StonyKL

what confuses me is the majority on this site would defend MS to the hilt to say GP was obviously sustainable only to bend over backwards to defend the need to double day 1 gaming prices? It can't be both.
It's obvious the growth has stagnated (and likely reached it maximum) so instead of having more people on the same price they need to have the same number on higher prices - even though they were obviously sustainable already. So in other words the trillions they make for their investors wasn't enough so they need to squeeze more out of us.

What happens when people stop subscribing because they either played most of the games available or just believe the service is value for money anymore?
I guess the big hail mary for them is when they make CoD exclusive in 10 years and throw all their eggs into that one basket?

I think its got to a point for me where it's no longer value for money. I get my subscription as part of my phone contract which is great as I don't see any price increase right now - however no matter how many more games they add to the service I don't get more to play as my gaming is limited to how much time I have available. Add another 2000 games to the service then I'll still only play a few games a month anyway.

Same issue applies to any other forms of entertainment - watching TV, movies, sport, PS+ (and excluding non sit on my ass hobbies I have such as golf, football and gym memberships and working almost 12 hours a day) then there just isn't enough time in life to make the most of GamePass.
On its own, an additional £24 a year (plus any further increases to come) isn't the end of the world, but on top of all the other memberships in my life its not the best value for me and would probably be first to be dropped if I have to start paying for it.

But I assume MS see me as an exception to their rule otherwise they wouldn't have raised their prices.

This feels like the biggest 'next step' for Gamepass and will be the main way I'll use my subscription. Currently my series S is gathering dust in the bedroom but this would change everything for me. Assuming it all works well enough of course...

@GamingFan4Lyf I guess its a different perspective. The puzzles don't really make sense to me and feel out of place to how the game plays. And all the other bits you mention that have happened are cut scenes, although not sure what the boss battle you refer to is. Maybe I haven't got there yet, although I've played about 3 hours so far. I sometimes am able to run but sometimes its really slow walking, frustratingly as well. There is an open corridor path to head down but I can't understand why sometimes I can run and sometimes not. Maybe its a bug and its not running when it should be so I'm still technically less than an hour in?

Its not a terrible game and getting to see what UE2 is technically capable of is worthy of me getting through it - but I guess I'm disappointed its not much better and had hopes it would end up king of the walking simulators. Probably my fault for having expectations too high. Not saying you loving it is wrong - I'm just jealous I can't feel the same with it.

@awp69 completely agree with you on the audio. Its pretty damn impressive when wearing headphones and as disappointed as I am with it so far (as I mentioned above) I do love what they've done with the audio and more than anything feels like a showcase of how other games could use the technology.

Very pretty game to be sure, but I'm really struggling to get through it. Probably about half way I'd guess and nothing has really happened yet other than the odd one-to-one battle.
The odd thing for me is I love walking simulators but I'd argue this is nowhere near the level of Everyones gone to the rapture, What Remains Of Edith Finch or even The Stanley Parable. I'm just struggling to understand what the hell is going on other than I need to walk somewhere and the story seems pretty none existent.
On a more positive note, with the game feeling more like a tech demo it is extremely exciting that this will now set a new graphical benchmark that maybe other future walking simulators might try and match - or possible other more 'on rail' games might try. Games like Silent Hill and resident evil for example (although not if they are going open world!)

@Xbox_Dashboard and thats the only reason I clicked the link. What a disappointment

This is the one I've been waiting for but it better not suffer on the Series S. After my X bricked I couldn't afford the full whack again so bought an S - which is fine - so long as it handles this game acceptably 🤞

Edit: Saying all that I do have a PS5 so technically could wait for its release in about a year IF the S doesn't handle this game well enough.

@TheLastHarbinger 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Exactly. Gone back to Fallout 4 as never finished it due to a game breaking bug. It's nice to have my game crash every odd game instead of every time I played with Starfield! Although to be fair I've only managed to get through 3 Bethesda games without a bug stopping me completing it and Starfield was one of them, so I should congratulate them on that.

The main problem Bethesda have is they can't cut corners with QA because they already removed that department years ago. Perhaps they cut back on the development side and hope it all works out?

