OM1993

Pre-ordered ready for the day. Can't wait to try it out.

Excellent. I was just thinking I needed to see extended gameplay before making any type of judgment on this. Can't beat going hands on yourself!

After Stellar Blade, Rise Of The Ronin, news of the PS exclusive quest for Hogwarts Legacy, and the supposed reveal of a provision by Capcom for a last gen version of RE 4 Remake only on PS4, this is more than a tad rich from Sony.

@Dezzy70 I've got hope those 3 will make it by June 2023, and I'm confident all of them will turn out well. The Redfall Japanese localisation confirmation today is telling me that development must be wrapping up and is almost ready to go, localisations are normally done at the end of a development cycle, right? I'm sure announcements for release dates for the big 3 will be around the corner. Next year is shaping up to be one insane year for gaming across the board. The metaverse stuff, something to keep an eye on for sure.

@Dezzy70 Umm I don't think they're creating a metaverse in all honesty. I don't, or maybe can't, see that's what they're actually doing. We'll see though.

@Dezzy70 That's fair and I respect that. I'm in the same boat as you to a degree, there is definitely a drought on the AAA exclusive side for MS, it has been impacted by the delays to Starfield and Redfall and yeah, I feel MS could be doing way better. They've made some promises they haven't been able to fulfill ie. Starfield and Redfall this year, but where I think MS have done well and what's keeping me going is the way MS have been communicating to their player base, the constant presence at showcases and provision of a clear, expsnsive roadmap. Couple that with third party output and some significant day and date GP additions from third party and I feel MS are doing their best to fill the gap. I know it's been sn empty 2022, but 2023 should see a significant pick up in exclusive output and massive additions to GP. GP will be giving you those new presents very soon, God forbid there be any more delays.

@Dezzy70 Ok cool, but it felt like you attacked first here, emphasis on "felt like". I thought your first comment was needless tbh. Just let Xbox have a good show, maybe? It's been a good week for gaming, let's keep the negativity to a minimum. Appreciate the response though mate.

@Dezzy70 Wow, what does that make PS Plus then?

@Stoned_Patrol Highly doubt it, just showing games from Japanese devs in general at the end.

@Snake_V5 Never ever. It's basically just a PS console exclusive.

Great event in all honesty, compliments what was a great week for showcases following on from SoP and RGG Summit. Some nice shadow drops today (Ni No Kuni and Danganronpa V3) and finally got that Deathloop announcement. Guilty Gear and Blazblue are massive! AND they had that game I like to call "Pokemon with gats" here, love the look of that! The games shown off I'm sure are bound to entice the Japanese market that much more, especially with the prospect of accessing all these games on GP via XCloud. I think the showcase deserves an A grade in it's own right, and the week in general gets an A from me as well. Awesome week for gaming announcements!

Turnip Boy Robs A Bank looked legit, not even being funny. I cannot wait for that! Ghostbusters looked solid too, but that's it. Didn't expect much more knowing how much tat gets shown off at these events, I do typically just put on Id@xbox showcases for a bit of background noise. Although my main gripe was that this show felt like it was barely able to cover more ground than Sony handled in 1/9th of today's runtime at last nights SoP. It only felt like a handful of games got shown earlier and only a couple things had something about them. Objectively the show was a fail, can't deny that. Oh well, roll on the main event tomorrow!

@Zochmenos The MK games since reboot have been fantastic and are the gold standard in the fighting genre for storytelling. I'm grateful for the reboot because I feel that's what has sparked this change we're seeing now in Tekken and Street Fighter, and how they approach narrative. Again, I think T7 failed on first attempt but hopefully it's a case of lessons learned for T8. Bandai Namco have the fighting down to an art imo with Tekken (although I will side with @JayJ and say I'm not a fan of the Rage Art/Rage Drive system. I mean I never used them so I didn't let it bother me in that sense but the inclusion of it felt a bit swagger-jackery towards Capcom and I just don't think it's an organic fit in Tekken, it doesn't feel right), they just need to make sure it's a return to form for single player content. And they are more than capable of that, you just have to see what they did with Soul Calibur 5 and you realise they still have the chops for it.

Looking likely now. Hearing Deathloop has been popping up on the Xbox Dashboard and storefronts. I'm holding out for a TGS announcement tomorrow, sounds logical an Xbox release may coincide with it entering PS Plus Extra on the 20th.

@JayJ Sorry, just saw your comment after making mine. Didn't mean to steal your thunder there!

@Zochmenos I'd say T7 is quality from a mechanical standpoint, the fighting is top tier and plays supremely well. I don't think they did a great job with the content though. They all but did away with the traditional character specific stories you had in Arcade Modes of the past, boiling it down to a single two round fight detailing one characters interaction with another single character (and in most cases here, characters are interacting with characters they're not historically linked to, so the scenarios T7 create in this arcade mode feel strange! And don't get me started on how they try to make some of these scenarios funny, it's painful to watch.). Although I'm guessing it was a compromise for the Mishima story they implemented instead, but that leads to my other issue with T7. I don't think the Mishima story mode was any good either, in terms of narrative, game structure or payoff. I'd go as far as saying it was a failed attempt at creating an MK type story experience. Ultimately I would say T7 is an exceptional fighting game, strictly in terms of the gameplay itself, but some of the decisions made regarding content was extremely questionable. I believe T8 will be more of the same, it's clear from the end of T7's Mishima story mode that the Mishima story arc will continue.

