Tdx

Pacific Drive. Cool game with elements of Subnautica. Took a few hours to get used to the finicky controls and learn to ignore a lot of the superfluous text, but now I'm really enjoying it. Has a constant tension. Working on the car is satisfying. Only aspect I don't like are the voices on the radio, which feel out of place.

In other words:

Need to cut several first party studios because they don't contribute enough.

The component costs are an existential threat to all consoles.

Phil was coasting and took short term survival strategies over trying to win long term (vendors, ports, infrastructure, etc.).

More so than in the past, I see companies that aren't really evolving and just rehashing old franchises. How many God of War, Halo, Gears, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, CoD and Zelda games will it take for people to want something else?

Don't make me choose between Windows and the Cloud 😢

@oopsiezz I'm sure they'd like everything exclusive but they can't afford it after their huge acquisitions and waning player base. It's better to be in 2nd/3rd place anyway, look at how Sony takes advantage of their users. But I have faith that Sharma wants to win, unlike Spencer who was just coasting and trying to survive.

Clockwork Rev looks less like an open-ended ImSim and more like a cinematic story-driven game, which is a bummer.

State of Decay 3 looks exactly like 2, hopefully they have interesting new systems.

Wo Long 2 will be fun. Maybe Valor Mortis too.

Everything else looked pretty boring to me personally. Gears/Halo/CoD gameplay hasn't changed in like 40 years.

Alters DLC is tempting

Finished Robocop Rogue City. Nailed the aesthetic of the movies but I found it to be too plodding. Maybe I just can't do linear story games anymore.

Vapor World looks interesting

Finished Trepang2 and Winter Burrow (both pretty solid).

Currently playing Escape Simulator (really fun puzzles).

It's a bad sign because I don't think Valve see the SteamDeck hardware as a profit maker - more as a doorway to their storefront. So increases are likely purely due to manufacturing costs from AI RAM siphoning, which will affect every future machine.

Right as I'm almost caught up with the Xbox One gen

OG was 4 years
360 was 8 years
One was 7 years
X/S has been 6 years

Two I'd like to see up there:
1. Add native gyro support
2. Stop auto-deleting captures locally

Do people actually play with the drive line on? Doesn't that ruin the game for you? Like the whole challenge of racing is when to brake and turn.

Yes! I posted this as a suggestion on Reddit years ago and got a million downvotes. Makes so much more sense.

Wuchang Fallen Feathers. Really enjoying it. It felt a little generic and messy at first but once the bosses ramped up I was hooked.

@FarmDog08
GTA was great in the PS2 gen: Vice City, San Andreas, VC Stories were all very fun and innovative.

Then they became these boring cinematic games with laborious controls and physics.

Finished Little Rocket Lab. Great game, loved it. Don't be fooled by the cover art, this is a demanding factory building game. Very rewarding to see your creations go from simple to hilariously complex.

Also Dome Keeper in local coop.Very chill. It didn't hook me in single player but multiplayer makes it a fun balance. Relaxing gameplay and soundtrack.

I'd assume this deal was in place before Asha took over. From a marketing perspective, they need to simplify GP, not add more versions/tiers.

Doom 1, 2, and 64 combined combat with exploration - concurrently - that's what made it so engaging.

Doom 2016 and Eternal separated combat and exploration into different activities.

Finished Expedition 33. Really enjoyed the parry/dodge combat, and a few great music tracks. Wasn't a fan of the story, the pacing and the messy overworld.

Also finished Wheel World. Cool vibe from Sable-esque art and Italians Do It Better soundtrack (very 2008) but the AI, physics and performance (improved since I first tried it) don't really hold up.

Also have been playing Dome Keeper in local splitscreen coop. Very fun, highly recommended if you're looking for a relaxing coop game.

She's really turning the brand around. The last step is making sure the first party studios are putting out the highest quality stuff consistently.

Love the amount of common sense coming out of the Asha dynasty.

No Windows, streamlined startup, quick resume.

Glad Xbox is listening to fans and making the changes that have seemed necessary.

Finished everything + DLCs in Starfield. Took 300+ hours across 5 characters since launch.

