It all sounds great but all Sony has to do is put out a marketing campaign pointing out the lack of BSOD on the PS6 and it will never get off the ground just like they essentially killed the Xbox One with the ‘game lending’ video at E3.
The more power you give to devs the more entitled gamers become that they’ve got to use it. Even with all the beefy processors of this generation there are few games on either console that look as good as Forbidden West on the PS4!
Microsoft would do well to build a console that can play current gen titles at stable frame rates without and pop-in. That shouldn’t cost the earth to build
Me replaying Fable 2 and Forza Horizon 1 every year might keep the console under my to but it isn’t selling any new games or bringing in any subscription fees.
1. Get rid of seasons. They made sense in the UK game because of the ever changing weather but amounted to a little bit of extra snow on the mountain in Mexico. Just make the game perpetually cherry blossom spring.
2. Bring back the festival schtick. They made something of an effort to do this with 5 after 3 and 4 just kind of felt like videogame multiplayer maps rather than something lived in. I want proper event sites like in 1, not just floating icons.
3. Completely ditch the wheel spins and give every event series its own reward track based on difficulty so you know exactly what you need to do to get that car or outfit you want and it might require getting better at the game.
4. Keep the silly events but dial down the craziness. The tracks floating in the sky and arena were just daft in 5 but I still want to race the Shinkansen!
5. Bring back somebody like Rob Da Bank to curate the soundtrack and amplify the festival feel. The music in these games is normally really good but they’ve been going downhill since 2. I have the entire soundtrack to the first game on constant rotation in my car. A J-Pop radio station is a must!
An ongoing issue I have with Horizon is the silly sense of scale. Colorado was ok because that’s not a country, just a region. It felt like a realistic setting for a motoring festival. Ditto Cote De Azure.
Australia kind of felt like some sort of Minecraft world with the different biomes. The compression in the UK setting was just silly though. You can’t drive from Edinburgh to the Cotswolds in 5 minutes! They should have confined the entire play area to either Cumbria or Derbyshire.
It looks like we’re going to get a silly map again with 6. They should have just set the entire thing on Hokkaido and be done with it.
The fact that it only works with these certain games is rather baffling as is the fact that the URL contains the exact reference to ‘Directors Cut’ or ‘Complete Edition’ without using those terms.
@CaptainCluck I have always argued that the Series S should be the default. If this happened all your PS5 and X games would actually be resolution and frame rates they claim.
Yeah they should be concentrating on lowering the cost of development (without hurting staff numbers with AI) and thus game prices whilst making the console more accessible. The biggest mistake they made this gen was not making the Series S the benchmark.
My Series S generally serves me well as an Xbox 360 that plays Fortnite and Destiny 2. There are precious few modern titles that I bother with but having access to my older purchases keeps me around. I think the Series S is my favourite dinky console since the GameCube.
But I experimented for a few months just using an Apple TV and Gamepass streaming (using Onecast) and the results were so good that I'll probably just use that going forwards.
I wonder if this is the backwards.compatkbility plan going forwards: the next console only plays native PC games from your library and streams everything else?
There are a lot of PS4 titles that would run really well on the Series S that us single-player starved Xbox owners would devour. I'm not expecting Horizon anytime soon (unless....) but Infamous Second Son and Spiderman wouldn't go amiss.
In many ways it's the end of an era. There was a time when the Xbox 360 was the centre of my media ecosystem, with streaming and live tv (via Sky) complementing rentals and purchases. I'm actually sad to think my my Xbox as 'just' a games console.
As a storyline it's utterly terrible. Some of the missions take upwards of 2 hours to complete and the lack of a way to teleport to the surface of a planet after a lengthy dungeon baffling.
But if you immediately ignore the storyline and play it as a freeform space RPG it's fantastic. There are so many great questions, loads of factions to work with or just roleplay anything from a space pirate to a greengrocer.
They'll graduate to a streaming service that publishes individual titles on other platforms. I'd be amazed if they bother with any exclusive hardware going forwards, instead just licencing their brand to other companies like they do with Windows. This allows anyone to build an 'Xbox'.
