I want it to be something else, but pessimism is kicking in and I think it’ll be ff16. Disappointing on a personal level because I played it a while ago on ps5
Nvidia continuing to cement their position of market dominance with industry leading tech. The only way anyone’s going to catch them is if they let their foot off the accelerator; currently they’re showing no signs of doing that.
It’s a shame, to a degree, that both Sony and Microsoft are so heavily invested in AMD tech as they’ll always be behind the curve. I do understand, however, that AMD probably offers a far more competitive price when console hardware margins are already incredibly tight. You don’t really get bleeding edge tech on a mass market device.
I would love to see Microsoft move away from amd next generation and try to do something with nvidia. Yes, they would probably have to pay a premium for such a move. But the handheld should be affordable if switch 2 and their all but confirmed nvidia deal is anything to go by, and the high end console could be targeting a similar price point to the ps5 pro.
Microsoft are struggling to compete directly with Sony right now. An affordable handheld for the casual and premium high end traditional console all powered by cutting edge nvidia technologies would really give them a significant point of difference and advantage over Sony who have already committed to amd for ps6.
@Balaam_ as long as they keep releasing on pc I don’t really care what Sony do. As Sean has said the console space is at saturation point, and Microsoft have access to 100% of that high end portion of the market through PlayStation and Xbox.
Microsoft are diversifying their gaming income with significant investment into other growth markets while Sony are stuck with rising costs in a market that cannot achieve further growth.
@Balaam_ glass half empty or glass half full 😁 half full - Sony are writing Microsoft checks every month for every sale on their platform. Half empty - PlayStation are getting Xbox’s first party catalogue while Microsoft get nothing in return.
@Caspin-U I think it depends on how you view it. The technical issues being reported are sufficient in my opinion to take a full priced title down from a 7 to a 4. I’m interested in checking it out, but not until there’s been a lot of patching. Most reviewers have said there’s a good game hidden behind all the bugs and performance problems. The game apparently gets a lot worse after the midway point - I don’t want to start something and then end up bailing half way through playing because it becomes ‘unplayable’.
It would possibly be a good idea for purexbox to revisit the title once it’s been patched and update their review score accordingly. Both cyberpunk and no man’s sky are infinitely better now than they were at launch.
Xbox are in a slightly different position to PlayStation due to their games releasing day and date on pc and, in addition to steam, being available through gamepass or Xbox market place.
They could argue that their “pro” option is a 4090 high end pc - a system that offers the definitive experience for all their games by virtue of being the most powerful consumer level system in the market. Xbox caters to every level of system through pc - entry level, mid range and high end.
As it stands, Sony only provide 2 options for their exclusive portfolio at launch - base system and pro. In pc terms entry level and mid range, they have nothing to rival a 4090 or soon to be 5090 from a power perspective.
@abe_hikura I sold my Xbox series x and bought a pc October 2023. Haven’t looked back since. I still have a ps5, although the last game I bought for that was final fantasy 16.
I get to decide how my games look and more importantly prioritise 60fps. I had the wilds beta test running at 65-95fps 1440p high/medium with dlss set to quality. It blew the ps5 performance mode out the water in terms of image quality and frame rate stability.
Games are cheaper on pc and there’s no multiplayer tax to pay. I’m currently playing veilguard for £16.99 thanks to a months ea play pro sub (the pro tier isn’t available on console) so your only choice is to purchase the digital license or a box copy if you have a disc drive 😉
Steam is great, epic store give away free games every month (some pretty decent one’s too), prime gaming has free pc games each month. Gamepass, ea play and Ubisoft plus are there if you want to ‘rent’ a title for a month. Even Sony are starting to embrace pc with their titles coming to steam - looking forward to spider man 2 in January.
There’s little reason for me to invest in Sony or Microsoft’s consoles right now. The switch 2 is the only system I’m remotely interested in.
@Titntin I think it’s a little premature to say that PSSR is the second best upscaler on the market. It’s one of three AI upscalers, DLSS is the obvious leader at this point in time, but the dedicated hardware based version of XeSS from intel wasn’t far off. FSR has always trailed both as it doesn’t rely on specific hardware and is a software implementation. I would wait for a proper deep dive into PSSR before saying it’s the second best upscaler right now.
My “pro” console for this generation turned out to be a pc. A significant upgrade over my series x and ps5 thanks largely to a far more capable cpu and an nvidia gpu which has all the cutting edge ai technologies in addition to its raw power. At £700 the ps5 pro just doesn’t represent great value for me, it’s still using the same ancient cpu as the base ps5. The gpu technologies are a combination of amd’s rdna raytracing which is still years behind nvidia and a bespoke ai upscaling solution that is unlikely to surpass dlss which has a huge lead in both development time and iterations. It’s also been confirmed that the ps5 pro will still have some 30fps games, and for £700 that’s a deal breaker.
@OldGamer999 cloud gaming is irrelevant in terms of development - cloud games run on servers using series x based hardware. Series consoles also use a direct x based sdk which is ubiquitous across pc. The most costly porting process is for ps5 which uses bespoke development tools.
Multiplatform development has nothing to do with the quality of the final game - the majority of goty winners have been multipltform titles.
Nintendo have also shown that underpowered hardware isn’t a barrier to making great games - series s is far more powerful than the switch.
@OldGamer999 it has to be scalable in order to be profitable. They want as many people to be able to access it as possible - series s and lower range pc’s are a far larger proportion of that potential player base than series x alone. Although in targeting pc, it will also have features that take advantage of hardware far more powerful than series x, some of which may be present on series x.
“Microsoft is building plans for halo and Xbox’s 25th anniversary”
Microsoft; “We are excited to announce that the masterchief collection will be coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 pro on November 7th. PlayStation 5 pro will allow for higher frame rates, raytracing and other graphical improvements. Xbox owners can continue to enjoy the masterchief collection on series consoles and Xbox one x/s. We are also happy to announce a 3% sale on the digital edition of the game for any Xbox owner that has yet to experience the masterchief collection.”
