I was extremely hyped for this game and bought it twice. I own the briefcase and watch that came with a Steam edition of the game and, because at the time I really wanted my achievements on Xbox, I also bought the premium edition digitally [and 100% completed those achievements, although never did the DLC].
My biggest complain about the game is actually very different from everything I heard from everyone.
I didn't mind the "teleporting" from planet to planet (sounds tedious to actually travel the universe honestly), although I was no fan of the galactic map UI at all.
My real complain though, was the game was not randomized enough. While everyone complained the game was too RNG, my issue is that after you see the handful of installation templates... you have see everything. I ran into all those buildings so many times in so many planets and moons... every single time, the second I saw the facility in the distance, I instantly knew the whole inner map for the instance... Even most story focused dungeons were repeats with a tiny exclusive section that is sealed on standard reuses of the dungeon.
So yea my issue was that the game was too much copy and paste, not that the game was RNG. Hell... I'm not sure if there was any randomization. I forget the achievement, but for one of the resource-based achievements I literally followed a guide that said, "go to this exact coords in this exact planet and do this", it turned out every planet is identical on every run. At least at launch.
Anyways, enough ranting. Other than the above, the core game was good, and I been hoping enough DLC to address my concerns before I go back and try to do the extra content. From what I hear, so far, my concerns have not really been addressed.
Like this. A thing that I found frustrating trying to use Xbox app as a launcher was precisely the lack of this feature. I can add non-steam games to my Steam library with a bit of work (or no work if I don't care about the in-library presentation) allowing me to easily use Steam Big Picture mode as my only launcher even when playing standalone games like FFXIV (non-steam version) or Genshin Impact (don't play it but it's an example).
Xbox Mode still needs a lot of work, though. I have a hard time putting it into words, but when Steam enters Big Picture Mode, it behaves like a game. Smooth hardware accelerated UI that feels more like a game on itself.
Xbox Mode just feels like a magnified Windows App with some very janky UI gamepad navigation. And don't get me started about how horrible the xbox app overlay is with a controller... it's like some windows dev spat C#.net forms all over the screen!
Steam Big Picture mode is the minimum bar Xbox Mode needs to aim for. Until then, I'll do the opposite of what they want and manually add any installed Xbox game to my Steam library manually.
I'm wish I was baffled at how many seem to actually like how this garbage look, but am not given how many like photoshopped fan garbage that "prettifies" female characters some boys dim "ugly".
Anyways this stuff is horrible and not just because "it's AI". Increased resolution via AI is ok (most of the time). Frame generation was already annoying and added zero responsiveness. But this is a complete bastardization of the artist's work.
This industry is going a rabbit hole that leads to the sewers, and some gamers will literally cheer while diving into the sewage waters.
@Banjo- Focusing on Xbox, not the competition: it will take a lot for me to stop being pessimistic about the shakeup, especially the fact that an ai exec got put in charge.
I chose Xbox as my primary platform this gen precisely because of the focus on respecting our purchases across console and windows.
The minute I see copilot integration into Xbox consoles expand, though, chances are I'll just drop everything and go full steam from there.
@Banjo- I'm still extremely skeptical especially after that whole cooked gamer profile fiasco.
I'm not writing off Xbox, but I need to see a lot more obvious action than just a few "we hear you" tweets for me to be convinced this is going to go the right direction.
If I see a complete restructuring of GamePass that results in something reasonable instead of the current overpriced mess, I might start being somewhat optimistic again.
@Matthewnh Although some of the names have been weird indeed (mainly Xbox One, IMO) PlayStation (until just recently with the Switch 2) was the only console that used sequential numbers.
Every single console ever released before and after has always used a sub-name... ok there is one other exception: Magnavox Odyssey 2.
Atari: 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar, Lynx Nintendo: NES, Super NES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Switch, GameBoy: GB Color, GB Advance, Nintendo DS, DSi, 3DS, New 3DS Sega: Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast Xbox: 360, One, Series X|S
Even Sony named their handhelds something arbitrary: PSP and PSVita
Anyways point being, only reason sequential numbers are seen as the logical is because a 2 (3?) of the most successful Sony consoles used numbers.
All in all, I think Series X|S was not that bad of a name considering the dual model setup. But they really should start embracing some of these internal codenames because they are a lot cooler than the names they go to marketing with. Ok... Brooklin was a dumb name so Series X|S would still be better there... but Scorpio was a damned cool name!!!
@Banjo- No management can spin a ship this large around that fast. My bet is this stuff was all lined up and ready to go forth. All we seeing is stuff that has been years in the making. Even the Helix name is something I bet was already decided.
All the stuff that is being talked about now are just confirmations on rumors we been hearing for years. Only thing I **might** give the new management would be a choice to toss the Helix name out there a week earlier instead of dropping the news at GDC. But I'm nearly 99% certain this was the plan.
I even argue that the whole "everything is an Xbox" strategy is going forward, simply rebranded. Note how "full screen experience" was renamed "Xbox mode", more literally turning anything running the mode into an "Xbox". Only thing they doing is removing the marketing line, not the strategy.
The campaign might be gone but not it's spirit. Yea many users hated it, but the core idea that you can play Xbox on any device that can host their ecosystem is very much still there.