@Jenkinss There is clearly room for all sorts of devices across the market. It helps to keep things healthy. But as consumers we have a finite amount of time to devote to recreation and everything that might eat into that time, from sports to video games to writing to reading to gardening is all in competition with each other on some level.
Sony and Nintendo are both big fish in the same pond.
Microsoft can polish it all they like but they're now a 3rd party publisher who just happens to have a perpetual rental service on their own agnostic hardware.
Sony and Microsoft are going around in circles trying to chase what is becoming an increasingly niche market (the 'Frames Per Second' gamers) whilst Nintendo continue to eat their lunch.
I'm not saying all consoles need to be the Switch, but what Sony need to concentrate on next gen is bringing the cost of development, software and hardware back down. Hobbyists are going to go to the PC regardless and the majority of their PS5 userbase are your FIFA/COD crowd who play titles than run perfectly well on a phone.
I don't mean to sound derogatory there: there is room for every sort of gamer on platforms! But making another expensive technical marvel to run games that still play perfectly well on a PS4 is rather ludicrous.
There’s still too many FPS and overly violent ARPGs for my personal tastes. Super Meatboy 3D looked ace!
The biggest news was Phil Spencer’s cryptic hint at the end for 2026. Fable and ‘New Forza’ (which I assume is Horizon 6) and ‘classic from the beginning’. Will we see Halo 7 next year as well? Or is it something else?!
The original Perfect Dark is still the greatest FPS ever made. It’s got more ideas in 5 minutes of gameplay than most other shooters have over an entire series.
Why have other games never stolen its customisable multiplayer bot AI? The way the level objectives also scale with difficulty? The way level objectives are not just ‘kill everything’? Campaign co-op where one player is all the enemies? Tight multiplayer levels built for 4 players, not 40? The ability to disarm opponents.
And then there are the guns! Assault rifles that can be paid down as proximity mines or sentry turrets. Tranquilisers designed to blur your opponents vision. Grenades that bounce off walls almost indefinitely until they hit something. Snipers that can see through walls. Robocop’s Pistol.
And you can play the multiplayer as Dave Perry vs Shigeru Miyamoto.
Comments 624
Re: Sony May Be Preparing Its Own Version Of Xbox Play Anywhere For PS5 & PC
The difference being that on PlayStation there are actually things worth playing!
/s
Re: Huge Xbox Report Details 'Ambitious' Next-Gen Console With Free Online Play
It all sounds great but all Sony has to do is put out a marketing campaign pointing out the lack of BSOD on the PS6 and it will never get off the ground just like they essentially killed the Xbox One with the ‘game lending’ video at E3.
Re: Halo Studios Gives Reason For Dropping PvP Multiplayer In Campaign Evolved
I would have honestly preferred it if they had baked in offline 4-player PVP just like the original and left online on the floor.
Re: Halo: Campaign Evolved Officially Announced, Coming To Xbox In 2026
@Ade117 Does it need to? Maybe a series of remakes to tidy up the plot isn’t such a bad idea
Re: Sarah Bond: Our Next-Gen Console Will Be 'Very Premium' & Informed By ROG Xbox Ally
The more power you give to devs the more entitled gamers become that they’ve got to use it. Even with all the beefy processors of this generation there are few games on either console that look as good as Forbidden West on the PS4!
Microsoft would do well to build a console that can play current gen titles at stable frame rates without and pop-in. That shouldn’t cost the earth to build
Re: Xbox Says It 'Defines Success' By How Much Time Players Spend On The Platform
Me replaying Fable 2 and Forza Horizon 1 every year might keep the console under my to but it isn’t selling any new games or bringing in any subscription fees.
Re: Review: ROG Xbox Ally X - An Amazing Handheld PC With Plenty Of Console-Like Potential
It looks mighty impressive, but I refuse to label anything an ‘Xbox’ if it can’t play 360 games.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The First Reviews Are Saying About NASCAR 25
Isn’t this the racing game you can play by elastic banding the sticks together and putting some duct tape on RT?