@abe_hikura really do feel like 1440p monitors are the best way to play the majority of titles on series x. Series x fully supports freesync and 1440p output - most titles targeting 4k upscale from 1440p and those with performance modes typically target 1440p.
The technology within the monitor space is also improving to better support HDR - there are several OLED and mini LED options to choose from. Most monitors support HDR10, with dell even launching one with Dolby vision support this year.
If you want 60fps you need to buy a pc - it’s abundantly clear that Microsoft now regard pc as their high end option for games and seem to be positioning it as the lead platform.
Avowed is launching on pc with RTX and DLSS 3 frame gen - features that have been developed to take full advantage of nvidia’s 40 series hardware. Features that are also completely absent from Xbox which uses AMDs RDNA architecture.
I believe this is the first Microsoft studio’s title to fully target NVIDIA gpu’s - previous titles only had FSR and DLSS support and little to no form of raytracing. In the case of Starfield, an AMD sponsored title, DLSS was only made available post launch with a patch that launched several weeks later.
I’m also no longer sure how many of their games are previewed and shown running on series x hardware vs pc hardware.
@Fiendish-Beaver same, with regards to owning both consoles. However, I sold my series x last year and bought a pc. I still have my ps5, but will probably sell that this year too.
If you live in the uk, I’m not sure there is much of a reason to get an Xbox over a PlayStation. There’s a third party company called boomerang rentals that allows physical game rentals on ps5, switch and Xbox for a similar price to gamepass premium.
The only thing you appear to be missing out on with an Xbox is day one timed exclusivity of titles and a 10% discount on digital copies of games that appear on the service with an active gamepass membership.
Id be very hard pushed to recommend an Xbox over a PlayStation right now, sadly.
@Bionic-Spencer try telling that to Sony. Switch gets Lego horizon, Xbox gets nothing. Definitely doesn’t work both ways. If you own a PlayStation you benefit from Xbox’s new strategy if you own an Xbox…
This game is in desperate need of a developer update. At this point, just a blog post would suffice to confirm to fans that development is still progressing well.
The reveal trailer was shown at a Nintendo event 2019, the latest trailer released in 2022 during Microsoft’s summer event to confirm that the game would be launching on gamepass. Since then, there’s been little, if any news regarding the game’s progress.
I appreciate the studio is only a 3 man team who have a huge number of roles to perform, so understand that just releasing a trailer is a huge commitment. As I said before, a small blog post would go a long way to placating the fans and help to reassure them that this game is still going to release and isn’t stuck in development hell.
Very interested to see how the full release pans out, but a little concerned about performance. I have a decent 40 series gpu and a current gen amd cpu but I’m still slightly concerned about how it will run with those huge swarms of Tyranids shown in gameplay trailers. I’ll no doubt be relying on dlss to keep a decent frame rate.
I wonder how current gen consoles will cope with those swarms as I feel like this game is going to be pretty cpu intensive. Will the game target 30fps on console or will there be a performance option?
@Savage_Joe at this point in time it’s just speculation. It could quite easily be anything from a “switch”, a “Wii u”, a “steam deck” or even a “PlayStation portal.”
The Wii u was clunky and hardly portable - I had one for about 8 months before trading it. By far the worst Nintendo console I’ve ever owned.
If this portable system comes to pass, I doubt it will be anything like a Wii u. I would expect something more like the steam deck or ROG ally. The PlayStation portal also seems to have sold surprisingly well so I wouldn’t rule out something similar - although personally I’d be very disappointed if MS went that route.
@GuyinPA75 I get that PC gaming isn’t for everyone and that’s fine, but it isn’t a case of upgrading something every 6 months in order to be able to play a new game.
Yes, if you want to play a new game with everything maxed out and have to have triple digit frame rates at 4k you can spend an ungodly amount of money upgrading your pc.
But if you want to enjoy playing a game at more consistent frame rates and/or higher resolution/graphical settings than the current consoles you can do so with a 2080ti, 16gb of ram and an i5 cpu from 2018.
Consoles have the convenience of plug and play and are a cheaper point of entry. Pc is more expensive but also gives the freedom to upgrade and improve performance at any point in time. Performance on console is static and typically gets worse the longer into a lifecycle you are.
I don’t intend on upgrading anything on the pc I bought for at least another 2-3 years.
I have a series s for the bedroom, but I don’t regret trading in the series x last year and getting a pc. Everything is cheaper on pc, performs better if you have the hardware and there’s no subscription fee for multiplayer.
I have a ps5 too, but it hasn’t been used since final fantasy 16 released. This console generation has been pretty underwhelming so far. Sony might be winning the hardware battle, but the software launches from both companies have been disappointing, as has the cadence of new releases.
I’m pretty sure Sony has released more hardware than first party software in the last 12 months.
Xbox head of marketing for Asia: series consoles sold have sold more units than the lifetime sales of both the original Xbox and the Xbox one in Japan, we’re also closing the gap on lifetime 360 sales. This could be our most successful generation of all time in Japan.
Microsoft execs: This is a worrying development, thank you for bringing it to our attention. Effective immediately we’ll increase the price of all series consoles in Japan to try and remedy the situation.
@Mustoe it might not be a traditional console, but I could definitely see them offering some form of streaming box, or even a handheld switch-like console with docking capabilities.
The servers required to run their cloud games are currently based on series x hardware, so it’s not like they won’t be investing in this technology anyway. It makes sense to make some of this available to users that don’t have access to the bandwidth required to take advantage of their cloud service.
The steam deck and other pc handhelds have shown that there’s clearly a market for a portable pc. It might not be mass market but it would at least give the Xbox brand a physical presence.
