RentedPanda

I'm disappointed. I feel like this lineup is focusing on their huge IP, most from the recent acquisition, none of which interest me: COD, flight sim, Starfield, WoW, Diablo. Not a surprise, but my worry is that this is the sign of things to come. Will every fall become about not stepping on COD launch, with smaller franchises filling out the calendar, assuming they release and are not subject to cuts and delays.

I never tried Airborne Kingdom. I feel like we got a lot in this management sim vein with this game, Wandering Village, Dungeons 4, and Steamworld Build (and another one - commonhood?) in rapid succession, and I checked out everything but this. It looked fun, though.

Lol. They are a funny bunch at MS. It is like they don't have access to a calendar.

This was what I was looking forward to most, of the first party lineup. Oh, well, I always have plenty to play.

I guess I take this with a grain of salt until officially confirmed

Looking forward to the eventual release of Fable: The Story of Xbox Project Planning

@Dan1283 not sure if your comment is about fear that the ecosystem and digital library could go away, or about gamepass providing plenty to play and potentially adding something you just bought. For both reasons, I try to limit purchases to only things I plan to play right away. If you are buying a game you really want to play immediately, it still makes sense, in my opinion

Not a lot of surprises. Personally I am most interested in Alan Wake 2 from this sale, which I didn't see on the list of top sellers, but I suppose it is pretty niche and more expensive than almost of these top 25 games except for Elden Ring. Not in impulse buy range yet

They should take a page from Sega naming, like the Saturn, and go with Uranus. The free publicity they would get...

Think of me what you will, but I consider myself a gamer who pays attention, and when I first bought my Series S, I bought a peripheral, I don't recall what (I think a charger of some sort) but it turned out I got the One S version, had to return it. So I vote confusing.

Sounds cool, like Bladerunner meets Case of the Golden Idol. Themes sound very Altered Carbon

Hoping to play some this weekend! Well, choosing between this, Flintlock and Dungeons of H

@DonkeyFantasy to be fair, the FTC never believed MS. They fought the merger and filed an appeal when they lost, as referenced in the article

Case of the Golden Idol and a little Like A Dragon on gamepass, Ghost of Tsushima on ps

@NEStalgia I'd say they have done all these things for better or worse. They have had promotions, one dollar entry fees, I think I let it lapse and got to return for a dollar, tried friends and family plans in some regions. And now the confused messaging....

Not really a surprise if they let the promo pricing and rewards freebies lapse. If they cannot get new subs, charge more for the people who already sub and hope they stay on. I'm subbed through next March, through rewards auto redeem and discounted codes. Then I'll have to decide if it's worth an undiscounted 20 per month. Assuming they don't just change the number of rewards points for auto redeem, in which case I likely will still earn every other month free

@Pac_Bot this makes sense. Similar for the last price hike

@themightyant no, but the new tier being priced between current console and ultimate price points, and most discourse being about the day 1 aspect, I was not sure where it would fall. But now I know, so thanks again (next time I should read the FAQ, was being lazy, as I am)

I think xcom 2 was my last physical pre order at a store. I tend to wait and buy physical on sale, or play on GP

@themightyant thanks for confirming re: EA only being on Ultimate. That is a bit of a factor for me, since their Jedi games, Dead Space and a few others have been a draw for me

Has it been stated whether EA Play is only with ultimate or will it be included with Standard?

@Ricky-Spanish I remember this too, I think it was around SGF when rumors were going crazy about price hikes and COD not being on GP, but, I'm too lazy to Google it

I think when my sub runs out I will take a break and reassess. I have a backlog across systems, maybe I will tackle that for a bit and see if I miss GP

I did not realize Golden Idol was on xbox. I have it on Switch but have not started it. May use GP instead for the rewards points

I had wanted to play Figment 2, but .... backlog. Maybe I'll check it out real quick before it goes. Coffee Talk 2 made me want to try some blue and red teas in a real shop. Still time for that, I suppose

Wow, first Skull and Bones and now this. Good time to be a fan of throwback pirate games with extraordinarily long development time lines

Flintlock is another missed from 2024, unless I'm missing it from the graphic.
I feel like there's not much buzz about it in general despite getting a surprisingly close release date. Maybe I'm alone in thinking it looked cool?
Or is it gamepass but not first party?

Oh, wow! I have been interested in this for a while

@TheGiraffe I think it was 25k units in 24 hours, so, I think off to a promising start. Plus, just the xbox launch numbers - they previously launched on other platforms. But even so, must be hugely exciting for a small team just to see that many people want to play the thing you made

I'm still clinging to the hope that in a surprise twist, your character is converted to Shadow the Hedgehog for the dlc. Until it launches, I assume everything to the contrary is a misdirect

Looks great, cannot wait!

