Comments 874

Re: Former 343 Employee Hints At 'Unannounced' New Halo Project

NeoRatt

I am probably in the minority here, but I would love to see a continuation of Halo Infinite single player on the current Halo Ring. They left us stranded in another part of the ring at the end of the Halo Infinite campaign. Would love that to continue.

Switch it to UE5 and make it an incredible campaign. Also, keep giving more and more updates for the multi-player. Just keep building!

Re: Minecraft Legends Development Ends, Less Than A Year Since Launch

NeoRatt

It doesn't hurt to try new game ideas for IPs. Some succeed, others fail. I would rather they try then just keep doing infinite Minecraft core updates.

Throw some new ideas against the wall and see if they stick! That's the beauty of gamepass. Studios can try some stuff in different directions. HiFi Rush and Pentiment were both very successful. Also liked Minecraft Dungeons and Grounded.

Re: Bethesda's Indiana Jones Game Reportedly Set To Launch This Year

NeoRatt

@Kaloudz
Machine Games has only done FPS for Wolfenstein reboot. Also the whole group of Bethesda studios has mostly deliver First Person games. So it is probably a pretty good bet they will again go first person. But they could be trailblazing new ground which could send them in some other direction.

Re: Talking Point: Do You Think Xbox Will Ever Stop Making Consoles?

NeoRatt

I don't care about consoles or not consoles... What I do care is that I have a device for me to play games in my TV and that device has a friendly UI for the TV. My love of consoles is the fact that the input device only requires a controller, the UI is designed around the entertainment experience, and the device is powerful enough (and cheap enough) to run the latest great games.

I am buying the XB experience not a console. And to me that experience also includes content, safe/performant online gaming, achievements, gamepass, and play anywhere on any device including dedicated devices and cloud.

As long as the device does all that it could be a tablet, lego bricks, tower PC, console, or whatever. I don't care. People get too attached to "this is the way we do things". And should focus more on, "this is what the thing needs to do to get me to buy it".

Re: Talking Point: Has Xbox Done A Good Job With Gears Of War So Far?

NeoRatt

As with everything else, I think Gears has been trying to grow and be too inclusive which is turning a lot of the original lovers of the game off.

It has lost a lot of its grittiness. In the first two games you had to show skill in getting through the levels and it was all about grit. But since three it has been smooth and easy to get through the levels even at harder difficulties.

The female lead story is ok, but as with everything it is more about the personal female then it is about the overall story. Story telling has to return to the overarching stories instead of always trying to delve deep into morals and personal struggles. It is like every story game now a days has to stand for some morally woke emotion rather than just be a simple story that entertains you.

Souls games don't apologize for the story and gameplay they all seem to have. Gears should not have apologized and changed to try and get a much broader audience.

Re: Xbox Game Pass Dunks On PlayStation Over Dirt-Cheap Yakuza Deals

NeoRatt

@Cikajovazmaj
I do have a very limited amount of time each week in which I play games. Probably 2 to a maximum of 10 hours per week at this stage of life. So, the number of games I get through per month is probably 2-3. I still find GamePass to be financially better because I play a lot of different games (Probably 3-8 per month). Also, even if you play one different full cost game per month GamePass is $15 USD and includes online gaming. A good 80% of gamers at least use online, so if you break out the GamePass cost it is probably around $10 USD. You can play the same full price game for 6 months and you are coming out even.

I do agree though if you are one of those people that just play a single game all the time like Fornite, Call of Duty, etc. GamePass isn't that great of a deal but you have to buy the lowest tier anyhow for the online component.

Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (January 4-16)

NeoRatt

@awp69
How many really good Day One releases come out in January? Most developers/publishers try to release for the holiday season the top games. Then, January is usually pretty dry. Releases start to pickup again at the end of February til end of June, then we get the summer drought and things pickup in September for the rest of the year.

Re: Xbox Studio Double Fine Teases 'Cool Things In Store' Ahead Of 25th Anniversary

NeoRatt

@NarutosBiggestFan
To me, DoubleFine is a creative XB studio. So I would like to see another new different game from them. I think Psychonauts 2 is one of the best platformers out there and really enjoyed the Costume Quest games but I also liked their other games like Grim Fandango, RAD, Stacking, and Iron Brigade. So would love to see another quirky and new game from them.