I think Microsoft are always going to produce some form of console hardware, although this doesn’t do anything to convince the shareholders that Xbox shouldn’t focus on mobile and other markets with cloud gaming rather than competing directly with PlayStation and Nintendo.
@Cikajovazmaj I’m not really understanding what you’re saying. Your initial post was:
“Ignorant me, not having sympathy for the company acquiring worlds biggest publisher for 70 billion, crying about budget issues now.”
Were you saying the Microsoft are crying over the budget issues? Or were you saying that this guy effectively made his bed in choosing to acquire ActiBlizz and therefore the budget restrictions are his fault and you can’t be sympathetic?
Either way, I’m confused.
This imo is a man heading a department that is underfunded by a company that is clearly unwilling to invest in growing Xbox outside of the US. A company, that as of now, seems completely bullish in their new approach and appears to be operating at the whims of its shareholders rather than workers.
I 100% have sympathy for anyone working within Xbox’s EMEA division right now because Microsoft are effectively handicapping them from performing their roles effectively. Especially given, as you pointed out, that they’re not short on capital.
@Cikajovazmaj yeah pretty ignorant to say that it’s Microsoft “crying” over marketing budgets when it’s actually the EMEA head of marketing for Xbox making the point that Microsoft aren’t allocating sufficient funds to be competitive with Sony. This man has absolutely nothing to do with mergers and acquisitions or fund allocations and is perfectly within his rights to “cry” over marketing budgets.
Doesn’t really change anything for me - still works out considerably cheaper and more convenient to sub for a month when there’s a day one game I want to play.
I do this with pretty much every subscription service - Netflix, Ubisoft plus, ps plus extra, Disney plus, apply tv plus. Really doesn’t seem worth it to commit to a year. Especially in the case of the video streaming services where you can often get a month or so free “trial” if you’re no longer subbed.
Super sad for the devs but pretty happy for the executives and shareholders - a $200 million penalty for forcing a live service title on a studio that developed fantastic single player BATMAN games sounds like good result.
Anyone that thinks replacing Phil Spencer is going to result in a complete turn around at Xbox is completely delusional, as is anyone that believes Nadella, the board and stakeholders at Microsoft aren’t the ones driving decision making at the company.
The major difference between Microsoft and Sony right now is that PlayStation has been the most profitable division at Sony for years while Xbox hasn’t ever been at Microsoft, despite years of investment.
If you’re a stakeholder with Sony, it’s very obvious that you should continue to invest in PlayStation. If you’re a stakeholder at Microsoft, why would you continue to invest in xbox when there are other areas like AI and cloud-based infrastructure that are generating considerably more growth with little to no risk?
The recent decision making at Microsoft has all the hallmarks of a board looking to cut risk and grab as much return on investment as possible over as short a time as possible.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Phil step down at the end of the year and for Xbox to cull any other studio that isn’t generating the profits demanded of them by the board and stakeholders.
I have no idea where this leaves Xbox, but recent decisions don’t instil any confidence in the idea that Microsoft see value in Xbox as a brand. I think we’re moving towards ‘Microsoft gaming’ and an organisation that has more in common with ‘EA at their worst’ than anything else.
I really hope I’m proved wrong, but I’m not feeling much optimism.
Horrible news for everyone employed by those studios, I hope they’re able to quickly transition to another source of employment.
The video game industry is on a terrible downward trajectory right now. Costs have risen hugely and nothing but the biggest hitters seem to be sustainable. Studio’s are being shuttered everywhere. Achieving critical acclaim isn’t enough of a measure to constitute success sadly. Alan wake 2 is one of the latest examples of a game yet to break even despite garnering amazing reviews and receiving a goty nomination.
I hope the industry can solve these problems soon so that the people working on the titles people love have a safer and more secure place of work.
@Withinmyself I didn’t buy an ultrawide monitor because I couldn’t afford one. I chose a conventional monitor screen because I wanted an oled and ultrawide is absolutely terrible for competitive shooters. I’d rather have higher frame rates by rendering less pixels, more desk space and less risk of burn in from titles that don’t support ultrawide - Particularly true for the occasions that I connect the ps5 or switch.
I could understand this decision on consoles as a means to reduce the number of pixels needed to render on a 4K tv and therefore help with performance.
I hope this isn’t the case on pc - I use 1440p 27” monitor so really don’t want to be playing at ultrawide 27” 1080p. My screen resolution and size will make for a seriously crappy image.
@Lup I wouldn’t immediately write it off based on the isometric perspective - it doesn’t play like a traditional diablo-like action rpg or turn-based baldurs gate style rpg. The early previews are very promising, it seems to be more like an isometric souls-like in combat terms. I’m excited to jump in with early access later this week.
Hoping this game will come to Ubisoft's subscription service at launch too. Ubisoft’s games are pretty hit and miss, with their most recent titles being misses for me. Can’t justify a purchase for their launches anymore, but more than willing to sub for a month to try outlaws in August.
I think the choice in wording here is quite deliberate - biggest “technological” leap. I don’t think we’ll be getting something that dwarfs the raw compute power of the series x, rather a system that goes all in on the use of AI and cloud technologies to leverage performance gains.
Chasing raw performance is not as easy as it once was - higher compute power now requires bigger chips with higher power draw which generate more heat and require more sophisticated and larger cooling solutions. All of these things result in higher costs for the producer and lower margins.
It makes far more sense for Microsoft to deliver a next generation system that augments its compute power with other technologies such as AI and the cloud to deliver a result that is close to that of a machine with higher raw power. For example, nvidia’s dlss technology can achieve image quality and frame rates of a significantly more powerful system using AI upscaling and frame generation. This comes at the cost of some image artifacting and increased latency - however, for the mass market casual gamer on console, these costs would be largely imperceptible.