You couldn't make this stuff up. Bethesda truly are shocking when it comes to their quality control. Do they even care at this point? The fact they are one of the worst in the business and seem to be getting even worse over time suggests to me they don't. Been downloading the latest version (I think. Hoping a delete of my current game and redownload will do the trick - it doesn't really make it clear) all morning and still only on 80%. Hopefully they'll figure out a fix and release it before the download completes...

I've joined the hype and start up Fallout 4 again but really struggling to play it after 100 hours on Starfield recently. It's basically the exact same game, albeit implemented much better. I think Starfield has left me burnt on Bethesda style games. Not convinced I'd even bother with another Starfield, Fallout or Elder Scrolls at this point. I guess it'll be another 6 or 7 years until the next Elder Scrolls so maybe I'll be ready to go back again?

I just cannot get into the first game but oddly this is my most anticipated game on Xbox this gen. Have a feeling I'm setting myself up for huge disappointment....

Nice! Shadow of the tomb raider slots into no 52 on my backlog list, PGA goes to about 97. Just hope they're still on GP by the time I get to them...

@rustyduck I'm a bit in this boat really. I have the Series S currently and get GP 'free' as part of my phone contract. Alongside the rising prices of GP and the unlikelihood that things like GP will be given out so freely in future, I can't really afford to spend GP prices on top of Netflix et al. And the truth is GP gets outvoted over TV and music streaming every day of the week.

I like comparing this list to the PS equivalent:

1. Elden Ring - 96
2. Balders Gate 3 - 96
3. Witcher 3 - 94
4. God Of War Ragnarok - 94
5. Hades - 93
6. Tetris Effect - 93
7. RE4 - 93
8. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 92
9. Demons Souls - 92
10. Street Fighter 6 - 92

A lot of similarities but always find it odd how different these lists can be when they are generally on both but get such different ratings across the wide range of reviewers. Like the Stanley Parable is at 27 on PS5? Aren't they exact same game (loved that one!) while Tetris is number 26 for Xbox but number 6 for PS5?

I'll take a decent story, improved character interactions, no more crashes to the homepage, better (or at the least quicker) loading screens, a planet with more than 3 things to see and do. in fact if they could make the entire DLC on a single planet and make that planet extremely dense and imaginative. If not and we have to traverse across the universe hundreds of times perhaps include some Aliens races?

Very interested in the show. I like the whole premise of Fallout - just never got to the end of Fallout 3 or 4 due to game breaking bugs (did manage new vegas though). Hopefully they don't end the season with a glitch that stops the episode from finishing 😂
For me it does highlight why Starfield was such a let down for me. I wouldn't be interested in anything Starfield and I can't imagine they will make a sequel while Elder Scrolls and Fallout could happily go on and on.

Really enjoying DI2. Bit like Man Eater which I got the platinum for when it was on Plus. Both games have many issues with them that can be pointed out but are designed to be FUN and as long as its fun then I don't think people care about the flaws.
I just hope they keep it on GP long enough for me to get through it..

So glad they spent time getting expressions in photo mode. The game plays perfectly and that's the last little bit we needed 😂

My Series X HDMI socket broke the other day (all I did was take out the hdmi cable ) - left me with a broken heart to currently have a £450 paper weight just when I wanted to play Dead Island 2. Only today realised I could stream it on my PC and was pleasantly surprised at how well it ran - certainly enough for me to play it while I try and get my Series X fixed.
Completely shocked to be reading that PS Plus streaming is even better! I may have to give that a go too!

Silly question but wtf is this? Is it Lego or a different version of lego? Is it a 360 emulator box or something? Assuming it plays games at that price? If it was a Game pass streaming box I'm interested.

@iplaygamesnstuff I'm in the same boat. Deliberately haven't bought this because I'm now #GenGamePass meaning I don't buy any xbox games anymore. Gutted my Series X broke the other day. Feels like its a deliberate 'kick me when I'm down' moment
Fingers crossed it can be fixed or it's extremely likely to be my last Xbox console ever 😮😮

To be honest this is good news. After moving my xbox from one room the the other I've somehow managed to break my Xbox. Still runs but just black output to screen (tried different screens, different cables). And I have game pass subscription so now own a £450 paper weight and nothing to play my subscription on.
Absolutely gutted. This was my first xbox since a red ring of death and now I get the black screen of nothingness. Was really looking forward to trying Diablo 4 local multiplayer with my son 😢
At least I can play these games on my PS5 now! Silver lining I guess!

