Titntin

@RentedPanda Thank you for the suggestion mate appreciated! Ill give that one a shot 👍

Outlaws is really the only major game I'd be interested in. So it's a shame I've played it and completed it already, but I do recommend it. Maybe lost in random will tempt me....
My wife can play some of the old first party titles, so I guess it's not a complete write off for me...

@Toot1st Right now I can, as I stupidly bought another year of GPU 3 months ago and not played a game on it since. I have a PC, switch 2 and 2 PS5's and I'm happy enough to play there. Unless its on GPU or an exclusive, there's no reason for me to play on series X, which is somewhat ironic as I got a controller I like playing with on it at last!
360 days were awesome, an xbox was indispensable then. I said at the time that purchasing Acti/Blizzard would kill the console (and was attacked several times on this very site for having that view). But that's exactly what happened.

This should suprise nobody. MS are not interested in the xbox consoles I bought into and loved. People on some defence control talking about diversification must be shareholders, those of us into an Xbox console know that ship has well and trully sailed. It was a fantastic ride while it lasted ...

Trails in the sky: first chapter. Wasn't sure at first, but 40 hours in and Im enjoying the busy work and characters a lot.
I might try outer worlds 2 again. I gave it a cursary look and fell off quick, but it deserves more than that!

Whatever you play this weekend, I hope you have fun!

@Fiendish-Beaver For your curiosity Im happy to say Id spend 2k on the correct machine with the correct software. But Im pretty certain MS cannot deliver a front end Id want to use over windows - its been a mess on PCs since I can remember and they've made pretty little progress there, why should they get it right for such a smaller market?
Untill you know the cpu, the gpu and the ram, its just dartboard numbers, and nobody can say what they would pay.
Btw, happy new year mate!

These articles sound desperate at this point. These are not game pass produced games, they are simply games which were bought for the service. In the case of Blue Prince, it was also offered on day one on PS plus and Id also have an issue with anyone calling it a PS plus game.

The real story here is that the first MS game is found in 21st place despite having such a huge number of devs and studios, clearly a sign of what we all know, MS need to push for higher quality. I hope the games they will release this year will appear much higher up the lists next year.

How much value is there in an idea? We know nothing about a machine except a few statements of intent. Based on the fact we know so little, its worth very little and theres no way anyone could pick a price and say they would be happy with it. If its a decent PC with a proper front end ( miles better than ROG ally) then I might be in even if its expensive, but right now its nothing but an interesting future proposition and I will stick very much with PS and Switch 2 as my platforms going forwards.

Happy new year to everyone. Looking forward to 2026 😀

Couldnt read the article as it was spinning too fast..

Decent enough list. Doesn't reflect my tastes, but theres no reason it should 😀
Im surprised to see Avowed up so high, but its probably the game I enjoyed most on xbox all year, so it suits me!

Right back at you Pure! Seasons greetings to all of you.

We did buy a new style of Xbox pad (Hyperkin Competitor) with xmas hols in mind so my wife is now happy to play xbox and it feels better to me too than the official pads. I hope we play more series x next year as a result.

@Fiendish-Beaver I knew you'd win this poll! Your commitment is exemplary sir 👍

Im afraid xbox is just gamepass for me these days, last title I bought was Forza 4 before it was delisted. Back in the 360 days it was very different and I had shelves of them.

@bert0503 Me too, good game. 😃

@themightyant Watch out for Elden Ring! Took me 410 hours to beat it three times (I dont save scum). Ive finally just bought the dlc, so Ill be back in the Lands Between myself....

I'd play a couple of these titles prehaps, but they dont generate excitement for me. For $90, I think its a real poor showing, so its just as well theres likely to be many extra titles! Appreciate we are all different and maybe others think this is a brilliant line up, but I cant imagine anyones desperate to sign up for GP based on this list, and most would be able to buy the one or two titles they want for far less than the cost of a sub.
Not sure I did the right thing buying a year of gpu a couple of months back, played nothing so far, and looks like theres slim pickings for another few months. At least my wife can catch up on older titles like indy now I have a controller she will use 😃
Looking fowards to a few MS big hitters to help justify the spend.

@Fiendish-Beaver I completely agree with you. Much as I loved Tsushima, Yotei is the better game by a significant margin. The combat alone raises it much higher, but thats by no means the only improvements. Top game and one of my goty titles for sure.
Another strong year for games and my backlog hasnt gotten any smaller! Im retiring early next year, so maybe I can finally catch up..

