PhileasFragg

@Fiendish-Beaver Thanks. I don't understand why people would be upset more people are playing the game, but that explains the relevance at least.

I didn't realise there was a backlash about the Indiana Jones game. What's wrong with it?

It's not even out yet, and the developers have a decent track record with story heavy FPS games.

Rather than a 21+ restriction it should be strictly 17-23 as anyone older than that has more sense and taste.

Damn. I was going to buy ten of these (one per room, and another for the car), but now it's useless without the green grill.

Crossplay is pretty much the standard when I'm playing online games with friends. The multiplayer games I play the most (Fortnite and Sea of Thieves) most of my friends play on other platforms so Crossplay is a must.

I think it needs to be a standard feature as it's really annoying when you can't play games with people because of restrictions. I even had a problem on PC where my friends were all playing a game, also on PC, but I couldn't join them as they had it on Steam, and I bought from the Microsoft Store.

Good to see another game set in the Control universe, but I wish it wasn't a multiplayer shooter. It's a bit of a kick in the teeth like how Apex Legends is set in the Titanfall universe. I just want Control 2

This looks interesting. I'll wait for reviews to see how it actually shakes out, but my interest is piqued due to my love of that era of cartoons.

Also isn't' it interesting that an FPS with decidedly non-realistic graphics is drawing attention almost solely on visuals? Almost as if what people wany is strong artistic direction rather than the fidelity of the protagonist's armpit hairs...

Donut County is a really fun and charming short puzzle game. I'd highly recommend it as it's great to play on a wet Sunday afternoon where you want to chill a bit.

@BleedingDreamer Yeah the drive isn't the best sadly. I've had issues with some 4K discs just not working. For example I've tried 2 different copies of Matrix Resurrections, and neither would play in my Series X. I hope it's something that can be fixed, but could be a hardware or deep firmware issue sadly.

Makes sense they'd take this opportunity to make a few changes internally after lesson learned from 4-5 years of real world usage and manufacturing. When you're really into old consoles and home computers you'll find that there's often a fair bit of difference on the inside of some models over time to cut costs, etc. even if it looks identical on the outside.

Power and noise improvements are good as it actually saves you money.

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but I do wonder if this was an "astroturf" group funded by a competitor to try and throw another wrench in the works, and have just settled as it became pointless.

I agree with these people though, and in a few years time we'll see what a bad deal this was for consumers and the industry as a whole.

Just make another "James Bond Jr." game you cowards. That's an IP that's just sitting there ripe for a reboot. People love nostalgic cartoon reboots these days.

A really fun game. Even better if you're a fan of South Park as it's probably the most faithful licensed title ever.

They really fumbled the ball not continuing this series and instead going for that 3D snow day action game.

This'd be good to get for sure. I really hope it's something that can be super easily added to games (like the publisher just need to tick a box), as there's older games I'd love to see added to cloud where the developers have moved to other projects, etc.

It's been crap. They paid an unfathomable sum, and in the time they've cried poverty and so have been "forced" to close a bunch of studios and raise prices despite still making profits (even ignoring Microsoft in general). Maybe those billions they spent could have come in handy.

When the deal went through they rebuffed claims that it would lead to redundancies, price rises, reduced competition for gamers and developers, and a toxic work environment and corporate structure. Since then we've seen all of those things come to pass to some degree, and I think it'll just get worse.

I'm afraid that Microsoft as a wider company is going to be in trouble as they're in DEEP with AI, but their products (like Copilot) just aren't selling, or are actively unwanted. When that bubble bursts when they realise nobody is seeing a return on their billions MS will be forced to cut costs, and Xbox won't be spared.

I thought they weren't allowed to put new Call of Duty (or other ActiBliz titles) on Cloud gaming though. They sold the rights to Ubisoft. Is this just another example of MS just bulshitting their way through anti-monopoly rules?

@Ricky-Spanish This is about Cloud gaming not Game Pass though. So soon you'll be able to play Warzone through the Cloud on mobile, Samsung TVs, old laptops, etc.

They did the same with Fortnite, and I've found that useful as it gives you much better graphical quality than other methods like Nvidia and mobile apps.

Looking forward to trying out Flight Sim 2024. I wasn't big into the current one, but like to chill out with it now and again. A real "next gen" technical marvel.

Looks pretty sleek! I can see these being a good choice for some people with a bit of a saving over the full model.

When it comes to games I'm pretty much all digital now as modern physical games are little more than shelf candy, but I use the Series X disk drive to watch DVDs, Blu Rays, etc on a regular basis.

@Scummbuddy Well at least with $1m in cash you can use that money to pay any taxes, and you're still left with a lot of money. The trouble with winning GP for life is that (despite what scammers will tell you) the IRS doesn't accept payments in Game Pass gift cards.

Here's hoping Apple is next, same as in the EU, and other countries will follow.

