Titntin

Crimson Desert has taken over my gaming and I intend to continue. 172 hours and loving every one of them.
I will take a break for Saros, and I'm looking forward to FH6 on Game Pass too, but its really hard to find time for all the titles that deserve a little playing!

Whatever you are all playing this weekend, I wish joy and happiness to you and yours..

Unfortunately, this is the reality and where they have steered their business to. No nice press releases and shoe gazing is going to sort this out, the business needs firm positive actions like the GP price drop and the noises they are making suggests they may do, actions not a charm offensive. They particularly need to stop Bethesda releasing games which are a broken mess of bugs, that tars the whole brand.

We are seeing signs they have what it takes to turn this around, and I very much hope they do. The business needs Xbox.

I suspect about 85, as it seems like another iteration rather than moving the needle too much.

I'm a huge fan so its an easy 9/10 for me if it delivers what they say and I will be there day 1 on GPU. Or day 4 as is so often the case with big releases...

Crimson Dessert again I'm afraid. Got 130 hours in it and feel like I'm barely started!
It'll take small breaks to play Saros and Forza Horizon 6 when they release, but I suspect my time is taken for many more months.

Whatever you are all playing, I do hope you are having a great weekend!

Pretty - I like it a lot. Delighted they are keeping the Xbox name and pushing to expand it.

That's fantastic news. It was always clear that the previous rises were unsustainable, so this is exactly the right thing to do!
Hopefully, this will restore many of those who cancelled and maybe help attract newcomers...

@Scrubchub Yeah it was a loaded deal that got me back on GPU - a year for £120 was a good offer.

@fatpunkslim 'PS+, even though the model is exactly the same — except with a smaller catalog and no day-one releases.'

I swear you make up what you want to hear. Game pass has 'over 400 titles'. PS plus has 'between 500 and 600 titles.'
Your thoughts would be more cogent if you stuck to facts.

I sub to and enjoy both. When there's first party titles included, GP is a clear leader, but is more than twice as expensive and theres not always first parties available, so its not always that clear cut.

Accepting that Asha has little history in this field, I don't think a chat with laydon would do any harm. She's obviously astute and would not not let him unduly influence her, she deserves more credit than to think that.
I certainly like the noises she has been making since taking the reigns, and I'm hoping she can 'right the ship' in terms of Xboxs perceived ills at present. Everybody needs a strong Xbox.

One of my finest memories playing Black Flag. It just clicked for me and I loved just being out on the oceans in this world.
It had better have proper pirate sea shanties or I'll be proper disappointed.

I live in Brixham UK - check out 'brixham pirate festival' on Google images for an idea of what sea shanties and pirtates mean to my town!

@InterceptorAlpha Sorry to hear that mate. Controllers are a curse this gen, all my Xbox ones have had issues apart from my new wired one. ...and I've had four ps5 controllers go so far. I just bought the stupidly expensive dual sense edge this weekend tor try and avoid replacing any more. Good controller mind, just too expensive.

I'm hoping my Xbox hyperkin will not break on me!

Always happy to see new games. See y'all in the livestream 😀

I really dislike this design. I have two Forza specials from fh5 release. So I'm not against interesting designs, I just think this one is a bit garish..

@Millionski Thanks, clearly didn't think of second party. My point is still relevent though, for several months there would be no releases and that's a tough sell for a subscription service.
I would suggest that time and experience have shown us that services do better when they are easier for people to understand. Adding teirs here is not what it needs - the current tiers need reconsideration and repricing if they genuinely want a bit of GP growth. It will never be what they originally wanted though unless they concentrate on making the PC offering unmissable. Console is shrinking and their future has already been tied to the PC. Their next console is a windows based PC. All effort should be in increasing uptake there as that that is where there future is with this service imo

@nomither6 Yeah I use a hyperkin competitor myself these days, so no battery worries

Nice to see a quick resolution!
But get it right first time rather than patch up afterwards 👍

That's a pretty daft offering imo. Most months no one would sub to such a tier at all as there would be no games? It would be good for many as they only need to sub two or three times a year to get access to the best MS games. I cant see how they could make such an offering profitable.