So, so hyped for this!

@RadioHedgeFund Correct

I hope we get an announcement next week, not just for GP though. I'd have hoped they would announce a physical copy release date at the same time. Would be strange announcing it at Id@box imo, unless it's as @StylesT says and it's a same day drop. But I'd have assumed an announcement at TGS would be more likely.

In a year where AAA has been pretty shocking, the indies I feel have shone brightly in comparison. Titles like Cult Of The Lamb, Neon White, Tunic, Norco, Freshly Frosted, Shredders Revenge, Rogue Legacy 2 and Stray (amongst others!) have all come out to extremely positive reception from critics and gamers alike. And we still have games like Bloody Hell Hotel to come! The Game Awards Indie category could easily consist of a 10 game shortlist this year, sad knowing that won't be the case and some great games will get snubbed.

I first thought it was Berserk when the trailer started rolling, then confused this for Wukong initially once the title appeared, absolute imbecile!! Keeping an eye on this though, if the quality is anything like that of Nioh, this will be a good one.

@anoyonmus Team Ninja developing and Koei Tecmo publishing. Day 1 on Game Pass. I expect this will be multi-plat still though.

@SplooshDmg As @Lavalera pointed out, the screenshot shown prior to the Starfield presentation outlining the general Xbox road map now shows S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 as a 2023 title. I think that pretty much confirms it has been delayed. I expected this to be formally announced during the showcase tbh, similar to how Replaced got a shout out at SGF on Thursday.

@Darylb88 I would dare say it was the crown jewel of the PS4 era exclusive games personally, by far and away the best of the bunch IMO

@FraserG No worries pal!

@PhhhCough The Riot Games were announced to only hit PC and Mobile

@Darylb88 Ahhh right OK! I didn't catch that video. Thanks for confirming 👍

@mousieone If that's the scenario, then I really wouldn't mind that at all. Redfall will also slot into that release window hopefully, so 2023 would start out very strong for Xbox.

Yeah, what does "last I heard" mean? Did he hear about this delay this week? Last week? Last month?? Did he hear about this before MS appointed a new Forza Quality Assurance manager? I wish Tom disclosed when exactly he heard this. Maybe if we had an idea of timeframe of the rumour, we could guess if it still holds true or if we will see a release this year. The wording though gives Tom the chance to state he never truly committed to stating there was an actual delay, if Forza does indeed get slapped with a 2022 release. We've already seen some "insiders" end up with egg on their faces this week with committing to rumours that never ended up coming true (looking at you, Serrano!). Either way though, we'll find out properly tomorrow I guess.

Safe to say Devolver killed yet again. This and Cult Of The Lamb have got me pretty hyped.

This looked great! Definitely trying this one when it lands.

It's not surprising to me that Fable and Perfect Dark won't be there. I imagine games that will release from now until the end of 2023 only will show up.

@themightyant Couldn't agree more. I thought they nailed it with JC 2, I personally see that as the best sandbox game ever made, but JC 3 and 4 definitely suffer from being way too big, way too bloated, and yet lacking in substance.

@Lavalera I know, you can't really count Grounded or Deathloop, reaching at this point! 😅 Starfield and RedFall for me were like the marquee exclusives for this year. You remove them and all of a sudden 2022 in terms of Xbox exclusives looks barren. I think MS/Bethesda need to come out with a flourish in 2023 if this year ends up being dry. I'll just be glad for the showcase next month as at the least, it'll give us some perspective on how the next couple years will be looking.

@UltimateOtaku91 I think Hellblade 2 for this year is a little ambitious, but we'll see. I reckon Project Belfry is up next and on for within the next few months, and the most likely first party game after that will be Forza Motorsport. Seeing as MS were ramping up efforts for Forza earlier in the year, and a new head of quality assurance was appointed for the Forza franchise, I'm hoping best case that it's virtually done now (at the very least in a substantial playable state) and just in need of a once over and a stamp of approval before it gets past the gate. I'm also guessing full version of Grounded comes out at some stage towards the end of the year, factor in Deathloop in September and that could be it for 2022. Hopefully more to come following the big showcase next month.

Interesting this news has broken out following Microsofts visit to Bethesda. Wondering if MS looked at the games as a precursor to gathering up what they can show at the upcoming showcase and thought both projects need a bit more time in the oven. Can't say it isn't a bit crappy we've got the delays seeing as a surefire date was given for Starfield and Redfall had been slated for Summer, but sensible move if MS and Bethesda have looked at both games jointly and decided they need a bit more work and polish. Fingers crossed for now!

@OliverOwen There is a checkpoint system in this game that will apparently let you respawn with all your equipment, EXP etc. intact, and will respawn you right near where you died, provided you triggered the checkpoint prior to dying. Getting straight back into boss fights after being wiped out should be relatively hassle free here.

Not going to lie, but after spending 30 hours with this game post next gen patch - bearing in mind too I'm just jumping into this game only now - I feel I can declare this is my favourite game of all time. Yes, I'm being deadly serious. Immensely enjoying this game. Hate it everytime I have to walk away from it. Everything about this game just works for me personally and I can't think of anything recently that comes close to this, for as buggy and glitchy it can be at times (although bugs and glitches have not been too prevalent in my run of the game). If I was able to, I would consider this one of my early GOTY contenders, but that'd be cheating! 😁