How is someone who doesn't like the removal of a port they use every time they game a "grifter"? lol.
My Audio-Technica headset cost £250, so it's not some cheap tat. It has a mute switch and a volume wheel, but it's far easier to use the buttons provided by the Stereo Headset Adapter that are right at my fingertips for that stuff, plus the headset controls don't let me adjust the game sound/chat balance.
I still use a Stereo Headset Adapter with my Elite controller. It's very handy having physical buttons for volume up/down, changing voice/chat balance, and a light-up mute button within easy reach.
They can obviously detect when one is connected, so I guess hardly anybody is using one these days. I haven't seen any legit MS ones for sale brand new for years.
Sometimes I don't know that a new piece of DLC is available for a game I really like. Advertise that to me.
Do a better job with the "you played the hell out of X, so you'd probably like Y and Z" algorithms.
Don't advertise games or DLC to me that I already own.
Get rid of the tacky non-gaming advertising altogether, which only cheapens the brand.
Ideally, anyone paying for any form of Game Pass should be able to opt out of all ads, but if you want to opt into personalised ads, they have to be really good and make you feel like "hey, these ads have recommended me a bunch of stuff that I've bought/liked".
Hopefully those scroll wheels can also be clicked in to work as buttons, cos ideally I'd want mic mute on one and lock on the other.
Personally I love the Stereo Headset Adapter, cos having tactile controls at your fingertips is far better than having to go into a menu to adjust stuff, but if they're doing away with the accessories port and replacing that functionality with those scroll wheels, I really hope it's well thought-out.
I find it kinda amusing that a ton of people who haven't played it are implying that the journalists who rated it highly are part of some "hive mind".
I don't think the game is "woke" at all. I don't think you can bring "DEI" into it either, given that all 3 of the main characters are white. It's just people clutching at straws.
The criticisms I do partially understand are the ones saying there's not much gameplay in what's meant to be a video game. That said, I think you have to look at the experience as a whole. If there was a game that was like a movie, and all you did is choose A or B for the main hero, which led you off on branching paths and the game had multiple endings, with decent writing, voice acting, and directing, I think that could make for an awesome experience, even if, game-play wise, all you're doing is occasionally making a binary choice.
I also agree that "it's not for me" shouldn't equate to a low review score. I remember when IGN gave a Football Manager game a 2/10 because the reviewer was clearly expecting it to be like FIFA, and due to a backlash they pulled the review. Elden Ring is not for me, but I wouldn't say it's 1/10 trash. It's clearly a great game.
I don't like how online works in 5. In 4, you're put into a server instance with up to 72 players in it and you can see the whole list of who was in there and where every player is on the map. In 5, they tried to "surface" players that were near to you so that the game feels more alive, but it really doesn't work in my experience. Often I'd drive around in the same place for ages and not see anyone. Sometimes people would randomly appear/disappear out of nowhere.
It was the same with the Forzathon Live vs. Horizon Arcade events. Often I'd just end up doing a HA event by myself, but there were always plays doing FL. I realise that the HA events are every 15 minutes instead of every hour for FL, but if the game is supposed to "surface" players who are congregated in the same area and interested in the same event, it just did not work.
I also preferred the map in FH4, cos while the one in FH5 is bigger, a lot of it is desert/scrubland. Also, while many would disagree, I liked the seasonal changes in FH4 more, even if it made it harder to do certain things in winter.
Ultimately though, I think both games are fantastic. Also, as I haven't played FH4 since FH5 came out, it's possible I'm looking at 4 with rose-tinted spectacles on. Either way, I'm super-hyped for FH6! I can't believe it's only a few days away!!
I finished off the last few achievements. My sole gripe is with the "Front To Back" achievement, which has the following requirements: - "Find everything in the bedrooms and all unique conversations."
But to unlock it, you have to examine everything that's examinable, not just in the bedrooms, as well as going through all of the unique conversations. It's the only achievement that's a pain if you miss it first time, cos you can't just go back to a particular chapter as you don't know what you've missed.
It's a 9/10 for me. My favourite game released in 2026 so far.
I finished it on the day it came out. I've got 3 achievements left to unlock.
I loved it. It's basically a series of mini-games, but the characters, story, writing, presentation, and of course, the music, really make it special IMO.
I was surprised by the soundtrack, given that I was a teenager in the 80s and in my 20s in the 90s, so I expected to know all of the songs in the game, but nope; there were several that I'd never heard before.
It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think a lot of people will really love it.
I'm very close to the end of the game and I have really enjoyed it. It's one of those games where, if I didn't have other things I had to do, I could have played through it in one sitting.
One thing that surprised me was the music selection, as I expected it all to be 80s and 90s stuff that I knew, given that I was a teenager in the 80s, but there's songs in there from the 60s to the 90s and several that I'd never heard before.
For achievement hunters, it has chapter select, so you can easily replay chapters to get any missed achievements.
@ZeD It's 2PM, not 1. I tried to launch it after seeing your comment, but it just asked if I owned the game, so I checked X and the devs just tweeted to say "One. HOUR. UNTIL MIXTAPE.".