Re: Xbox 'Magnus' Leak Suggests Next Console Will Be Powerful, Expensive & Maybe A Hybrid Device
I look forward to the Sony E3 video showing how to recover from the BSOD on a PS6, immediately tanking sales of the next Xbox all over again.
Re: Bungie's Delayed Shooter Marathon Re-Emerges With New Xbox Playtest
Im more interested in another ‘PlayStation’ title coming out on Xbox. I still reckon there is life in those Horizon and Tsushima rumours yet.
Re: First ROG Xbox Ally Unboxing Appears Online Prior To Release
Can it play Xbox 360 games?
Then it’s not an Xbox.
Re: EA To Be Acquired By Consortium Of Investors For $55 Billion USD
So we’re never going to get a new Burnout then.
Re: Six Things We Want To See From Forza Horizon 6 And Its Japan Setting
1. Get rid of seasons. They made sense in the UK game because of the ever changing weather but amounted to a little bit of extra snow on the mountain in Mexico. Just make the game perpetually cherry blossom spring.
2. Bring back the festival schtick. They made something of an effort to do this with 5 after 3 and 4 just kind of felt like videogame multiplayer maps rather than something lived in. I want proper event sites like in 1, not just floating icons.
3. Completely ditch the wheel spins and give every event series its own reward track based on difficulty so you know exactly what you need to do to get that car or outfit you want and it might require getting better at the game.
4. Keep the silly events but dial down the craziness. The tracks floating in the sky and arena were just daft in 5 but I still want to race the Shinkansen!
5. Bring back somebody like Rob Da Bank to curate the soundtrack and amplify the festival feel. The music in these games is normally really good but they’ve been going downhill since 2. I have the entire soundtrack to the first game on constant rotation in my car. A J-Pop radio station is a must!
Re: Forza Horizon 6's Map The 'Biggest Yet' As Dev Confirms Tokyo City Location
An ongoing issue I have with Horizon is the silly sense of scale. Colorado was ok because that’s not a country, just a region. It felt like a realistic setting for a motoring festival. Ditto Cote De Azure.
Australia kind of felt like some sort of Minecraft world with the different biomes. The compression in the UK setting was just silly though. You can’t drive from Edinburgh to the Cotswolds in 5 minutes! They should have confined the entire play area to either Cumbria or Derbyshire.
It looks like we’re going to get a silly map again with 6. They should have just set the entire thing on Hokkaido and be done with it.
Re: Xbox Store Links Discovered For Horizon: Zero Dawn & Other PS5 Games, But Don't Get Excited
The fact that it only works with these certain games is rather baffling as is the fact that the URL contains the exact reference to ‘Directors Cut’ or ‘Complete Edition’ without using those terms.
Re: Xbox Store Links Discovered For Horizon: Zero Dawn & Other PS5 Games, But Don't Get Excited
It makes a lot of business sense for Sony. These titles have achieved saturation on PS4 and are on PC. Why not port them to Xbox?
Re: If The Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake Is Real, It Could Be Very Different From The Original
These all sound like incredibly positive moves!
Re: Opinion: The Value Proposition Of Xbox Series S Is Better Than Ever In 2025
@CaptainCluck I have always argued that the Series S should be the default. If this happened all your PS5 and X games would actually be resolution and frame rates they claim.
Re: Xbox Exec Talks About Three Core Aims For Microsoft's Next Console
Yeah they should be concentrating on lowering the cost of development (without hurting staff numbers with AI) and thus game prices whilst making the console more accessible. The biggest mistake they made this gen was not making the Series S the benchmark.
Re: Microsoft 'Wraps Up' Xbox Series X|S Era As Hardware Chief Teases What's Next
My Series S generally serves me well as an Xbox 360 that plays Fortnite and Destiny 2. There are precious few modern titles that I bother with but having access to my older purchases keeps me around. I think the Series S is my favourite dinky console since the GameCube.
