@Hellosmoothskin I don't think this is the narrative driven by 'the Sony lot' but typical media garbage. Wrote something the other day where Xbox article and comments suggesting Sony need to get FPS and Western RPG now that MS bought Bethesda et al.
I just don't see why each of them should change? There are plenty of 3rd party FPS/ RPG to cover Sony fans without needing a Halo/Doom/Wolf games and similarly there are plenty of 'superhero' style games Xbox has/will have that don't need to be Spiderman.
If they all start offering the same games between them then it will half the creative output in general.

@Hellosmoothskin I sort of agree. Theres no real point in Sony making FPS as there are so many on the system already to compete with while not so many high quality 3rd person games compared to Sony's exclusives. I wonder if they will change that towards the end of the PS5 cycle now Doom and Wolfenstein have been taken away from them and with the potential MS will try and take more of them away?
Perhaps they will reboot/ push on with Resistance, Killzone, Firewall, Farpoint, Blood & Truth. They do have some IPs to push but the FPS is still massively covered that I doubt they'll actually bother personally. Especially as the most popular ones these days are free!

@StylesT really? Maybe I'm a different breed. I'll enjoy games whichever machine they come to but then I own all 3 main consoles so perhaps that's why? Perhaps it's a glass half full when it comes to gaming. There's more amazing games that I can physically play and more on the way. I'm excited. Just can't understand negativity on these things really.

Have to say that the Sony show was amazing for me. So many games look incredible and if Wolverine is half the game Spiderman is (its Insomniac so no reason to expect anything less than the highest of standards) then I can't wait.
I really don't understand why people think what was shown last night was rubbish?!? Do you not like gaming? Just showing GoW alone would make me excited let alone all the other stuff. KotOR, Spiderman 2, Wolverine, UC4, Forspoken, Ghostwire, Project Eve, Guardians of the Galaxy all excite me and all look impressive?

In truth I'd love more of this for Xbox. Seeing more on Callisto Protocol, Elden Ring, Fable, Indy, Starfield to get me excited for Xbox in 2022. But would that be rubbish as well?

@LtSarge I think the difference is Bethesda deal took away sequels in franchises and games that were definitely coming to PS. I have Xbox so I'm okay but would have missed out on the next elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, doom at the least. Pretty sure there are others as well. Sony purchasing Housemarque, Bluepoint and firesprite doesn't mean anything to Xbox owners really

So PS5 owners wish for smart delivery while Series X owners wish for Sony games. Imagine a system with Sony's games and Xbox hardware and MS unlimited funds to offer said games cheap. Maybe MS buying out Sony is the solution?

This does feel like a lot of money for what they got - however it does make you question how much Game Pass acquisitions cost as well.
Considering there are tons of games that go on there and this isn't offering the company sales the way this deal does - technically you could argue sales shouldn't be affected for the company while GP is stopping the game being sold at some level. Would love to know the actual details of GP out of complete curiosity.

I'm guessing this isn't a big deal as most people on Xbox sites don't seem to play much COD - perhaps this is a PS franchise mainly as its one of the biggest selling games in history but no one here seems to like it.
Anyway Halo is just around the corner. To be honest the FPS battle these coming months are going to be very interesting. A free Halo vs COD vs Deathloop vs Far Cry 6 vs Battlefield vs Back for Blood (did I miss any?)
Surely only 1 winner?

Very enjoyable game but I'm really getting bored of starting again over and over. Not sure if these are the same people who made Bastion - it feels like the exact same game but without the starting again over and over.
I know it would annoy people but if there was a save point after each boss it would be much better for me - I think I nearly made it out at one point but if so then the game is very small. I guess without the saves they don't have to put too much effort into game design?
I do struggle to see why its regarded so highly compared to so many other games released over the last couple of years though.

Got about 3 minutes in and had to stop the video. This looks exactly what I'm interested in and I don't want to know anything more about it until I play it.
Can't believe I knew nothing of this 5 minutes ago and am now extremely excited to play it and its coming to game pass this month! What a result!

So 2 mill sales on consoles and 2 million downloads on Games Pass. Who knows how many people bought add ons for Game Pass (personally I think it would be lower versus the sales as majority of game pass likely people just trying out the game as oppose to fans of the game being the ones you purchased it).