Proof? Look at their announcement of their full screen experience rolling out publicly next month. It's literally being renamed to Xbox Mode. They are doubling down on their strategy, just acknowledging the messaging for it failed. They as hell are not backing down from the strategy, though.
For me, the main reason I preferred consoles is that playing with keyboard is just impossible due to accessibility issues. Gamepads work perfectly with my needs. Since their first attempt at a Steam Machine, Valve has worked hard to make gamepad usage on PC as smooth if not smoother than on console. They even make sure any console controller is fully supported. Want to use a Dual Shock 4 or a Nintendo Switch Pro controller? Steam got you covered!
Their system is also becoming more and more TV friendly, and I think it will just blow up when the Steam Machine finally lands. Especially if they finally truly open up the OS for anyone to install without pursuing forks. In the meantime, big picture mode on a windows PC works wonders.
@themightyant My perspective as an indie that is diving back into it after a decade of just doing the standard corporate thing (not stopping that, just deciding to spend some of my free time relearning the indie curve) supporting the Xbox PC store is not exactly something you do with the push of a button.
As far as I understand, engines like Godot don't directly let you do that because of closed APIs that require being part of something like id@xbox. One ends up having to use middleware solutions that have additional costs to be able to push indie projects into Xbox, even just the Xbox PC game store (not exactly the same as the Microsoft Store for apps.)
I am not sure if what they are talking about here is going to fix this, but if they open up more, actually allowing anyone to use their achievements APIs and all that mumbo jumbo in a way that allows Godot and other engines to just push to Xbox out of the box, you might see more indie games hit Xbox PC day and date instead of only happening after they see enough success in Steam.
As an indie dev, I have zero reason to not target a platform other than contractual and financial barriers.
If I recall correctly, the BC program was ended because it reached the limits of what was possible due to licensing or technical limitations.
However, this was before MS acquired ABK and at a point where any new addition had to work on Xbox One.
ABK ownership opens up their options for licensing as MS might be very willing to secure IP needed for re-listing the games. On the technical front, the program could reopen with a caveat that new titles might not work on Xbox one, maybe not even on Series X|S and be available only on Helix.
Spider-Man 2 was ported “at record speed” with about 15 month exclusivity.
Even if Yotei was to follow that pattern, a port would not land until January 2027 at the earliest. Chances are Oct 27. That’s so far away that any of this sounds like articles for the sake of clicks and views.
About time!!! I wonder if this is something they intentionally refused to add... You have no clue how many games I got off steam because of this feature, being able to sort my wish list by discount is huge for publishers... not so much for my wallet because it makes me buy games I likely wont ever play... 😅
Personally I think Steam’s SteamDeck has shown us what Xbox should have always been. I don’t care much for Bill Gates, but the whole point of Xbox from the get go was to bring Windows and Microsoft to the living-room.
At the time, the distinct console made sense but today, a unified streamlined OS is a lot more logical. We just need that Gaming Mode to feel more like a console (as Steam Big Picture does) than a maximized PC app (sadly how Xbox Full Screen Experience feels).
The whole “everything is an Xbox” relied heavily on GamePass growth and adoption of game streaming turning any device into an Xbox client, but I think that path died when GamePass growth died down.
I bought a Xbox 360 for GTAV and loved it. GTAV was also great but then they shifted to maintaining an online game and I lost all interest in the franchise.
It’s obviously working for them, but as far as I expect GTA6 is just a Trojan horse into yet another whale fishing online game.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I got plenty else to play. If I ever buy it, it’s because it went on a deep discount.
It will be on Xbox one way or another, sooner or later, unless they decide to stop selling games on PC.
I'm indifferent either way, I jumped into to the My Windows PC is My Xbox back when Starfield launched with 30fps on Series X and am very unlikely to go back for anything but a few old exclusives. Even that might eventually phase out if the rumors of software backwards compatibility end up being true.
Doesn't Game Pass Premium already give some access to PC Gamepass? Because due to crossplay for me all that sounds like is not expanding GP but limiting/removing PC Game Pass and forcing PC users into either the limited Premium tier or the Ultimate one, both being more expensive/limited paths.
I also do wonder what any of this would mean in a future where the next Xbox is simply a PC [with potentially console BC]...
This comment section is sure full of some... wild opinions.
The key issue was noted in the article: these games took 6 years to build. IMO they were solid games but spending 6 years in a game balloon both the budget and the expectations.
As a new IP (despite being tied to Pillars, for most Avowed is a new IP) they might had invested too much into it. And they could had gotten away with a game half the size of OW2 for the sequel.
I think both these games are suffering that they were designed and greenlit at a time where Game Pass was growing like crazy and apparently would keep on going. As soon as that slowed down, they should have either scaled the projects down or pursue a multi-platform release.
But honestly, the entire industry needs to stop this 6-10 year dev cycles. They are ridiculous, the games over engineered, and anything other than wild success can doom whole studios or even entire publishers. We need to go back to the days of 3 year dev cycles.
Make a game and release at least 2 sequels that are mostly iterative. Stop trying to remake every single asset for every sequel!!!
