Comments 127

Re: These Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (December 23-27)

Matthewnh

@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.

Re: Roundup: The Reviews Are In For Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Matthewnh

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.

Re: The Retail Boxes For The New Call Of Duty Are Seriously Confusing

Matthewnh

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?

Re: Talking Point: Has Your Gaming Slowed Down As You've Got Older?

Matthewnh

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.

Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Gets Huge Gameplay Deep Dive Ahead Of Fall 2024 Launch On Xbox

Matthewnh

@Kienda

Play Dragon Age Inquisition.

I can thoroughly recommend it.

The Dragon Age games have a continuous narrative running through them, so you will probably have a better grasp of the story for having played the previous instalment. It will also help you understand who your various companions are.

I am sure there will be some sort of recap, but the “recent events” of Dragon Age Inquisition are going have a direct impact upon the plot of Veilguard.

I still want to call it “Dreadwolf”. Ha Ha.

Plus, the original Dragon Age game (360) is probably the greatest computer RPG ever made.

Re: Here's Everything That Was Revealed At Ubisoft Forward 2024

Matthewnh

@Banjo-

Yes. I really enjoyed it.

It perfectly captures the atmosphere of the films. It is fair to say that the game is simply a Far Cry clone, with a coat of blue paint. However, the recreation of the world of Pandora is just stunning, and the exploration feels natural.

I explored the map, not for the usual Ubisoft checklist of stuff, but because I genuinely wanted to see what was over the next hill.

The idea of clearing installations and camps, in order to heal the surrounding wilderness, and thereby gain access to its resources - this was very clever.

But honestly, I love the Avatar movies as well. If you do not enjoy those films, then you would be unlikely to enjoy 50-odd hours exploring Pandora.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 25-26)

Matthewnh

What am I playing this weekend?

Nothing.

Moving house the day after tomorrow, so everything is in boxes right now. So, ask me again in a few weeks, once I unpack.

I am curious to see what Starfield is like now, mind you.

And I seriously recommend keeping the boxes for your consoles and other electronic equipment. You never know when it will come in useful.

Re: Talking Point: What Convinced You To Pick Xbox In The First Place?

Matthewnh

I had a PS3. Played Saints Row 2

Loved that game.

Wanted to play the first Saints Row game. So I bought a basic 360 Arcade.

Then I added a few other Xbox exclusives. Halo is the one really remember.

Every generation since, I have had both a PS and an XBox.

But I always seem to buy the Xbox first.

The series x was certainly easier to get hold of than the ps5.

Re: Starfield's Biggest Update Yet Is Bringing Major New Features To Xbox This Month

Matthewnh

Might be tempted to give Starfield another go.

I quit trying to while get off that ship that is full of treasure. Literally died dozens (perhaps hundreds) of times. Then I gave up.

This might tempt me start again. But I would probably start again from scratch. I am determined to finish the game at some point.

Got to try and complete the Avatar game first of all, though.

Re: Xbox Games Are Enjoying A 'Positive Upward Trend' On PS5, Suggests New Analysis

Matthewnh

This is good news.

The more people playing these different titles, the better.
The rivalry between the two consoles is unnecessary.

Will Forza, Gears, Halo, and Starfield make the jump to PS5?
Will Spiderman swing onto Xbox Series X?

In the end, more choices for gamers can only be good.

I have owned both an Xbox and a PlayStation for the last three generations. Happy to play games on both consoles.

Re: Talking Point: Xbox Series X|S Owners, How's Your Storage Looking In 2024?

Matthewnh

I have a Series X.

Internal storage is 69% full. 244GB remaining.
1TB Storage Expansion Card is 69% full. 285GB remaining.
5TB External Hard Drive 24% full. 3.5 TB remaining.

Basically all of my Series X games are either stored on the Internal Hard Drive or the Expansion Card, for the faster storage.

Most Xbox One games are on the external HDD.

I have a total of 55 games on my library. But I did have a bit of a purge recently, and got rid of a few I no longer played very regularly,

Re: Talking Point: In Your Opinion, What Made The Xbox 360 Era So Incredible?

Matthewnh

The first Xbox I bought was the 360 Arcade.

I bought it to play Saints Row.
I had lots of fun with the madness of Saints Row 2, on PS3. And wanted to play the original game.

I subsequently discovered great Xbox games like Halo.

When the next generation arrived the first console I bought was the Xbox One.

And I also bought a Series X before I got my PS5. But that is possibly because the PS5 was not exactly easy to get hold of at the time.

Even now I still have a handful of 360 games on disc, that I still play.

Dragon Age, Mirrors Edge, Red Dead Redemption

I only replaced the 360 versions of the Mass Effect games once the Legendary Edition arrived.

Even now I think most of their games I own are remakes of older games.

Re: Random: What Happens If You Try To Play Kinect Games On Xbox Series X|S?

Matthewnh

Kinect was a clever piece of hardware.

I did not have any actual “Kinect” games, and did not really have a lot of room, and with motion control you the need space to move around.

But being able to control the Xbox One with my voice, that was cool. I enjoyed that. Now it seems that almost everything else is voice-activated, except for the xbox.

I use to have PSVR, on the PS4, but only ever used it to play movies in 3D

Is it even possible to connect (no pun intended) a Kinect sensor to the Series X? Probably not.!

Re: BioWare Celebrates N7 Day 2023 With New Mass Effect Teaser Trailer

Matthewnh

I agree.
Mass Effect Andromeda was brilliant, and totally under-rated. I enjoyed the fact that they tried something new.