I remember when they first tried to add Cortana to the console. One of the plus points was that you could, for example, say "start a party and invite person X and person Y", but, as an insider, when I asked how it would work with gamertags like "xxF1NALxx", I got no answer and even though the implementation of Cortana on Xbox sucked, they rolled it out to the masses anyway, only to remove it later on.
I think Asha possibly sees Copilot on Xbox as being the next Cortana, i.e. a lot of work for something that kinda sucks and isn't what gamers want, which is good.
I'm not anti-AI by any means, but it has to work REALLY well before it's any use IMO.
I'm an hour in and I'm really enjoying it so far. I totally disagree with that COG review about parrying having a harsh timing window. You get a clear visual cue of when to parry and it's not like you have to have insanely fast reflexes to do it.
The controls can be a little janky at times, but the checkpoints are forgiving, so it's never hugely frustrating when you die.
It's kind of an indie game cross between Prince of Persia and Shadow of the Colossus.
The one I'm most interested in is the 8BitDo Ultimate 3E Controller for Xbox. On paper it has everything I want from a controller, but it'll be interesting to see what reviews are like. It's supposed to be out in Q2 of this year.
I went for 80-89, cos I think it's basically gonna be the same as the last game but on a new map and that might hold back its review scores this time.
It's one of my favourite franchises so I have no doubt I'll love it, but it would be nice to see some new multiplayer modes that are fun to play, rather than just having the eliminator and the same old PG modes.
@GamingGod There's no input lag, nor slowdown. When you hit the last few percent of battery life, controller vibration is turned off automatically so you can keep playing for a little while, but eventually the controller will just turn off.
That said, not many people take part in these threads, as the most-upvoted idea on any given week might only have 10 or so upvotes. But yeah, that's one place you can go to suggest stuff.
The insider program needs to return to how it used to be, rather than MS just using insiders as unpaid QA staff and completely ignoring all negative feedback.
Also, there should be a way to look at existing bug reports and click to say "me too" or whatever, rather than every single bug report having to be submitted in isolation.
Make some new controllers that feature the latest tech and focus on quality and longevity. MS should be showing third parties how it should be done, not the other way around.
MS have talked a fair bit about game preservation and commitment to gamers' libraries, so I think it will be an option.
I haven't bought a single Xbox One/Series game on disc, but plenty of people have. There are also a handful of games that are backwards compatible, but only on disc, e.g. the racing game, Pure.
I like the way Sony went about it, where it attaches to the console and looks like it was always there, rather than being a totally separate drive that plugs in via a USB cable.
I like the simplicity of the system and 99% of the time it just works, but it can be confusing if the system detects that your saves for a particular game are out of sync and it asks you which one you want to use.
This is what the support page for Forza Horizon 5 says about this issue, for example: -
"If you are given a message asking to choose between two saves usually you’ll want to pick the older date."
If you pick the newer one, which I think seems like common sense, you can end up losing all of your progress as your save gets overwritten, then all support can do is gift you the cars you lost; they can't restore your actual in-game progress. Also, note how the advice from the devs themselves has "usually" in it, so even that's not really clear.
It would be good if there was some way of recovering a save if one is corrupted or overwritten. Some kind of backup system.
Tonight on my home screen there were 2 "sponsored" tiles, both pushing Fortnite. I've never seen that before. There was always only 1 with "sponsored" actually written underneath it.
BTW, "Eden Marie" had not posted on Twitter for over a year before tweeting out about being energised, then attributing that to her new boss.
It just reeks of ***** to me, given how MS execs are usually the biggest peddlers of "corporate speak".
I wish Asha the best, cos as an Xbox fan, of course I want the brand to succeed and continue on, but my trust in MS is pretty much zero at this point.
I think whoever they put in charge of Xbox is being put in an impossible position.
There are several reasons why I wouldn't want to switch to another platform, but the primary one is that I can't take all of my games with me. I own nearly 800 digital games across multiple generations of Xbox that can be played on my Series X.
How do you convince people to switch to an Xbox from another platform now that digital lock-in is such a huge factor? If you can't do that in considerable numbers, how do you grow Game Pass?
A hybrid that can play both Xbox and PC games while also working as a PC would be awesome for me, but it's not going to make a dent in the mass market.
IMO, irreversible damage was done to the brand before Phil Spencer took over and them having to put their games on other platforms is the result of that, as is the rise in the price of Game Pass.
It was under Don Mattrick's leadership that the Xbox brand was doomed. Bundling in Kinect, so the Xbox One was weaker than the PS4, yet $100 more. The always-online stuff and the infamous "we have a console for you; the Xbox 360" comment. Their plans to limit consumer rights when it came to physical media that allowed Sony to make a laughing stock out of them at E3. All the talk of TV, TV, TV.
Digital lock-in was such a huge factor going into the Xbox One/PS4 era and they totally screwed it up. Unbundling Kinect, refocussing on the power of the hardware, creating the Elite controller etc. were all good things, but it was too late.