@RadioHedgeFund Thanks for the reply, its an interesting perspective. Like it or not, you must admit that gta got its gameplay look and open world very right, you cant argue with a title regarded as the most successful media of all time.
FH has its own appeal of course. I think it reached its zenith with FH4, with the gameplay still giving you a reason to care and earn cars, even if some of the missions weren't good and the voice acting poor. Unfortunately FH5 gave you little incentive to finish missions as you got 100s of cars for littrally nothing, and the script and acting were even worse. Im hoping we get a bit more game design in fh6, with scripts and voice acting that are not so cringe. Quality over quantity would be my wish.
Not long to wait hopefully! Have a great day 👍

We just havent seen enough of fable to know what they will deliver. I hope its trully inventive and polished, because if it is it will stand a good chance of some recognition, which would be great to see.

@RadioHedgeFund I dont understand how you can so casually dismiss gta6 while promoting FH6, a game that is absolutely just another iteration of what came before?
Dont get me wrong, I love FH and have hundreds of hours into each of them, but they are not being inventive or pushing foward any genres unless fh 6 is radically different. How is FH6 pushing the art of game design and gta not? Genuinely interested in the thoughts that led you to that post.

Just made a big hifi upgrade, so Ive been revisiting old favourite music and listening with glee as I hear new details in recordings Ive listened to for 40 years!
I hope to game some on Sunday afternoon and will likely return to Unicorn Overlord, which Ive found strangely compelling.
Whatever you are playing, I hope you have fun!

Guesswork for me but probably %85 ps5, 10% series X, 5% switch 2.
xbox may get more of a look in next year as I got cheap gpu for a year and a controller I actually like!
I have a decent PC, but I just dont use it for games. It has a £2k 3090 in it from when they were released, but that was a bit of a waste, only used for video ai upscaling and poking around in UE5 - as if Im going to dev again (no chance!)

Avowed by a mile. Spent a long time in that game and I really enjoyed completing it.
Doom is a really well crafted game, but like all shooters for me, it's not got any real memories. This is where GP helps as I'd never have bought that game, but was pleased to experience it anyway.
South of Midnight would win on artistic direction alone, but the gameplay really didnt gel for me and it just wasn't crafted to the level of a AAA title - I lost count of the times I became trapped in environmental geometry for instance. I'm glad I played it anyway, and it had one of the best designed boss battles with memorable music of the year for sure...

Good as some of these titles were, given the breadth and talent of the studios MS has under its control I still feel this represents a slight under delivery and I'm hoping that next year will see even better titles with evenmore polish.

@Brigurugi I completely agree with you. Kudos on them making the game they want to but is absolutely not for me now or in the future. Am I missing out? Absolutely not, my backlog is still huge and theres a shed load of games which are playable by all and not reserved for the elitists who like punishment..or have younger reflexes. 🤣

I enjoyed this a lot, if you like ff games this is well worth the effort. Rebirth pushes it further with a massive open world but suffers from a little 'bloat' as a result, with too many mini games you have to play for my tastes. That being said, they are both easy recommendations and nice to see them hit xbox at last.

Exclusives promote platforms. Its that simple and its how platforms have always attracted and retained players. On this very site most of the comments were celebrating exclusivity back when MS were buying up teams and Phil was promising exclusivity.
The game does look good to me, I just hope it lands performant and bug free, otherwise PS players will just be bug testing for the xbox release!

Not played many games on xbox this year so it has to be Avowed, which I really enjoyed and was the last game I played to completion on the Box!

Ive been trying V Rising as a single player seeing as its on a service, and I must say Im having a lot of fun. You can change lots of options to reduce grind time if needed, and I do!
Was hoping to try DK on the switch 2 at last, but my wife is hooked on 'strange horticulture' so I think my options for switch gaming are gone for a few days.

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

Its simply a reality that when one game sweeps all the awards, theres, only scraps left for the others. In years when we have so many excellent games its easy for a stunning game to go with zero awards. Im not sure its unfair necessarily, just a function of how awards work. If I was gonna pick a game I thought should have gotten some recognition, it would be Death Stranding 2, which really excelled in many areas..and Im sure there are several others.

Nice to see Lara back. Im glad they showed the new one first, it made the remake seem like the cherry on top! Looking like another stacked year next year already...

Id like to think Playground would be showing some fable, but I suspect it will be FH6 they will be concentrating on. Thats ok as Im a FH fan, but I do want to see more of Fable please!
Looking foward to this, I enjoy most game shows and I think MS needs to put its best foot forward and show its a publishing power house with plenty of content to look forward too, as last nights game awards was pretty light on excitement for xbox only players. It was however, great to see South of Midnight get a little recognition with an Impact Award.