But I experimented for a few months just using an Apple TV and Gamepass streaming (using Onecast) and the results were so good that I'll probably just use that going forwards.
Re: One Of The 'Worst Games Ever' Is Getting Remastered In A Beautiful Collection For Xbox
But they already released Croc….
Re: ASUS Teases Another 'Extraordinary' Xbox Reveal For Gamescom 2025
I’m going to go with Microsoft announcing the Xbox mobile store launching in the EU before Q1/26 with the next ROG Phone as the launch vehicle.
All those Android gaming phones might finally get some titles to push their power!
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Do To Celebrate Its 25th Anniversary Next Year?
Relicence and rerelease Forza Horizon 1-4.
Re: Rumour: Starfield Could Be Getting Interplanetary Travel Ahead Of Expansion 2 On Xbox
@Valhura Destiny is essentially Halo crossed with Phantasy Star Online already
I want the space travel and exploration of NMS, the combat of Destiny and the freeform RPG elements from Starfield.
Re: Rumour: Starfield Could Be Getting Interplanetary Travel Ahead Of Expansion 2 On Xbox
Somewhere in the Venn Diagram of Destiny, Starfield and No Man's Sky is the space faring game of my dreams
Re: 'Days Gone' Tweet Attracts The Attention Of Xbox Fans, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
Perhaps more worrying is that tweet saying it's an 'Xbox coded game' by which he means a grey-looking zombie game.
Re: 100 New Games Added To Xbox 'Stream Your Own Game' For August
I wonder if this is the backwards.compatkbility plan going forwards: the next console only plays native PC games from your library and streams everything else?
Re: Talking Point: It's Been A Year Since Microsoft Closed The Xbox 360 Store
The final 360 dashboard is still better than anything they've launched since.
The on-device voice commands were incredibly handy.
Re: Talking Point: So, What Other PS5 Games Do You Want To See Come To Xbox?
There are a lot of PS4 titles that would run really well on the Series S that us single-player starved Xbox owners would devour. I'm not expecting Horizon anytime soon (unless....) but Infamous Second Son and Spiderman wouldn't go amiss.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Has Locked In A November Release Date For Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7
Given the current big tech blunders going around I wonder how long it will take Microsoft to completely bugger up Call of Duty?
Re: Microsoft Movies & TV Is Officially Ending, Which Will Have A Big Impact On Xbox
In many ways it's the end of an era. There was a time when the Xbox 360 was the centre of my media ecosystem, with streaming and live tv (via Sky) complementing rentals and purchases. I'm actually sad to think my my Xbox as 'just' a games console.
Re: Talking Point: After Almost Two Years, How Do You Feel About Xbox's Starfield In 2025?
As a storyline it's utterly terrible. Some of the missions take upwards of 2 hours to complete and the lack of a way to teleport to the surface of a planet after a lengthy dungeon baffling.
But if you immediately ignore the storyline and play it as a freeform space RPG it's fantastic. There are so many great questions, loads of factions to work with or just roleplay anything from a space pirate to a greengrocer.
Re: Forza Motorsport Studio Said To Be 'Bracing' For Job Cuts At Xbox
A studio is ultimately only as good as their last game.
Re: Xbox 360 Dashboard Gets Significant Update For First Time In Ages
This is great news! Finding your old purchases used to mean navigating a rather slow list at the bottom of the settings screen.
I really do miss Metro. I think that looks better than the Series X dash!
Re: PS6 To Provide 'New & Enhanced' Experience As Sony & Microsoft Plan For Next-Gen
@Jenkinss That's because most people bought both!
Re: Opinion: It Feels Like Microsoft Is Planning A Huge Final Year Of Xbox Series X|S In 2026
They'll graduate to a streaming service that publishes individual titles on other platforms. I'd be amazed if they bother with any exclusive hardware going forwards, instead just licencing their brand to other companies like they do with Windows. This allows anyone to build an 'Xbox'.
The days of first party hardware are over.
