Spaceman-Spiff

As a word of warning, John Linneman has tweeted that the Series X version of the game has various technical issues compared to the PS5 version. The details will be in the tech analysis video which is due to be up sometime today.

I've got to say I'm surprised anyone would have the attention span to complete the game once, let alone twice

It's UE4, the same engine that Gears 5 manages to run at 60fps on the One X with a dynamic resolution of up to 4k. I'm not a developer but something seems off about the performance profiles they're putting forward for this game, especially given the recommended PC specs.

I'm curious as to what Microsoft's big end of year release will be next year, as both Starfield and Redfall are meant to be before June. Hellblade or Perfect Dark would be my guess, unless there's something as yet unannounced/not shown they'll surprise us with nearer the time

So just to be clear, this is a multiplayer only game? No campaign?

Looking forward to the part where they completely change what Geralt looks and sounds like halfway through the game, just like the TV show

@Sveakungen Yes that's a good spot. Hopefully they will improve upon this with patches down the line as it seems quite clear that the XSX and PS5 should be capable of higher resolutions at 60fps.

A surprisingly heavy game then. Will have to wait and see whether that's because it's astonishingly beautiful or just badly optimised...

I hope the sequel gets out of that building and explores some of the weird stuff going on in the wider world. I enjoyed the first game but by the end was pretty tired of the endless concrete and office furniture!

@themightyant My thoughts exactly. It's one thing to trim a particular feature during development, but it's another to trim the one feature they made a big point about definitely including going forward. It's a very bad look. And for any feature that major to be dropped, when the studio itself has had years to develop the game and almost unlimited resources... It's really poor. It likely is the engine causing these problems, but this is an engine that they custom built for Halo! It is somewhat unbelievable that it can then fail to be suitable for basic Halo features.

@GamingFan4Lyf I'm also using VRR so maybe that's it. Still, I'm hopeful there will be some extra bells and whistles added to the visuals at some point, be it resolution or level of detail.

@GuyinPA75 Is that in performance or quality mode? I've been playing at 60fps and haven't noticed any regular performance drops.

I've got the update installed and had a quick play this afternoon. If FSR 2.1 has been implemented I have to say I can't see any difference to image quality or resolution. As stated above performance already seemed stable at 60fps so not sure what gains FSR is bringing here.

I would be interested to know a bit more about the origins of this game given the claims raised here and elsewhere about it being partly funded by the Russian government. Is there any truth to this? I'm kinda hoping that we could get a journalistic response to this rather than just answers from anonymous individuals here in the comments...

This game is unique due to the constant chatter and personality of its gun characters, but this is also its biggest problem. If the dialogue is irritating, then no matter how great the gameplay is I think people will be turned off. Conversely if the gameplay is average, then you need the chatter to be hilarious to offset that. In other words, this game is going to live or die based on whether they've managed to tread the very fine line between being funny, or being cringe-inducingly annoying.

Microsoft wants to "encourage the major shift in consumer behaviour required for cloud gaming to succeed".

No thanks.

I'm a little surprised that they would choose UE5 over id tech, given that the latter is now an in-house engine and would be cheaper to use. It's also far more performant than UE5 is likely to be. Will they be able to produce the smooth 60fps Halo gameplay we've all gotten used to on UE5?

For all Microsoft's pro-consumer initiatives of late, this insistence on official proprietary cards is distinctly anti-consumer. There's no reason why they can't open this out to other SSD manufacturers and allow competition to drive prices down. Even on sale these cards are horrendously overpriced.

I almost gave up on the game a couple of times near the start just because of how bewildering all the systems and objectives were, but I'm glad I persevered as I'm loving it now. I do think it does a bad job of easing players in and explaining the various mechanics though. I only really found out how to enjoy playing it after reading several 'getting started' and 'things to know' type guides online. I shouldn't have to do that...

Great to see votes for Infinite, despite its many issues I thought the campaign was great

Just as soon as they figure out how to shoehorn unwanted live service elements into the formula

I'm looking forward to this but I do hope that as much time as been spent on the gameplay as the art style

I loved Prey. I enjoyed aspects of Dishonoured 2 although I found the whole chaos vs stealth arrangement off putting. They give you all these inventive ways to kill enemies but then chastise you for using them... it was weird. Hopefully I will enjoy Deathloop more.

@FraserG Perhaps they've learned their lesson about absolutely guaranteeing something after previously promising to always include split screen co-op in future Halos...

@Somebody Yes, GoldenEye mostly ran at around 20fps on the N64, but my point is that I think it was an unlocked 20fps that you could get up to 60 by staring at the sky, so if that's the case then on any hardware today it should comfortably reach 60. The Switch ran Doom 3 at 60fps so should easily manage GoldenEye

@Somebody Yes you're right I've seen that too. So if that's the case then the basic rom should run at 60fps without really any work needing to be done.