I agree with Josh Sobel in that there are content creators who thrive on drama and negativity, but at the end of the day, you can't blame them for the game's failure. Sobel did, cos in his final tweet before deleting his X account, he said that everyone connected to the game was convinced it was gonna be a huge hit and go mainstream.
I think they should have done an open beta to get some player feedback. People don't abandon a game cos of what some content creator said. They abandon it cos they're not enjoying playing it. They paid a bunch of high profile Twitch/YouTube streamers to play it at launch, but none of them carried on playing it. There's 287 viewers watching a handful of tiny channels playing it right now.
I wanted the game to be good, cos it looked like something that I could play with friends, but I just found it kinda dull in the end.
Microsoft is such a garbage company these days. To think, in the past, people used to actually queue around the block for things they made, lol. It seems unimaginable now.
I run a club and am a member of several clubs, but come April, all of that will be gone. But hey, at least we get to keep the publisher clubs that are essentially used to push ads. Yay!
I played it for an hour or two and I thought it was alright.
I hate how some people feel like they have to take sides about a video game based on what their "side" thinks. There's people slating this game in the reviews on Xbox who haven't even played it. Then there's sites that are promoting it, when they obviously wouldn't do that if it was the same game minus the "let's steal back stolen artifacts" element.
I found it fun. It's light puzzling mixed with parkour. You have to make your way into a building, set up your escape, then grab the loot and get out of there. If you can play this via Game Pass, I'd recommend it for sure.
Also, the artifacts in the game all exist in real life, so you get to learn about them, as well as other lesser objects you can scan.
Given that Xbox can already track your play time on a game, I would rather people not be able to leave reviews unless they've played at least X number of minutes. So many reviews on Xbox - particularly with Game Pass games - are just people who are salty that an indie game got added to the service rather than some AAAA blockbuster, even if the indie game is actually awesome.
I just tried the demo for Pragmata. It's only about 20 minutes long, but I enjoyed it. I like the mix of hacking and regular gun-play. The game looks good and has a performance mode option, along with a ton of options for the camera and HUD, which is always appreciated.
If I didn't already own RE: Village I'd have voted for that, but Star Wars Outlaws is my favourite of the Game Pass additions that I didn't already own.
I was hyped to try out Space Marine 2, but while it looked great, I just wasn't enjoying the gameplay that much.
In previous games you had to unlock the ability to fast travel anywhere for free.
In FH5, for example, you have to first unlock the ability to buy houses, then buy a particular house that unlocks fast travel. However, at that point, you have to pay to fast travel (in in-game credits obviously), so if you want to be able to fast travel anywhere for free, you then have to find and smash every fast travel board, which are scattered around the map. The fast travel price decreases the more boards you smash, then it becomes free when you've smashed them all.
Obviously I don't know if FH6 will take the same approach.
The sudden interest in hyping up Play Anywhere, which has been around for over a decade, just reinforces my feelings that MS's next "console" will be a PC that won't play the vast majority of my Xbox game library, much like if I bought one of those ROG handhelds.
I hope I'm wrong, but why the sudden push for this now?
A couple of my friends had an OG Xbox, so I got to play on one, but I never owned one.
I bought a 360 in late 2007 to play Assassin's Creed. I wanted one before that, but all of my friends that owned one had had at least one RROD, so I waited for the "Falcon" revision to come out. Sadly, I also ended up suffering with the RROD, but only once!
I was very impressed with the 360 in terms of the performance relative to the price, and the very well thought-out system software. It was loud though, especially before the option to install games to the hard drive was added. If only the hardware had been as quiet and reliable as the Xbox One, I think things could have been very different for MS.
I loved the first Division game, as buggy as it was, but I won't be going back to it, no matter how good the "definitive edition" is, assuming there even is one.
I enjoyed the demo, so I pre-ordered the full game, given that it's only £16. Since MS did away with being able to buy Game Pass credit with MS Rewards points, I paid for this game with those points instead.
The Xbox app on PC is horrible. Not even MS believes in their own OS. The app on Android is so good, it might as well have been made by a completely different company. They don't even care about bug reports when it comes to the Windows version. It's just a really bad way to push Game Pass.
I'll definitely keep my eye on this one. I've been through so many Elite Series 1 & 2 controllers, it's kinda ridiculous. I'm in my 50s and have been gaming since "TV games". I've never had an issue with a controller from any manufacturer, including MS, until the Xbox One/Series era, where I've gone through a couple of dozen I reckon. It's also the only time I've had controllers be broken right out of the box, including my original "Day One" controller that came with my Xbox One.
I still get advertised games and DLC I already own on the home screen quite regularly. It shouldn't take "AI" to fix that.
If the ads were actually smart and recognised "hey, you play the hell out of game X, but you don't own DLC Y for that game" and advertised it to me, that would be great, but it doesn't take artificial intelligence to do that. It takes intelligence from the people who are coding the algorithms that dictate what ads I see.
If MS had sold more consoles than Sony and Nintendo in the Xbox One generation, they wouldn't be peddling any of the nonsense they're peddling now. When one number looks bad, hold up another number and say "this is the one that matters!".