I have a fairly decent spec PC with a 4070ti super, really hoping I can run this at 1440p60. Although nothing is guaranteed anymore on PC, most of the recent ports seem to run terribly irrespective of hardware.
Ironically I’d actually love for nvidia to buy Xbox right now. They’re the industry leaders in gpu and ai tech, they also offer the best streaming solution with regards to latency and image quality via GeForce now.
They have no experience of managing development studios, but I doubt they could do any worse than Microsoft has been for the last decade.
It would definitely make hardware comparisons between PlayStation (amd) and Xbox (nvidia) more interesting.
I really don’t think a pro version of series x is needed. The ps5 pro is going to be severely bottlenecked by its cpu and a pro version of series x will be exactly the same. I’d rather Microsoft wait for the next generation and give us a complete upgrade. The current console CPU’s are already starting to look pretty ancient by pc standards and a gpu upgrade is only going to give you so much if you’re cpu bound.
GTA VI will follow exactly the same blueprint as red dead redemption 2 did on Xbox one. The game targeted 30fps across the base console all the way through to the one x, despite the significantly more powerful gpu, higher clock speed cpu and increased ram of the x. GTA VI will still be 30fps on ps5 pro, but look slightly prettier. It won’t be 60fps 4k with ray tracing as some people are claiming. Rockstar have never pushed 60fps at launch on console or provided a performance mode. They don’t need to either - are people going to boycott GTA VI if it’s 30fps? Of course not.
Mid generation pro upgrades are largely pointless. They never sell as well as the base model, are always bottlenecked by something and are never fully supported by developers.
If you’re going to sell me another console, make it a new generation with a fully upgraded compliment of parts. Don’t just sell me a gpu upgrade with the same crappy cpu.
@rustyduck that’s because Sony have no fallback. If PlayStation fails, the whole division fails. They don’t have the in house cloud infrastructure that Microsoft have. Microsoft have both the money and resources to diversify away from consoles if they need to, Sony don’t.
@NotoriousWhiz it was $1000 and I sold my series x for $360 so $640. Pretty happy with that
$500 is a great entry point, but game pass is on pc and it’s my main hobby. From my point of view it’s been money well spent. Doesn’t mean that will be the case for everyone.
Disappointing for some fans, I’m sure. Strange that they haven’t put a 30fps vsync cap on the frame rate given that yesterday’s previews saw it barely go above 30. Although there were quite a few drops below 30 during action which would probably introduce tearing if using vsync.
I struggle to play games below 60 now so decided to trade in the series x for a pc a few months ago. Stories like this just serve to further validate my decision. I’ve yet to play a game that hasn’t been a locked 60 thanks to fully customisable graphics settings. Games are also considerably cheaper - I have dd2 preordered for £35.
Looking forward to seeing more of The First Berserker: Khazan, the art style looks fantastic as does the combat. Hopefully we get a release date on Wednesday.
I’m happy to buy a well made remaster of a classic game if I never played the original. If it’s a game I’ve previously beaten I’ll usually skip it or maybe check it out if it’s available on a subscription or deeply discounted.
I played and completed the original demon’s Souls at launch on ps3. My first souls game and arguably my favourite by virtue of being first, but I only played the remaster when it arrived on ps+ extra. This, despite being a fantastic game that had been completely remade with new assets and lighting in a new engine.
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Re: Five Guesses For The 'Legendary' Surprise At Xbox Developer Direct This Week
I want it to be something else, but pessimism is kicking in and I think it’ll be ff16. Disappointing on a personal level because I played it a while ago on ps5
Re: New Nvidia Ray Tracing Footage Gives Us A Fresh Glimpse Of DOOM: The Dark Ages
Nvidia continuing to cement their position of market dominance with industry leading tech. The only way anyone’s going to catch them is if they let their foot off the accelerator; currently they’re showing no signs of doing that.
It’s a shame, to a degree, that both Sony and Microsoft are so heavily invested in AMD tech as they’ll always be behind the curve. I do understand, however, that AMD probably offers a far more competitive price when console hardware margins are already incredibly tight. You don’t really get bleeding edge tech on a mass market device.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Architect Officially Named 'VP Of Next-Generation' At Microsoft
I would love to see Microsoft move away from amd next generation and try to do something with nvidia. Yes, they would probably have to pay a premium for such a move. But the handheld should be affordable if switch 2 and their all but confirmed nvidia deal is anything to go by, and the high end console could be targeting a similar price point to the ps5 pro.
Microsoft are struggling to compete directly with Sony right now. An affordable handheld for the casual and premium high end traditional console all powered by cutting edge nvidia technologies would really give them a significant point of difference and advantage over Sony who have already committed to amd for ps6.
Re: Xbox Handheld Has A Big Potential Advantage Thanks To The Series S
@Fiendish-Beaver Microsoft already have a NeXtBoX it’s called a windows pc 😉
Re: Ex-PlayStation Boss Questions Why Sony Would Put PS5 Games On Xbox
@Balaam_ as long as they keep releasing on pc I don’t really care what Sony do. As Sean has said the console space is at saturation point, and Microsoft have access to 100% of that high end portion of the market through PlayStation and Xbox.
Microsoft are diversifying their gaming income with significant investment into other growth markets while Sony are stuck with rising costs in a market that cannot achieve further growth.
Re: Random: Xbox Employee Causes A Stir With Lighthearted PS5 Pro Joke On Twitter
@Balaam_ glass half empty or glass half full 😁 half full - Sony are writing Microsoft checks every month for every sale on their platform. Half empty - PlayStation are getting Xbox’s first party catalogue while Microsoft get nothing in return.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Stalker 2 On Xbox Game Pass So Far?