Can you imagine if every movie ever produced insisted on re-buying every single prop used on set???
I know a lot of people will be resistant to changes, but classic consoles are on their way out and that graph shows it.
I been a hardcore console gamer for decades, I'm one of the people that resisted PC and vouched for consoles simplicity but truth is PC is changing, and it's all thanks to Steam.
Since it's first failed attempt at a steam machine, Valve has been working hard to make PC gaming have more and more of the perks of playing on console: more compatibility, game controller support, attempting to fix shade compilation stutter by cache and sharing them. This at the same time that console launches become more unstable and require hotfixes.
For the last year, I been almost exclusively a PC gamer. I still love consoles, for nostalgic reasons, but most those perks are gone for newer releases (and by newer, I mean the last decade worth.)
As excited as I was to get my Series X at launch, mostly for NVME load speeds, I feel the thing came in too soon. I know it feels odd for older people but I think 10 year console cycles are ideal. 3D capabilities are just not evolving fast enough to justify generational jumps any faster.
I mean, isn't the general conception that the Series S is about 50% of the sales as it is? If so, that would mean that roughly 16% are White Series X and 34% Black Series X.
I remember my brother getting the Xbox Live kit for his Xbox. Until then I was not really into Xbox but the concept of playing games online fascinated me.
Sadly I was instantly harassed by men and quickly learned to detest online play because it was a perpetual pattern.
So, despite how much I love my Xbox, my earliest Xbox memory is not exactly a very positive one. To this day I refuse to play online with strangers.
First Xbox I owned myself was a 360 Elite model that I bought to play GTAIV.
The most likely case, given the OS can easily manage the dates: the programmer in charge of making that form simply thought that might be a reasonable value to enter in the date time picker control's Max Date field.
I'm with @BAMozzy. The volatility of the console market future makes me very unlikely to buy anything for consoles right now unless it's Play Anywhere. If it's not Xbox play anywhere, I'll get it on Steam. I am downscaling my console purchases to exclusives only, and even with Sony now I feel I'm better off waiting for the PC release 6/12 months later.
My current preference of purchases:
Xbox Play Anywhere > Steam > Nintendo Switch > PS > Xbox
That said, if I already have an entry in a series on Steam, I'm likely to prefer the sequels there because I can be twitchy about some game's achievement tracking.
$16.49 right now on steam. $20.99 if you want the definitive edition with all DLC. Just saying. Yes, I'm bitter and will understand if this gets taken down.
I mean if someone wants it more power to them and hope they take advantage of this. I could had been locked into this price for the rest of the year since my renewal day was today, but I don't want part of this clown show anymore.
Not like I have the time to take advantage of this.
I canceled. My renewal was today. With that timing I could had stuck to the current rate for the rest of the year but I don’t see a reason to keep giving them my money when chances are I won’t have time to take advantage of it anyways.
This is also making me reconsider my Rog Xbox Ally X preorder. There are still some advantages but without gamepass… it’s way less appealing since I can play most things on my steam deck, and those I can’t I can play on my PC.
I’ll still pick it up but chances are high I’ll return it.
You might want to do the math there because I'm nearly sure most indie games will cost less than the monthly subscription, unless you are a VERY active and proliferous gamer.
@FraserG I don't think the features were "forced on us for a fee" but instead they scrambled to find some features to make the price they had pre-determined feel less terrible.
"We doubled the price of your burgers but now they also have pickles! We can remove the pickles but the price still is double."
It is what it is, but it’s no longer a good deal for me and my limited available time. Cancelled. And the page seems overloaded because it took me way too long to even open the subscriptions page on my phone.
Preordered the X for mostly the same reasons @BAMozzy noted.
I have a SteamDeck and wish I could play PC GP games natively on it. There are still many games that just don't run on the SteamDeck. Having a steam big picture like UI AND being able to run games from any PC storefront sounds perfect to me.
It's expensive, I'll give you that, but I'm lucky I can afford it.
Managed to get my BestBuy preorder through. I just happened to be on my phone when the email that the preorders went live popped and I immediately hopped in to get mine.
I originally was thinking to just get the white model but thoughts of storage alone made me hop on the X.
A lot of people are going on how this will be a failure and the truth is this does not need to be a huge success. It's just some branded hardware for MS. It's also a test bed for their new handheld focused Windows version. No dev is going to have to specifically target this device, I imagine even pre-configured handheld options will just be the same setting template used on the SteamDeck for many games.
What is important here is the evolution of windows for gaming focused devices.
The price, honestly, is not terrible. Yes, it's a high number and not going to become a mainstream device, but it is very competitive with similarly specked handhelds.
Main reason I am getting it is because I still bump into games that just are not compatible with Steam's compatibility layer. It does not hurt that MS is also pushing a lot more aggressively on the Play Anywhere program, with many new announcements going into it now. Wish they could make that retroactive, though.
If the specs of the base model are comparable to the Steam deck in real life testing, I might get it for that price. I would wait a month or so, though. Don’t want to end up with an early production lemon.
100% yes. It would not be my top pick for a full-on remake (Ezio Trilogy as a remake would be ideal, or a big rewriting and expansion on AC 1...) but I still would play the hell out of it.