@Fiendish-Beaver I feel for you man. Especially as Im just about to retire through ill health myself Feb 26th - (freedom day), though in my case Im doing it voluntary as I cant take any more of the constant medical assessments. Ive also had an ongoing back issue which is considered a disability for 14 years now, but its clearly not as serious as your own, but I trully sympathise as I have some idea of what your going through. Your such a pleasent and engaging guy, I admire your strength of character mate.

I can't believe people are here expecting some kind of 'tit for tat' exchange of games to validate MS publishing decisions.
MS have decided they need to publish on platforms with a larger install base in order to make money, no other reason. This was prompted by the 70 billion spent buying Activision - they cannot make the money they need to make that purchase make sense without committing to being a full 3rd party publisher, so thats exactly where they have gone.
Just like MS used to, Sony rely on exclusives to help sell their platform, they have never made any promises to publish games on Xbox as they don't need to.
Moaning you don't get anything back from seeing MS published games on PS simply shows you don't have a grasp of the business situation. You won't 'get anything back'. There was never a deal that said you would.

Trying to pretend this is isolated due to having no deals is really such a limp take on this news.
The Series consoles have sold very little all year regardless of promotions and it's clear MS dont care. The hardware deserved more support and marketing but it seems clear that someone near the top has written these machines off already.
What little trust I had in MS has been severely damaged by watching them engineer their own demise - shocking.

I realy rate this game, debatedly best gameworld this gen. Third person is enough to make me consider returning for a replay. I enjoyed 1st person, but I suspect I'll prefer 3rd person as I seem to take in more of the world that way...

I bought the game to support the devs and there's a lot of burnout fun to be had here. It's a slow starter though and it takes a while before you find the races that scratch that burnout itch.
Gutted for the team.

Ive never looked but Id be shocked if I got one as Ive only ever bought FH4 and dlc this gen. Series X is pretty much a GP machine only for me.

@Fiendish-Beaver I completely agree. I jumped back in on gpu for another year on a cheap deal, but Im questioning my sanity now weve seen the last 2 months. I respect we all have different tastes but for me its been awful, and their charging £24 a month for this? Everyone bigging up Banishers, but it was on a service that costs way less than gpu 6 months ago. Im struggling to find any highlights. I guess if you like your COD, weve had that, but Im afraid Im not not much of a shooter guy, so I never play COD.

Im not sure what ms strategy is to increase the price so much and then add so little. I remember when we used to get way over 20 additions a month and could expect big AAA 3rd party titles too. Those days are sadly gone.

Thats a messy rollout.
Apparently its on ps plus extra this month, so if you are on that service I wouldnt consider parting with any cash for it.
Hope they fix the upgrade path soon...

It's nice to see a small improvement and I suspect its due to the sale price on steam. But how ever they arrive, people still playing and having a good time is what we need to see to keep this excellent franchise back in with a shot at reclaiming its crown.

Nice to see this. I really enjoyed this game first time round and I'd like to see it running @ 60fps even if it looks a little dated. It was a lot of fun!

@AverageGamer WTF are you talking about? Whos fleeing where? I'm stating we are unlikely to agree and I'd rather not hijack a thread about one issue arguing about something that's off topic?
You said I cant buy a Steam deck on Amazon. I gave you a link, I can and its £404 when the switch 2 is £399. They are the same price and I posted the link to prove it, you made a provably false statement. Have some balls and own your mistake.
When I judge a system, its judged against what other systems offer and what I want of course. Just as I expect you to judge by your own criteria. There is no wrong when its subjective judgement which is why it helps to state what your issues are so people can assess if they matter to them or not.
Your attempt to try and insist there is some 'right' or 'wrong' subjective opinion is clearly silly. You can never prove my opinion is wrong, you can merely disagree with it.
Again, I do not wish to waste any more space in this thread arguing with someone who does not understand subjective opinion. A conversation with you, judged by your posts here, is a pointless waste of time.

@AverageGamer
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Valve-V004284-30-Steam-Deck-256gb/dp/B0B7KFFKT5/ref=asc_df_B0B7KFFKT5?mcid=1ec7546357263f699abada2c5f82ec8a&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696386561236&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3308995169764548949&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045345&hvtargid=pla-1831825105343&psc=1&hvocijid=3308995169764548949-B0B7KFFKT5-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1
Steam deck for £404 Amazon UK. Your simply wrong.