I've been a bit down on GP for months, but credit where credit is due, all three of these look worth checking out!
I did fall of Hades quickly, but I'd be daft not to take a look at this sequal, its clearly excellently made.
Replaced also looks really interesting, enough for me to try it despite pixel style artwork.
The thaumaturge looks fantastic. I hadn't really been aware of this title, but seeing this trailer, I really want to play it.
Really nice GP additions.

Good choice Ben. So far, FH4 is the best they have produced and it still resonates today. Some of the races on the Fortune Island DLC struck me as being the best designed races I've played in the series.

'Considering a partnership with netflix'.
Packing more nonsense into GP is not the way to make it sell. No netflix, no fortnight packs, just good games at decent prices was all we ever wanted and I have huge doubts that these execs get that.

Incidently, 'its official' and ' came from a leaked memo' are mutually exclusive statements. Please be better than this....

Excellent! A new Metro game has to be well worth a look and I look forward to tuning in.

Rather predictably, I'm still in Crimson Dessert and still rebuilding the Graymane's. Over 70h now and still in the first area playing the story and quests there. I think this could last some time!

I will take a break for FH6 when it launches - how could I not?

Hope you are all enjoying whatever you are playing.

For me the 360 (once it stopped breaking) was the best xbox unit. I just has so much fun on it and it seemed to have new exclusive games on a regular basis.
I'm not really a gamer who plays old games often, as I play new titles all the time, so few of my old machines have been kept over the years. The only old machine I might still use is the old PS3 that's gathering dust upstairs ATM, and that's simply because the cell architecture that made it hard to work with has not been that well emulated in other boxes and so I have to go there for MotorStorm - one of the few oldies I would still play today.

I think in the future, the series X will be the 'one box to rule them all' and that's a testiment to Xbox 's backwards compatibility efforts. It might not be that important for me, but for many people, it has to be the best machine to play generations of Xbox games.

I'm really pleased to see this.
I really don't care about achievements in the slightest on Xbox, but I'll engage with the trophy system on Playstation.
Anything that gets me to engage with achievements on the Xbox games I play will be welcome, as I've found for a game I love, having some extra tasks to consider can help me extract even more joy from it.
What's really nice about this is that its just another little sign that someone is doing due diligence and making little inexpensive changes to the eco system to help keep us engaged. More of this please!

@BAMozzy I sympathise with your point of view as many of your points are undeniable truths. However, many of us put 100s of hours into these games despite their being only iterative changes to the gameplay loop, and those of us who do will enjoy doing it all again in a new setting.
To truly take the CARPG to new heights I suspect we need a new game series developed by a fresh team with new ideas. But with this title being so technically proficient and popular, its hard to see such a proposition getting serious investment as I suspect theres a limit to the market for such games.

Im really looking forward to getting this. Its certainly pretty, and that's why they limited the preview to 30 FPS - it ensures that the image quality is best they can achieve and that you are far less likely to notice the pop up. Love they have gated progression now - theres finally a reason to compete and win cars and cash.
Its a huge loss that they have the same spectacularly awful scripts, voice acting and human characters. Its like something out of a game 15 years ago and a huge let down for what should be AAA in all areas, especially in delivering a story and the progression that they have fixed. I don't understand why they cant hire a decent script writter and some voice actors who can do the job?

As other people have mentioned it here, FH4 is definitely their pinnacle so far, the races are better designed and theres a reason to want to complete them. But who doesn't want that Forza action in a nice shiny new world? If you love these games, Japan is somewhere to be excited for, and story delivery aside, maybe this will be the one that pips FH4 and stands on the top podium!
One things for sure - I'll be there as soon as its on GPU to find out and I'm delighted I'll be getting such a good experience.👍

@Fiendish-Beaver Your welcome mate. I hope you enjoy as much as me 👍

@Fiendish-Beaver Hello mate. I'm loving it. That's maybe an understatement, I'm completely blown away by what they reached for and what they managed to achieve.
I couldn't tell you there are no issues, but when you make 100s of systems some are gonna be a little kooky, and you just have to accept that. If you are a patient type and willing to learn, it all works beautifully.
I've never played in a world as rich and detailed as this one, and its scale is staggering. One of my best of all time games and I'm still pottering around in the first area (after 65 hours). As an interesting open world experience I don't think its matched - and I played well over 400 hours for a platinum in Elden Ring. I hope you get to try it my friend. If you are an avid gamer, then you need to see what this one is about as it will be referred back to for many years, of that I'm very confident!
Have a great one!