Heck I think AC3 would also make a way better remake, with expanded open world and finally properly making justice to the civil war battles with hundreads of NPCs battling it out....
But yes yes yes I would jump on AC4 remake.
Just ignore all the voices saying the Animus stuff has to be removed... my biggest complaint with Shadows was the Animus stuff was basically not there at all.
@Broosh yea, they have never been about preserving the feel as much as creating modern feeling controllers that work with those consoles and their games.
Sounds like an attempt to spin off profitable IPs and studios to a new entity that has outside investors while leaving the core company in financial trouble so it can eventually file for whatever the equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy is in France and potentially liquidate those assets without losing control of the viable business.
As for Ubisoft games, I personally have not been disappointed on any Far Cry or Assassin's Creed game (ok maybe Unity was a bit disappointing). Never understood why so many hate the games.
I can wait, but I find it funny that Avowed was rumored to be delayed mostly to avoid launching the same week as Assassin's Creed Shadows and here we are now...
We need a multi-resolution friendly port of the Xbox dashboard for windows as an alternative/replacement to the Windows Explorer.
Make it so it can be switched from one to the other via the start menu while in Desktop mode and via the ... whatever windows calls the side menu while on Xbox mode.
@HarmanSmith Another thing that would be amazing is if somehow MS managed to add an Xbox runtime to windows so computers with certain specs could just run the Xbox Series X or Series S version of games we already own.
I never bought a PS4 pro. I bought an XOX because I saw it for a deep discount on ebay that was under the MSRP of the Xbox One S.
TLDR: not much really. I think it would have to hit under $400-$450 for me to be interested. I already treat my PC as my "Xbox Pro".
Since Play Everywhere, every single first party game ends up having cross-buy and cross-save.
MS biggest achievement would be to lure more third party developers to adopt the Play Anywhere scheme where you can buy a game on XBox and also download it on PC.
@RedShirtRod You hit the nail on the competition point. That is the main reason. The international price shows what a market with poor competition looks like.
@Bobobiwan I was a PS4 fan girl, and I never got myself a Pro. I rocked my fat PS4 to its end.
I dont see the need for the increased visuals, honestly.
The video showcase actually stated that 3/4ths of players don't seem to care either, opting for performance modes over quality.
My biggest annoyance out of these mid-gen consoles are reviewers. I had to stop trusting reviewers because every reviewer would play the games on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, rarely bothering to test the performance of the games on the baseline (and most sold) models.
I was afraid xbox reviewers would do the same this gen but was glad they tend to at least try including notes on Series S performance. I fear starting next year, PlayStation reviews will become worthless, once again.
Comments 3,895
Re: Starfield Gets Major Free Update & New Expansion Next Month, Alongside PS5 Release
I was extremely hyped for this game and bought it twice. I own the briefcase and watch that came with a Steam edition of the game and, because at the time I really wanted my achievements on Xbox, I also bought the premium edition digitally [and 100% completed those achievements, although never did the DLC].
My biggest complain about the game is actually very different from everything I heard from everyone.
I didn't mind the "teleporting" from planet to planet (sounds tedious to actually travel the universe honestly), although I was no fan of the galactic map UI at all.
My real complain though, was the game was not randomized enough. While everyone complained the game was too RNG, my issue is that after you see the handful of installation templates... you have see everything. I ran into all those buildings so many times in so many planets and moons... every single time, the second I saw the facility in the distance, I instantly knew the whole inner map for the instance... Even most story focused dungeons were repeats with a tiny exclusive section that is sealed on standard reuses of the dungeon.
So yea my issue was that the game was too much copy and paste, not that the game was RNG. Hell... I'm not sure if there was any randomization. I forget the achievement, but for one of the resource-based achievements I literally followed a guide that said, "go to this exact coords in this exact planet and do this", it turned out every planet is identical on every run. At least at launch.
Anyways, enough ranting. Other than the above, the core game was good, and I been hoping enough DLC to address my concerns before I go back and try to do the extra content. From what I hear, so far, my concerns have not really been addressed.
Re: With Project Helix On The Horizon, Xbox Is Now Letting You Add Games Manually On PC
Like this. A thing that I found frustrating trying to use Xbox app as a launcher was precisely the lack of this feature. I can add non-steam games to my Steam library with a bit of work (or no work if I don't care about the in-library presentation) allowing me to easily use Steam Big Picture mode as my only launcher even when playing standalone games like FFXIV (non-steam version) or Genshin Impact (don't play it but it's an example).
Xbox Mode still needs a lot of work, though. I have a hard time putting it into words, but when Steam enters Big Picture Mode, it behaves like a game. Smooth hardware accelerated UI that feels more like a game on itself.
Xbox Mode just feels like a magnified Windows App with some very janky UI gamepad navigation. And don't get me started about how horrible the xbox app overlay is with a controller... it's like some windows dev spat C#.net forms all over the screen!
Steam Big Picture mode is the minimum bar Xbox Mode needs to aim for. Until then, I'll do the opposite of what they want and manually add any installed Xbox game to my Steam library manually.