"That sound like a YOU problem. No one told you to buy a controller and SD card."
At 256 meg, switch 2 has very little storage, and certainly less than any other system. If you have switch 1 titles you need to move across (as I do), internal storage becomes absolutely crucial. That's a system issue, not mine, it has far too little storage.
It's a machine designed to be played plugged into a TV if you want. As such it needs a decent joystick. Not only is the Joycon Grip ergonomically awful, but its just not up to the task. The magnetic holding strength is not enough in the Joycon and everyone who used it over this weekend while we played MK world, had regular disconnects as one side or another would disconnect from the grip and take us to the disconnect screen.
After a while we just moved onto another machine - the switch 2 was unplayable in practice unless you had the pro controller. Of course nintendo decided to ensure that your switch 1 pro controller can't wake up the Switch 2 either. So a new pro controller was pretty much mandatory if you want decent multiplayer - though you can use the left and right separately of course if you feel that's comfortable.
Its not a me issue, its a hardware issue and you simping for them doesn't make any of that any less true.

I can certainly agree though that this port is shoddy and could have been far better.

It's quite clear that we will not agree on this, so I finish with stating I'm very happy you love your switch 2 so much. But that's not everyone's experience and we are allowed to say as much, I've identified my issues best I can with no ill intent. You have a fantastic day while I await for a switch 2 pro controller to turn up so me and the misses can continue the fun we were having with MK world over the weekend.

Edit: Re Joycon connections. If you have suffered similar issues (and there's a whole Redditt thread with people who have the same issue) - ensure you are using the HDMI cable that ships with the Switch 2. I read this fix and thought it was insane, but it 100% works for me. I bought a switch 2 pro controller to go with the switch 1 pro I had, but tbh, I didnt need to as the fix works

@darkswabber I'm aware of the specs thanks. The fact is, to justify its performance, you need to go back a generation as it simply doesnt compete with current gen machines and costs more. Its currently £400 for the base machine with no sd card and no proper controller and a ps5 is £379, steam deck is £404 (all amazon prices this morning) Comparisons are fair enough when these machines are priced the same. I completely get your point that this particular game is a shoddy conversion and I agree with you it should have been better. But even the best conversions perform better on similary priced hardware on other platforms.
@AverageGamer. You can get a steam deck at exactly the same price as the switch2 on amazon, and as you noted, youd often have better performance. Youd also buy the same games much cheaper.
As a platform for playing 3rd party titles, the switch 2 is the worst place to play. However, its the only place to play nintendo titles and that will always be its saving grace and its why its in this household. I just wish there were more 1st party titles out!
I dont hate it but it is very expensive ( with a decent size sd and proper controller mine was £580 - and that was sale prices). At those prices people shouldn't be forced to playing the worst version of games portable or otherwise.

I dont see that any of those opinions should be inflammatory? Ive explained the reasoning and its a perfectly valid common sense viewpoint. Others are welcome to have a different view of course, but I dont give nintendo any free rides ever - they are the least consumer freindly corp of the three main platform holders and dont deserve any special consideration imo.

@RiverGenie Im in exactly the same boat. Tried it 6 months back when it appeared on ps plus and unfortunately I didnt stay long. Id give it another shot, but with such a huge backlog you have to focus on titles you haven't got to yet.
I am delighted its won many fans though and that so many are enjoying it, Id recommend everyone try it.

Id never buy a game on switch 2 I could get elsewhere as they are all inferior to other versions. For such an expensive machine, its just not good enough. If you have to play portable I guess its your choice, but there are better ways to play these games portably as well if you look at steamdecks or handheld pcs
My primary use for switch 2 is plugged into a tv, and in that mode its only worth buying switch exclusives, though theres been precious few to make it worth the effort so far.

It's a shame Xbox didnt give the ardent fans any thought, but let's face it, they wouldn't expect any different now would they?

Thats a really good start and should be applauded!
Of course, we want it on everything, but its early days yet and nice to see it starting to take shape.

@OldGamer999 They were making money 2 years after launch and still are of course? Im sorry your entire crusade seems rediculous to me like you expect companies to not make profits? Ive no idea what world you live in but MS Sony and Nintendo should all be making decent profits or you'll never even have games machines. It was pointless to talk with you, I really shouldn't have, but thought you might want to know one of the big three is not raising prices. You have fun on the soapbox and I'll wish you a pleasent evening.

@OldGamer999 You dont appear to be reading. Sony are not putting prices up and invested specifically so that they would not have too.
Sorry if it spoils your soapboxing, but your not talking reality and for some reason I thought you might want to be grounded in reality. Silly me.