Titntin

I enjoyed Avowed lots, so its good news if its genuinely under consideration. If it still doesnt allow the player to carry a light or torch though, I wont buy it! 🤣

Lovely to see, though we would need to know what software, existing and planned, will support it before it could be considered a worthwhile buy.
I used to have a full Rockband set, but other than the guitars, the other controllers were not used as much. Now I just have a Riffmaster for when I get the urge.
I have full electronic drumkit upstairs, but Ive discovered Im short on talent so Im in the process of giving that away 😂

There is a Rock band called 'The Warning', three sisters from Mexico that got their passion for their craft from playing Rockband when they were small kids. The drummer, Pau, is highly respected and followed. If they could strike a deal with her to promote this kit, Im pretty sure they would be onto a winner!

@Coletrain Lol, nobody's wrong about personnel preferences of course, but having committed to keeping my series X for another year at least, I spent most of yesterday trying to buy a hyperkin competitor controller - looks just like a dual sense and symmetrical sticks I can't be completely deluded as its sold out every single possible place in the UK, and hyperkin wont send outside of US, so I gotta wait for more stock. If I get the hyperkin, maybe my wife will actually play the Xbox - she currently wont as she hates the controllers.
I guess we are all different!

Good. With Xbox having so many great studios it's important to recognise and understand what games have really resonated with players, and Yotei certainly resonated with me. I'd love to see some of that titles strong points in an Xbox title..

Ghost
Blue Prince
Indiana

Tough year to get recognised! Have to go with the games that live in your head and leave a lasting impression. Delighted Indiana is in the list.

I think Ill enjoy whisker wood.

(and secretly, me and the misses fancy trying 'pigeon simulator', but dont tell anyone!)

One of the few games I had fomo for when I unplugged the seriesx. However, Im back on gpu (cheap deal), so this title is currently downloading and Im looking to play asap.

Keen on checking out 1000xresist. I've heard good things.

Having considered that my wife has yet to play Indiana Jones and Avowed, and discovered I could still get a year of ultimate from CDkeys for £122, I've re installed my series X (though on the second TV (LG c1) at the back of the room. I had been paying £15 each month for GPU, but this deal gives it to me for £10 and allows my wife to play catch up on these games (if I can get her to pick up the pad!)

Good to see. Is all these little changes and improvements which will help bring this new OS to being what we all hope it will become, an easy to use frontend which will take care of anything required to simply run your games.

More Ghost of Yotei, it really is excellent.
Gave my wife a Switch 2 mid week as it was her birthday, so hopefully we will play mario kart world or donkey kong.
I took a punt on test drive solar crown as it was dead cheap and once you work past the cringe and accept the sub par map, theres actually quite a lot of fun to be had exploring the map.

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

It should have been on xbox from the start. Im glad xhox players will have it soon.

Nice! Im glad its doing well and hope it continues to do so.
Live service can clearly work if you get it right...

@fatpunkslim If you are going to engage in ridiculous fanboy outcries there simply no point in having any kind of conversation.
I've owned every single Xbox since they stepped into the business, as well as a plethora of PC's and I have every right to be on a site I've supported for many years and note I've been here longer than you have.
That there's big concern about what Xbox are doing and its results is a pretty ubiquitous feeling on nearly all media sites and analyst posts, its ridiculous to pretend its a few fanboys making trouble for the sake of pathetic 'console war'.
I shall continue to ignore your ridiculous posts in the future, as I should have this time. You come here to stand on a box, not engage in civil adult conversation.

Nice to hear. No 2 was my fave and I'd love to play that campaign again 👍

@fatpunkslim You really want to compare the financials?

