Ralizah

Good time to look into a trade of some sort. We're still gonna need plumbers in the cyber dystopia we're building for ourselves.

@CallMeDuraSouka People already use ChatGPT as a free therapeutic tool to... pretty good effect.

Might be smart to look into diversifying your revenue stream, if you haven't already.

Microsoft provides these studios with seemingly almost no direction or management, let's them waffle around for the better part of a decade with half-baked game concepts like Everwild, and then cancels the games and lays people off, wasting untold amounts of time and money. It's infuriating.

Video games are big productions that require creativity and vision, yes, but also skilled management to keep creatives on track and craft a sellable product, and Microsoft has utterly failed to provide this.

Microsoft failed their developers, not visa versa, and it's disgusting that cuts are coming entirely at the expense of their teams and developers.

As for announcements: I don't want to hear about a game if there's not even a playable build of some sort. CG trailers or "gameplay" designed purely to showcase a concept (like Perfect Dark) are a waste of time.

I'm a believer. Cyberpunk looks unbelievably good on this thing. Like, obviously not as good as on a nice PC or PS5 Pro, but it doesn't feel like a downgrade at all to me.

I've played all sorts of software on my Steam Deck OLED and haven't really suffered due to the lack of VRR. Meanwhile, I get vivid colors, deep blacks, and lovely contrast. It's particularly stunning when HDR is implemented.

The lack of one isn't an inherent deal-breaker, but it IS a disappointment.

I've gotten back to doing everything non-Xbox related points-wise every day, and it's been okay. The cooldown for searches actually seems less severe than it was several months ago, thankfully.

It'll be enough to afford PC Game Pass every month if I'm consistent with it, which is all I could realistically ask for.

Far better than the non-functional system Sony tried to implement, and Nintendo has completely removed any and all consumer rewards with Switch 2 coming up, so even if it's a little gimped compared to how it used to be, it's still very much worth engaging with.

As long as Gaben is alive, Microsoft is never buying Valve. It's a thriving gaming ecosystem that grows in popularity each year, and the leadership clearly relishes being actually loved and respected by the userbase. No sensible privately owned company would sell.

Anyway, this could be cool if Microsoft doesn't mess it up. Also, being able to run Steam on it would totally fix Microsoft's lack of support from Sony and Japanese third-parties.

But I also don't know if I expect Microsoft not to mess this up, so we'll see what happens.

@OldGamer999 Nintendo is probably never gonna dump hundreds of millions into creating photo-realistic graphical powerhouses like Sony does. It wouldn't even make sense, given how stylized their games are.

Which is fine for me, honestly. I know it won't last, but it's cool seeing these big Nintendo games like TotK, Prime 4, etc. running at 4K60 on Switch 2. And, personally, I don't really need their games to look much better than that going forward. I just want fun gameplay and smooth framerates.

In day one for Mario Kart World and the improvements to games I already own. And it's not like I won't want one when Fire Emblem/Xenoblade/Zelda/etc. drop. And, frankly, who knows what the price of the system will be in a year.

Sounds like the writer is the acceptance phase of the grieving process.

But yeah, Game Pass has had an unusually strong year so far, and that looks set to continue with DOOM: The Dark Ages. I do plan on subbing at some point to experience some of these games on PC.

Good time to be blessed with an abundant backlog, honestly.

brb reserving a plot next to where Concord is buried.

@Elbow Yup. TW3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are also chock full of nudity and sex and Microsoft would never dare suggesting they censor those games, which reveals the hypocrisy of all this.

Microsoft has also paid for timed exclusivity when it comes to platform announcements lol.

My only irritation is when these websites don't report the different platforms and act like they're exclusives. Push Square has been particularly bad about this.

Launching it across multiple platforms works better for sales than timed exclusivity? I, for one, am positively shocked. 🙄

Try SMT V: Vengeance if you haven't yet. Absolutely boss game.

If it's a decent upgrade to the current hardware, runs around $600 or so, and I can run Steam games on it, I'd probably buy it, since that's where my library already is, and GPU prices are insane right now.

Microsoft should utilize the IPs they're already squatting on. Where's Banjo-Threeie?

