what price the PS6 or the Xbox equivalent is going to be.

I have a few favourites that I replay regularly.

Games like Uncharted, or Hogwarts Legacy.

I have replayed all of the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, many times, to see different parts of the story. Make different choices. Only completed Veilguard once so far, simply because I did not enjoy it as much as Inquisition. I must have completed Dragon Age Inquisition dozens of times!

I have replayed Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, completed that twice.

I have also seen the end of Starfield at least three times. But have no desire to replay it again for a long while.

Sure, this console will cost at least £1000.

But the PS5 Pro is already that much, by the time you add on the disc drive.

For me it is far too early to consider a Next Box. Or a PS6.

Yes, the next generation on consoles are going to be expensive, but I am also sure that they are going to be awesome. And most likely worthy of that high price.

I already had “franchise fatigue”, a long time ago.

Played Modern Warfare, and MWII. Am not really interested in any others.

The best FPS I ever played was the remake of Medal of Honor, and the sequel Medal of Honor Warfighter.

Those two games were just awesome.

And that was back in 2012.

I quite like the black-and-white one, the “Ice Breaker”. That looks good.

Currently using the limited edition Starfield one.

I remember having the Amstrad CPC, as a kid. Not sure how old I would have been at the time. Ours did have an actual disc drive built in, rather than the cassette player.

Cannot say that I remember any of these games at all.

Replaced that several years later, with the Commodore Amiga. Playing Starfield now surely brings back lots of good memories of months sunk into Frontier (Elite II) on the Amiga.

Eventually I replaced the Amiga with the very first Sony PlayStation. And the rest is just history.

If XBox are superseding the Series X with a new, and more powerful machine, then I must admit that I am out.

The Series X is great, and so is my PS5, but I have no intention of replacing either of them. I might upgrade to the PS5 Pro, but I have no intention of joining a new console generation.

The two consoles I have are both excellent, and still seem to have a great deal of untapped potential.

And with XBox history of peculiar naming conventions, what do you suppose they are going to call this one?

Xbox Two? Xbox Alpha? Xbox Omega? Xbox Y?

Cynically, my attitude to this right now is Xbox Y Bother?

What? I am the only one who enjoyed “Hardline”?

I feel they deserved much more credit for trying something new and different.

Dragon Age Inquisition is one of the best games I have ever played.

That’s a game that I have played over and over again. It is a shame that all of what happens throughout has very little bearing on The Veilguard.

The Veilguard is so very different, that to me it did not even FEEL like a Dragon Age game.

I have 15 Xbox games.

Some on the Series X hard drive. Some on a 1TB expansion card

I have 34 games and apps on the PS5, all of which are stored on the expansion 2TB SSD, with 500GB of free space remaining. PS5 internal HDD is empty.

I would love to slowly rebuild my game collection. I had to be ruthless, and got rid of so much stuff when I moved house.

@Pac_Bot

Yes, this is the government we are talking about.

People who are supposed to operate in our best interests.

Unfortunately, these same people can put 2 and 2 together, and they are convinced the answer is 22.

On the issue itself, I am a libertarian, and resent government overreach and interference and censorship. Protecting your children should be the responsibility of the parents, not the state.

To quote Benjamin Franklin : “Those of you willing to sacrifice your permanent liberty in order to ensure a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”.

I expect that those people who DESPERATELY want to play both Xbox and PS5 games will already own both machines.

I think this might have happened because Sony have now reached some kind of upper limit/saturation point with their PS5 exclusives, and are looking for another outlet, to sell more games. (Meaning most people who want a PS5 will have one by now).

It seems a little odd that the same people who argue about “Console Exclusives” don’t apply the same standard to Nintendo.

Would anyone like to see Mario Kart et al, ported to Series X?

Personally, I have no preferences, as I already have a PS5 and a Series X, but I agree that more choice is always a good thing.

Sony should really spend their time and effort manufacturing more PS5 Pro hardware, but then I suppose that would cause the price to drop.

@TrollOfWar

That’s actually a good point. I had not considered that, until you put it “black and white”.

As I said, I was probably only being cynical, but you have actually given me something to think about.

Thanks.

To me this all part of Microsoft’s marketing push that “everything is an XBox”.

Yes, terrific, it sells games.
But why did I buy a Series X? Surely, to play XBox games.

I assume that there must be much more profit in software sales, than in hardware.

So, what is to stop me from selling my Series X and my PS5, and simply tracking down a Pro?

Surely MS will lose money, Sony must get some cut of the profits for all Xbox games released on PS, or else why bother?