Sony's results for the same period.
Revenue Breakdown:
Video Games: ¥540.1 billion ($3.67 billion), up 11% year-on-year, with microtransactions and in-game purchases making up 54% of this revenue.
Network Services: ¥172.6 billion ($1.17 billion), up 8.3%, which includes revenue from PlayStation Network and PlayStation Plus.
Hardware: ¥153.2 billion ($1.04 billion), a 4.7% increase year-on-year.
PlayStation 5 Sales: 2.5 million units were sold during the quarter.
Game Sales: 65.9 million copies of PS4/PS5 games were sold, a 23% increase compared to the previous year.
User Engagement: PlayStation Monthly Active Users (MAU) and total gameplay hours both increased 6% year-on-year.
Full-Year Outlook: Sony raised its earnings forecast for the PlayStation division for the current fiscal year, anticipating 15 million PS5 unit sales by March 2026.

This is apparently their best ever year.

Easy to see which business is generating proper revenue and engagement. Or will it be you now who wishes to count plastic boxes only with no context?

I have no desire to see Microsoft's results so poor - it means troubling times ahead for hard working devs, but some people just have their head in the sand and refuse to see whats right in front of them.
I'm also not a sony shareholder, but their results tell you their business has never been better, which is clearly not a narrative you want to accept.

If content and services only went up 1% whilst they have a mandate from on high to push for %30 growth, then what do you think is going to happen to their gaming business?
I'll give you a clue, they are not going to be getting bonuses.....

£288 a year can buy me the indie games I want in a year to keep, so I'm just not seeing the value. If your on the service though, no harm in checking these out!

I wish him all the luck in the world. He's a genuinely nice guy who I've been lucky enough to meet and share some time with. He created games and genres which I not only loved playing, but got a chance to work on with my time at Bullfrog. He was a true visionary with infectious enthusiasm and I'd like to see him go out on a high and not get marred forever by internet haters with absolutely no insight or knowledge at all.

Im carrying on with Yotei which is very involving and Im loving every minute.
I've also taken a look at test drive solar crown as its £17 in the sale and on season 4, so its had a lot of updates. If you can make it through the god awful opening 20 minutes and overlook some pretty rough elements, the actual racing and island to explore are pretty fun.
Im also starting out in Skate and like what Ive seen so far.

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

I think the ps5 release was coming in hot, its pretty sub par.
Mind you, theres a lot I dont like on the series X release either, especially the animated grass issue which I would not be able to overlook. I bounced off the first title pretty hard so its not one Im missing, but I do hope you guys enjoy it on gp. Its a no brainer to play it if you are on the service...

@Questionable_Duck Thanks for pointing that out mate, your quite right I hadnt noticed it on premium!
Ive unistalled the series x though, so I cant be bothered to replug it in just for this game. Ill either play it when its on the alternative service or buy it when its next on sale.
Appreciate the suggestion though...👍

Pacific Drive is probably the only thing this month Id have liked from GP. Its a great shadow drop.
However I can buy and keep it for less than the cost of one months sub, so no fomo yet.

Dont sleep on it if your on GP though!

If I were buying a handheld pc theres no doubt this would top of the list to try.
But Im a console player, I am more than techy enough to use PCs and have several in the house, but when I game, I just want to turn on and play and this just isnt that experience.
Having watched windows and its store do nothing for decades I have no faith they will ever resolve these issues like they should and windows will likely remain a hugely inefficient way to utilise gaming hardware for the foreseeable future.
However, never say never. I shall watch with interest and if they ever actually deliver I'd be on board for a home under tv unit. The 'ex-box' if you like. Id like that as Ive alwayd had all the gens of xbox, so its kinda weird no longer having a series x under the telly.

@Matthewnh Why are you including the edge controller? Trying to include this shows you are not looking at genuine cost at all and might as well include a VR and the Portal as it wouldnt make your calculations any less relevant than they are.

If its going to be a pc that runs games suitable for modern tellys it will be priced way beyond a console. Unfortunately it would apper you'll still be paying for Windows bloat with Office and Teams installed and using some of the resources you paid for.
Maybe thats what some people want, or maybe they will improve it above what we see with the rog ally, but its hard to be excited for this.

@GeeEssEff You have now encountered the futility of having a reasoned adult debate with this person. Either you accept and defend everything MS does, or you are a hater and will get the passive agression you clearly deserve.
For what its worth I believe you made some excellent points and presented them in a way that would have allowed for a constructive conversation were it with almost anybody else.
That Microsoft will outright lie to their consumers has been going on since the 80s, so the current behaviour is absolutely on form.