Re: PS6 To Provide 'New & Enhanced' Experience As Sony & Microsoft Plan For Next-Gen
@Jenkinss There is clearly room for all sorts of devices across the market. It helps to keep things healthy. But as consumers we have a finite amount of time to devote to recreation and everything that might eat into that time, from sports to video games to writing to reading to gardening is all in competition with each other on some level.
Sony and Nintendo are both big fish in the same pond.
Re: PS6 To Provide 'New & Enhanced' Experience As Sony & Microsoft Plan For Next-Gen
Microsoft can polish it all they like but they're now a 3rd party publisher who just happens to have a perpetual rental service on their own agnostic hardware.
Sony and Microsoft are going around in circles trying to chase what is becoming an increasingly niche market (the 'Frames Per Second' gamers) whilst Nintendo continue to eat their lunch.
I'm not saying all consoles need to be the Switch, but what Sony need to concentrate on next gen is bringing the cost of development, software and hardware back down. Hobbyists are going to go to the PC regardless and the majority of their PS5 userbase are your FIFA/COD crowd who play titles than run perfectly well on a phone.
I don't mean to sound derogatory there: there is room for every sort of gamer on platforms! But making another expensive technical marvel to run games that still play perfectly well on a PS4 is rather ludicrous.
Re: Starfield Fans Voice Their Concerns About Future Support And Updates
Imagine what it’s like being a Space Invaders fan. I’ve been waiting over 45 years for some DLC.
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Incredibly Excited For The ROG Xbox Ally Handheld
6. It’s size and weight remind me of the old OG Xbox!
Re: No, The ROG Xbox Ally Handheld Doesn't Play Native Console Games
No Xbox 360 games, no dice.
Re: Phil Spencer Teases Four Massive Xbox Games For 2026, Including A New Forza
Given the muted reaction to Motorsport and the bazillion in sales Horizon gets surely its 6.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Xbox Games Showcase 2025?
There’s still too many FPS and overly violent ARPGs for my personal tastes. Super Meatboy 3D looked ace!
The biggest news was Phil Spencer’s cryptic hint at the end for 2026. Fable and ‘New Forza’ (which I assume is Horizon 6) and ‘classic from the beginning’. Will we see Halo 7 next year as well? Or is it something else?!
Re: Last Chance! What Are Your Final Hopes For The Xbox Games Showcase 2025?
Final Fantasy XVI
Game Pass
Today
Re: Talking Point: This Classic Activision Racer Came To Xbox 15 Years Ago, And We Sorely Miss It
Blur had the unfortunate timing to come out alongside split/second which was a better game.
Re: Talking Point: 25 Years On, What Do You Think Of The 'Perfect Dark' Franchise?
The original Perfect Dark is still the greatest FPS ever made. It’s got more ideas in 5 minutes of gameplay than most other shooters have over an entire series.
Why have other games never stolen its customisable multiplayer bot AI? The way the level objectives also scale with difficulty? The way level objectives are not just ‘kill everything’? Campaign co-op where one player is all the enemies? Tight multiplayer levels built for 4 players, not 40? The ability to disarm opponents.
And then there are the guns! Assault rifles that can be paid down as proximity mines or sentry turrets. Tranquilisers designed to blur your opponents vision. Grenades that bounce off walls almost indefinitely until they hit something. Snipers that can see through walls. Robocop’s Pistol.
And you can play the multiplayer as Dave Perry vs Shigeru Miyamoto.
Re: Despite Xbox's Multiplatform Push, Activision Abandons COD Warzone Mobile
One word: Halo
Re: Xbox Is Adding Three New Ways To Personalise Your Console's Home Screen
NO ADVERTS, please
Re: Square Enix Doubles Down On Plans To Release More Xbox Games
THEN WHERE THE HECK IS FFX ON MOBILE?!?
Re: Xbox's New Job Advert Is Amazing News For Backwards Compatibility
Modern high end phones can easily run Xbox 360 era titles.
Sell them to us!