If you are on console on ultimate - there are 8 titles - not 19.
The headlines here are becoming a little too much like a completely misleading advert - its getting pretty stupid now.
Vampire Crawlers, Hades 2 and a look at Kiln are the ones I'd look at if I have a need, but with Crimson Desert occupying all my time and some other heavy hitters arriving soon (I'm looking forward to Saros and Forza Horizon 6), I doubt I'll get any time to look at anything on GP.
I resubbed for a year due to Fomo (and getting it for £10 a month) but I've have had so little value from it I cant see me ever subbing again. If you don't buy new games though and are single platform, a Premium sub seems to be the way forward...

I've bought everything on day of release since the original Atari VCs and colecovision onwards.
Back when the west wasn't into games I had to wait for specialist Japeneese importers to get very early systems, and I went through a period of learning Japanese to read the media and play the games as we didn't have that interest in the west.

I was a little late for two handheld systems and both the Neo Geo pocket and the PC engine pocket I bought 6 months after release, but I did have to import the pocket PC engine from Japan. I don't have the Evercade system mind, or any other emulator type platforms - but do have the entire rom sets for everything up to PS2 on my PC.

I've always bought everything and, even though I'm retired now and in my sixties, it looks like I always will 😃

@VisitingComet1 Oh god, Fable is another I'm hoping deserves my time too! Good job I've just retired and have a lot more time - I'm gonna need it!

Crimson Dessert. Likely to be this for the rest of the year. I'm only 50 or 60 hours in with so much more to explore, but this is going to become an all timer for me.
I am looking forward to Forza Horizon 6 though, I'm sure I can play a little of that as well as Crimson Dessert....

Whatever you are all playing, I hope you are enjoying it.

With gaming PC rigs costing what they do, and pressure on new iterations of consoles to get near that performance, I think the near £1000 console has been foreseeable for a while, and now, given the huge surge in component costs, it seems inevitable.
We can hope that the market and therefore prices might stabilise in the next couple of years and that the format holders may delay release of the new machines so they can be a more palatable price.
Either way, I'm in till the end, had every console since the business started and intend to till I drop, so I hope we can get them a little cheaper! Spare may poor bank account!

Looking forward to seeing more eday, I know that will be a great title.
Right now I cant imagine playing anything other than Crimson Desert for at least the rest of the year, but I guess its healthy to take a break and play another title occasionally (if I must! )

I thought the campaign was not the right way of selling the versatility of the ecosystem.
Whilst it would be nice to see exclusives returning to Xbox, I genuinely think their market is too small to make the returns they need for the investments they made. The ABK purchase was a step too far to be supported by the Xbox model and they realised pretty quickly they needed income from every platform to try and make that work.
I'm glad theres a new figure at the top who gets a chance to shake things up without the baggage, but I don't think that its going to essentially change much, be happy to be wrong though.
With Nintendo having to cut switch 2 production by a third, due to poor US sales, it shows that making a console sell is not an easy business and I suspect its long uphill climb to get series consoles selling again. I wish them luck as an upturn in installed base is good for us all.

@awp69 I normally see titles I'm interested in playing, things to be excited about. This show did none of that for me whereas previous shows have.
I'm delighted for you if these titles did that for you.

I had little to no interest in most of the games shown today. Xbox normally knock it out the park with their shows, but this was not at that level and I gave it a D - probably the lowest I've ever ranked an Xbox show.

@Fiendish-Beaver Agreed. Its about time MS got a GOY and I can see that happening in the next couple of years. Maybe fable? Tough to compete with the juggernaught that will be GTA 6, so maybe next year is a more realistic chance 😃

Looking forward to this like I do for every show.
Games is games and I consume them everywhere. Microsoft have a good recent track record of making their shows worthwhile, so I look forward to the watch and I'll see you guys in the live comments if you are there!

I lived through the age of Blockbusters. I never thought 'I'd like to run one of them and even through the eye of nostalgia it doesn't appeal. I'm happy enough to not have access to this game - though I'm glad a small dev is getting success.