@Caspin-U I think it depends on how you view it. The technical issues being reported are sufficient in my opinion to take a full priced title down from a 7 to a 4. I’m interested in checking it out, but not until there’s been a lot of patching. Most reviewers have said there’s a good game hidden behind all the bugs and performance problems. The game apparently gets a lot worse after the midway point - I don’t want to start something and then end up bailing half way through playing because it becomes ‘unplayable’.
It would possibly be a good idea for purexbox to revisit the title once it’s been patched and update their review score accordingly. Both cyberpunk and no man’s sky are infinitely better now than they were at launch.
Re: Xbox Boss Provides Multiple Reasons Why A 'PS5 Pro' Competitor Isn't Necessary
Xbox are in a slightly different position to PlayStation due to their games releasing day and date on pc and, in addition to steam, being available through gamepass or Xbox market place.
They could argue that their “pro” option is a 4090 high end pc - a system that offers the definitive experience for all their games by virtue of being the most powerful consumer level system in the market. Xbox caters to every level of system through pc - entry level, mid range and high end.
As it stands, Sony only provide 2 options for their exclusive portfolio at launch - base system and pro. In pc terms entry level and mid range, they have nothing to rival a 4090 or soon to be 5090 from a power perspective.
Re: Xbox Boss Says Everything Is On The Table When It Comes To PS5 Ports
@abe_hikura I sold my Xbox series x and bought a pc October 2023. Haven’t looked back since. I still have a ps5, although the last game I bought for that was final fantasy 16.
I get to decide how my games look and more importantly prioritise 60fps. I had the wilds beta test running at 65-95fps 1440p high/medium with dlss set to quality. It blew the ps5 performance mode out the water in terms of image quality and frame rate stability.
Games are cheaper on pc and there’s no multiplayer tax to pay. I’m currently playing veilguard for £16.99 thanks to a months ea play pro sub (the pro tier isn’t available on console) so your only choice is to purchase the digital license or a box copy if you have a disc drive 😉
Steam is great, epic store give away free games every month (some pretty decent one’s too), prime gaming has free pc games each month. Gamepass, ea play and Ubisoft plus are there if you want to ‘rent’ a title for a month. Even Sony are starting to embrace pc with their titles coming to steam - looking forward to spider man 2 in January.
There’s little reason for me to invest in Sony or Microsoft’s consoles right now. The switch 2 is the only system I’m remotely interested in.
Re: Opinion: As The Dust Settles On PS5 Pro, I'm Still Glad Xbox Didn't Bother
@Titntin I think it’s a little premature to say that PSSR is the second best upscaler on the market. It’s one of three AI upscalers, DLSS is the obvious leader at this point in time, but the dedicated hardware based version of XeSS from intel wasn’t far off. FSR has always trailed both as it doesn’t rely on specific hardware and is a software implementation. I would wait for a proper deep dive into PSSR before saying it’s the second best upscaler right now.
Re: Opinion: As The Dust Settles On PS5 Pro, I'm Still Glad Xbox Didn't Bother
My “pro” console for this generation turned out to be a pc. A significant upgrade over my series x and ps5 thanks largely to a far more capable cpu and an nvidia gpu which has all the cutting edge ai technologies in addition to its raw power. At £700 the ps5 pro just doesn’t represent great value for me, it’s still using the same ancient cpu as the base ps5. The gpu technologies are a combination of amd’s rdna raytracing which is still years behind nvidia and a bespoke ai upscaling solution that is unlikely to surpass dlss which has a huge lead in both development time and iterations. It’s also been confirmed that the ps5 pro will still have some 30fps games, and for £700 that’s a deal breaker.
Re: Soapbox: Gears Of War E-Day Could Be Something Special, If The Coalition Gets It Right
@OldGamer999 cloud gaming is irrelevant in terms of development - cloud games run on servers using series x based hardware. Series consoles also use a direct x based sdk which is ubiquitous across pc. The most costly porting process is for ps5 which uses bespoke development tools.
Multiplatform development has nothing to do with the quality of the final game - the majority of goty winners have been multipltform titles.
Nintendo have also shown that underpowered hardware isn’t a barrier to making great games - series s is far more powerful than the switch.
Re: Soapbox: Gears Of War E-Day Could Be Something Special, If The Coalition Gets It Right
@OldGamer999 it has to be scalable in order to be profitable. They want as many people to be able to access it as possible - series s and lower range pc’s are a far larger proportion of that potential player base than series x alone. Although in targeting pc, it will also have features that take advantage of hardware far more powerful than series x, some of which may be present on series x.
Re: Microsoft Is 'Building Plans' For The 25th Anniversary Of Xbox And Halo
“Microsoft is building plans for halo and Xbox’s 25th anniversary”
Microsoft; “We are excited to announce that the masterchief collection will be coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 pro on November 7th. PlayStation 5 pro will allow for higher frame rates, raytracing and other graphical improvements. Xbox owners can continue to enjoy the masterchief collection on series consoles and Xbox one x/s. We are also happy to announce a 3% sale on the digital edition of the game for any Xbox owner that has yet to experience the masterchief collection.”
Re: Xbox Series X Is The Console Of Choice For Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, Says Analysis
@MaccaMUFC series x will still be the best console to play the disc version of the game vs the off-the-shelf $700 ps5 pro
Re: LEGO Harry Potter Collection Getting 'Remastered' For Xbox Series X|S This October
And the generation of pointless remasters continues…
Re: Xbox Series X And S Tech Specs Revealed For Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2
@abe_hikura really do feel like 1440p monitors are the best way to play the majority of titles on series x. Series x fully supports freesync and 1440p output - most titles targeting 4k upscale from 1440p and those with performance modes typically target 1440p.
The technology within the monitor space is also improving to better support HDR - there are several OLED and mini LED options to choose from. Most monitors support HDR10, with dell even launching one with Dolby vision support this year.