Sorry, I did not intend to sound quite so cynical.

I really enjoyed this game, and was perfectly happy with the first-person POV.

People argued “why have a character creator when you never see your own character on screen”?

But the same criticism can be brought up about Starfield.

With a third-person point of view, I think that Avatar would have simply felt like every other Ubisoft game.

Actually I found the first-person point of view made the whole game far more immersive.

My first play-through required several restarts, just to get used to it.

I can really appreciate all of the quality-of-life improvements that have come along since then. I think that I have now played through the campaign about four times.

Accidentally stumbled into Shattered Space, the first time. But completed it, once, the next time around. When I was more prepared.

My favourite part of the game so far has been the Andreja romance-plotline. Fantastic.

Just loaded the game, just now, and walked into the Lodge. Vasco says “Hello Captain, I have not seen you in a Looong time”.

Does the game remember that have not played it?

I have no real desire to replay Starfield again, not for a long while. As I probably overdid it at first.

I used to have a 5TB external hard drive. But it died. I also found it to be extremely slow.

But I bought the 1TB expansion card as soon as they became available. Larger versions were not yet available. But I love the fact that the expansion card is instantly accessible. And so easy to use.

I may yet get a larger expansion card, at some point, but right now I feel that they are too expensive for me.

I also have a PS5. Not the Pro, not yet. The PS5 has a 2tb SSD card inside. I was hesitant at first, but opening the lid was easier than I expected.

When I see this, I cannot help but think of Watch Dogs.

That game had lots of potential, that was not fully realised. A kind of “Style over Substance” issue.

But, we shall wait and see.

I very rarely buy games that are new. Not any longer.

I find that if I wait for a few months, then the price drops a little anyway. And most games will be in better condition by then as well, with bug fixes and such.

One round of golf, on PGA Tour 2k25 (PS5 version).

Beyond that, carrying on with Starfield (XSX). Second playthrough with the same character. And I’m trying to make different decisions this time around.

If either Microsoft, or Sony for that matter, stop producing disc-based consoles then I shall simply stop buying them.

In the past I have owned five generations of PlayStation, and three generations of Xbox. And every one of those consoles has had a disc drive.

In fact, almost all of my Xbox software is games on disc, from the Xbox One generation.

To be honest, I also believe that GamePass is also partly responsible for this shift toward digital-only game releases and discless hardware. I am also aware of the irony, in that if you buy a game on disc, what you are buying is simply the licence to play that game. Almost all of the game will now come in the form of an internet download.

I am never certain if Jeff Grubb is a reliable source, or not.

I will continue to remain sceptical of his announcements.

However I did enjoy his early work, the novel “Azure Bonds” in particular.

I had the original Elite controller. Series 1, I suppose you might call it now.

It was very good, but the rubber grips on the handles peeled away eventually. Considering that these cost over £100 each, at the time, this was most disappointing.

As you can imagine, I have not been inclined to get the Series 2 controller.

Best game of this generation so far for me has to be Hogwarts Legacy. Just because of the phenomenal attention to detail.

Unfortunately, I have only played the PS5 version.

I only seem to use the XBox for exclusives.

So it has to be Starfield. No Question.

Of course, will there actually be such a thing as “Xbox exclusive games” in the future?

I agree completely. Microsoft’s naming conventions are a little odd.

Xbox
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Xbox One X
Xbox Series X

That is hardly what I would call a logical sequence, or any sort of sequence at all, in fact. For non-gamers (parents) it must be especially confusing. The obvious solution is to ask which is the most expensive? That will likely be the newest model.

As to what to call the very newest model, I have no idea.

Xbox A?
Xbox Series Y? Z?

Actually the name XBox Prime is not too bad, given previous examples. Although it does make me think of Transformers.

Mirrors Edge is an incredible game.

It is definitely not a First-person shooter. Think of it more as a puzzle game. How do I get from A to B to C, as quickly as possible?

The game can, and really should, be completed without shooting anybody at all. The only time I picked up a pistol, I just used it to break a window.

The hand-to-hand combat is really tricky in first-person, especially when your opponents have guns, and you do not. But a well-timed disarm will leave your opponent unconscious.

When the game flows, and runs really well at speed, it is amazing. There is truly no other game quite like Mirrors Edge.

I am in this position. I own both a Series X, and a PS5.

I own both consoles, because there are great games that are exclusive to both of these consoles. But those games may no longer be exclusive.

If customers can now play Xbox games on their home consoles without having to buy an actual xbox, then it will get more people playing a wider variety of games.

Several years ago I bought an Xbox one so that I could play Halo and Gears of War.