As for "Play Anywhere", what worries me is that the next "Xbox" will basically be a PC that can play your "Play Anywhere" games along with PC games from other stores, but that's it.
The only one of those games that I own is Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign, which I uninstalled some time ago. I just checked my full games library and it's missing.
I can see the achievements I unlocked for it on TrueAchievements, but the game is not in my "All achievements" list on the console itself. Based on replies to the supposed workarounds on Reddit, there are no workarounds that actually work and it's something that MS will have to fix.
I've owned at least one console in very generation and the Series X is definitely up there as one of my favourites. The hardware is fantastic IMO; powerful and quiet.
The OS has come a long way since the launch of the Xbox One and has improved in lots of ways, but it never feels like it's 100% polished. Still, in terms of features and functionality, I don't really have any major complaints.
Games-wise I've been more than happy, although a lot of that has to do with Game Pass, as I've played games that have blown me away that I likely would never have bought, such as "What Became of Edith Finch". Also, while I was sceptical that devs would do free upgrades to their games when the Xbox One X came out, lots did, and again with the Series X.
With online multiplayer/co-op games, the more players the better IMO. I play a lot of Overwatch and before they added cross-play, the queue times were horrendous sometimes; so long that the queue time would often be longer than the match itself.
From a business POV, I think exclusives are absolutely a necessary part of selling hardware, but MS have been backed into a corner and forced to pretend like they don't matter.
The main thing that concerns me is the future of Xbox consoles. Being able to carry the bulk of my games library forwards across generations has been great, and many games have had free upgrades/enhancements too, but I have almost zero confidence in MS to continue producing hardware that allows that - or even producing hardware full stop, past the next generation.
It's a useful feature for sure. I use a website that shows you graphs that go back much further than 30 days, plus you can also set a maximum price you want to pay for a game and it'll notify you via email if it ever drops below that price, which is also kinda nice.
Comments 54
Re: Microsoft Appears To Have Made A Small Revision To The Xbox Series X|S Controller
How is someone who doesn't like the removal of a port they use every time they game a "grifter"? lol.
My Audio-Technica headset cost £250, so it's not some cheap tat. It has a mute switch and a volume wheel, but it's far easier to use the buttons provided by the Stereo Headset Adapter that are right at my fingertips for that stuff, plus the headset controls don't let me adjust the game sound/chat balance.
Re: Microsoft Appears To Have Made A Small Revision To The Xbox Series X|S Controller
I still use a Stereo Headset Adapter with my Elite controller. It's very handy having physical buttons for volume up/down, changing voice/chat balance, and a light-up mute button within easy reach.
They can obviously detect when one is connected, so I guess hardly anybody is using one these days. I haven't seen any legit MS ones for sale brand new for years.
Re: Microsoft Announces Fan Feedback Program 'XBOX Player Voice', And It's Now Live
This isn't even new. They had this exact same set up before they ended up scrapping it and moving most Insider stuff to Reddit.
Re: 'Dear Asha...' - Xbox Fan Desperately Wants New CEO To Remove Irrelevant Ads From Dashboard
I don't mind ads if they're useful to me.
Sometimes I don't know that a new piece of DLC is available for a game I really like. Advertise that to me.
Do a better job with the "you played the hell out of X, so you'd probably like Y and Z" algorithms.
Don't advertise games or DLC to me that I already own.
Get rid of the tacky non-gaming advertising altogether, which only cheapens the brand.
Ideally, anyone paying for any form of Game Pass should be able to opt out of all ads, but if you want to opt into personalised ads, they have to be really good and make you feel like "hey, these ads have recommended me a bunch of stuff that I've bought/liked".
Re: Two New Xbox Controllers Have Leaked, Seemingly Including The Elite Series 3
Hopefully those scroll wheels can also be clicked in to work as buttons, cos ideally I'd want mic mute on one and lock on the other.
Personally I love the Stereo Headset Adapter, cos having tactile controls at your fingertips is far better than having to go into a menu to adjust stuff, but if they're doing away with the accessories port and replacing that functionality with those scroll wheels, I really hope it's well thought-out.
Re: Talking Point: What Dream Reveal Would You Like To See At The Xbox Games Showcase 2026?
Titanfall Remastered or Titanfall 3. The Forza Horizon Collection (games 1-3 remastered in 4K at 60FPS). Dark Sector 2. Sleeping Dogs 2.
Re: New Console Start-Up Animation Rolling Out To Xbox Insiders, Gamerscore Badges Also Detailed
I'm still waiting for my commemorative Xbox Live Gold badge to appear!
Re: Xbox Racks Up 2M Views With Comment That Appears To Address Mixtape's Review Backlash
I find it kinda amusing that a ton of people who haven't played it are implying that the journalists who rated it highly are part of some "hive mind".
I don't think the game is "woke" at all. I don't think you can bring "DEI" into it either, given that all 3 of the main characters are white. It's just people clutching at straws.