Re: Xbox Game Pass Dunks On PlayStation Over Dirt-Cheap Yakuza Deals

NeoRatt

@Markatron84
I think it all depends on circumstance and perspective.

If you already have GamePass and intend to pay for it month after month then the games are just part of the monthly fee you pay for the 200+ revolving games you have access to. It is a subscription and you are paying for what is in the subscription. Which is way less than buying all 200+ games (even on sale).

If you don't have GamePass and want to just play the Yakuza games, then you may be better off to buy them when they are on sale like this.

But also, if you don't have GamePass and want to binge on these games and have the time to binge, you could just subscribe for a month to binge them.

Different gamers have different circumstances and perspectives that make them want different pricing models to play games. To me, MS provides the most flexibility in how I play (PlayAnywhere games) and pay (Buy/GamePass).

I bought the Yakuza games when they were similarly priced on XB Sales. And I am a GamePass subscriber. For me I want to own and play the games forever, but GamePass helps me play a lot of new and cool games before they get to the price I want to pay to own them (Especially now that game prices have risen dramatically the past two years). I played a couple of the Yakuza games on GamePass, then when the price was right I scooped them all on sale!

Re: Talking Point: Do You Think We'll See Another Forza Horizon Game Anytime Soon?

NeoRatt

This is the nice thing about owning so many studios..

They don't have to over saturate releasing the same franchises every two to three years. They can go to more 4-6 years cycles for franchises which will keep them in higher demand and allow them to improve each game more than just a mild improvement.

I am not a fan of two to three year cycles for games. Any release 1-3 years after a major release means they are just tweaking the game engine and supplying new content. If it takes 4+ years they are usually doing some major changes to innovate the game engine in some way.

Re: Soapbox: Remakes Like 'Resident Evil 4' Deserve To Be In The GOTY Conversation

NeoRatt

I disagree completely with putting them in for GOTY.

GOTY is not recycling an old story and re-making it better both technically and story-wise. GOTY is for new stories and new technologies.

At the very least every re-make is a cop-out in creating a new creative story. Although I really like some re-makes like RE4 I don't see how it can get anything more than an 8 out of 10 with reviewers. Because creativity of the story should count for at least 2 points in any review. It is hard to believe a re-made story can be considered very creative.

Re: 343 Has 'Nothing In Active Development' For Halo Infinite Single-Player

NeoRatt

@OldGamer999
Agreed, I quite enjoyed the campaign. And felt they left it perfectly for continuing the campaign.

I would've liked to have seen more campaign elements like traditional Halo campaigns though. They could've used the geography more to make more traditional campaign elements. They also should've used things like atmosphere storms to limit what you could do once you get the flying vehicles. Once I got flying vehicles I pretty much was able to rout the campaign.

Re: Hellblade 2 New Gameplay Trailer Confirms 2024 Release Window

NeoRatt

@Banjo-
I agree. I have played all the CD Tomb Raider and Uncharted games. I find the Uncharted games can't keep my attention that long, but once I get into a Tomb Raider game I can't seem to put it down.

I especially like the Tomb Raider bow and stealth over Uncharted. The bow and stealth in Tomb Raider is more free form and you can use many ways to get through those types of levels. Uncharted I found the stealth to be more a trial and error exercise with limited paths to accomplish the same thing in levels. Many of the Uncharted levels requiring stealth had me just wishing they would end so I could get to the next level, whereas in Tomb Raider I found they had me doing a step and calculating how I could do the next step safely.

Re: Killer Instinct: Anniversary Edition Update Goes Live This Week

NeoRatt

@LordFunkalot
I do agree with your comment completely.

I do think MS is doing a good mix of old and new though. Age of Empires 4, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite were all new entries in existing IPs. Then Ghostwire, Deathloop, HiFi Rush, Redfall, Minecraft Legends, and Starfield are all new IPs.

And as we go forward there is Fable reboot, Avowed, Clockwork Revolution, Hellblade 2, South of Midnight, Everwild, Perfect Dark reboot, State of Decay 3, and Indiana Jones all announced. So, I think they are mixing things up pretty good. At least better than the other two first parties I think (this generation).