Re: Bethesda Says Starfield Looks 'Amazing' With Nvidia's DLSS 5, But Don't Expect It On Xbox
I'm wish I was baffled at how many seem to actually like how this garbage look, but am not given how many like photoshopped fan garbage that "prettifies" female characters some boys dim "ugly".
Anyways this stuff is horrible and not just because "it's AI". Increased resolution via AI is ok (most of the time). Frame generation was already annoying and added zero responsiveness. But this is a complete bastardization of the artist's work.
This industry is going a rabbit hole that leads to the sewers, and some gamers will literally cheer while diving into the sewage waters.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
@Banjo- Focusing on Xbox, not the competition: it will take a lot for me to stop being pessimistic about the shakeup, especially the fact that an ai exec got put in charge.
I chose Xbox as my primary platform this gen precisely because of the focus on respecting our purchases across console and windows.
The minute I see copilot integration into Xbox consoles expand, though, chances are I'll just drop everything and go full steam from there.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
@Banjo- I'm still extremely skeptical especially after that whole cooked gamer profile fiasco.
I'm not writing off Xbox, but I need to see a lot more obvious action than just a few "we hear you" tweets for me to be convinced this is going to go the right direction.
If I see a complete restructuring of GamePass that results in something reasonable instead of the current overpriced mess, I might start being somewhat optimistic again.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
@Matthewnh Although some of the names have been weird indeed (mainly Xbox One, IMO) PlayStation (until just recently with the Switch 2) was the only console that used sequential numbers.
Every single console ever released before and after has always used a sub-name... ok there is one other exception: Magnavox Odyssey 2.
Atari: 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar, Lynx
Nintendo: NES, Super NES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Switch, GameBoy: GB Color, GB Advance, Nintendo DS, DSi, 3DS, New 3DS
Sega: Master System, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast
Xbox: 360, One, Series X|S
Even Sony named their handhelds something arbitrary: PSP and PSVita
Anyways point being, only reason sequential numbers are seen as the logical is because a 2 (3?) of the most successful Sony consoles used numbers.
All in all, I think Series X|S was not that bad of a name considering the dual model setup. But they really should start embracing some of these internal codenames because they are a lot cooler than the names they go to marketing with. Ok... Brooklin was a dumb name so Series X|S would still be better there... but Scorpio was a damned cool name!!!
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
@Banjo- No management can spin a ship this large around that fast. My bet is this stuff was all lined up and ready to go forth. All we seeing is stuff that has been years in the making. Even the Helix name is something I bet was already decided.
All the stuff that is being talked about now are just confirmations on rumors we been hearing for years. Only thing I **might** give the new management would be a choice to toss the Helix name out there a week earlier instead of dropping the news at GDC. But I'm nearly 99% certain this was the plan.
I even argue that the whole "everything is an Xbox" strategy is going forward, simply rebranded. Note how "full screen experience" was renamed "Xbox mode", more literally turning anything running the mode into an "Xbox". Only thing they doing is removing the marketing line, not the strategy.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
Just call it X-Box Helix, don't throw a year of free news coverage marketing go down the drain by coming up with a new name like they did with XCloud.
Re: Microsoft's 'This Is An Xbox' Post Taken Down As Fans Wonder If The Controversial Ad Is No More
The campaign might be gone but not it's spirit. Yea many users hated it, but the core idea that you can play Xbox on any device that can host their ecosystem is very much still there.
Proof? Look at their announcement of their full screen experience rolling out publicly next month. It's literally being renamed to Xbox Mode. They are doubling down on their strategy, just acknowledging the messaging for it failed. They as hell are not backing down from the strategy, though.
Re: Data Firm Predicts PC Revenue Will Soon Surpass Console As Xbox Prepares To Bridge The Gap
Capcom already stated recently that half their sales come from PC. No math needed to note this means PC platforms combined outsell every individual console. This mostly means Steam, Capcom has very few games listed in gog or epic and don't sell games directly.
For me, the main reason I preferred consoles is that playing with keyboard is just impossible due to accessibility issues. Gamepads work perfectly with my needs. Since their first attempt at a Steam Machine, Valve has worked hard to make gamepad usage on PC as smooth if not smoother than on console. They even make sure any console controller is fully supported. Want to use a Dual Shock 4 or a Nintendo Switch Pro controller? Steam got you covered!
Their system is also becoming more and more TV friendly, and I think it will just blow up when the Steam Machine finally lands. Especially if they finally truly open up the OS for anyone to install without pursuing forks. In the meantime, big picture mode on a windows PC works wonders.
Re: 'We Will See More Games Come To Xbox Quicker' - Microsoft Exec Talks Plans For The Future
@themightyant My perspective as an indie that is diving back into it after a decade of just doing the standard corporate thing (not stopping that, just deciding to spend some of my free time relearning the indie curve) supporting the Xbox PC store is not exactly something you do with the push of a button.
As far as I understand, engines like Godot don't directly let you do that because of closed APIs that require being part of something like id@xbox. One ends up having to use middleware solutions that have additional costs to be able to push indie projects into Xbox, even just the Xbox PC game store (not exactly the same as the Microsoft Store for apps.)