The criticisms I do partially understand are the ones saying there's not much gameplay in what's meant to be a video game. That said, I think you have to look at the experience as a whole. If there was a game that was like a movie, and all you did is choose A or B for the main hero, which led you off on branching paths and the game had multiple endings, with decent writing, voice acting, and directing, I think that could make for an awesome experience, even if, game-play wise, all you're doing is occasionally making a binary choice.
I also agree that "it's not for me" shouldn't equate to a low review score. I remember when IGN gave a Football Manager game a 2/10 because the reviewer was clearly expecting it to be like FIFA, and due to a backlash they pulled the review. Elden Ring is not for me, but I wouldn't say it's 1/10 trash. It's clearly a great game.
Re: Poll: Which Is Your Favourite Forza Horizon Game To Date?
4 for me, even though 5 is my most-played.
I don't like how online works in 5. In 4, you're put into a server instance with up to 72 players in it and you can see the whole list of who was in there and where every player is on the map. In 5, they tried to "surface" players that were near to you so that the game feels more alive, but it really doesn't work in my experience. Often I'd drive around in the same place for ages and not see anyone. Sometimes people would randomly appear/disappear out of nowhere.
It was the same with the Forzathon Live vs. Horizon Arcade events. Often I'd just end up doing a HA event by myself, but there were always plays doing FL. I realise that the HA events are every 15 minutes instead of every hour for FL, but if the game is supposed to "surface" players who are congregated in the same area and interested in the same event, it just did not work.
I also preferred the map in FH4, cos while the one in FH5 is bigger, a lot of it is desert/scrubland. Also, while many would disagree, I liked the seasonal changes in FH4 more, even if it made it harder to do certain things in winter.
Ultimately though, I think both games are fantastic. Also, as I haven't played FH4 since FH5 came out, it's possible I'm looking at 4 with rose-tinted spectacles on. Either way, I'm super-hyped for FH6! I can't believe it's only a few days away!!
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
I finished off the last few achievements. My sole gripe is with the "Front To Back" achievement, which has the following requirements: - "Find everything in the bedrooms and all unique conversations."
But to unlock it, you have to examine everything that's examinable, not just in the bedrooms, as well as going through all of the unique conversations. It's the only achievement that's a pain if you miss it first time, cos you can't just go back to a particular chapter as you don't know what you've missed.
It's a 9/10 for me. My favourite game released in 2026 so far.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
I finished it on the day it came out. I've got 3 achievements left to unlock.
I loved it. It's basically a series of mini-games, but the characters, story, writing, presentation, and of course, the music, really make it special IMO.
I was surprised by the soundtrack, given that I was a teenager in the 80s and in my 20s in the 90s, so I expected to know all of the songs in the game, but nope; there were several that I'd never heard before.
It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think a lot of people will really love it.
Re: Roundup: Mixtape Is Getting Some Incredible Reviews As It Rolls Out On Xbox Game Pass
I'm very close to the end of the game and I have really enjoyed it. It's one of those games where, if I didn't have other things I had to do, I could have played through it in one sitting.
One thing that surprised me was the music selection, as I expected it all to be 80s and 90s stuff that I knew, given that I was a teenager in the 80s, but there's songs in there from the 60s to the 90s and several that I'd never heard before.
For achievement hunters, it has chapter select, so you can easily replay chapters to get any missed achievements.
Re: Mixtape Is Your Latest Day One Game Pass Title, And It's Available Today (May 7)
@ZeD It's 2PM, not 1. I tried to launch it after seeing your comment, but it just asked if I owned the game, so I checked X and the devs just tweeted to say "One. HOUR. UNTIL MIXTAPE.".
Re: Xbox To Retire Features That Don't Align With Future Plans, Starting With Copilot AI
I remember when they first tried to add Cortana to the console. One of the plus points was that you could, for example, say "start a party and invite person X and person Y", but, as an insider, when I asked how it would work with gamertags like "xxF1NALxx", I got no answer and even though the implementation of Cortana on Xbox sucked, they rolled it out to the masses anyway, only to remove it later on.
I think Asha possibly sees Copilot on Xbox as being the next Cortana, i.e. a lot of work for something that kinda sucks and isn't what gamers want, which is good.
I'm not anti-AI by any means, but it has to work REALLY well before it's any use IMO.
Re: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About The Latest Surprise XGP Release, Motorslice
I'm an hour in and I'm really enjoying it so far. I totally disagree with that COG review about parrying having a harsh timing window. You get a clear visual cue of when to parry and it's not like you have to have insanely fast reflexes to do it.
The controls can be a little janky at times, but the checkpoints are forgiving, so it's never hugely frustrating when you die.
It's kind of an indie game cross between Prince of Persia and Shadow of the Colossus.
Re: HyperX Unveils New 'Premium, Hot-Swappable' Wireless Xbox Controller
The one I'm most interested in is the 8BitDo Ultimate 3E Controller for Xbox. On paper it has everything I want from a controller, but it'll be interesting to see what reviews are like. It's supposed to be out in Q2 of this year.
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Download Sizes Revealed On Xbox & PC, And They're Huge
I'm downloading it now. It's 134.86GB on Xbox Series X.
Re: Talking Point: With Forza Horizon 6 Imminent, What Are Your Predictions For Its Final Review Score?