Re: Talking Point: Does Microsoft Have A '30FPS' Problem With Its Xbox Series X|S Output?
If you want 60fps you need to buy a pc - it’s abundantly clear that Microsoft now regard pc as their high end option for games and seem to be positioning it as the lead platform.
Avowed is launching on pc with RTX and DLSS 3 frame gen - features that have been developed to take full advantage of nvidia’s 40 series hardware. Features that are also completely absent from Xbox which uses AMDs RDNA architecture.
I believe this is the first Microsoft studio’s title to fully target NVIDIA gpu’s - previous titles only had FSR and DLSS support and little to no form of raytracing. In the case of Starfield, an AMD sponsored title, DLSS was only made available post launch with a patch that launched several weeks later.
I’m also no longer sure how many of their games are previewed and shown running on series x hardware vs pc hardware.
Re: Avowed Gets Massive Uncut Gameplay Demo During Xbox's Final Gamescom Event For 2024
@Hexamex-Tex and Microsoft look forward to you spending $70 for the privilege
I’ll be paying $20, playing it earlier and enjoying rtx at 60fps
Re: Reaction: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's PS5 Announcement Marks A Bold Step For Xbox
@Fiendish-Beaver same, with regards to owning both consoles. However, I sold my series x last year and bought a pc. I still have my ps5, but will probably sell that this year too.
If you live in the uk, I’m not sure there is much of a reason to get an Xbox over a PlayStation. There’s a third party company called boomerang rentals that allows physical game rentals on ps5, switch and Xbox for a similar price to gamepass premium.
The only thing you appear to be missing out on with an Xbox is day one timed exclusivity of titles and a 10% discount on digital copies of games that appear on the service with an active gamepass membership.
Id be very hard pushed to recommend an Xbox over a PlayStation right now, sadly.
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Hits Xbox This December, And A PS5 Port Is Officially Coming
@Bionic-Spencer try telling that to Sony. Switch gets Lego horizon, Xbox gets nothing. Definitely doesn’t work both ways. If you own a PlayStation you benefit from Xbox’s new strategy if you own an Xbox…
Re: No, Don't Expect Hollow Knight: Silksong At Gamescom ONL
This game is in desperate need of a developer update. At this point, just a blog post would suffice to confirm to fans that development is still progressing well.
The reveal trailer was shown at a Nintendo event 2019, the latest trailer released in 2022 during Microsoft’s summer event to confirm that the game would be launching on gamepass. Since then, there’s been little, if any news regarding the game’s progress.
I appreciate the studio is only a 3 man team who have a huge number of roles to perform, so understand that just releasing a trailer is a huge commitment. As I said before, a small blog post would go a long way to placating the fans and help to reassure them that this game is still going to release and isn’t stuck in development hell.
Re: Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 - One Of The Best Co-Op Shooters We've Played This Decade
Very interested to see how the full release pans out, but a little concerned about performance. I have a decent 40 series gpu and a current gen amd cpu but I’m still slightly concerned about how it will run with those huge swarms of Tyranids shown in gameplay trailers. I’ll no doubt be relying on dlss to keep a decent frame rate.
I wonder how current gen consoles will cope with those swarms as I feel like this game is going to be pretty cpu intensive. Will the game target 30fps on console or will there be a performance option?
Re: Rumour: Xbox Handheld System Will Sit Alongside 'A Series X Successor'
@Savage_Joe at this point in time it’s just speculation. It could quite easily be anything from a “switch”, a “Wii u”, a “steam deck” or even a “PlayStation portal.”
The Wii u was clunky and hardly portable - I had one for about 8 months before trading it. By far the worst Nintendo console I’ve ever owned.
If this portable system comes to pass, I doubt it will be anything like a Wii u. I would expect something more like the steam deck or ROG ally. The PlayStation portal also seems to have sold surprisingly well so I wouldn’t rule out something similar - although personally I’d be very disappointed if MS went that route.
Re: Phantom Blade Zero Dev Throws Shade At Xbox Before Studio Issues Statement
@GuyinPA75 I get that PC gaming isn’t for everyone and that’s fine, but it isn’t a case of upgrading something every 6 months in order to be able to play a new game.
Yes, if you want to play a new game with everything maxed out and have to have triple digit frame rates at 4k you can spend an ungodly amount of money upgrading your pc.
But if you want to enjoy playing a game at more consistent frame rates and/or higher resolution/graphical settings than the current consoles you can do so with a 2080ti, 16gb of ram and an i5 cpu from 2018.
Consoles have the convenience of plug and play and are a cheaper point of entry. Pc is more expensive but also gives the freedom to upgrade and improve performance at any point in time. Performance on console is static and typically gets worse the longer into a lifecycle you are.
I don’t intend on upgrading anything on the pc I bought for at least another 2-3 years.
Re: Phantom Blade Zero Dev Throws Shade At Xbox Before Studio Issues Statement
I have a series s for the bedroom, but I don’t regret trading in the series x last year and getting a pc. Everything is cheaper on pc, performs better if you have the hardware and there’s no subscription fee for multiplayer.
I have a ps5 too, but it hasn’t been used since final fantasy 16 released. This console generation has been pretty underwhelming so far. Sony might be winning the hardware battle, but the software launches from both companies have been disappointing, as has the cadence of new releases.
I’m pretty sure Sony has released more hardware than first party software in the last 12 months.
Re: Microsoft Announces Xbox Series X|S Price Increase For Japan
Xbox head of marketing for Asia: series consoles sold have sold more units than the lifetime sales of both the original Xbox and the Xbox one in Japan, we’re also closing the gap on lifetime 360 sales. This could be our most successful generation of all time in Japan.
Microsoft execs: This is a worrying development, thank you for bringing it to our attention. Effective immediately we’ll increase the price of all series consoles in Japan to try and remedy the situation.