The game needed to have the planned DLC, to answer so many questions. For instance, we never did find out what happened to the Quarians. Hopefully the next game will bring some answers, and not just try to ignore Andromeda altogether.

Re: Ubisoft's Pirate Game Skull & Bones Gets New Release Window, Again

Matthewnh

I have been waiting for this game for so very long, that I am sceptical that it shall ever see the light of day.

After waiting for years, all i can say is that it had better worth the wait.

At the time, this was exactly the kind pirate adventure game I was looking for. But that was then - I have no idea what the ultimate end product will finally look like now.

Re: Roundup: Here's What The Critics Think Of Starfield So Far

Matthewnh

Had early access, so been playing for a few days. Slowly got that hang of it. The story takes a while to really get going. The general feel of it is Mass Effect, mixed with “Firefly”. The world building is incredible, and once I had played through the first few hours, I started again.

Now that I have got the hang of it, and the story is starting to open up, I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Cannot wait to see what happens next.

Re: Early Access Players, What Are Your First Impressions Of Starfield?

Matthewnh

Really impressed by the scale, and the attention to detail, so far. About five hours of play, yesterday. Exactly the same sense of wonder I got from playing Frontier (Elite II) on the Amiga, years ago.

Just got to Constellation.

Then I went a little too far from safety, and got slaughtered. So now that I understand how it all works, gonna start from scratch. I haven’t missed much, so I can play without having to learn again.

I agree that better map way- pointing might be a good idea. Got lost wandering around New Atlantis. Sounds like I’m not the only one.

Re: It's Time! Starfield Early Access Is Now Available On Xbox & PC

Matthewnh

I joined GamePass Ultimate. Thanks to all of the community here, for recommending it. And downloaded Starfield.

I had preordered the disc edition from Amazon, and the Premium Edition Upgrade, download code, too. The premium content code should arrive within the next few hours. Should give me early access, right? While I wait for the disc version to arrive next week.

Got a scary email from Amazon, which suggests that even they are not sure it will work. But I shall let you know.

Redeemed the code for the Premium Content, and yes. It works. Played for about 45mins. Really impressed so far. Just landing on the first new planet.

Re: Talking Point: Have You Ever Bought An Xbox For One Specific Game?

Matthewnh

The reason I bought a 360 was to play Saints Row. (The very first Saints Row game)

I was a huge fan of SR2 (on the PS3) but the earlier game was only ever released on Xbox. So I found a cheap 360 arcade version.

I bought an Xbox One before buying a PS4, and had already bought a Series X before finally managing to buy of a PS5.
but part of that was because the Series X was easier to get ahold of.

The good thing is that once I had a 360, as well as a PS4 I could buy exclusives for both consoles. Something I continue to do, even now.

Re: New Xbox Games Release Dates In 2023

Matthewnh

Well, I have already preordered Starfield.
Will buy the new Forza, but not straight away.
Assassins Creed Mirage looks amazing.
I have the special edition of Avatar Pandora preordered (for the PS5 - yeah I know)
I also fancy the remaster of Metal Gear Solid - not sure how well remastered it will be though.

And that should keep me going for most of 2024 I should imagine.

Re: Bethesda Exec Responds To 'Unprofessional' Criticism Of Starfield's Menu Screen

Matthewnh

It seems that some people simply like to complain. It is simple, tidy, and effective.

Reminds of the fuss last week, when the Xbox home page/front end changed as well. And changed for the better, in my opinion.

If they had added a lot more to the menu, I guarantee that these same people would complain that it was too cluttered.

Edit - I just clicked on the message/tweet (whatever they are now called) and it loaded the picture full screen. It looks amazing.

Re: Pick One: Which Franchise Do You Prefer, Red Dead Or GTA?

Matthewnh

Both RDR2 and GTAV are brilliant games, and I have played them both many times.

Bear in mind that I do not play Red Dead Online, nor GTA Online.

But for the sheer level of detail involved in the world-building, I have to say that Red Dead Redemption 2 comes out on top. Just.

Re: Backwards Compatible Games Will Remain Purchasable After Xbox 360 Store Closure

Matthewnh

I still have disc editions of about ten xbox 360 games.

Dragon Age, Red Dead Redemption, Mirrors Edge, and a few others.

The only one I have as a download is Fable. So I am hoping there will be an updated disc edition of that, at some point. There was talk of a Fable remaster, wasn’t there?

I also have about a dozen PS4 games, all of which seem to run on the PS5 (at least for now). Only two of those are downloads. So yes, if there are older games that you still want to play, then try and buy physical copies of them now. The good thing is you should be able to find most of them quite cheaply.

Re: Xbox Fans React Poorly As Big 'Store' Button Replaces 'Browse My Games' In Latest Update

Matthewnh

The “My Games and Apps” tab is now in the little menu, top centre of the screen. So rather than pressing down, you now press up, instead.

Easy. I really don’t know what people are complaining about.

I cannot be the only person who actually thinks that this is an improvement. Can I?

I agree that there are a lot of adverts, but I will likely only ever pay attention to the very top five rows, and do not care about anything underneath that. And (sarcastic) you do realise the very first adverts you see are a list of FREE GAMES?

Top row is all the games and apps I have played recently. As usual.
Second row is the store.
Third row is FREE games - don’t care about this one.
Fourth row is Quick Resume - in my case, right now Dragon Age Inquisition
Fifth row is my Starfield pin, getting ready for September
Sixth row is friends and community

I will probably never even look below that.