I went for 80-89, cos I think it's basically gonna be the same as the last game but on a new map and that might hold back its review scores this time.
It's one of my favourite franchises so I have no doubt I'll love it, but it would be nice to see some new multiplayer modes that are fun to play, rather than just having the eliminator and the same old PG modes.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Still Get Excited About Remakes On Xbox In 2026?
It depends on the game(s) of course.
I would LOVE it if MS released a remastered collection of Forza Horizons 1-3. I just can't play racing games at 30FPS anymore.
My dream remaster would be the first Titanfall, as long as it was released on multiple platforms with cross-play.
Re: Xbox's Recent Battery Issue Was A Reminder To 'Earn Every Hour' With Players, Says Boss
@GamingGod There's no input lag, nor slowdown. When you hit the last few percent of battery life, controller vibration is turned off automatically so you can keep playing for a little while, but eventually the controller will just turn off.
Re: Xbox's New Dashboard Update Is Now Available For All Users
@Fishysensei
Settings - General - Personalisation - Games & apps, then scroll to the right and it's the last option there.
Also, if you don't like the new gradient that appears in the guide to match your colour, you can turn that off too: -
Settings - General - Personalisation - Customise the guide, and the option is in there.
Re: Xbox Boss Reveals New 'Dedicated Team' Focusing On Fan Feedback
They have a weekly feature request thread on the Xbox Insiders sub-Reddit, plus they keep an archive of the top 3 most-upvoted ideas per week here: -
https://old.reddit.com/r/xboxinsiders/wiki/xboxrequests/archive
That said, not many people take part in these threads, as the most-upvoted idea on any given week might only have 10 or so upvotes. But yeah, that's one place you can go to suggest stuff.
Re: Five Things We Want To See From Xbox's New Leadership Team In 2026
The insider program needs to return to how it used to be, rather than MS just using insiders as unpaid QA staff and completely ignoring all negative feedback.
Also, there should be a way to look at existing bug reports and click to say "me too" or whatever, rather than every single bug report having to be submitted in isolation.
Make some new controllers that feature the latest tech and focus on quality and longevity. MS should be showing third parties how it should be done, not the other way around.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think Project Helix Will Support Physical Xbox Games?
MS have talked a fair bit about game preservation and commitment to gamers' libraries, so I think it will be an option.
I haven't bought a single Xbox One/Series game on disc, but plenty of people have. There are also a handful of games that are backwards compatible, but only on disc, e.g. the racing game, Pure.
I like the way Sony went about it, where it attaches to the console and looks like it was always there, rather than being a totally separate drive that plugs in via a USB cable.
Re: Xbox Console Updates Continue As New 'Cloud Save Sync' Indicator Rolls Out To Insiders
I like the simplicity of the system and 99% of the time it just works, but it can be confusing if the system detects that your saves for a particular game are out of sync and it asks you which one you want to use.
This is what the support page for Forza Horizon 5 says about this issue, for example: -
"If you are given a message asking to choose between two saves usually you’ll want to pick the older date."
If you pick the newer one, which I think seems like common sense, you can end up losing all of your progress as your save gets overwritten, then all support can do is gift you the cars you lost; they can't restore your actual in-game progress. Also, note how the advice from the devs themselves has "usually" in it, so even that's not really clear.
It would be good if there was some way of recovering a save if one is corrupted or overwritten. Some kind of backup system.
Re: 'Energized' Xbox Engineer Talks New Dashboard Update & Its 'Unusually' Fast Turnaround
Tonight on my home screen there were 2 "sponsored" tiles, both pushing Fortnite. I've never seen that before. There was always only 1 with "sponsored" actually written underneath it.
BTW, "Eden Marie" had not posted on Twitter for over a year before tweeting out about being energised, then attributing that to her new boss.
It just reeks of ***** to me, given how MS execs are usually the biggest peddlers of "corporate speak".
I wish Asha the best, cos as an Xbox fan, of course I want the brand to succeed and continue on, but my trust in MS is pretty much zero at this point.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
Xbox 6 (they skipped Windows 9, so why not do it here?)
Xbox Nexus
I do wonder just how much names confuse consumers, cos I suspect it's not a major issue. That said, I do prefer how Sony have just kept it simple.
Re: Xbox Says Backwards Compatibility Program Will Be Revived For 25th Anniversary
I would love for them to add OutRun Online Arcade, but I doubt it will happen because of the Ferrari licensing.
I'd love to see Poker Smash too, which was backwards compatible at one point, only for it to be removed again without explanation.
Re: Xbox's 'Pivot Away From Console' Had Been Failing And Questioned At Microsoft, Claims Report
I think whoever they put in charge of Xbox is being put in an impossible position.
There are several reasons why I wouldn't want to switch to another platform, but the primary one is that I can't take all of my games with me. I own nearly 800 digital games across multiple generations of Xbox that can be played on my Series X.
How do you convince people to switch to an Xbox from another platform now that digital lock-in is such a huge factor? If you can't do that in considerable numbers, how do you grow Game Pass?