Played some New Vegas for nostalgia but dropped it. Definitely like Fallout 3 more personally - better exploration, dungeons, vibe, visuals, world cohesion. New Vegas is all about the quests, dialogue, choices and factions, which is cool but not why I play BGS games.

Just end it. Everything about Halo screams early 2000s. Innovate and move on.

Xbox needs to add gyro aiming. It makes FPS games so much more fun.

Well since most of the gaming press are unapologetic japanophiles, probably pretty high.

@moodmatcha Yeah. That's why I don't mind being in 3rd place

Ensure first party studios are making games that people actually want to play.

I prefer the originals. But pulling the modern day stuff out of AC is a big improvement.

Really appreciate the Ubisoft resolution/fps patches to originals. Just need Wildlands at 60fps.

Starfield. On my 5th character. An amazing world for people with an imagination for role playing.

Be more hands-on with first party game studios. Instead of letting them make whatever they want, enforce quality and innovation and fun.

"Adjust brightness until the Xbox logo is barely visible"

An Indie Pass option would be nice

Yes! Nice job Asha - love how quick the decision was executed.

CoD demographic is fundamentally different than the gamers who love all the variety and experimentation of Game Pass.

The previous reports were likely intentional leaks to gauge customer reactions ahead of the change.

Starfield. Started a new character and eventually played through the new DLC. I have more hours in this game than any other (ever) and I still have plenty of quests I have yet to play.

Remove CoD. Simplify GP to one tier for $20-25. Make online free.

@Old_Man_Harper I love The Long Dark survival mode for exactly what you describe. So good.

Starfield. I just finished the Tracker's Alliance DLC and I highly recommend it - every quest has an interesting story, new locations, and surprisingly novel combat scenarios. It's unfortunate for visibility that it's hidden in the Creations content and not a proper DLC release.

Also finished Absolum (local co-op). It was OK. It does that rougelike thing where the whole game becomes easy except for the final boss, who is far more difficult. And that gets old.

PSX 9/9/95: worth it.

Dreamcast 9/9/99: not worth it.

Hell yes. I love this game, glad for the continued development.

@RegnumSolipsi I assumed EA ($6 sub) and Ubi classics ($8 sub) were low cost way to justify the price increase, but maybe I'm wrong.

I like the idea of separating the Activision stuff out, but they probably see the CoD inclusion as a way to get more casual gamers hooked on GP. And making online free is a great way to get good PR, but they'd probably have to abandon the subsidized console prices, but with a switch to the PC hybrid model, that might be inevitable anyway.

You could say GP is now really $15 with an extra $15 for day one games. I can't think of any indies that didn't eventually come to Premium before leaving? 4 out of 6 of the Game Awards nominees (just using the most mainstream reference point) from 2025 will be in Premium but people still whinge about the $15?

Separately, I do think all of the pricing issues come down to one thing: remove CoD.

Finished Long Dark Wintermute after they released the final episode. Obviously Survival mode is far better, but it was nice to finish a story I started in 2020. Some novel gameplay and they actually tied up all the loose ends.

Finished Resident Evil 7. Didn't love it. Very linear, no real puzzles, like 3 types of enemies, takes control from the player for micro cutscenes, bosses are janky. I thought 8 was more fun.

Been grinding Absolum with my girlfriend. Got to the final boss once.

Heading back to Starfield this week.

There are like 30 million serious gamers in the US. Why pick someone who isn't one to run your gaming division?

Finished The Alters. Completely blew me away. I had previously dropped it, but so glad I gave it another chance. Addictive gameplay and one of the best video game stories of all time. What a trip.

Finally got through Disco Elysium. Art and writing are nice but the humor, setting and themes weren't really to my taste. It's definitely original but just not my thing and overall I was probably more bored than entertained.

Played Easy Delivery Co. It's OK. Solid driving physics and 90s vibe.

The Long Dark is finally releasing the last Wintermute episode this week. One of my favorite games of all time (more survival mode) so I'm looking forward to it.

Xbox marketing has the best product in the industry (Game Pass) but they never make the effort to properly explain it: most casual gamers don't know what's available, how it works, what the tiers imply, etc.

Chaotic wars, huge arbitrary taxes (tariffs), unregulated AI industry.