It feels good to have governments finally care about monopolies after decades of not doing anything and letting a half dozen companies control the internet and mobile market.

That's a weird choice, but I do like older licensed games getting re-released so good on. I wonder if "Star Wars: Demolition" will get a re-release too?

Yikes. Let's hope this isn't the case, and can just install what you need rather than the whole ballgame. Such as getting rid of the single/multiplayer when you're not playing it.

OOh. I usually like these customised consoles and controllers as they look impressive, but this is the first I'd really want to actually own and play on. Partially as I'm an Indy fan, but it just looks cool and shiny.

Maybe I should see if there's anyone out there who specialises in gold leaf and send my Xbox in

I mean it's a thousand times better than the old version, but it's basic at best. I've found it to be slow and very awkward to use with a controller, and issues when it comes to things like pop out windows or other tabs.

The biggest issue is that the Xbox doesn't allow for you to use a standard Bluetooth keyboard so typing anything more than a word or two is like pulling teeth. That one change would make browsing FAR better.

I'm not too bothered with a wireless headset since the controller has a 3.5mm port so I just plug a wired headset into that, and don't need to bother with a wire trailing to the console.

What'd also have been nice is to see all the old games put on GP by now. I hope they're waiting until this one has been released so as to maybe not cannibalise players???

They're already available digitally and compatible so I don't see any major roadblock there besides a business reason.

Let's just say that 30fps is more cinematic, and closer to the Western movie roots and be done with it.

I was surprised how much Spec OPs: the Line was. It was only £15 compared to some on there, but that seemed like a bit for what I thought was a common game. I suppose it being de-listed from digital stores pushed the price up.

@EVIL-C I played the Simpsons arcade machine a couple weeks ago, and it's so fun. It definitely needs a release on modern consoles with couch co-op and online multiplayer.

I'd love to see all the James Bond games added to backwards compatibility. They're not all fantastic, but some are really fun, and for fans of the franchise there's always something there. Sadly Goldeneye is the only Bond game playable on modern hardware.

Aww darn. Like most people it seems I enjoyed Starfield, but got bored with it pretty soon for an RPG. I'd hoped this would have been a great expansion that spices things up and improves the base game too, but seems like it's, at best, more of the same.

I won't be getting it as if I want more of the same old Starfield I'll play the rest of the game I didn't finish.

Here come the nude mods... oh wait.

@avoidercat I hope so, but a publisher needs a lot of cash, or at least access to a large amount of good credit to fund developers. You can't just take the people from one publisher and make another without that backing.

Damn. They're my favourite publisher as they constantly put out great games with real creativity and none of the live service and Microtransaction BS. Now they're gone there's no publisher I actually "like" any more.

@Yousef- It's seven thousand five hundred dollars not seventy five thousand dollars. This is for a game that will likely make billions.

What a scummy move. They've made more money than any entertainment product (games, movies, music, books, etc.) in all of history, and they continue to shaft the people who actually make them that money. The soundtrack is a really important part of GTA, and they should pay millions for it.

I know it's not always easy or cheap to port games over to other platforms, but a release of some of the older games on Xbox would seem like a pretty safe investment.

Good to hear there'll be mod support, but I really want that cross platform function so I can team up with my friends on PC.

I'm glad we're doing goofy sports games again. You used to get loads of them in the past, but it's not a genre any more.

I don't know too much about Concord, but isn't that a "Blockbuster" title? It's a big budget live service hero shooter. that's the definition of a blockbuster these days (A bit too by the numbers it seems like).

The lesson from the immediate failure of a massive title that's been in development for 8 years isn't that you need to put even more of your eggs in one basket, but to instead spread the risk out with a diverse roster of mid budget titles that are developed and released at a steady pace. That way a release delay, or massive flop is countered by the success of the rest of your portfolio.

I really hope that something is done about the App Store monopoly worldwide. It puts app developers in a bind where they have to release on the most popular family of devices to succeed, but have no choice. they have to pay up a big chunk of the revenue for little to no reason. Why should Apple take a 30% cut of a payment when any other online payment provider takes a couple percent tops?

I hope it's a re-release of the Beast Wars PS1 game. I mean it was awful, but I enjoyed it as a kid

This could be a fun thing to check out

It looks interesting, but I'll wait for a good discount as it's a Ubisoft title so I'll likely get at least 40% off in a year. I'm interested to see how Ubi+ will affect their games coming to Game Pass.

I've been busy, but managed to get around an hour of Baldur's Gate 3 in. Just got to level 5.

I definitely want to at least try Expeditions. I really had fun with Snowrunner so I'm interested in this one. Glad it's on Game Pass.

Still no mario or zelda games then. Tetris Forever looks good to me though.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is on sale too for 80% off.

I'm making a game called "Halo" set on a space planet called "Halo". Since it's a word that already exists Microsoft can't sue me, and I can use all the other characters too because the concept of characters predates video games.