Wonder if Sony look at that as 2 million people who could have bought the game and they've lost money on it? I'm assuming Sony made hardly any money on the Game Pass side of things? Doesn't most go to the MLB? Does that mean Sony might feel Game Pass makes even less sense than they did before?
I'm guessing at about £50 a game for 2 million copies that would be losing out on potential £100 mil (maths not my best though). I'm pretty sure they won't be getting more than 10% of that figure from the game pass exploits?

Argh ridiculously impossible to pick from Street Fighter 2, Half Life 2, Unchartered 2, Last of Us 2... list goes on. Does it have to be the second - does the third in a series count as a sequel to the second? So GTA 3?
And I just saw someone mention Day of the Tentacle! What a classic! Wish I could play all these games again for the first time

Battle royale is very predictable but no problem if it's good. I struggled with Apex legends so would give this one a go, although doubt i'd get on with this one either. I'm just no good at this format!

Wow I thought there were only 5 halo games but there's like 2000 of them! My pick would be 3 as it balanced new with quality at the time for me. Got a bit tired of halo at reach (which I thought was halo 4 but guess not?!?) After which I lost interest so 3 was the 'peak' in my eyes, especially the multiplayer. Going to give infinite a go as it's coming to game pass but I'm really hoping for something different about it to keep me interested.

Shame for people who want to stay spoiler free but I wonder how many people play these games for the story anyway? I've playes 1-4 and haven't the first clue what goes on in these games anyway. I just play it to shoot those gremlin things!

@S1ayeR74 ok fair enough - I meant to a reasonable price. I'm also only going by experience of the 360/PS3 days. It's also guess work by everyone. As someone else mentioned the PS method only comes down if these drives start getting used by pc's / laptops in future. If neither come down to reasonable prices I can't see many people buying them. Bit like the Sony memory sticks always being crazy expensive for the vita when SD cards came down. I'm just not optimistic in the slightest that the Xbox memory will ever be a reasonable price. Happy to be proven wrong though.

@S1ayeR74 That's not a sale! A DFS sofa reduced from £5000 to £300 doesn't mean it's cheap. Sales 101 tactic to con consumers.

They both have individual advantages. Personally the Xbox way means that it will never come down in price enough to ever be a viable option while at least the PS5 method gives me hope. One of those situations where i think Xbox owners are happier now but 2 years down the line ps owners will be happier. Bit like the 360 v PS3 days. No way in a million years would I buy the 360 hard drive but bought a cheap drive for PS3 after a few years of purchase. And at no point did the 360 come down in price ever.
The real shame is that they couldn't both meet half way and produce a hybrid version with best of both worlds.

@Grumblevolcano lol just watched the technical video and thought it looked really poor. Didn't realise is was Xbox one! Phew 😁

I managed to land on the sea first time! But easier than land and it wasn't pretty but would have walked away, so generally a good landing!

My kid also asked me to land in Anfield which I did although it was only a 2D flat image when I landed on it and I wouldn't have walked away from that one!

Something doesn't sound right here though. If gamepass model of giving away games day 1 on subscription was so profitable then Sony would start doing it tomorrow. Simple as. There must be a reason that Sony don't do it? Some people saying Sony don't know MS finances are a bit naive to think one of the leading companies in its industry doesn't know how these things are financed and haven't investigated doing the same thing themselves.
My guess is that Sony make so much money with their current model churning out AAA big budget games over and over and while MS in comparison just do not as they don't have as large an install base and even less quality games being released. Therefore the GP model is a lot less risky and worth the pursuit.

These figures mentioned here only talk of a game costing £120 mil to make, however with all the studio purchases the aim will be to release £120 mil game every month or so. This doesn't include the amount of money it costs to have a third party game available on there? No idea how much that costs a month per game but having a hundred of them or so available every month must add a fortune to the list. Plus the additional outlay to own these studios before they've even created any games (spreading £7.5 billion over the subscription on top is quite a lot of money!)

So in most realistic terms Sony make a ton load of money with their model and probably can't sustain it if they went to a Game pass model while MS are able to subsidise their gaming model through the vast pits of money from other parts of the business. Us consumers get to enjoy both Sony's first party big budget games and MS wide variety of game pass games but will continue to argue over which model is the 'right' one when there isn't one.