In regards to the framerate, I'm pretty sure that Goldeneye ran at an unlocked 60fps on the N64 - that is to say that most of the time it was around 20fps but I remember it would go super smooth if you looked up at the sky or stood hard up against a wall. Can anyone else remember this?

With improved controls and smooth frame rate I think this will still be brilliant fun to play, even for those who never played it 25 years ago and don't have the nostalgia. The enemy hit animations that differed depending on where you shot them is still something that - for me - hasn't really been bettered to this day.

I always try to keep my Series X in power saver mode, however if I'm downloading a large game or update I find myself having to switch to instant on so that the download continues while I'm not there. It's a shame there isn't a hybrid power mode that turns the power fully off in normal circumstances but switches it to instant on when downloading.

@Ralizah This is a bit simplistic though. Sony have been the kings of big exclusive single player adventure games up until now, so Microsoft has to do something to match them on that. Hence the Bethesda deal and Starfield being exclusive. I still think that if Sony approached MS and said "ok, we'll put God of War on Xbox if you put Starfield on PlayStation", MS would take it in a second.

@OliverOwen I totally agree with you! I would hope that there will always be a substantial market of gamers who want to play big immersive games on a local device and a big screen, not cut down made-for-mobile shadows of the games we used to love.

@XxEvilAshxX I don't think Sony owning a minority share of FromSoft will result in any more games being exclusive to PlayStation. Most likely they've done it to prevent someone else (like MS or even Amazon) from swooping in and taking those games away from PlayStation.

@CaptainCluck Yeah I think I'm with you on this, though I doubt these concerns will ultimately lead to the deal failing. I just keep thinking about the tiny sum Embracer Group paid for the Square-Enix western studios, and other developers/publishers like Capcom that would add so much more to Xbox than Activision would, for a fraction of the cost. I know COD is huge but I'm not a fan, and I don't particularly want Xbox to be the console of choice for those who only play FIFA or COD and barely anything else. Asobo is another developer that Xbox should snap up before someone else does, they are seriously talented.

@abe_hikura I was just thinking the same thing

Excellent news. Is this the first game to include FSR 2.0 on Xbox?

@BrilliantBill Actually I do now you mention it! But I'm still going to hope that the extra time is there for some surprises.

Wasn't this meant to be 6 hours long? I can't see the Age of Empires section taking up 55 minutes...

@Dezzy70 It's a nice dream to have, however I'm not sure how it could work. Without any other hardware competition whoever made this device would have a monopoly and be able to charge whatever they wanted for it, with no incentive to make it the best it could be. If you want a great product, you need competition. I guess maybe you could have a system whereby different manufacturers could each make their own version of a console which had to be compatible with the same games, in the same way that Series X games have to be compatible with Series S, but then you're putting extra strain on the developers to setup and test custom profiles for each hardware configuration. And this also sounds quite like just having a PC.

Maybe if they'd tried to lovingly birth a remake trilogy baby rather than squeezing out a big fat trilogy turd they would have seen better sales.

Excellent I was hoping they would provide a dead zone adjustment, it's too big at the moment

I still wish they would add a less-than-4k 60fps option with slightly higher draw distances and detail. I can't stand the 30fps mode but do find the game a little barren in the 4k60 performance mode. A resolution of 1440p-1800p would surely allow for LOD settings closer to what you get in the quality mode.

It looks ok. I haven't played much of the Fallout games or Skyrim, but I'm hoping there isn't too much of a focus on busywork like mining for materials and having to manage inventory etc. Didn't the footage also talk about hiring people to work in your outposts? Managing employees is not high on my list of things I'd like to do on a space adventure.

I'm not sure any of these better Alien 3 on the SNES

@FraserG Thanks, in that case my patience should just about last...

Thinking of waiting for the 4K upload to YouTube this year as the live stream is such poor quality, does anyone know how quickly that tends to go up once the live stream is over?

Forget the controllers, how about customised consoles?

@Titntin Who knows what the future holds for services like Game Pass and their effect on games and studios, but as for your point about MS running it at a loss, Phil Spencer stated at the end of last year that GP is already sustainable https://www.axios.com/2021/11/15/xbox-chief-phil-spencer-interview-20-years

@themightyant My thoughts exactly. But then they wouldn't be able to charge everyone for the same game again.

@RevGaming I preferred it to Guardians of the Galaxy. I liked that as well but it almost felt more like an interactive movie, whereas Fallen Order properly puts you in the shoes of an adventuring Jedi. The Metroid comparison above is spot on. And yes it is published by EA but developed by Respawn, who are excellent devs who don't deserve to be painted with the same brush. Plus the success of Fallen Order helped to show EA that not all games have to be live service multiplayer abominations to be popular!

@Fulkaffe I liked him! And the robot too. I loved the whole game, can't wait for the sequel. Here's hoping it releases this year to take some of the sting away from the Starfield delay

For a list as exhaustive as this, I am shocked and appalled that Prey doesn't feature.