Re: 'Technical Error' Led To Mid-Game Advert In Assassin's Creed, Says Ubisoft

NeoRatt

That is by far one of the stupidest PR postings in gaming ever.

1) Why would the ad even be in the game? It doesn't just accidently get there.
2) Sure, there is a tech glitch where the ad that shouldn't be in the game anyhow (but somehow got there), just happen to get into the code where gamers happened to come across it.

Last night I found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow too.

So stupid.

Re: Four Years Since Its Announcement, Rare Continues To Hire For Everwild

NeoRatt

The game will be done when it is done. I would rather MS ship a quality game then rush out something like Redfall was or that has flawed concepts. Gamers and gaming journalism needs to be paying attention less to what is not here and pay more attention to what has shipped and is here. There are plenty of games this year to play in almost all genres.

Re: 'Clockwork Revolution' Dev inXile Talks About Benefits Of Working Under Xbox

NeoRatt

@TakeItEasy
I think certain studios are on top of the industry. I would not blanket and say any publisher is. I felt Capcom really milked gamers on their straight remasters of games like the Deadrising and RE remasters. (RE Remakes were good).

I have all three major consoles and PC. What makes XB my primary console is the stability of XB's network, I prefer achievements over trophies, MS commitment to game on many form factors, the fact that my gamer tag dates back to the start of achievements, and XB GamePass Ultimate.

I don't think consoles should be differentiated by content. They should be differentiated by hardware and services available. Content only plays a role with me when there it is not enough of what I like. This year content was not a problem with XB. Last year it was. And in many of the XB One years content was horrible.

Let's put it this way, if MS only released one game per year that has 50 hours of game time before it becomes dull and it was GOTY would that be better than 4 new games that had a total of 200 hours of game time before they were dull of which 1 was nominated GOTY and 3 had 75-85 Metacritic scores? Quantity and quality need to be balanced in my opinion. There is only one GOTY and the GOTY tends to be an action-adventure along the lines of what Sony or FROM Software makes. All other games are pretty much ignored.

Re: 'Clockwork Revolution' Dev inXile Talks About Benefits Of Working Under Xbox

NeoRatt

@TakeItEasy
Not every game is a #1 AAA hit. No matter what large publisher you look at there are flops and successes. I like the hands off approach because:

1) It allows studios to take chances
2) The studios are fully accountable for the game they release
3) They are not as money driven by some corporate jerk

The flaws of quality can be addressed by MS ensuring a quality bar is hit. To me that was the biggest flaw of Redfall. And really this year that is the only game anyone can truly knock that MS released.

Re: Blizzard On The Possibility Of WoW On Xbox: 'We Are Microsoft Now'

NeoRatt

@Xbox_Dashboard
I am not sure how easy that is. First, they would have to make the game work on the XB network with XB gamer tags and achievements. Next, there is a lot the same with XS consoles and PCs but they are not exactly the same.

It sounds simple and transparent but it probably isn't. You have to remember the game dates back to 2004. There is probably still remnant technology in the game from that era. Back then PCs and XB were coded separately. The tools have changed a lot and XB is more or less PC now, but if there is still some old tech there then it would not be easy.

Re: Sony Exec Describes Game Pass And PS Plus As 'Very Different' Offerings

NeoRatt

The purpose of the two subscriptions are the same. Provide gamers with online features and a catalogue of games they can play.

The features and and catalogues take very different approaches though. In the end I think your preference is based on what you value most. I have no problem with either subscription, but with the way I use them XB is giving me better value for dollars spent in my opinion.

Re: Xbox Game Pass Release Exoprimal Gave Capcom A 'Large' Digital Revenue Boost

NeoRatt

@Rmg0731
That was probably the point on putting it on GamePass. Capcom has not made a lot of big shooters lately (Last really good shooter I remember was Lost Planet). Of course RE is shooter but more action-horror.

By putting this on GamePass they were able to show they can make a decent shooter and it did good. Hopefully encourages them to do some more. And gives them a good experience with GamePass, so hopefully they do more on GamePass too. Wins for everyone - Gamers, Capcom, and of course MS.

Re: Publisher Thunderful Reiterates Positives Of Xbox Game Pass Releases

NeoRatt

I think GamePass is just one of a number of business models to fund the creation and delivery of games. There is still room for all the other models. People like to think that one model is the best, but in reality there is no one size fits all. I love GamePass, owning digital games, and I play the odd F2P (even though I refuse to pay in F2P).