I am not sure if what they are talking about here is going to fix this, but if they open up more, actually allowing anyone to use their achievements APIs and all that mumbo jumbo in a way that allows Godot and other engines to just push to Xbox out of the box, you might see more indie games hit Xbox PC day and date instead of only happening after they see enough success in Steam.
As an indie dev, I have zero reason to not target a platform other than contractual and financial barriers.
Re: Xbox Says Backwards Compatibility Program Will Be Revived For 25th Anniversary
If I recall correctly, the BC program was ended because it reached the limits of what was possible due to licensing or technical limitations.
However, this was before MS acquired ABK and at a point where any new addition had to work on Xbox One.
ABK ownership opens up their options for licensing as MS might be very willing to secure IP needed for re-listing the games. On the technical front, the program could reopen with a caveat that new titles might not work on Xbox one, maybe not even on Series X|S and be available only on Helix.
Re: Resident Evil Requiem Hits Incredible Sales Milestone In Less Than A Week
Wildest bit (not in article) from Capcom financial report was that PC alone is now 50% of their total sales!!!
Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC
Spider-Man 2 was ported “at record speed” with about 15 month exclusivity.
Even if Yotei was to follow that pattern, a port would not land until January 2027 at the earliest. Chances are Oct 27. That’s so far away that any of this sounds like articles for the sake of clicks and views.
Re: Xbox Adds New 'Sort By' Options On The Microsoft Store, Including By Price & Discount
About time!!! I wonder if this is something they intentionally refused to add... You have no clue how many games I got off steam because of this feature, being able to sort my wish list by discount is huge for publishers... not so much for my wallet because it makes me buy games I likely wont ever play... 😅
Re: Xbox's 'Pivot Away From Console' Had Been Failing And Questioned At Microsoft, Claims Report
Personally I think Steam’s SteamDeck has shown us what Xbox should have always been. I don’t care much for Bill Gates, but the whole point of Xbox from the get go was to bring Windows and Microsoft to the living-room.
At the time, the distinct console made sense but today, a unified streamlined OS is a lot more logical. We just need that Gaming Mode to feel more like a console (as Steam Big Picture does) than a maximized PC app (sadly how Xbox Full Screen Experience feels).
The whole “everything is an Xbox” relied heavily on GamePass growth and adoption of game streaming turning any device into an Xbox client, but I think that path died when GamePass growth died down.
Re: Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox
I always defended Xbox… but I don’t think it survives this.
Re: Sony's Bluepoint Games Might Be Gone, But We'll Never Forget Their 'Impossible Port' For Xbox 360
Another great studio dead due to Sonys live service game gold rush… 😞
Re: Poll: As Things Stand, Will You Be Buying GTA 6 On Xbox This November?
I bought a Xbox 360 for GTAV and loved it. GTAV was also great but then they shifted to maintaining an online game and I lost all interest in the franchise.
It’s obviously working for them, but as far as I expect GTA6 is just a Trojan horse into yet another whale fishing online game.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I got plenty else to play. If I ever buy it, it’s because it went on a deep discount.
Re: Insomniac Shares Cold-Hearted Response To The Chances Of Spider-Man 2 Coming To Xbox
It will be on Xbox one way or another, sooner or later, unless they decide to stop selling games on PC.
I'm indifferent either way, I jumped into to the My Windows PC is My Xbox back when Starfield launched with 30fps on Series X and am very unlikely to go back for anything but a few old exclusives. Even that might eventually phase out if the rumors of software backwards compatibility end up being true.
Re: Report: Microsoft Is In The Early Stages Of 'Expanding' Xbox Game Pass
Doesn't Game Pass Premium already give some access to PC Gamepass? Because due to crossplay for me all that sounds like is not expanding GP but limiting/removing PC Game Pass and forcing PC users into either the limited Premium tier or the Ultimate one, both being more expensive/limited paths.
I also do wonder what any of this would mean in a future where the next Xbox is simply a PC [with potentially console BC]...
Re: Obsidian Says Two Of Its 2025 Titles Didn't Meet Sales Targets, Vows To Learn For The Future
This comment section is sure full of some... wild opinions.
The key issue was noted in the article: these games took 6 years to build. IMO they were solid games but spending 6 years in a game balloon both the budget and the expectations.
As a new IP (despite being tied to Pillars, for most Avowed is a new IP) they might had invested too much into it. And they could had gotten away with a game half the size of OW2 for the sequel.
I think both these games are suffering that they were designed and greenlit at a time where Game Pass was growing like crazy and apparently would keep on going. As soon as that slowed down, they should have either scaled the projects down or pursue a multi-platform release.
But honestly, the entire industry needs to stop this 6-10 year dev cycles. They are ridiculous, the games over engineered, and anything other than wild success can doom whole studios or even entire publishers. We need to go back to the days of 3 year dev cycles.
Make a game and release at least 2 sequels that are mostly iterative. Stop trying to remake every single asset for every sequel!!!
Can you imagine if every movie ever produced insisted on re-buying every single prop used on set???
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Vs. PS5 Sales Data Shared As Game Reportedly Hits 20 Million Copies Sold
I know a lot of people will be resistant to changes, but classic consoles are on their way out and that graph shows it.
I been a hardcore console gamer for decades, I'm one of the people that resisted PC and vouched for consoles simplicity but truth is PC is changing, and it's all thanks to Steam.