This is good to see. The investments Microsoft has made in buying publishers has clearly paid off, and credit where its due, the previous Xbox heads clearly allowed these excellent teams to produce some excellent titles.

Microsoft are one of the worlds biggest publishers now and its good for the overall business if they can keep those teams focussed and providing great new games experiences.
Looking at the titles we are expecting this year, it seems clear that this will continue to be the expected outcome for years to come now.
Talk of machine platforms aside, Microsoft are clearly one of the best quality publishers and I hope they remain that way.

Absolum is a big win for me. Nice to see it.

My understanding is the next box is a PC. Build for PC and you have it covered is what this exec is saying, and what we have all known for a while now.

@GeminiX53 I think you are right, one segment going all digital does not necessarily mean other entertainment sectors will. But if I'm any example, then people who go digital often do so for all media and I was happy to digitise all those shelves full of media that barely got a glance!
Glad to hear you like your high end - is that HiFi? I'm as passionate about music and hifi as I am with games and have recently built my 'end game' system as I retire. There are levels of course and I'll never have the funds to go super hi end (unless I inherit a lot of cash) but my system cost me about £33K so I'm pretty dedicated and have been all my life. Just think, with that money I could have bought 4 or 5 project Helix! 🤣

I don't want Netflix added into any bundle. I just want games at a more competitive price.
Its clear that subscription numbers are not good or this would not be being discussed.

I want what we used to have: 30 additions per month including some new AAA games that were not MS, for a price that makes it hard to say no. Even then, I doubt there will be a change in metrics for this service, damage has been done. I like that at least theres some effort to save it though - maybe a relaunch when there are some MS AAA titles launching would help sell a reshuffle?

@RiverGenie I've only come across one such event before and it will be the one everyone is moaning about as the first thing you are guided to do in the first town you get to. Its the 'armwrestling' mini game.
Its literally tapping a button fast as you can, and every 5 seconds a hand quickly rotates round a circle and you need to hit another button as it passes through a segment (making sure you hit these is more important that the fastest button pressing).
I'm old, so fastest button pressing is not my thing and I failed about 10 times and was getting hot and bothered about it. Called a friend and he had issues but got through it so I was determined.
I'm playing on PS5 pro in uncapped quality mode (pure 4k, all ray tracing and getting over 60fps everywhere so far), but I read on a redditt thread to put it in performance mode for that arm wrestle. I thought that would be rubbish, but I tried it and got through immediately in performance mode.
Failing this, if you have a kid or teenager in the house, they can just do that for you without thinking about it of course!
Its the only one of these I've come across and its only the first thing the game asks you to do so that you have some money to start with. I'm sure in other bars there may be other arm wrestling, but it wont be mandatory and I wont be doing it!
Other than that I'm taking it slowly, getting used to how it controls and absolutely losing myself in this world. I think its an extraordinary title with so much attention to detail and naunce and so much better for doing things its own way and not be just another cookie cutter copy of other peoples open world designs.

@RiverGenie Sorry to hear you've not been well, I'm glad your recovering now. As you say, games is the best recovery!
Hope you are fully recovered soon.

I know not everyone agrees, and it has some jank, but Crimson Desert is an epic world to get lost in and I'm slowly unraveling its charms. I suspect I'll be playing this for a long while to come.
I'll break this up with some old school schumups and get my fighting stick out for a while too.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have a lot of fun!

@Fiendish-Beaver Anyone who understands the nature of development knows that your take is completely correct. Which means she's feeding us lies, and I'm right to not trust any statements made as they clearly think we are stupid.
Nice to get updates though!

I was tempted to suggest the 'ex box' but I think the humour might wind some people up - I'd rather not.
I do think that this new era of hybrid as a PC should mean it has a different name and maybe including PC in that might get them more people interested in the product. Loads of people have been looking to move to PC, so making sure its known they can do so by buying the next box would be good optics I think. This is a new era of machine, so I'd like to think they could mark this by choosing a name that's obviously different. Boring as it sounds, something like 'PCbox' would probably do the job....

Up early for the F1 racing, but I intend to play a lot of the day.
I bought Monster Hunter Stories 3 last night, which should keep me going until we get Crimson Desert next week.

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have fun!