Developers will always sell far more software than they will sell hardware.

If PlayStation owners can now play Xbox games without having to spend £500 on an Xbox, then surely everybody wins?

Are Sony going to follow suit? And release their best titles on the Xbox?

The very fact that Dragon Age Veilguard was a single-player story based adventure was the only reason I bought it.

If the new game had been a live service “game” like Anthem, then I would not have bothered.

But the fact that Veilguard is a success bodes well for the new Mass Effect. It would be good to get back into that universe.

It is an unpopular idea, but I would also like to see a sequel to Andromeda, one day.

They name it “The Competitor”.

That is either very appropriate, or it is intended as irony.

I wonder if Sony will complain, as it is possible that Hyperkin violated trademarks and such things.

There seem to be a few PlayStation fans throwing “shade” at Microsoft for this. Despite Microsoft not being responsible.

Currently replaying Avatar Frontiers of Pandora.

Thoroughly enjoying it, again.

I play XBox games, on an XBox.
Series X, to be precise.

Why would I bother using anything else?

I realise now that I only actually bought ONE game this year.
I bought Dragon Age Veilguard, for the Xbox.

And I must buy Indy, some time next year. And I want to give Starfield another go, too.

However, I also got five games this year for the PS5.
They are Flintlock Siege of Dawn, Astrobot, Black Myth Wukong, Avatar, and Star Trek Resurgence.

@PhileasFragg

I agree with you. Star Trek Resurgence is brilliant. Underrated, though. I suppose it only appeals to Star Trek fans.

If you have The Next Generation on disc or streaming, then watch “The Last Outpost”, season 1, episode 4. It will be a precursor to the events of the game. The story will therefore make more sense, having that episode as a backstory.

Currently playing through Dragon Age II, on series X.

Having finished Veilguard, going to try to replay all of the Dragon Age games.

Bought Black Myth Wukong, for Christmas. But it can wait.

I will also try to replay Starfield, after this new update. Sometime.

Now is a good time to buy a Storage Expansion Card.

I have had one more or less ever since I got the Series X.

351GB free (of 802) on internal storage.
326.5GB free (of 920) on expansion card.

It specifically says that it is a 1TB storage card, but I guess not.

Just started the Mass Effect Trilogy, yet again. Honestly, started yesterday.

Recently completed the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster, so followed up with Forbidden West.

Next, I will pick up Veilguard (Series X) come payday, in two weeks time.

Will probably buy my copy, on Xbox, at the end of next month. My Christmas gift to myself.

I have played Dragon Age Inquisition more than I have any other game. So, regardless of the reviews, this is a must buy for me. I shall make up my own mind as to whether I enjoy it or not.

But purely because the PS5 version of Horizon Zero Dawn comes out tomorrow, I have more than enough to keep me busy for the time being.

And I have always found something to enjoy from every BioWare title I have ever played. Even Andromeda.

Okay, maybe not Anthem. That one does not count.

If you actually have the Xbox fridge, then yes, I can see the appeal.
But not directly attached to your console. That’s a terrible idea. There is just too much potential for things to go wrong.

I have Shattered Space, as I bought the Premium edition of Starfield. Have not got around to playing this new expansion yet, though. But I will soon. I would prefer to make up my own mind, than read reviews.

It is actually quite clear, if you look at the top of the plastic case.

The one on the left says “XBOX ONE”
And the one on the right says “XBOX” and has the logo for “Series X”.

But I agree that it is confusing.
This is likely to cause problems, because some people are novices, or not even gamers. Imagine someone buying one as a present.

Perhaps we could have them colour coded as well? Make the Xbox One games in green plastic cases. Maybe put the Series S/X versions into black plastic cases, instead?

This might make it more obvious.

But I agree with the other comment - Activision is at fault here, and not Microsoft. The real issue is - Is this deliberate?

I bought the Starfield controller.

Does that count?

Personally, I think this looks good.
I am certain that I will give it a go, eventually.

And the new Dragon Age game.

I do not play games as much as I used to, simply because - I suspect much like most other people - I can no longer find the time. The perils of getting older.

I work, though not as many hours as some, and have other responsibilities. Like everybody else. But no children, though.

What free time I have, is now divided between gaming, reading, or watching a film. But I suppose the positive side is that this does make me value my free time much more.

But also, the games I play have changed. I now play rpgs and adventure games much more than I used to. I guess I want to be involved in a story, rather than just a quick action fix.

The two games I have played most this year are Hogwarts Legacy, and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. Looking forward to Dragon Age 4, and Black Myth Wukong.