NostromoXP

@Jark It's a good job it's Black Friday, you'll be needing a new keyboard after vomiting on the one you have now with that last post.

The issue here is not the review score, it is when do you review a game?

PJ played a version that no user will play because of the day one patch (or day -1 maybe, not really sure when the patch came out). So the question is should the review be a week after release to truly represent the game a user will play or the extremely buggy pre-release version that no one except reviewers will play.

Personally I'd rather wait for a "released to the public review" than get a review of a game that I will never play anyway as that version will not exist by the time it is released.

I don't play early access games as I have far to many released games to play, but STALKER 2 would have been a perfect candidate for early access. The devs start to get money coming in, the die-hard fans get to play it ASAP and the curious but not that bothered (and reviewers) can wait for version 1.0. Win-Win.

Giving this a score of 4/10 was out of order in my view, the review should have been delayed by a week to take into account the actual game that the public will play.

@Artois2 "My tip is save your money"

... and buy it while it is half price.

Great tip Artois2.

I started this when it came to PC Game Pass expecting it to be a massive pile of you-know-what.

I'm still surprised to this day how much I loved every minute of the 153 hours that I put into it.

I bought the directors cut on Steam a little while later but never got round to playing it again as I wanted to give it a little time before a replay.

With the release of the Xbox version I will put my Steam copy on hold and I'll be picking this up via Xbox Play Anywhere (confirmed on the store page) to show support for this and look forward to another 100+ hours.

Great game.

@StonyKL As this is coming to PS4 as well, an Xbox One version would likely be an option, so with the One and Series consoles would you really call a combined sales total of 85+ Million consoles low?

I know it pails into insignificance compared to PlayStation but this narrative that there are no Xbox consoles out there is just idiotic.

@Steel76
"It's not about price, it's about the hardware."

For some people it is about the price, I know people who can barely afford to put food on the table for there kids but that doesn't stop those kids asking for the latest things. Should they tell those kids to just shut up because Steel76 doesn't believe that a cheap console should exist for them to have a little fun so just shut up and play with the cardboard box mummy got you from Aldi.

"It's just too damn weak for the generation."

Is it? Out of all the games released in the last few years how many have missing features on Series S? So far 1, I think. I'm probably missing a few but I'm sure you will put me right on that.

Lets take one of the little kids from my first point. Little Timmy, loves space and wants to play Starfield, Mommy Timmy can't afford a Series X and as Steel76 has deemed the Series S as a despicable blight on the gaming hardware scene it has been removed from sale and burned. Screw you Timmy, draw a space ship on your box.

"What's next 240p?"

If idiots keep asking for things that just aren't feasible, then sure, why not? It doesn't affect you in your ivory tower buying a PS5 Pro on launch day, so why should you care?

"Damn, what up with being so defensive about the Series S?"

Not being defensive about the Series S, just defending options, is that such a bad thing? Timmy doesn't think so.

Do you agree with what the Major is suggesting here?

Kind of, but we still have Indie games and I don't see them going anywhere just yet.

I would rather let developers make the games they want to make, be that a 15 hour "indie" game or 100+ hour epic.

Just stop forcing devs to make games they have no interest in.

My ignore list sure is getting full, 3 more for the pile.

@cragis0001 I Hope your right, I could use a cool new JRPG.

That Game Show logo does look cool.

@smoreon ...and all of them (short of a 4090, apparently) get lacklustre performance in many of the latest games.

You have no idea how right you are, I have a 3080ti PC (and all of the other bits that go with it) and I am playing Outlaws at the moment and I had to drop to 1440p with DLSS on Quality to get the game to 60fps and not look like caca.

At those setting a PC that cost over ten times the amount of a Series S is running an internal resolution of 1080p and people are outraged that a Series S has to drop to 432p to get to 60fps.

@AccessibleDaydream I get that and I apologize for coming over as aggressive as it did, that was not my intent.

My point was aimed more at your artistic statement and was a push back at all of the people who claim artistic intent is just there to cover over the cracks and has no place in gaming.

@Steel76 "Damn, this looks almost like a Switch port"

On a console that costs less than a switch, shocker!

@Banjo- I couldn't agree more, reading these threads is usually so depressing for somebody who just loves to play games but I just hate the toxicity that is so prevalent in gaming (and society in general).

Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable conversation.

Sorry for derailing the Series S bashing by talking so much twaddle about my early gaming life (which I know nobody asked for), I'll shut up now.

Have a great day.

@Banjo- I was predominantly a computer gamer so never really got into consoles but I did buy a GameCube as I really wanted to play Eternal Darkness. When I got it I also got hold of Zelda Collector's Edition (1 + 2, Ocarina and Majora) and Wind Waker Limited Edition so have had access to quite a few of them for a while now but some new game pretty much always dragged me back to PC.

I do regret not playing them at the time as I know I would have loved them but lack of time and other games coming out meant that road was never travelled.