Flew around where I live but it's pretty boring part of the world so flew over some holiday destinations. Then tried the north pole but it was incredibly boring unsurprisingly! Getting the kids back today so will let them have a go and see where they pick.

Think this is a must do. So many areas I went to looked like a scene from Inception where the land had bent into itself.

Is that picture preikestolen? Its looks both good and not so good at the same time. Doesn't look quite like I remember it, but I'm definitely heading back there when I finally give this a go!

Don't think I'll ever complete this game! Played about 40 hours I reckon and doubt I'll finish in time. I'm learning the combination of me, game pass and open worlds doesn't work. I just never finish them in time.

@The_New_Butler I personally find it difficult to criticise the look of the Series S just because getting it that small was such an incredible achievement!
Not being able to perform as well as the Series S when we were told it would only be resolution that differs is a different matter mind you!

@UltimateOtaku91 more like he tried connecting his phone & Laptop to it!!

This is the first time I've ever seen Physconauts in action. The video makes this look very similar to Ratchet & Clank - including an almost identical rail grinding section. If it is similar then colour me interested. On the 3rd time through on R&C and will happily play something else similar, especially if its on GP and I don't have to pay extra for it!! Feels like a nice surprise after watching the video.

Surely this will end up the same as game pass but probably without MS owned games. So those games currently on GP will probably be contracted to Netflix as well. It will likely have a knock on effect of making any games GP rent more expensive if they want exclusivity.
On another knock on effect MS will probably then Buy as many studios as they can to block Netflix from offering a competitive alternative.

Personally find the dualsense light years ahead of the Xbox controller. The Xbox one feels huge, clunky, plasticky, buttons make loud cheap plastic noises, it has AA batteries still which seem to drain quickly unless you remove them while not in use. It's my first Xbox since the 360 that died on me after 3 months so I'm not as experienced with this controller but right now I play with it plugged in all the time so it feels like I'm playing a console from 15 years ago, especially when I'm playing game pass games from 15 years ago! I just don't have these problems with dualsense which has never ever run out because it is always docked between uses.
But hey, I still enjoy the series X - I just find it is playing catch up with the ps controller.

@themightyant simple answer in my mind. If you have game pass then wait for that instead of shelling out money to buy it.
That's what I'll be doing anyway! The only games I will ever pay for ever again will be Sony exclusives. The rest will wait for game pass.
I'll also be letting my current game pass subscription run out (about a year), then plan to not pay for game pass for a couple of years before returning once there is a catalogue of new games available, during which I'll get the Sony exclusives on sale.
Got the whole gen mapped out this time!

The more time that goes on the more intriguing game pass model will be. In my mind it will undoubtably change gaming perhaps the way Netflix or Spotify has changed the film/music industry. Whether that's for the better, who knows as jury still out for those and it's definitely a mixed bag of responses.
Certainly Spotify appears to mainly be hated by musicians while Netflix business model appears mixed.
Game pass differs to netflix because they don't buy the film studios but contract what is being made. Oddly I'd worry if neflix bought out Disney, universal and Warner brothers for example, because having one company make the decisions for films instead of several companies making decisions sounds bad for the film industry. Gaming isn't quite seen the same for some reason but I guess time will tell.

And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids....buying too many gift cards doubling that damn redemption level!

@Generik Yeah I'd probably agree with that thought process. I guess it also shows how important timed exclusives must actually be I suppose as it probably makes most people think they are then exclusive to a specific console without understanding the timed parts too. Don't particularly like timed exclusives but they must be very effective if something like this works well.

Just means MS paid money to market alongside the product, but not enough to gain timed exclusivity and less than required for console exclusivity. Wonder if there is a universal guide to how much these levels of specialness cost?
I also wonder how much value this level of spend is worth? Obviously timed exclusives are to encourage people to buy a PS5 in Sony's case or Game Pass/Xbox in MS case but does anyone reckon this sort of deal has much value? I personally wouldn't have a clue.

Obligatory daily 'Phil' article. Look forward to the 'Phil doesn't have plans to eat Turkey this week' and 'Phil decides to holiday in Florida' articles in the near future.

Was so excited about a new Silent Hill but this news is so disappointing if true. I have no expectation for Bloober to be able to make a high quality Silent Hill game. Hopefully they can prove me wrong!