@OldGamer999 Yeah, I used it when it worked and it was useful. No longer use the Series X so I guess no more quick resume. Im fine with that as I tend to stick with one main game which goes instantly back where you were if you put into rest mode...👍

@Fiendish-Beaver Never give in, never surrender old timer! 😉
At least it wont cost you anything to try and I hope you crush it and enjoy doing so...

@OldGamer999 Ps5 handles game states differently, the two systems are not the same. Microsoft also took out a patent on quick resume.
Given the speed of the ssd to load so quickly, the abilty to jump to different parts of the game through activity cards and the fact Microsoft hold a patent, and the fact it has trouble with so many titles, Sony not trying to implement it is an obvious choice.
Your continued insistance that its easy and Sony simply dont want to be implementing a player useful feature expose your ignorance of any relevant facts. Ive no idea what your reading, but it hasnt left you with correct knowledge.

@Gabrie I buy psn credit at a discount and usually get about %15 for a £100 top up.
There are also sites that advertise dicount games available, but they are often out of stock.
Id like to see a more competitive environment for sure, but unless your buying day 1, sales are regular and decent discounts are pretty easy to get for most titles in addition to getting the universal %15 off. I usually get a lot of titles for my money.

Welcome feature, but as eveyone has said, much more useful if it indicated lowest price ever, or at least a period much longer than 30 days. Ill take small improvements over none though...

@OldGamer999 While its not available for multiple titles, simply putting the machine into rest mode when your playing a game achieves pretty much the same thing - when you switch the machine back on its in the game exactly where you were. I just tested with ghost of yotei - I was in the title exactly where I left it within 5 seconds of logging on.
Annoyingly, if the game title recieves an update before you come back, it closes the game, but thats not that often... and would probably not be an issue if you didnt allow auto update in rest mode. With 4tb of ps5 games installed, and 4tb of ps4 games on an attached drive, I prefer auto update on though!

Im glad to hear quick resume never lets you down. That doesnt reflect my experiences on Series X where several games didnt work with quick resume (Forza 5, Halo infinate etc) so I never relied on it. There are several sites and forums dedicated to tracking games which have issues with the feature. With games booting in such quick times, it never really felt like a big deal to me anyway, but Im glad you enjoy the feature and have somehow managed to avoid any issue which most players seem to run into from time to time.

@cornholio005 Pretty pathetic take thats also insulting. Both Push and Pure are different arms of the same group and neither of them take bribes to adjust review scores. Thats the accusations of a teenage mentality who doesnt accept there will be a range of viewpoints.

With drab environments and a cheesy story, its clear that the rock hard combat remains the attraction here, and it would appear they nailed that. With reactions dulled by age, I know I would just find it frustrating, but for those looking for a challenge, looks like they could have fun!

There are much better ways to play on PC, and I dont need handheld with 7 inch lcd screen in 2025.
It comes with 'teams' pre installed. That says all I need to know.

Thanks for a good review. Sounds an excellent pad and its great to see a 3rd party wireless option.
Its slightly smaller form factor might help those with smaller hands to avoid discomfort, something that stopped my wife from ever playing xbox.
I'd definitely buy one if I hadnt uninstalled my series X as it seems to tick every box!

RIP. A true creative, not a suit.

@MaseSco Its a pc and cant play xbox versions, so its the pc version it pulls. Hope that helps!

Nadella defines success in $, and no marketing mumbo jumbo will ever change that.

Whilst I sympathise with rumours, people are questioning the brand because of hard facts in the way they are changing their business and increasing their prices, in some cases directly contradicting their own statements.
MS used to among the best at controlling the narrative, but something has changed.

Love that keeper one! The others, not so much, but free is free and everyone has different tastes.😀

@RetroMan71 Thats alright mate, no problem. He's miffed at MS behaviour and I understand, but maybe MS will go on a redemption arc and he can read it here first!