@AccessibleDaydream

Switch release date - 3 March 2017
Xbox one release date - 22 November 2013

Halo Infinite platforms - Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce Now

Halo Infinite running on a platform that is effectively 11 years old. But hey it's OK if it's artistic.

@Banjo- I suppose I did sound like a bit of a graphics snob in my other comment but I'm not really, I've been gaming for over 40 years (started with the Commodore VIC-20) and gameplay is by far the most important thing but I just couldn't believe how Zelda looked on the switch.

I really hope that they release a remaster of them both for the Switch 2 and I will be the first in line to get them, I have only played 1 Zelda game (The one on a boat on 3DS) but I have always wanted to play more of them, just never got round to it.

I suppose we should really stop bashing the Switch as we are getting as bad as those who keep on about the Series S

@Banjo- A guy at work was bugging me about not owning a switch and playing Zelda, so I bought one with Breath of the Wild and that game looks OK on the 6" screen and I was enjoying it enough but I've never been much of a handheld gamer so I plugged it into my 75" Samsung TV and boy is it FUGLY and it runs like crap. Stuck it out for about another hour and I've never powered the switch on again.

I might look into a Switch 2 when it drops but it will have to do a lot more docked than the first one does.

It's a £230 little box that plays games. What the hell do people expect, it's not going to keep pace with a machine that costs twice as much but as usual people will ***** all over it because it "only" runs at 432p60.

I have a PC that cost 10 times as much as a series s and it still struggles with some games.

@Kezelpaso Just out of curiosity, when you pick "other" you get a little box to add a comment. Now I thought that would be added as a comment to the thread, but that would appear to not be the case, so I was wondering what it was really for?

By the way, the comment I added to the little box was that I subbed to Ubisoft+ for a month to play this and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

@Jenkinss The media bias against Xbox/MS is the biggest problem that MS have.

Todays media outlets are basically staffed by people who grew up in the "golden age" of console, gaming on the side of PS and the whole "war" for them was fought on the PlayStation side and this mentality has moved into their "professional" carrier, which just perpetuates the whole thing.

Going multi-platform at this point is the only option Microsoft have with some games.

"Everybody" loved Hellblade when it was PS exclusive, reading the comments about HB2 after it was announced as an Xbox exclusive "Nobody" cared as the first was ***** anyway so the second isn't a loss.

As pointed out, the tone has shifted now that Indy is coming to PS and I fully believe that the team working on it knew this would be the case and pushed for a PS5 announcement to stop all of the negativity from killing the game long before release.

Cue all the comments that I am chuffing copium and other meme induced wording (I'm 51 so I'm not really up on all of todays slang).

So Sony are even money hatting pre-load now. /jk? *

• Not sure if I'm just kidding or not.

Everybody* moaned about Resi Evil 7 being in first person and that turned out great.

• not literally

Prey 2 and Evil Within 3 would be nice.

So, when the first game came out and it was multi-platform "everyone" loved it. Now that the second game is xbox only "everyone" hated the first game. Funny that.

@Astig I'm glad that we agree that it is better that I get 20 or 30 points more per day and you lose 100s

It's hardly surprising, surely?

As far as I'm aware this was a beta effort that was only available to a very few people in very few regions.

MS rewards looks like they are trying to equalize points for people in every region, which I think is more than fair.

I might be biased as I wasn't one of the people in the UK who were picked to participate in the beta program but this just popped up on my rewards today so it looks like they have reduced points for the few so that the many can benefit.

My god this industry is so negative it is really pissing me off.

We have just had 14 games shown with "something for everybody" type games and all we get from the majority of people is negativity.

I watched a few minutes of the after show as well and all they were focused on was the guy doing the narration because he wasn't being an incredibly annoying youtuber practically exploding with excitement.

Then I come here and read things like "I'm letting Game Pass lapse" "Nothing for me, where are all of the AAA games" it's absolutely ridiculous.

Try broadening your tastes and you will have a lot more fun with this hobby.

Anyway, on topic:

Unknown 9: Awakening - Looks good, will keep an eye on this one.
Sleight of Hand - Really interested in this one.
The Alters - This looks really interesting and a great new idea.
Creatures of Ava - Looking forward to this one, looks fun.
The Sinking City 2 - Day 1 for this one as I enjoyed the 1st and adding in survival could really make this one shine.
Stalker: Original Trilogy - Hopefully they patch up the PC versions as well as I have just installed the 1st on steam but want to play with a controller.
Frostpunk 2 - Always intended to play the 1st but never got round to it, I'll fire it up and see if the 2nd one is of interest to me.

The rest look interesting but not really my cup of tea but you know what, that's fine, not everything has to be for you and you alone.

If the likes of Bethesda had already completed 70-80% of a PlayStation version of titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Starfield then it makes perfect business sense to have been working on finishing those games and releasing them a year later.

I don't like the idea of games like Indy making the jump but again if they have most of the game running on PS then I could forgive it.