Technically isn't the PS the same? As long as there is an app you can remote play on every screen can't you? I've said it before - I don't really enjoy the streaming experience enough for it to take over gaming for me. Reckon that's a young mans game! Still, it is interesting that MS going the streaming route. I've just unsubscribed to Netflix, Prime, Disney, TNT, will be letting my PS Plus sub run out as will my GP sub. It all just drains money and there isn't much left I haven't seen/played that makes me want to keep spending.
But I have learnt I now have a TV without anything to watch on it and I'll have a big square box with nothing to play on it
Damn I wish I'd bought my games now...

Game Pass is the only reason I have an Xbox (and likely the case with a percentage of other owners). If GP ends up on playstation then there is no point me having an Xbox. BUT that doesn't really matter to MS. I'm pretty sure they don't make any money from my Xbox purchase but do from my GP subscription. They'll make pretty much the same amount of money from me either way. This is probably why they will end up ditching hardware to focus on software.

I'm in the camp that can't understand all the uproar. In a perfect world (for me) MS would stop with the Xbox and go mainly into software. There is pretty much zero difference between the PS5 and the Xbox other than petty fanboy comments. They run virtually the same! Next gen would be perfect if there was no Xbox, only a top quality PS. MS then release custom controllers for the PS (so basically those preferring the xbox controller can still use them). Then I only need 1 box. Then all developers can optimise for that one box. Then GP is an option on PS and customer can chose either PS Plus, GP or physical discs (an option going away for future xbox owners).
Then all the energy wasted on fighting over the better fps, resolution, games etc will be used to improve the gaming industry.

Obviously this is a fairy tale scenario for me and will ruin some fanboys dream of one dying out over the other. But imagine is MS only spend their time/effort/money on software. Surely they would massively improve their output and quality of games?

And for those frothing at the mouth over this scenario I also suggest the other way around - no PS and only Xbox. It just doesn't seem as likely a scenario.

I'll happily take a Skyrim with decent story and without game breaking bugs that stopped me completing the game on 3 different platforms. This sounds perfect then!

Most definitely. Personal opinion it needs several improvements:

• Internal battery a must. Yes the Dual Sense runs out quickly but I've never had the problem personally as its always stored on a charging dock (which cost the same price as the Series X controller battery) so is always fully charged each time I use it. But I hate when I have to go searching round the house for spare batteries on my second controller when they've run out.
• The buttons need to be less plasticky and noisy. I basically can't play the Xbox in bed as the controller is too loud for the missus to sleep to and no chance I could get some game time in the morning and wake her up!
• The haptics are excellent on the Dual Sense but not necessarily a must have, but no reason not to include them
• Happy to keep the layout the same. I was getting a lot of hand cramp from the Series X controller and really hated the layout until I played 100+ hours of Starfield and the cramping went away. Then I went back to Dual Sense and hand was cramping until it didn't again. I've learnt your hand just get used to whatever you play with.
• lift to wake sounds a bad idea as its annoying enough on the Dual Sense when you pick up the controller to put on the charge station and accidentally push the pad and it switches the PS5 back on. Infuriating! But I suppose if the option can be turned off then its better to include it than not.

My opinions and obviously from reading others, everyone is different in what hey prefer.

This looked like a death metal music video - or just a mickey take of the genre 🤣🤣
Have to admit the game does look damn good though. Can't wait to give it a try, although will have to try getting back into the first again so I know what the hell is going on with the second one.

@Lup sort of interested in what you mean by cinematic games and why it stops you buying a PS? I googled best cinematic games of 2023 and the results on gamerant are:
Avatar, Assassins Creed, Starfield, FF16, Europa, Wo Long, Zelda:TotK. I don't really understand what cinematic gaming means? Just high quality cuts scenes? Lots of cut scenes?