Since it's first failed attempt at a steam machine, Valve has been working hard to make PC gaming have more and more of the perks of playing on console: more compatibility, game controller support, attempting to fix shade compilation stutter by cache and sharing them. This at the same time that console launches become more unstable and require hotfixes.
For the last year, I been almost exclusively a PC gamer. I still love consoles, for nostalgic reasons, but most those perks are gone for newer releases (and by newer, I mean the last decade worth.)
Re: Talking Point: Will The Next Xbox Console Be Revealed In 2026?
As excited as I was to get my Series X at launch, mostly for NVME load speeds, I feel the thing came in too soon. I know it feels odd for older people but I think 10 year console cycles are ideal. 3D capabilities are just not evolving fast enough to justify generational jumps any faster.
Re: In The US, 66% Of Xbox Series X|S Sales Were Digital-Only In 2025
I mean, isn't the general conception that the Series S is about 50% of the sales as it is? If so, that would mean that roughly 16% are White Series X and 34% Black Series X.
Re: Talking Point: As Xbox Celebrates 25 Years, What's Your First Ever Xbox Memory?
I remember my brother getting the Xbox Live kit for his Xbox. Until then I was not really into Xbox but the concept of playing games online fascinated me.
Sadly I was instantly harassed by men and quickly learned to detest online play because it was a perpetual pattern.
So, despite how much I love my Xbox, my earliest Xbox memory is not exactly a very positive one. To this day I refuse to play online with strangers.
First Xbox I owned myself was a 360 Elite model that I bought to play GTAIV.
Re: Xbox 360 User Shows What'll Happen When It Reaches Date Limit On December 31st, 2025
The most likely case, given the OS can easily manage the dates: the programmer in charge of making that form simply thought that might be a reasonable value to enter in the date time picker control's Max Date field.
Re: Xbox Fan Thinks They've Discovered More 'Play Anywhere' Titles Being Added Soon
I'm with @BAMozzy. The volatility of the console market future makes me very unlikely to buy anything for consoles right now unless it's Play Anywhere. If it's not Xbox play anywhere, I'll get it on Steam. I am downscaling my console purchases to exclusives only, and even with Sony now I feel I'm better off waiting for the PC release 6/12 months later.
My current preference of purchases:
Xbox Play Anywhere > Steam > Nintendo Switch > PS > Xbox
That said, if I already have an entry in a series on Steam, I'm likely to prefer the sequels there because I can be twitchy about some game's achievement tracking.
Re: Xbox May Have Accidentally Leaked Mortal Kombat 1 For Game Pass
$16.49 right now on steam.
$20.99 if you want the definitive edition with all DLC.
Just saying.
Yes, I'm bitter and will understand if this gets taken down.
Re: PSA: You Can Still Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate For $19.99 Right Now
I mean if someone wants it more power to them and hope they take advantage of this. I could had been locked into this price for the rest of the year since my renewal day was today, but I don't want part of this clown show anymore.
Not like I have the time to take advantage of this.
Re: Poll: What Are Your Plans For Xbox Game Pass After This Week's News?
I canceled. My renewal was today. With that timing I could had stuck to the current rate for the rest of the year but I don’t see a reason to keep giving them my money when chances are I won’t have time to take advantage of it anyways.
This is also making me reconsider my Rog Xbox Ally X preorder. There are still some advantages but without gamepass… it’s way less appealing since I can play most things on my steam deck, and those I can’t I can play on my PC.
I’ll still pick it up but chances are high I’ll return it.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Premium May Be The Best-Value Tier Right Now, With Almost 50 Games Added
@Tdx
You might want to do the math there because I'm nearly sure most indie games will cost less than the monthly subscription, unless you are a VERY active and proliferous gamer.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Premium May Be The Best-Value Tier Right Now, With Almost 50 Games Added
@FraserG I don't think the features were "forced on us for a fee" but instead they scrambled to find some features to make the price they had pre-determined feel less terrible.
"We doubled the price of your burgers but now they also have pickles! We can remove the pickles but the price still is double."
BTW does PC gamepass keeps day 1 and CoD games?
Re: Here's A Breakdown Of All The New Prices For Xbox Game Pass As Of October 2025
@FraserG I’m confused the last row in the table either is shifted or has the wrong currency symbols. Is the US price £16.99 (uk pounds)? 😵💫
Re: Xbox Game Pass Is Getting A Major Overhaul With New Names, Games & Price Changes
It is what it is, but it’s no longer a good deal for me and my limited available time. Cancelled.
And the page seems overloaded because it took me way too long to even open the subscriptions page on my phone.
Re: Talking Point: So, Did You End Up Pre-Ordering The ROG Xbox Ally?
Preordered the X for mostly the same reasons @BAMozzy noted.
I have a SteamDeck and wish I could play PC GP games natively on it. There are still many games that just don't run on the SteamDeck. Having a steam big picture like UI AND being able to run games from any PC storefront sounds perfect to me.
It's expensive, I'll give you that, but I'm lucky I can afford it.