@RetroMan71 Why would he? This site won't survive if its just the few die hard xbox zealots left here. If you are a games player and you want to see what Xbox are up to, come here to pure. I dont think we need to push people away.
My series X is now uninstalled and I'm looking to find someone to give it away to right now. But I have no intent to leave this site, and I'm still interested in the news and supporting Frazer and Ben.
You could argue I've still got a PC. But a far better argument is that if 'everything is an Xbox', then everyone has business being on pure. More the merrier.

This was the biggest loss for me. From the little we know, this title looked like it would tick a lot of boxes for me, so its sad to see it die.

Ghost of Yotei has me entranced and I don't expect I'll play anything else for a while.
Theres a new swiitch 2 in the house, but I'll leave it till my wifes birthday on 29th before we set that up. We are old now, but its still nice to get a suprise on the day!

Whatever you are playing, I hope you have a great weekend!

I was trying to pick an xbox title but, the last one I loved which I played on xbox was Indy, which is not this years! Wasnt keen on South of Midnight, but it should be right up there for art style.

Not finished it yet, but my fave this year is likely to be Ghost of Yotei. Loved Blue Prince this year too.

@Fiendish-Beaver
Usually about 4 or 5 feet (its a 48 inch LG C1).
Scaling that to the extra size of my main screen (65 inch), the ratios of how close to an image I am is roughly the same. You don't need to have brilliant eyes or sit close to a screen to see the trails on moving objects disappear as you increase frame rate.
There is a whole push in the PC space for fastest refresh rates on cards, on monitors and on GPU hardware to increase frame rates.This is happening because is provable fact that people notice it and its a better experience for gaming. Or does some random guy you have parroted from the internet have more sway for you than the entire tech industry and its research?

The push for resolution has moved to the adoption of newer AI upscalers, meaning that a GPU should only need to traditionally render to about 2K internally to output a fantastic quality output at the resolution required. This leaves the extra computational power that would have been spent trying to achieve 4K native to achieve steady and faster frame rates, rendering with RTAO, and I expect in the future some forms of path tracing in addition to excellent physics simulation, better AI and a million other things that I cant even imagine yet.
If you want to see what consoles may achieve in the very near future, take a look at those games which have been developed to use the hardware capabilities of the latest GPU's on PC. It's a shame that's very small proportion of titles, but that's because most PC players don't have that hardware. Once its base level of performance for a console, then all titles use it.
I know you're old, so am I, but the future of gaming tech is a lot more exciting than a random naysayer on the web tells you it will be and you should check you know your facts before spreading false statements imo!
Have a great day! 😊

@FraserG Yeah Phil has never uttered anything that wasnt correct has he?
Phil doesnt run this show anymore and we all know it..

Ive heard a lot from that source that never came to fruition, so Id definitely be a bit skeptical on the detail.
However, their understanding of tech is excellent and its an interesting proposition to analyse and discuss. It seems to be a PC like system, which is good for my needs, so lets see how this unfolds!

@Tainted Sorry mate, its you who seem to read nothing except Xbox press releases. The whole gaming industry is speculating about the future of Xbox not just one person in this thread, and it's therefore not unusual to find people here who will speculate too.
Do you actually read any gaming news or follow any gaming channels? Your responses lead me to believe you don't.

...and for the record, I would very much like them to produce something and not just badge someone else's product.

@Fiendish-Beaver The statement that we cant see past 60 fps is an urban myth and is easily disproved. Do the UFO test on a PC @120hz or above and tell me you cant notice it. I won't believe you.
Quite apart from that, the resultant lack of lag playing at refresh rates above 60hz is also quite noticeable. Ask a competitive FPS player to play at just a 60hz refresh rate and they will look at you as if your mad. There's been plenty of tests I've seen showing how much quicker competition grade players react when they have much faster refresh rates.
I don't get to play many games above 60Hz, but Forza 4 and 5 @4K 120hz is transformative (I have a good PC). Last time I checked I was still human! 😁