I liked High on Life, but I can no longer go to Applebee's because of it. I liked Bramble ok, for the vibes. I could not get into Bookwalker, the gameplay did not click for me. I had high hopes for it, but not for me

Great month for me in terms of stuff I want to play, but trying to finish some others, so the one I have tried for more than a few minutes is Little Kitty 😺 I need to stop messing with Wartales amd Tsushima and get into some of these

@Decimateh I have not played SMT so take this with a grain of salt but my understanding of previous games is similar pokeman-but-with-demons familiar fighting but less focus on social sim than Persona. And I think the early games were more roam and find dungeons than hub centered. But again, dim memories of reviews and previews, not first hand knowledge

@Lup I played Benedict Fox just before they released a big update for it. Still a fun game when I played it, but hopefully the experience is even better when you check it out, if you find the time

For me the CoD graphic shows up under the Wholesome Games description for some reason, which made me chuckle. Not that CoD is that out there, just not what I would expect as the Wholesome Games poster child.

I look forward to reading recaps of all of these on this site! Plus, there is usually some xbox relevant cross platform news at Nintendo and Sony shows

@Lup F.I.S.T. was still on last I checked. I downloaded and played a couple of hours, but it has been buried under the backlog for a while. Same with Indivisible for me.

I'm interested in Capes, but don't feel the need for day 1 purchase

We'll see. Another price increase might push me to drop it, like I dropped PS plus after their increase. Depends how they implement

I started with Series S. I really wanted to play Psychonauts 2, and a handful of indies I saw going to xbox (Deaths Door, The Gunk) and get a next generation system. At the time ps5 was unavailable, so I thought, I can get a Series S and gamepass (which was always running first month for a dollar at the time), check out Psychonauts 2, use gamepass as an indie arcade machine, and maybe check out all the back catalog I've heard so much about, like Gears.

And it has been great!

@hbkay Chants is new to gamepass. If it looks familiar you may be thinking of Sable, which had a similar art style Or from the screen shots of Chants, it seems to. I have not played Chants yet.

Chicory was great, introduces some fun mechanics over time and I liked the story. Also not very long, which I prize with so many demands on my time

@themightyant
That was pretty much my exact list of interest. Not sure I will have time to play them all.. Hauntii and Hellblade I will definitely play sooner rather than later

Is the reverse of review bomb, review mob? They've been review mobbed!

I hope MS at least continue to fund ID@xbox to put out some interesting things as a PR move / gamepass fodder while they concentrate on the huge cash cows from their studios. I fear for DoubleFine. I hope if it comes to it, DoubleFine get the opportunity to buy their independence again

Disgusting. Also, some of the ActiBlizz merger concerns about negatives of consolidation were proved correct - didn't MS say, don't worry, look, we essentially let Bethesda run themselves.... So disappointing. Similarly disgusted at Take2 shutting studios the other day as they continue to rake in cash from GTA5. Just makes me sad

I guess I need to quit or commit on F.I.S.T. I started it, got maybe 3 bosses and upgrades in, and haven't gone back. I also should start the second Shadowrun game if there is a chance it will leave. I have it loaded and ready.

I'm back into Lamplighters League, which I read has gotten its final patches. Great tactics game! If you like xcom, you will enjoy it! However, I am still hitting some bugs/crashes costing mission progress (about an hour of play) on Series S, so be warned. For me, the gameplay is worth the crash risk

Return to Grace and A Little To The Left are 2 short, enjoyable games I have played recently. I did not 100% them myself. For 100% achievements I think Grace still qualifies but Little would not, as 100% requires a hint free playthrough and daily play for 30 consecutive days (only a few minutes, but not in the spirit of quick and easy points)

Some really great looking stuff, most of which I was not aware of. Thanks for this article! My wishlist grows...

@RIghteousNixon oh, I see. yeah, if anyone is hyping ps 1st party output for this year, .... well, that's a tough position to take. I don't know about last year, I don't recall, but I know I did not buy any 1st party games from Sony if there were any (was there a TLOU remake/update, maybe?)

@RIghteousNixon one can argue that with exclusives like Stellar Blade, FF7 and Helldivers 2, there is less impact of a quiet year of true 1st party. they also have fewer overall 1st party studios, so that may buy them some slack - deserved or undeserved. But how much of the 3rd party to the rescue strategy was planning vs luck, I have no clue. I think these were all planned exclusive so there was some planning, but I do not expect, for example, Helldivers was ever projected to be the hit it became, while FF7 is reported as having disappointed SE with its sales. I have a PS but not interested in any of those 3, I'm spending my game time mostly on xbox.
Nothing leaps to mind being hyped for PS (2nd or 3rd party) in the 2nd half of the year, when all these huge games will drop for MS.

Is there any rumor on Flintlock release window? Is that still planned for 2024, or was that just a vague projection/prediction? Or maybe I am wrong and and it was never in the 2024 discussion.

I never did finish Supraland. That was a fun surprise, had never heard of it when it arrived, gave it a try and really liked it. I bounced off, cannot remember why, and never went back