Tdx

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.

Remove CoD = lower cost

Finished Sifu. Amazingly stylish game. Fun once you learn how to avoid the enemy combos.

Finished Crime Scene Cleaner. Super addictive and satisfying. I didn't like Powerwash Sim, but this game is far more cohesive, interesting and varied. No time limits, lots to discover, secrets, good plot. Just don't get the dual sponge.

Tried Disco Elysium last night. It's like the 4th time I've tried the game. I like the jokes, the writing, the premise and the art. But I'm bored by the characters, the setting, the voice acting (turned it off), the music, the controls, and the psychological interjections.

Unreal engine looks really bad in the open world.

Oblivion was groundbreaking but Skyrim is so much more fun to play. Better dungeons, better combat, better music, more drama, more questlines, more environmental variety, more NPC variety.

Once again, I need to say Starfield is one of the best games ever made - if you actually role play and don't just follow main quest markers like it's a narrative-driven game.

Dropped Alters but willing to try again. It just felt very linear and handholdy with a ton of talking, and not the true management game I wanted.

Just give me goals and the tools, not step by step instructions.

Love this game so much. Not gonna spoil myself by watching a 20 min preview.

Feeling grateful for Game Pass, Xbox, and consoles in general. Helix reminded me that a Windows-free console experience may become a relic. And world events reminded me how fragile our lifestyles can be.

Finished Minishoot Adventures. Enjoyed the bullet hell gameplay (recommend playing on hard) and the novel concept. The world design, especially all the identical caves, gets a bit confusing. The art reads clearly for gameplay but felt pretty monotonous aesthetically. It's a decent 10 hours of Zelda-esque exploration and Metroidvania progression.

Premium works better for me:
1. I mostly use GP for indies, and most of those come to Premium - or will eventually. It'll be interesting to see if big ones like E33 and Blue Prince move over.
2. It's less overwhelming and less choice. I feel like I can actually keep up with Premium.
3. $15 is a cost I can just forget about and let renew, without feeling pressure to get max value out of it every month.
4. MS games will be on the service forever, so I can wait a year or more to play them.
5. Ubisoft games are cheaper to play on the $17 Ubi+ sub and EA games are cheaper to play on the $6 EA Play sub.
6. I can still grab Ultimate 1-2 months a year to catch up on the big titles (haven't needed this yet).

Putting CoD on GP really hurt the business model for the rest of us.

Finished Death Howl. An amazing game. If you're looking for challenging, novel gameplay, I strongly recommend it. The deck building (like Inscryption), grid combat (like Into the Breach), progression structure (like Dark Souls) and art/music are all expertly crafted and they work perfectly together to build something really special.

Indies:
Crypt Custodian
Mullet Madjack
Citizen Sleeper 2
Nine Sols
Blue Prince
Herdling
The Rogue Prince of Persia
I Am Your Beast
Heretic/Hexen Remastered
Hollow Knight Silksong

AAA:
Elden Ring
Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Replays:
Hitman: Blood Money
Mass Effect Legendary
Just Cause 2
Far Cry 5 & 6
Shadow Complex

Six

Digital: Shadow Complex

Physical: Elden Ring, AC Odyssey, Hitman Blood Money, Just Cause 2, Mass Effect Legendary

And subscribed to Game Pass for 2 months

I've just been playing PSX and Game Boy games here and there.

I hope not. Seems like you need to be a turn based RPG or a cinematic 3rd person game. Both of which I do not enjoy.

Finished Link’s Awakening and Metroid 2 (first time since it tortured me in childhood) on Game Boy.

Playing Road Rash 3D on PSX.

Deciding if I should give Disco Elysium another shot.

I keep track of hours played so I can tell you pretty confidently:
Xbox: 45%
PS4: 30%
Retro: 20%
Switch: 5%

I bought a PS4 Pro in the beginning of the year and played through all their "prestige" exclusives - disliked almost all of them - I have no taste for hand-holdy cinematic 3rd person games. Reminded me why I like Xbox/indies/retro much more than modern PS stuff.

TA says my top game was Silksong at 101 hours. Enjoyed every minute… ok maybe not the Bilewater boss runbacks.

1. Silksong. 100 hours of awe.

2. Blue Prince. Original and organically surprising.
3. Citizen Sleeper 2. Epic and touching.
4. Hexen Remastered. Shockingly intricate level design.
5. Mullet Madjack (2024 other platforms). Blissful speed.

I feel so disconnected from mainstream gaming. All these heavy narrative-focused or multiplayer games. “No Law” and “Orbitals” were the only things that looked interesting to me.