A hybrid that can play both Xbox and PC games while also working as a PC would be awesome for me, but it's not going to make a dent in the mass market.
IMO, irreversible damage was done to the brand before Phil Spencer took over and them having to put their games on other platforms is the result of that, as is the rise in the price of Game Pass.
Re: Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox
Spencer was handed an impossible task IMO.
It was under Don Mattrick's leadership that the Xbox brand was doomed. Bundling in Kinect, so the Xbox One was weaker than the PS4, yet $100 more. The always-online stuff and the infamous "we have a console for you; the Xbox 360" comment. Their plans to limit consumer rights when it came to physical media that allowed Sony to make a laughing stock out of them at E3. All the talk of TV, TV, TV.
Digital lock-in was such a huge factor going into the Xbox One/PS4 era and they totally screwed it up. Unbundling Kinect, refocussing on the power of the hardware, creating the Elite controller etc. were all good things, but it was too late.
Re: Highguard Website Goes Offline Following Mass Layoffs At The Game's Studio
I agree with Josh Sobel in that there are content creators who thrive on drama and negativity, but at the end of the day, you can't blame them for the game's failure. Sobel did, cos in his final tweet before deleting his X account, he said that everyone connected to the game was convinced it was gonna be a huge hit and go mainstream.
I think they should have done an open beta to get some player feedback. People don't abandon a game cos of what some content creator said. They abandon it cos they're not enjoying playing it. They paid a bunch of high profile Twitch/YouTube streamers to play it at launch, but none of them carried on playing it. There's 287 viewers watching a handful of tiny channels playing it right now.
I wanted the game to be good, cos it looked like something that I could play with friends, but I just found it kinda dull in the end.
Re: Xbox Announces Social Clubs Will Be Removed From Consoles In April 2026
Microsoft is such a garbage company these days. To think, in the past, people used to actually queue around the block for things they made, lol. It seems unimaginable now.
I run a club and am a member of several clubs, but come April, all of that will be gone. But hey, at least we get to keep the publisher clubs that are essentially used to push ads. Yay!
Re: 'Relooted' Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass, And Some Early Reviews Are Now Live
I played it for an hour or two and I thought it was alright.
I hate how some people feel like they have to take sides about a video game based on what their "side" thinks. There's people slating this game in the reviews on Xbox who haven't even played it. Then there's sites that are promoting it, when they obviously wouldn't do that if it was the same game minus the "let's steal back stolen artifacts" element.
I found it fun. It's light puzzling mixed with parkour. You have to make your way into a building, set up your escape, then grab the loot and get out of there. If you can play this via Game Pass, I'd recommend it for sure.
Also, the artifacts in the game all exist in real life, so you get to learn about them, as well as other lesser objects you can scan.
Given that Xbox can already track your play time on a game, I would rather people not be able to leave reviews unless they've played at least X number of minutes. So many reviews on Xbox - particularly with Game Pass games - are just people who are salty that an indie game got added to the service rather than some AAAA blockbuster, even if the indie game is actually awesome.
Re: Two Upcoming Capcom Titles Get Free Demos On The Xbox Store
I just tried the demo for Pragmata. It's only about 20 minutes long, but I enjoyed it. I like the mix of hacking and regular gun-play. The game looks good and has a performance mode option, along with a ton of options for the camera and HUD, which is always appreciated.
Re: Pick One: What Was Your Favourite Xbox Game Pass Addition In January 2026?
If I didn't already own RE: Village I'd have voted for that, but Star Wars Outlaws is my favourite of the Game Pass additions that I didn't already own.
I was hyped to try out Space Marine 2, but while it looked great, I just wasn't enjoying the gameplay that much.
Re: Forza Horizon 6's Controversial Game Pass Upgrade Costs As Much As The Game Itself
The 3 different versions of the game are £5, £20, and £25 more expensive than FH5 too.
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Officially Launches On Xbox In May, Here's Your First Look At Open-World Japan
@Llamageddon
In previous games you had to unlock the ability to fast travel anywhere for free.
In FH5, for example, you have to first unlock the ability to buy houses, then buy a particular house that unlocks fast travel. However, at that point, you have to pay to fast travel (in in-game credits obviously), so if you want to be able to fast travel anywhere for free, you then have to find and smash every fast travel board, which are scattered around the map. The fast travel price decreases the more boards you smash, then it becomes free when you've smashed them all.
Obviously I don't know if FH6 will take the same approach.
Re: Xbox Play Anywhere Is Convincing People To Buy Their Multiplatform Games On Xbox
The sudden interest in hyping up Play Anywhere, which has been around for over a decade, just reinforces my feelings that MS's next "console" will be a PC that won't play the vast majority of my Xbox game library, much like if I bought one of those ROG handhelds.
I hope I'm wrong, but why the sudden push for this now?
Re: Talking Point: As Xbox Celebrates 25 Years, What's Your First Ever Xbox Memory?
A couple of my friends had an OG Xbox, so I got to play on one, but I never owned one.