I don't think any MS gaming division titles (Gears - Halo etc.) should be made multi platform because that is just removing dev time for Xbox (and PC) games.

As for multiplayer and GaaS games then the more platforms the better as a bigger audience means more money returning to the xbox division, which can only be a good thing.

@Darylb88 And what do you think those games on TVs are running on? Every cloud session is running on an actual Xbox (not a retail unit but bespoke Xbox hardware) so if there is no future Xbox then there is no future cloud session.

Perhaps they are going to make a move into PC or linux servers to run the games on like Stadia did but I would have expected some rumors about MS refitting there data centers to have surfaced by now.

Without an Xbox console there is no Xbox game pass.

People are talking about playing the games on cloud, but cloud is powered by Xbox hardware. If they give up on hardware then 3rd party studios are not making games for Xbox, ergo they are not on game pass cloud.

Unless MS are looking into shifting cloud gaming onto PC hardware then the Xbox console has to be a thing.

If there is no Xbox hardware, what exactly are devs creating there games to run on? Do people see MS data centers running PS6 hardware to get the latest games onto Xbox game pass cloud?

That leads us to the problem of exclusives, if titles such as Starfield and Indy go multi plat then that is the start of the downward spiral to extinction. As many have pointed out no exclusives means no buy so the install base gets smaller and smaller and the 3rd party devs stop deving.

I want the end of exclusives as they suck but unless this is the start of a new PS strategy of bringing stuff to Xbox I'm afraid MS have to play the exclusive game as well as they are not in a position to move the needle on exclusivity.

Maybe a strange question, but coming from somebody who knows very little about blade, what is his mode of transport?

Spidey has swinging, Batman has the cape glide (and batmobile) what does blade have? I seem to recall a motorbike but I might be mistaken.

I'm just wondering how you will get around in the game, which might give some idea as to the type of game this might be.

Any interest in playing Postal 4 on Xbox?

No.

I had some very negative experiences with the SoT community when I played it which made me leave the game in August 2022.

I said I wouldn't return until they released a private server option (I was even willing to pay for it) so that I didn't have to interact with the toxic community the game has.

I am over the moon they are releasing the private servers as I will be most definitely returning, as the core game play is great and I still have a few Tall Tales to do (not to mention I have been so tempted to go back just to play the monkey island stuff).

As the most vocal players who are against the PvE option are most likely the ones who are also the most toxic, I couldn't care less about there opinions, this is a great move by Rare, and I hope it brings in a bigger audience of players to experience this great game.

As long as this means we also get an elite 3 around the same time, I'll be all over it.

It would be cool if MS have signed a deal with Ubi to bring Ubi+ to GPU.

11 out of 10 and I'm selling my PS5

@WallyWest

I've decided to take my own advice and grow up, therefore I have deleted my original response to your reply.

I will say that as predominantly a PC gamer I have the privilege of being able to play games from both sides of the camp (eventually) and I have enjoyed them equally.

My original comment (above) was not advocating the current stance that MS has decided on, I was pointing out that when you poke a sleeping bear you might get swatted when it finally wakes up.

I think this game and Deathloop are much more significant than some people realize. With the talk of Sony also trying to get starfield as a (timed) exclusive, I think this is the point where MS thought enough is enough.

Not having the market share to get exclusivity deals unless they were willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money MS just decided that they might as well just buy the studio/publisher.

We may look back in years to come and see this as the point where Sony went to far and paid the price.

Some Rage Coins for Rage 2 would be nice, looking to pick up the DLC but feel kind of dirty buying it with in game currency purchased with real life money.

Can we just let these (all) devs get on with what they do and stop scrutinising every little thing that a company does.

This isn't a complaint about this article, but a more general look at the industry these days.

People leaving a project, features getting dropped, delays etc. have been going on since the very beginning of game development and I'm sure the same is going on in every other walk of life. THIS ISN'T NEW.

I would vote for Psychonauts 2 in any award show as it is one of the best games I have ever played.

Loved every minute of it and was my GOTY.

EDIT: Forza 5 is great as well.

@twztid13 Being active does not mean you have to "publish a game in 1 year".

Uploading a basic project file for the game you are working on is "being active", playing ratchet and clank on an emulator isn't.

I do agree with your second comment though, I'm glad you don't frequent this site as well.

Why would they get a refund?

They paid to become a developer under the condition that they develop something, they didn't develop anything so there accounts are being suspended.

This is a very badly worded article. Technically what you are saying is correct, access to emulators may be getting removed but it's not because you are using emulators and it has nothing to do with Sony or Nintendo putting pressure on anybody.

I haven't signed up for a dev account but I'm sure when you did you agreed to the T&Cs which I'm sure stated that if you don't actively develop anything for over a year then your account will be disabled, this is what is happening now.

It has nothing to do with emulation and it probably has nothing to do with xbox. This will be a Microsoft developer clause in the T&Cs.