@Fiendish-Beaver No. I played through it last year as an anti-social solo player. I love Fallout, love Bethesda, even love Starfield. Absolutely hated this game. It has none of the role play or immersion of their best RPGs. The gunplay is delayed by server roundtrips, the game is ugly and disjointed, the quests are boring, the gear is goofy, the online aspects kill the immersion and atmosphere.

I guess if you can totally detach from all expectations of what a good Fallout game is and just enjoy it as a silly, hollow MMO you might get some enjoyment out of it.

It’s actually a great list of games if you haven’t kept up with releases over the past 10 years.

Finished Just Cause 2 to end a Xbox 360 month. Still a fun game with a brilliant physics engine and an enormous map.

I have one week before I travel and trying to decide if that’s enough time to play through Disco Elysium?

Also want to try Neon Inferno in coop.

Finished Mass Effect 3. The combat is more interesting than 2 but there is zero exploration and nonlinearity. ME1 is still the most compelling in the series for me.

Finished Tails of Iron. Very solid 2D soulslike combat with a monotonous backtrack-heavy game structure.

Was not aware, but I'm about to do a replay of Just Cause 2, fittingly.

That Just Cause 2 demo is the GOAT. Played it over and over so many times.

I actually just picked up the 360 disc to replay the full game.

I’m curious how they will push gaming tech forward but I have no interest in playing the game.

I was playing GTA1 on PC before 99% of gamers had heard of it. GTA2 was fun. GTA3/VC blew my mind. GTASA was the GOAT. VCS was awesome as well. But then IV mostly lost me with the arduous physics. V was way too much story, restrictive missions and I hated the 3 characters thing.

These AAA games are getting exhausting. They all have these RPG elements to manage, long stories with a million boring conversations and cutscenes. I just want gameplay, gameplay, gameplay and maybe a little story context.

Finished Mass Effect 2. I remember not loving it back in 2010 and I’m still very lukewarm about it. The combat is repetitive and boring, the areas are linear, the plot is a bunch of side quests. I guess people love the game because of the character interactions, which were good for the time but that’s not why I play video games. It looks good, music is still great, lore is interesting, controls are smooth, but yeah I find it worse than ME1 and pretty overrated. Gonna replay ME3 now.

Also chipping away at Portrait of Ruin.

Awesome - considering I have no love for any MS/Sony/Nintendo exclusives - this makes too much sense. The only reason I avoid PC gaming is because I hate Windows, so if this runs SteamOS well, I'm in. Game Pass is no longer a no-brainer option and Nintendo has felt very anti-consumer lately, so an even easier choice.

Very useful article. This is how reviews for hardware should be - after longterm and real world use.

accept Windows prompts, deal with error messages, applications that'll take over your screen when you don't ask them to, and everything else that comes with a Windows-based device

I wonder if it's any more or less than SteamOS, which also has those issues (like dealing with 3rd party launchers, etc.)

Wow a lot more people cancelled than I would have expected on a site like this. So according to these results, if MS lost 50% of subs but increased prices by 50%, that’s a 25% revenue drop.

I might still get GPU for a month or two every year but I’ve gone back to buying indies on sale on Switch and really enjoying it. It’s more expensive but I’m playing exactly what I want instead of feeling pressure to try the newly added mediocre AA game of the week.

Finished RE4 (2005) replay. I was reminded why it’s a classic: gunplay is still satisfying and every single room presents a new surprising challenge, which means the game never drags.

Finished Powerslave Exhumed. Not quite the metroidvania people claim but still a decent boomer shooter.

Contra Hard Corps with my girlfriend. Damn this game is insanely creative - and insanely hard.

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin. I dropped Dawn of Sorrow and this game feels even more banal. I like SotN but don’t really like any other Igavania - they’re goofy, messy and the combat is pretty boring.

@themightyant True. Plus people will buy it again for next gen. And next next gen.

I wonder if the game doesn't actually run well enough on current consoles and they're just trying to kill time to get to next gen.

In the meantime, Vice City Stories is awesome.

Hitman Blood Money. A brilliant game that was way ahead of its time. Probably the game I played the most on the OG Xbox (close tie with GTA:SA). Minimalist choral music swelling only at pivotal times, long waits for the exact moment of opportunity, adapting to chaos in an instant. Missions have manageable complexity with great variety throughout. And there's much less explicit player direction than the newer games.

"It's kind of funny that people think of console and PC as two different things"

No, it's really not. The PC has Windows, which is a disgusting mess - among many other barriers to ease of use.

I love indie games - but that was pretty bad

I don't know if Matt Booty, Sarah Bond and Phil Spencer are bad at their jobs, but it doesn't seem like they're good.

Just saw that you can play KCD2 on Amazons Luna (cloud) for free if you have Prime