Re: Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft
@Mustoe it might not be a traditional console, but I could definitely see them offering some form of streaming box, or even a handheld switch-like console with docking capabilities.
The servers required to run their cloud games are currently based on series x hardware, so it’s not like they won’t be investing in this technology anyway. It makes sense to make some of this available to users that don’t have access to the bandwidth required to take advantage of their cloud service.
The steam deck and other pc handhelds have shown that there’s clearly a market for a portable pc. It might not be mass market but it would at least give the Xbox brand a physical presence.
Re: Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft
I think Microsoft are always going to produce some form of console hardware, although this doesn’t do anything to convince the shareholders that Xbox shouldn’t focus on mobile and other markets with cloud gaming rather than competing directly with PlayStation and Nintendo.
Re: Sony PlayStation 'Regrettably Outspends Us', Says Xbox EMEA Marketing Boss
@Cikajovazmaj I’m not really understanding what you’re saying. Your initial post was:
“Ignorant me, not having sympathy for the company acquiring worlds biggest publisher for 70 billion, crying about budget issues now.”
Were you saying the Microsoft are crying over the budget issues? Or were you saying that this guy effectively made his bed in choosing to acquire ActiBlizz and therefore the budget restrictions are his fault and you can’t be sympathetic?
Either way, I’m confused.
This imo is a man heading a department that is underfunded by a company that is clearly unwilling to invest in growing Xbox outside of the US. A company, that as of now, seems completely bullish in their new approach and appears to be operating at the whims of its shareholders rather than workers.
I 100% have sympathy for anyone working within Xbox’s EMEA division right now because Microsoft are effectively handicapping them from performing their roles effectively. Especially given, as you pointed out, that they’re not short on capital.
Re: Sony PlayStation 'Regrettably Outspends Us', Says Xbox EMEA Marketing Boss
@Cikajovazmaj yeah pretty ignorant to say that it’s Microsoft “crying” over marketing budgets when it’s actually the EMEA head of marketing for Xbox making the point that Microsoft aren’t allocating sufficient funds to be competitive with Sony. This man has absolutely nothing to do with mergers and acquisitions or fund allocations and is perfectly within his rights to “cry” over marketing budgets.
Re: Here's A Complete List Of All Price Increases Coming To Xbox Game Pass
Doesn’t really change anything for me - still works out considerably cheaper and more convenient to sub for a month when there’s a day one game I want to play.
I do this with pretty much every subscription service - Netflix, Ubisoft plus, ps plus extra, Disney plus, apply tv plus. Really doesn’t seem worth it to commit to a year. Especially in the case of the video streaming services where you can often get a month or so free “trial” if you’re no longer subbed.
Re: Report: Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Lost $200 Million For Warner Bros
Super sad for the devs but pretty happy for the executives and shareholders - a $200 million penalty for forcing a live service title on a studio that developed fantastic single player BATMAN games sounds like good result.
Re: Xbox Veteran Suggests Recent Decisions 'Probably Aren't Being Made By Phil Spencer'
Anyone that thinks replacing Phil Spencer is going to result in a complete turn around at Xbox is completely delusional, as is anyone that believes Nadella, the board and stakeholders at Microsoft aren’t the ones driving decision making at the company.
The major difference between Microsoft and Sony right now is that PlayStation has been the most profitable division at Sony for years while Xbox hasn’t ever been at Microsoft, despite years of investment.
If you’re a stakeholder with Sony, it’s very obvious that you should continue to invest in PlayStation. If you’re a stakeholder at Microsoft, why would you continue to invest in xbox when there are other areas like AI and cloud-based infrastructure that are generating considerably more growth with little to no risk?
The recent decision making at Microsoft has all the hallmarks of a board looking to cut risk and grab as much return on investment as possible over as short a time as possible.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Phil step down at the end of the year and for Xbox to cull any other studio that isn’t generating the profits demanded of them by the board and stakeholders.
I have no idea where this leaves Xbox, but recent decisions don’t instil any confidence in the idea that Microsoft see value in Xbox as a brand. I think we’re moving towards ‘Microsoft gaming’ and an organisation that has more in common with ‘EA at their worst’ than anything else.
I really hope I’m proved wrong, but I’m not feeling much optimism.
Re: Report: Ubisoft's Japan-Themed Assassin's Creed Set For Gameplay Reveal Next Month
Just started watching the tv show, shogun - feeling very receptive to a feudal Japan set assassin’s creed right now.
Re: Xbox Is Shutting Four Studios, Including Arkane Austin And Tango Gameworks
Horrible news for everyone employed by those studios, I hope they’re able to quickly transition to another source of employment.
The video game industry is on a terrible downward trajectory right now. Costs have risen hugely and nothing but the biggest hitters seem to be sustainable. Studio’s are being shuttered everywhere. Achieving critical acclaim isn’t enough of a measure to constitute success sadly. Alan wake 2 is one of the latest examples of a game yet to break even despite garnering amazing reviews and receiving a goty nomination.
I hope the industry can solve these problems soon so that the people working on the titles people love have a safer and more secure place of work.
Re: Hellblade 2 Will Display With Black Bars Outside Of Ultrawide Mode
@Withinmyself I didn’t buy an ultrawide monitor because I couldn’t afford one. I chose a conventional monitor screen because I wanted an oled and ultrawide is absolutely terrible for competitive shooters. I’d rather have higher frame rates by rendering less pixels, more desk space and less risk of burn in from titles that don’t support ultrawide - Particularly true for the occasions that I connect the ps5 or switch.
Re: Hellblade 2 Will Display With 'Black Bars' Outside Of Ultrawide Mode
I could understand this decision on consoles as a means to reduce the number of pixels needed to render on a 4K tv and therefore help with performance.
I hope this isn’t the case on pc - I use 1440p 27” monitor so really don’t want to be playing at ultrawide 27” 1080p. My screen resolution and size will make for a seriously crappy image.