I bought a 360 in late 2007 to play Assassin's Creed. I wanted one before that, but all of my friends that owned one had had at least one RROD, so I waited for the "Falcon" revision to come out. Sadly, I also ended up suffering with the RROD, but only once!
I was very impressed with the 360 in terms of the performance relative to the price, and the very well thought-out system software. It was loud though, especially before the option to install games to the hard drive was added. If only the hardware had been as quiet and reliable as the Xbox One, I think things could have been very different for MS.
Re: Ubisoft Seemingly Preparing 'The Division: Definitive Edition' Ahead Of 10-Year Anniversary
I loved the first Division game, as buggy as it was, but I won't be going back to it, no matter how good the "definitive edition" is, assuming there even is one.
Re: This New RPG Is Heavily Inspired By Paper Mario, And It's Releasing On Xbox Next Week
I enjoyed the demo, so I pre-ordered the full game, given that it's only £16. Since MS did away with being able to buy Game Pass credit with MS Rewards points, I paid for this game with those points instead.
Re: Report: Xbox Working On 'Major Updates' To PC App For Next Console's Dashboard
The Xbox app on PC is horrible. Not even MS believes in their own OS. The app on Android is so good, it might as well have been made by a completely different company. They don't even care about bug reports when it comes to the Windows version. It's just a really bad way to push Game Pass.
Re: 8BitDo Unveils New 'Pro-Level' Xbox Wireless Controller Built For 'Serious Players'
I'll definitely keep my eye on this one. I've been through so many Elite Series 1 & 2 controllers, it's kinda ridiculous. I'm in my 50s and have been gaming since "TV games". I've never had an issue with a controller from any manufacturer, including MS, until the Xbox One/Series era, where I've gone through a couple of dozen I reckon. It's also the only time I've had controllers be broken right out of the box, including my original "Day One" controller that came with my Xbox One.
But yeah, this one looks good on paper!
Re: New Microsoft Survey Suggests Five AI Features That Could Be Added To Xbox Game Pass
None of it sounds any use to me.
I still get advertised games and DLC I already own on the home screen quite regularly. It shouldn't take "AI" to fix that.
If the ads were actually smart and recognised "hey, you play the hell out of game X, but you don't own DLC Y for that game" and advertised it to me, that would be great, but it doesn't take artificial intelligence to do that. It takes intelligence from the people who are coding the algorithms that dictate what ads I see.
Re: Phil Spencer Was Asked About Xbox's 'Unusual Strategy' In 2019, And The Answers Are Still Relevant Six Years Later
If MS had sold more consoles than Sony and Nintendo in the Xbox One generation, they wouldn't be peddling any of the nonsense they're peddling now. When one number looks bad, hold up another number and say "this is the one that matters!".
As for "Play Anywhere", what worries me is that the next "Xbox" will basically be a PC that can play your "Play Anywhere" games along with PC games from other stores, but that's it.
Re: Xbox Fan Lists 13 Games That Are Currently Hidden From Players' Libraries
The only one of those games that I own is Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign, which I uninstalled some time ago. I just checked my full games library and it's missing.
I can see the achievements I unlocked for it on TrueAchievements, but the game is not in my "All achievements" list on the console itself. Based on replies to the supposed workarounds on Reddit, there are no workarounds that actually work and it's something that MS will have to fix.
Re: Poll: Now That The Dust Has Settled, Which Xbox Game Pass Tier Are You Subscribed To?
I'm still on Ultimate, but only cos I'd stacked up 3 years of it via MS Rewards.
Re: It's A Big Birthday For The Xbox Series X, So Let's Look Back At Our Review From 2020
I've owned at least one console in very generation and the Series X is definitely up there as one of my favourites. The hardware is fantastic IMO; powerful and quiet.
The OS has come a long way since the launch of the Xbox One and has improved in lots of ways, but it never feels like it's 100% polished. Still, in terms of features and functionality, I don't really have any major complaints.
Games-wise I've been more than happy, although a lot of that has to do with Game Pass, as I've played games that have blown me away that I likely would never have bought, such as "What Became of Edith Finch". Also, while I was sceptical that devs would do free upgrades to their games when the Xbox One X came out, lots did, and again with the Series X.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Feel About Halo: Campaign Evolved Launching Day One On PS5?
With online multiplayer/co-op games, the more players the better IMO. I play a lot of Overwatch and before they added cross-play, the queue times were horrendous sometimes; so long that the queue time would often be longer than the match itself.
From a business POV, I think exclusives are absolutely a necessary part of selling hardware, but MS have been backed into a corner and forced to pretend like they don't matter.
The main thing that concerns me is the future of Xbox consoles. Being able to carry the bulk of my games library forwards across generations has been great, and many games have had free upgrades/enhancements too, but I have almost zero confidence in MS to continue producing hardware that allows that - or even producing hardware full stop, past the next generation.
Re: Talking Point: Xbox Should Use And Improve This New PlayStation Store Feature
It's a useful feature for sure. I use a website that shows you graphs that go back much further than 30 days, plus you can also set a maximum price you want to pay for a game and it'll notify you via email if it ever drops below that price, which is also kinda nice.