Wow.

A heavily subsidized PC handheld that's competitive in power with what's out there right now, but with a price closer to something like the Switch 2, would actually be pretty awesome.

$500. Performance in line with an Ally X. Decent battery life. Can run Steam. Bundle it with Game Pass. I would buy that.

@Kaloudz It's not like it's unplayable. MH fans waded through blurry graphics and inconsistent framerates on older Nintendo platforms. Now it's your turn.

@Kaloudz Wouldn't count on the Series S version improving too much. Even on PC, they're pretending there's no more optimization work they can do lol.

Slay the Princess on Steam. Cleaning up the various achievements. Such a neat, creative experience.

That's a refreshing perspective. I respect it. Nothing wrong with releasing decent games semi-frequently that don't set the world on fire, but give fans something to look forward to every few years.

@Kaloudz I think Microsoft has severely damaged the Xbox brand image in gaming circles, for sure. I mean, even on here, a LOT of the commentary from the userbase is very negative.

But yeah, I don't think this game would be reviewed better if Sony had acquired them, for example. It's scoring in line with other Obsidian games (maybe on the lower end, but still in range). And Microsoft's stronger releases enjoy critical acclaim anyway.

@Kaloudz Yeah, I could've worded that better. Most Nintendo games actually land square in the 80s as well. I was thinking of an earlier comment mentioning Spiderman 2 and TotK.

I'll reword it: Insomniac has never been an incredible developer, and games like Avowed scoring in the low 80s/high 70s (where it'll likely settle for both versions once the reviews all pour in) has nothing to do with an imagined "Xbox tax" and everything to do with their products being decent-to-good, but not amazing, like games from Nintendo and Sony's top teams. Which was never an issue for people before Microsoft acquired them and direct comparisons started being made.

All this conspiracy-mongering about an 'Xbox tax,' when the reality is Obsidian has a long history of turning out decent but flawed WRPGs. The vast majority of their games sit in that 80 - 89 range, and that's been true since the seventh gen.

Obsidian just isn't a top tier developer. They're not getting Nintendo or Sony-tier scores because they're not a Nintendo or Sony-tier developer. Microsoft buying a company doesn't automatically make them more impressive than they were before, and it helps not to allow elevated expectations based on that alone.

I think Microsoft will keep Xbox consoles around as a GamePass access portal in the future, but after their numbers absolutely crater next gen (it's hard to imagine they won't, because we've seen how Xbox sales numbers have already plummeted heavily, and Microsoft is doing nothing to try and reverse that trend), I think their retail presence is going to be a lot more limited, and their pricing is going to focus more on profitability than attempting to appeal to the wider market.

Xbox will still be around, but also dead when it comes to being a competitor in the console space.

@TruestoryYep tbh the presence of shovelware is a good thing insofar as it tends to indicate a high level of interest in the platform. Pretty much all the best console libraries have also been filled with shovelware, because when you're hosting the biggest party in town, everyone wants to join.

Nintendo's issue isn't really shovelware, it's discoverability and lack of filtering options for the eshop. Amazing third party content is there, but you have to dig through five pages of Hentai Puzzle games to get there.

Valve realized this, which is why they have a robust tagging and filtering system to allow people to see the games they'd want to see.

Really hoping Switch 2 comes with a similar overhaul on its eshop.

DOOM has always been about the campaign for me. This just makes me way more excited for it.

Look, what Microsoft is doing is largely an extension of what their messaging has been since the beginning of Spencer's ascension. Third-party publishing is the logical end point of all the kumbaya 'we're about building bridges, not walls,' 'everyone should be able to play games on their platform of choice,' 'all gamers matter' rhetoric I've seen being celebrated for years.

tbh this is much better and more honest than when they were messaging that way and then snapping up exclusivity for formerly multi-platform games.

Microsoft has a defined direction now, and are no longer twisting in the wind.

Very cool.

Ninja Gaiden II was the very first game I played on my 360 back in the day.

I've said it for years: it's insane Microsoft is just squatting on this IP. Give it to a decent developer.

Although no 3D platformer is going to rival 3D Mario's sales in the modern era. Or come anywhere close.