@GamingSince84 100% agree. There is no incentive for MS to use even 0.01% of that revenue to hire/retain workers who could spend their time testing all of Bethesda games and at least attempting to produce something of quality. I have the same outlook on life. I had a despicable moment yesterday when a homeless man wanted some money to pay for some food!! The cheek of it! I work specifically to make money and NOT hand it out. In fact even worse he then offered to help with any odd jobs around the garden to earn the money!

wonder how they work the 50% players less exposed to 'severe instances of disruptive voice chat'. I wouldn't be surprised if they asked 10 people if they thought they heard less chat and 5 said yes which scientifically means 50% of everybody - OR perhaps they now see 50% more people have muted microphones and instead of saying 50% of people now don't communicate in MW3, they spin it to be 50% people hear less toxic chat?
And according to 'the data'? Is that '12 years old who live on my street who reckon' data or NASA data or just Big Phil tells us?
I tried the link and started looking but to be fair it bored me and is probably a waste of my time.

Haven't bought a COD game since the original MW2 but will give this one a go once it's released on GP. Is it a sequel to MW2 from back in my day, a sequel to a MW2 remake, a sequel to a MW2 remaster or sequel to a MW2 reboot? I just don't know anymore?

The problem here is they are fixing about 0.01% of the bugs in the game that won't make much of a difference overall.
There are so many more things they need to work on, including general frame rate, dialogue, general animations (not broken ones), loading times, traversal options, regular game crashes (to be fair they've mentioned a few in the above, but my game would crash at least once every session), add more things to do/see on planets, allow more interesting traversal across planets or quicker running option (anything to make it less boring). Loads more I can't think off top of my head. Have completed the game a few times and really interested in fully levelling up - but the game is a bit too boring to pull me back in.

It sounds absolutely terrible imo. Not sure why they didn't actually use AI to get it right? Could they use Troy to get it done (so a human still gets the wage) but use AI to make it sound much better? Bit disappointed with the trailer to be honest. Flipping between 1st and 3rd person, combat looked a bit lame. Just get the feeling the trailer did nothing to portray how the actual game will play, which I'm hoping is a good thing.

Really dislike GAME tbh. They charge £4.99 for store pick up if you reserve a game online! Same price as delivery in a world where Smyths, Currys and Argos do it all for free. They also charge more for the game than most competitors and often can have 2nd hand games costing more than new ones. Only CEX charge crazier prices!

@CharlieChooChoo lol sorry. You responded to the "Microsoft are scummy" comment with "thats because they are".
I was adding the response to "This site has the best community of the big 3" with "it has".
Just trying to add some positivity back as I'm sometimes negative in my responses

@CharlieChooChoo and its has

Slightly confused. Own Yakuza 0 to 6 for less than £25 or rent them for 2 months for the same price. Not convinced the Game Pass option is better, unless you are able to complete Yakuza 0-6 in less than 2 months and rent other games and play them within that month as well. So far in the last 12 months on GP I've played Starfield (over 100 hours), Power wash simulator (about 70 hours), Redfall (1 hour) and a couple other games for about an hour (because they were c**p) for somewhere around £150. And once my subscription runs out I'll own nothing.

To be fair comparing to the PS5 in the same period I've paid for GT7 (£40), GoW:R (£35), Hogwarts Legacy (£30). Similar price but I own these games now. Not so sure these services are my cup of tea really!

Its simple. If it offends you then don't buy MS products, if you aren't that bothered then do. No need to bother complaining about it in my book.

Went with a D. Played all those mentioned games and Starfield was the only one I didn't play once then delete and move on after a single play session. And to be honest, in the cold light of day, Starfield is a disgraceful effort by Bethesda and after so many years of development should have been a hell of a lot better, but as a stand alone game I'd give it a C - so went with D over all as was a disappointing 2023 for 1st party games vs a great 2023 for gaming in general.