Re: The ROG Xbox Ally Is Rapidly Selling Out At Retailers Around The World
Managed to get my BestBuy preorder through. I just happened to be on my phone when the email that the preorders went live popped and I immediately hopped in to get mine.
I originally was thinking to just get the white model but thoughts of storage alone made me hop on the X.
A lot of people are going on how this will be a failure and the truth is this does not need to be a huge success. It's just some branded hardware for MS. It's also a test bed for their new handheld focused Windows version. No dev is going to have to specifically target this device, I imagine even pre-configured handheld options will just be the same setting template used on the SteamDeck for many games.
What is important here is the evolution of windows for gaming focused devices.
The price, honestly, is not terrible. Yes, it's a high number and not going to become a mainstream device, but it is very competitive with similarly specked handhelds.
Main reason I am getting it is because I still bump into games that just are not compatible with Steam's compatibility layer. It does not hurt that MS is also pushing a lot more aggressively on the Play Anywhere program, with many new announcements going into it now. Wish they could make that retroactive, though.
Re: Best Buy Lists Prices For ROG Xbox Ally Before Quickly Removing Them
If the specs of the base model are comparable to the Steam deck in real life testing, I might get it for that price. I would wait a month or so, though. Don’t want to end up with an early production lemon.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Play An Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Remake?
100% yes. It would not be my top pick for a full-on remake (Ezio Trilogy as a remake would be ideal, or a big rewriting and expansion on AC 1...) but I still would play the hell out of it.
Heck I think AC3 would also make a way better remake, with expanded open world and finally properly making justice to the civil war battles with hundreads of NPCs battling it out....
But yes yes yes I would jump on AC4 remake.
Just ignore all the voices saying the Animus stuff has to be removed... my biggest complaint with Shadows was the Animus stuff was basically not there at all.
Re: Xbox Handheld Is Called 'ROG Xbox Ally', Releases Holiday 2025
I’m very likely to throw a lot of money away buying this thing…
Re: Retro Fighters Returns With A Brand-New Wireless Xbox 360 Controller In 2025
@Broosh yea, they have never been about preserving the feel as much as creating modern feeling controllers that work with those consoles and their games.
Re: 'Oblivion Remastered' Images Leak Ahead Of Imminent Xbox Release
Why the remaster screenshots look so…. Brown and dull?????
Re: Report: Ubisoft Founders Considering A New Business 'Venture' Using Certain Franchises
Sounds like an attempt to spin off profitable IPs and studios to a new entity that has outside investors while leaving the core company in financial trouble so it can eventually file for whatever the equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy is in France and potentially liquidate those assets without losing control of the viable business.
As for Ubisoft games, I personally have not been disappointed on any Far Cry or Assassin's Creed game (ok maybe Unity was a bit disappointing). Never understood why so many hate the games.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Delayed Again, This Time To March 2025
I can wait, but I find it funny that Avowed was rumored to be delayed mostly to avoid launching the same week as Assassin's Creed Shadows and here we are now...
Re: Xbox Wants To Bring A Console Experience To PC Handhelds In 2025
We need a multi-resolution friendly port of the Xbox dashboard for windows as an alternative/replacement to the Windows Explorer.
Make it so it can be switched from one to the other via the start menu while in Desktop mode and via the ... whatever windows calls the side menu while on Xbox mode.
Re: Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Launches February 2025 On Xbox
Remember back in the day when Square would crank out RPGs yearly, sometimes multiple a year?
This reminds me of that, and I love it.
Now I need to get off my rear and get caught up on this series!!!
Re: Poll: How Much Would You Pay For An Xbox Series X Pro?
@HarmanSmith Another thing that would be amazing is if somehow MS managed to add an Xbox runtime to windows so computers with certain specs could just run the Xbox Series X or Series S version of games we already own.
Re: Poll: How Much Would You Pay For An Xbox Series X Pro?
I never bought a PS4 pro.
I bought an XOX because I saw it for a deep discount on ebay that was under the MSRP of the Xbox One S.
TLDR: not much really. I think it would have to hit under $400-$450 for me to be interested. I already treat my PC as my "Xbox Pro".
Since Play Everywhere, every single first party game ends up having cross-buy and cross-save.
MS biggest achievement would be to lure more third party developers to adopt the Play Anywhere scheme where you can buy a game on XBox and also download it on PC.
Re: Reaction: PS5 Pro's Extortionate Price Justifies Xbox's Lack Of A New Console
@RedShirtRod You hit the nail on the competition point. That is the main reason. The international price shows what a market with poor competition looks like.
Re: Reaction: PS5 Pro's Extortionate Price Justifies Xbox's Lack Of A New Console
@Bobobiwan I was a PS4 fan girl, and I never got myself a Pro. I rocked my fat PS4 to its end.
I dont see the need for the increased visuals, honestly.
The video showcase actually stated that 3/4ths of players don't seem to care either, opting for performance modes over quality.
My biggest annoyance out of these mid-gen consoles are reviewers. I had to stop trusting reviewers because every reviewer would play the games on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, rarely bothering to test the performance of the games on the baseline (and most sold) models.
I was afraid xbox reviewers would do the same this gen but was glad they tend to at least try including notes on Series S performance. I fear starting next year, PlayStation reviews will become worthless, once again.