It wouldn't need to, honestly.

@Ricky-Spanish Watching Xbox go from having an 'open relationship' with PC in the late 00s to outright cuckolding its fans with big first-party releases on competitor's consoles while getting nothing in return for Xbox owners has been one of the funniest progressions I've ever seen in my life.

Nothing really distinguished it.

Also, the title is hard to even remember.

TNO by a pretty wide margin. Fantastic shooter.

@Ricky-Spanish I've heard you can automate stuff if you're casual and aren't looking for a more realistic simulation. At least with older entries, but I don't see why they'd change that. Most people aren't looking to get into the nitty gritty of how to fly airplanes and just want to see the sights.

Genshin Impact is a huge game in general now. It's not surprising it'd take up a lot of space.

@Titntin I was just thinking that. PS5 Pro is an amazing deal compared to that 1TB Series X considering the much stronger GPU, new AI upscaling tech, etc. That's a lot for $100 more than what Microsoft is offering.

I was gonna laugh my butt off if they announced it for Playstation.

It's still on the same platforms. Just supporting a new service/launcher.

Put your games on other ecosystems.

Raise prices on subs.

Barely market your own games, which inevitably turn out disappointing anyway. When they occasionally turn out well, destroy the studio that made said acclaimed game.

Advertise heavily that people already own Xboxes, nullifying the need for a console.

It's actually impressive they've sold as many Xboxes as they have this gen.

@Elbow RE: Texas Roadhouse... hadn't heard about that, but that's awesome! Makes me feel even better about eating there fairly often.

Bad sales are Ubisoft's own fault due to the way they price their games.

This sucks. Guess that means no more excellent 2D Rayman games, either. Mario + Rabbids guy is gone, too.

Really is just nothing left at Ubisoft for me.

@NEStalgia I mean, the traditional way in Nocturne was going all in on Physical and turning Demi-Fiend into One Punch Man.

@NEStalgia You can only really build the protagonist, and unless you do something weird like pump all his optional points into luck or something, you'll still be fine.

As for game length, howlongtobeat.com clocks it at 90 Hours to do absolutely everything, and around 70 hours for a normal playthrough. Still long, but even base P5 took nearly 100 hours just for basic story mode completion, let alone all the extra stuff in Royal.

@NEStalgia That's largely because the boosted damage from hitting weaknesses doesn't apply in that fight, so with the time limits and defense boost, the Okumura fight just became a slog.

Fight was actually way better in OG P5.

@NEStalgia Oh yeah, that boss sucked. Just more demonstrative of that obscenely poor balancing in that game.

Sega went nuts this year!

Only purchased this and SMT V: Vengeance at launch this year, and both were worth it.

I'm SO glad they balanced the difficulty versus Persona 5 Royal, where the combat was ridiculously easy even on the highest difficulty setting.

This might be my GOTY.

It has all the strengths of a Studio Zero game (except maybe dating, lol) and combines those with the more punishing and tactical combat of SMT (it's huge that this game punishes a character when their attack is dodged or blocked, and even on Normal, it can be a little challenging). Plus, it's a fresh, new IP, which is not something you get very often out of Atlus for big releases.

I didn't think anything could top SMT V: Vengeance for me, but that demo makes a VERY convincing case for the quality of this game.

That Zenimax acquisition is looking worse and worse by the day. BGS turning out duds since Fallout 4. Arkane Austin was closed after the disaster that was Redfall. Tango was sold off for... god knows what reason.

At least id is still goated, and MachineGames' new Indiana Jones title looks pretty fun.

@NEStalgia My ex was an Apple guy. I'm on Android. We videocalled using WhatsApp. It worked so much better than Zoom.

@NEStalgia True, but since the PlayStation buttons are all shapes, I can keep Cross and X separated mentally. The cruel irony of being a PC/Nintendo gamer is that, since PC tends to favor the Xbox setup, I'm kept in a state of perpetual frustration unless I remap buttons. Had to do that on my Steam Deck lol. Mirrored the face button functions in the system so that my finger automatically goes to the position it'd be in on a Ninty pad.