@GamingFan4Lyf I'm probably missing something but aren't most of those games in the top 10 3rd person action games? Looking at the equivalent PS5 list on metacritic for 2023:
Balders gate 3 - 96
Tetris Effect: Connected - 93
RE4 - 93
SF6 - 92
Rogue Legacy 2 - 90
Spiderman 2 - 90
Moss: Book 2 - 90
Cocoon - 90
Talos Principle 2 - 89
Dead Space - 89

Probably more 3rd person action on Xbox and actually a very similar list to the Xbox, and think only Hi-Fi rush can't be played on PS5 so I do find all the PS negativity very odd following this list being released? General fanboy PS negativity I understand, but following this list I don't.

Back on topic I haven't played any of those games yet and I'm eying 3 of them (once they are on either gamepass of PS Plus) plus another 4 on the PS list. 2024 has potential to be MY best year of gaming!

Easy....
Oblivion
Bioshock
COD: MW
Portal 2
Orange Box

What shocks me is they are mainly first person shooters which I don't really play anymore. Is that an age thing or has the quality of FPS gone seriously downhill?

@BaldBelper78 I think reports like this are there to let people know sales figures. Thats all. Are you suggesting that if the XBox was selling like hot cakes then people wouldn't report sales figures at all?

To be honest sales dropping 15% yoy is fine if the logic was we were on the slow down of the generation, but with the PS5 increased by 65% in the same period suggests these figures are pretty dreadful.
On the plus MS apparently don't care about spending billions on R&D, marketing, sales, manufacturing and all other such costs to sell a machine they built so this all doesn't really matter.

If I'm honest I don't fully understand how MS can outspend all the competition, have more studios and be the more aggressive company yet be so far behind the pack? I really don't get it as the Series X (in my opinion) is by far their best hardware console and probably the first time they have a machine that is arguably better than the competition. They also have a bullish attitude of being the 'big boy in town' and trying to buy every man and his dog to show it. I am completely baffled?

About 140 hours in and just gone to NG+ and have that awful feeling of wasting 140 hours of my life. Think I'm done with it now. Ending was, although probably quite clever - just not what I wanted it to be. Felt pretty flat by the end.

@GamingFan4Lyf I was just reading on the other site that the Xbox consoles were down 26% year on year sales for November across Europe (accodring to GSD sales reports) so not sure if things are so rosy sales wise. Probably why they are dropping the prices in the UK. I thought the general narrative was the sales for Xbox was struggling. To be honest I never see any of these types of articles reported on Pure Xbox, so either they are trying to cover poor sales or the other articles aren't actually true.

@husker42c I'm the exact same. Now on over 110 hours while having the game crash almost every play session and lost large game time over than 110 hours.
I'm desperate to finish the game now and not really enjoying it anymore but can't stop after committing that much time already.
They should have delayed it a year, got it stable, implemented the quality of life improvements and generally improved the game.
Does anyone else get creeped out by Phil Hill. Every time I speak to him he talks facing away from me and slowly moves his head to talk in my general direction. His body remains the same direction.

I think I've played most on Xbox this year, but probably only played 2 games. Powerwash simulator and Starfield, but mainly because they are both massive time sinks. Played much wider range of games on PS5 but for not as long. Switch only managed Zelda time this year. Really ready for the next switch release and really hope they make the games backward compatible.

@Romans12 🤣
If that happens I'll come on here and high five your incredibly optimistic prediction!

@Reptilio Yeah that's my problem too. The potential location of where the computer game character, played first person, is from geographically. Makes the gameplay incredibly different so I too will refuse to play it.

@Tharsman To be honest I think MS trying to buy out the whole industry has severed any relations that might have been there. Like an oil/sugar daddy rich football club just cherry picking all the best players from other smaller clubs then asking to 'be friends' afterwards doesn't always work. Then fans of such club telling the 'smaller' club fans they are being petty and are the problem doesn't endear them either.
But who cares really. Competition raises the bar. As Klopp and Guardiola said, the rivalry has pushed them both to up their game.

@Sol4ris Do something about it like spending £60 billion on the rivals most successful 3rd party developer? I'd say thats an extreme reaction! And the disaster is the fact they may become the way of Sega and no longer make consoles. It would be a disaster to us - the people who like playing on Xbox console. It may not be a disaster for MS, but I don't care about MS profit sheets.