Re: Microsoft Increasing Xbox Series S Price In Brazil

NeoRatt

@TakeItEasy
Honestly, my company does business in Brazil and it is difficult to keep prices low for foreign companies. If you are not manufacturing your product in Brazil there is a ton of taxes and protectionist things that drive the price of goods in Brazil up exponentially.

I would guess that there are not enough XBoxes sold in Brazil to justify manufacturing there so between foreign import, foreign electronics, and other foreign taxes, not to mention the very high US dollar cost to bring them in, they were forced to increase the price.

Re: Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 To Fix Multiple Issues Post-Launch

NeoRatt

@Martsmall
Agreed. I have more or less completely given up on day one purchases because the developers either ship a beta version of the game which is not feature complete or they ship a complete game that is a buggy mess.

I remember the first time I really saw this on the AAA side was Batman Arkham City. Spent 16 hours playing on launch day and lost my game save on a bug with X360. I was hugely choked.

But now, these types of things are norms rather than exceptions. And as long as gamers keep buying the games, there is no incentive for the devts/pubs to change the situation.

It is as if there is only one or two true AAA games each year now and what used to be AAA is now AA or worse.

Re: BG3 Is Still Planned For Xbox Before End Of 2023, Confirms Developer

NeoRatt

As long as they ship a complete game with few bugs I prefer them to ship it when it is ready.

Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of gaming time so I am backlogged heavily. Still working my through Diablo, spent only a small time with Starfield, haven't even touched Forza Motorsport yet. Not to mention many other games that have shipped and are going to still ship this year.

Re: With Just Two Months Left, These Are The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Games Of 2023

NeoRatt

I have been highly satisfied with all the games on XB this year overall. This is the first year in a long time that I felt glad for what shipped and am looking forward to hopefully another solid year next year.

I know the exclusives never got super high scores, but they were almost all good games. Redfall is the only game I think they should've did more with before releasing.

Re: Xbox's Latest Advertising Campaign Features Starfield, Hellblade 2 & Others

NeoRatt

@Titntin
The game stuff was good in that PS ad. But, I hate a newscaster type approach. Reminds me of all the news organizations now-a-days. Where they are either left or right leaning rather than objective. Felt cheesy to me because of it. Although I do have to say the woman flying in the XB one was cheesy too.

I do think spider-man 2 is a really good. I played the first part of the story this morning and it is good. But, Sony is just working off of their existing IP and not really building anything new right now and the past few years. I am sure they are working on new stuff. Just zero visibility as to what that is. Returnal is really their only new IP this generation so far. And it doesn't seem like there is a lot of other new IP coming.

Re: Rumour: Halo's Next Story Campaign Is In Development On Unreal Engine

NeoRatt

@species8472
I do completely agree with your comment, but also there is no sense throwing more at the campaign using Slipspace if it does not fit. I would prefer they get to a sustainable long term game engine and use it going forward.

Hopefully with this change Halo Story content starts coming out regularly once they get there. I would like to see them build on the Infinite world. and continue where it was left off. I really enjoyed the Infinite campaign and would like to explore more on this ring and expand the story on this ring.

Re: Limited Run CEO Claims Walmart May Be Dropping Physical Xbox Games Soon

NeoRatt

@MikeHiscoe
First, there is nothing here to say that Wal-mart will not carry XB consoles. Just physical XB games. And the quotes imply that this will also be applied to PS and Nintendo later. "Retail is becoming more and more challenging and in-store game sales are declining, only makes sense they'll reduce the department in time"

Second, it is inevitable that game sales would turn digital. Business software is almost all digital, CD music has gone pretty much all digital/streaming, DVD/Blu-Ray has gone digital/streaming, etc. There is nothing to suggest this is anything to do with just Microsoft. Facts are, less and less gamers are buying physical games, and more an more they are buying digital games.

I am not saying that physical game sales should disappear or I agree with Wal-mart's potential decision. But thinking this is Microsoft getting what it deserves is not supported by the facts. Every media for entertainment and software distribution is being replaced by digital distribution. Whether we like it or not and it is not just a Microsoft thing.