Re: Ori Dev's 'No Rest For The Wicked' Re-Confirmed For Xbox, PC Early Access Starts This Week
@Lup I wouldn’t immediately write it off based on the isometric perspective - it doesn’t play like a traditional diablo-like action rpg or turn-based baldurs gate style rpg. The early previews are very promising, it seems to be more like an isometric souls-like in combat terms. I’m excited to jump in with early access later this week.
Re: Star Wars Outlaws Launches This August On Xbox Series X|S
Hoping this game will come to Ubisoft's subscription service at launch too. Ubisoft’s games are pretty hit and miss, with their most recent titles being misses for me. Can’t justify a purchase for their launches anymore, but more than willing to sub for a month to try outlaws in August.
Re: Xbox Doubles Down On Highly Ambitious Plans For Next-Gen Hardware
I think the choice in wording here is quite deliberate - biggest “technological” leap. I don’t think we’ll be getting something that dwarfs the raw compute power of the series x, rather a system that goes all in on the use of AI and cloud technologies to leverage performance gains.
Chasing raw performance is not as easy as it once was - higher compute power now requires bigger chips with higher power draw which generate more heat and require more sophisticated and larger cooling solutions. All of these things result in higher costs for the producer and lower margins.
It makes far more sense for Microsoft to deliver a next generation system that augments its compute power with other technologies such as AI and the cloud to deliver a result that is close to that of a machine with higher raw power. For example, nvidia’s dlss technology can achieve image quality and frame rates of a significantly more powerful system using AI upscaling and frame generation. This comes at the cost of some image artifacting and increased latency - however, for the mass market casual gamer on console, these costs would be largely imperceptible.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Versions Of Hellblade 2 Confirmed To Run At 30FPS
I have a fairly decent spec PC with a 4070ti super, really hoping I can run this at 1440p60. Although nothing is guaranteed anymore on PC, most of the recent ports seem to run terribly irrespective of hardware.
Re: All Xbox Games With Mouse & Keyboard Support
Really don’t understand why Diablo 4 still doesn’t have m&k support on consoles.
Re: 'NVIDIA Buys Xbox' Begins Trending As April Fools' Day Jokes Run Wild
Ironically I’d actually love for nvidia to buy Xbox right now. They’re the industry leaders in gpu and ai tech, they also offer the best streaming solution with regards to latency and image quality via GeForce now.
They have no experience of managing development studios, but I doubt they could do any worse than Microsoft has been for the last decade.
It would definitely make hardware comparisons between PlayStation (amd) and Xbox (nvidia) more interesting.
Re: With A 'PS5 Pro' Now Rumoured For 2024, Where Does That Leave Xbox?
I really don’t think a pro version of series x is needed. The ps5 pro is going to be severely bottlenecked by its cpu and a pro version of series x will be exactly the same. I’d rather Microsoft wait for the next generation and give us a complete upgrade. The current console CPU’s are already starting to look pretty ancient by pc standards and a gpu upgrade is only going to give you so much if you’re cpu bound.
GTA VI will follow exactly the same blueprint as red dead redemption 2 did on Xbox one. The game targeted 30fps across the base console all the way through to the one x, despite the significantly more powerful gpu, higher clock speed cpu and increased ram of the x. GTA VI will still be 30fps on ps5 pro, but look slightly prettier. It won’t be 60fps 4k with ray tracing as some people are claiming. Rockstar have never pushed 60fps at launch on console or provided a performance mode. They don’t need to either - are people going to boycott GTA VI if it’s 30fps? Of course not.
Mid generation pro upgrades are largely pointless. They never sell as well as the base model, are always bottlenecked by something and are never fully supported by developers.
If you’re going to sell me another console, make it a new generation with a fully upgraded compliment of parts. Don’t just sell me a gpu upgrade with the same crappy cpu.
Re: Microsoft 'Feared' The End Of Console Gaming As Early As Xbox 360, Says Peter Moore
@rustyduck that’s because Sony have no fallback. If PlayStation fails, the whole division fails. They don’t have the in house cloud infrastructure that Microsoft have. Microsoft have both the money and resources to diversify away from consoles if they need to, Sony don’t.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Launches With Uncapped 30FPS Performance On Xbox
@NotoriousWhiz it was $1000 and I sold my series x for $360 so $640. Pretty happy with that
$500 is a great entry point, but game pass is on pc and it’s my main hobby. From my point of view it’s been money well spent. Doesn’t mean that will be the case for everyone.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Launches With Uncapped 30FPS Performance On Xbox
Disappointing for some fans, I’m sure. Strange that they haven’t put a 30fps vsync cap on the frame rate given that yesterday’s previews saw it barely go above 30. Although there were quite a few drops below 30 during action which would probably introduce tearing if using vsync.
I struggle to play games below 60 now so decided to trade in the series x for a pc a few months ago. Stories like this just serve to further validate my decision. I’ve yet to play a game that hasn’t been a locked 60 thanks to fully customisable graphics settings. Games are also considerably cheaper - I have dd2 preordered for £35.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Partner Preview' Event For This Week
Looking forward to seeing more of The First Berserker: Khazan, the art style looks fantastic as does the combat. Hopefully we get a release date on Wednesday.
Re: Poll: How Often Do You Buy Games That Have Been 'Remade' Or 'Remastered'?
I’m happy to buy a well made remaster of a classic game if I never played the original. If it’s a game I’ve previously beaten I’ll usually skip it or maybe check it out if it’s available on a subscription or deeply discounted.
I played and completed the original demon’s Souls at launch on ps3. My first souls game and arguably my favourite by virtue of being first, but I only played the remaster when it arrived on ps+ extra. This, despite being a fantastic game that had been completely remade with new assets and lighting in a new engine.