@Tharsman Surely over time it would be cheaper to own these studios than to be paying to have their games made exclusively for them. Also to have more control over what that studio makes without having to financially coerce them into making games in such a way.
Is this not one of the answer to most people on this site saying there is no sense for Sony to do this other than in response to MS Bethesda purchase?
I'd guess this is why they've been doing it for the last 20 years and not to combat a MS purchase that would happen 20 years later? It may also be to acquire their talent as well?
It does feel different to the MS acquisitions as the ZeniMax one feels like MS have no plan with that purchase other than telling the studios to get on with what they are doing and make the games exclusive while the Sony purchases feel like they follow an internal plan where Sony probably have an idea on what they want HouseMarquee to start work on next following Returnal and can now run that project.
Similar to the incoming BluePoint purchase. They'll probably have full control over what that studio does next and have had it planned for years.

I just want my current Acer 4K monitor to be recognised by my series X as a 4k monitor and not a 1080p one the way my PC and PS5 does. Unless it was deliberately collaborated with MS to force me to upgrade the monitor? I can be cynical when I want to be...

Hades for me. But from the list I'd go with Back 4 Blood as the only one I'm excited for, however will give Halo and Forza a go because, why not!

@JayJ lol!

I do believe he will be genuine in his disappointment. His game will be a work of art. Certainly to the devs it will be and I doubt they do the work just to make money, like most true artists. The fact a huge proportion of the original intended audience will now no longer experience it - I guess it probably would make the team feel slight disappointment to some extent. Although maybe knowing everyone technically won't be paying anything extra to play their game makes them prefer the situation?

I agree with all of you. PS owners just complain. Why can't they be more like MS who are exemplary at all times. Its like you can separate people by what square box they purchase. Although I thought that was also the case with football fans of teams I don't support as well. But what if those people also have an Xbox? Now I'm confused.....Oh well - may as well get back to bashing people who don't wear Nike trainers because they are definitely the most irrational for sure....

@Senua if MS are the netflix of Gaming does that make Sony the Disney? Thats a joke really but when I think about it it may not be far off. Netflix dominate streaming but don't produce much quality themselves while Disney produce a large amount of AAA films through the traditional channels alongside streaming?

"Phil Spencer says" number 3746.....cue swooning and worship. Forget Jesus, this guy is bigger than The Beatles 😂

I've repeatedly struggled to really like Halo series. From 1 to 4 I've never completed past half way but now I have GPU I think I'll try it all again from 1 and get myself ready for infinite. Now it's "free" I'll have zero expectations and may relax and enjoy them. When you spend £50 on an 8/10 game I feel you get disappointed but playing an 8/10 game for no extra cash and you tend to enjoy it more. Bearded logic!

Nothing to be too excited about personally. Played it for about an hour then deleted it. But guess its good to come to more people who may like it though.

@themightyant completely agree - just feels odd to hear of technology being exclusive. Maybe its all normal stuff that goes on but feels odd for Dolby to do this - but I know nothing compared to the experts who run businesses so I don't doubt it isn't that odd.
Heard today that Sony are now tying up Bioshock 4 exclusively as well. All this timed exclusive stuff really annoys me but like you say - its business.

Not sure I fully understand this but has MS paid for exclusivity on new technology? That sort of makes the Sony paying for timed exclusive games argument a bit mute now. Admittedly I think its also a waste of money if true and also unlikely to be a true story because virtually no-one makes use of this technology currently and if it does take off it'll probably be once the exclusivity runs out?
Also surprised Dolby would risk the technology from taking off without using Sony's huge console sales figures.
Again I think I may be misunderstanding this article because it just sounds stupid from both sides - so probably not worth me even writing this!

I feel this game will be like when Google Street view first launched. Spend 10 mins looking for my house followed by a famous landmark, then I won't use it again until I've booked a holiday and will play it to see where I'm going.
Otherwise I'm not so sure how much 'play time' I'll get with it.

For a second I was considering trading in my old PS4 Pro in the bedroom with this machine. Will be smaller and quieter but then realised it doesn't have a blu ray drive so won't be able to watch my films on it. Shame really but as it is I think the pro has more use for me than the S. Now if Sony could only let GPU on their systems then it would be awesome!