Titntin

Titntin

Gaming since the late 70's!

Comments 2,828

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 12-13)

Titntin

I've been playing Dragons Dogma 2 since last week. I fell off it hard the first time I tried it, but once you overcome the initial difficulties and accept it for what it is, its actually a deeply satisfying experience and it looks great and maintains smooth framerates on a ps5 pro with a vrr tv..(balanced mode, raytracing on, unlocked frame rate).
Im a little captivated by it, so I might not even manage any FH5 racing this weekend 😀

Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you're having a blast!

Re: Talking Point: It's Been Two Years Since A Defining Moment In The History Of Xbox

Titntin

I always thought this deal would be really bad for Xbox and was roundly criticized and chastised by many on this site for having that view.
It brings no satisfaction at all to see it unfolding as it is. The deal was the end for Xbox as far as I'm concerned.. those who wish to claim its alive by buying badged PC's are welcome to do so, but everything I loved about xbox is dead or dying.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 5-6)

Titntin

@DeadSpace Hello mate. I dont seem to experience that issue in the game at all, though obviously some vehicles are better than others and some surfaces premote better grip.
Id suggest you ensure you have the driving line switched on and pay attention to the colour of the line. As you are approaching a section which turns yellow and then red, start hitting the brakes so the line goes blue and you can then follow the line round the corner with no issues. Some cars you can push so you can take corners on yellow/red, but until your comfortable, just brake enough that the line turns blue and dont give it full acceleration until your round the corner. I dont know your garage, but you start the games with a ford 'hoonan' car which grips fine, so prctice with that. That car is also fine off road, so if you're missing tarmac or racing off road it will still turn and its also a good car compared with others at its rating, so winning races on normal settings should be pretty easy. Remember you have ' rewind' on by default, so if you do go thrashing into a corner too fast hit that rewind button and try the corner again.
Most cars are pretty easy to control once you get you head round them, just avoid any drift cars they can be a struggle to get going straight, never mind corners.
I hope the above helps you, you'll have a great time once you get it!
Good luck Superstar! 👍

Re: Perfect Dark Actor Calls On Fans To 'Speak Up' And Help The Game Survive

Titntin

Just another huge mis-management from Microsoft. If you ' set a studio up' then you manage it properly to ensure it makes progress and on the way to producing a product. Other than hirring a couple of key high cost personal and puttting them in an office, it appears no other actions were taken. No wonder anyone talked into joining would turn right round and walk off again once they saw there was no proper structure.
What a waste.

Re: Helldivers 2 Is Officially Releasing For Xbox This August

Titntin

@Fiendish-Beaver Highly recommend it my friend - if you are a PC player with twitch KB/mouse skills then thats the best place, but I suspect you are a console gamer like myself (I have a £4K pc rig, but try not to play games on it), so Xbox would be good for you as you tend to keep your games here, but I'd choose a PS5 pro every day for superior performance, but it really doesn't matter.
You can play as a couple of mates and simply have a couple of randoms - I often played with my wife who would use the PS5 behind me while I used the main one. I found some really helpful players who taught me a lot playing with rando's. You can also solo drop in the early sessions to get some experience, but you miss a lot of fun this way.
I hope you choose to play, its really good fun!

Re: Helldivers 2 Is Officially Releasing For Xbox This August

Titntin

Well this is good news in an otherwise ***** week.
If Sony confirm that Xbox are all in on making a PC, then suddenly this doesn't matter any more - Xbox simply are not competition.

Great game, I highly recommend you all try it. I can't stand multiplayer shooters, but I played the hell out of this.

Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox

Titntin

@FraserG
Yes mate, its difficult to follow, logistically, and also because I've been there and know that sinking feeling as your livelihood gets snatched away from you, so I can get a little emotive watching such cuts unfold.
I'd like to think this will be the last round for MS, but I know I'm kidding myself. There appear to be 9000 cuts across MS with reporting stating "Regarding the scale of the cuts Microsoft would only share that they were less than half of the company’s overall layoffs." this suggests to me that its about 4000 or so in the gaming division this time.

Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox

Titntin

Stephen Totilo from Games File reports Staff loses at Undead Labs:

"Layoffs across myriad studios, including King (Candy Crush), Turn 10 (Forza) and Undead Labs (State of Decay)"

I got his Email update this morning. No other information (about Undead Labs) and hopefully its small cuts that won't affect the game, but I thought I'd share this here as I've not noticed this information elsewhere yet..

Re: Xbox's Everwild Gets Cancelled As Layoffs Hit Sea Of Thieves Developer

Titntin

@HonestHick Its because I know exactly how how these teams operate these days, that I know real devs, the atists the coders the pipeline designers, cannot do anything without full management approval and planning guiding everything they work on. Its team leaders and producers that call all the shots, but its often them that do a sideline shuffle to safty as they watch the workers they led into a black hole crash and burn.
When you are the publisher, your oversight on these operations is critical, but Microsoft has been legendarily bad at their oversight role. I know this as Ive worked on a title with Microsoft 'oversight' and they were extremely lax then, as everyone who works for them will attest, and this is what allows an obvious poor concept or misguided idea to flounder for years without the course correction it needed to become a real contender. If this oversight role were done properly, there would much fewer failures and Microsoft's involvement is the weak link failure, with frontline devs paying the price.
We've seen the same from Sony and its oversight of its live service push. They at least are saying how they have now changed their oversight role to try and ensure it doesnt happen further, but the middle management in MS will simply fade to the background till they do it again.

Re: Two Decades Later, Burnout 3 Is Still Incredible To Play On Xbox

Titntin

For those that wonder what ever happened to this great series, bear in mind it was made by Criterion Games.
Criterion were bought by E.A and we all know that's the kiss of death to the studio and any of its great franchises - you can watch it happening to Codemasters right now as E.A. never change.
I watched it happen to Bullfrog while I still worked there. Its shameful they still do this to this day....

Re: Ex Blizzard Boss Thinks Microsoft Should Pick Its Xbox Strategy And 'Stick To It'

Titntin

Regardless of anyones stance on the future direction, surely its clear that the messenging and communication has not been good.

I personally think they have shafted those who have backed the xbox eco system for so long, they will lose large proportions of their library when they play next gen on windows. I mourn the platform, but I may buy into the next one anyway. No question Microsoft will continue to make good profits regardless, thats what all this change will ensure

Re: Forza Motorsport Studio Said To Be 'Bracing' For Job Cuts At Xbox

Titntin

Financing games development used to be like 'spread betting', youd get a few duds but often titles you couldnt predict blow up and deliver huge profits.
The way shareholders and large corps have started behaving in the last few years means every single investment is tested in isolation and one under preforming title is the end of a studio. It pressures studios into taking less risks and sticking with proven ideas rather than risk taking, and its not helping to produce the best titles. Fortunately, many more funding models exist for indie developers so inventiveness can still flourish in that space.
This kind of work was always precarious, I was made redundant several times over my 20 years as a dev. But Ive never known it to be like this, its insanity and the best talent will go to industries safer so these staff can keep their families in a stable life. I fear for the future of the buisness when its behaving as it is.

Re: PS Plus Has 'Surpassed Expectations' Since Becoming More Like Xbox Game Pass

Titntin

Im delighted they aren't charging 50% more than premium to match gamepass. It means for a modest outlay I get access to many hundreds of the types of titles I go to a rental service for.
I still try and buy the biggest games I want to play, and have done this even when they are on GP and Im subbed. Having been a dev for a long time and relying on people buying games for my living has probably shaped my feelings here.
Theres value in both services, psn is good value for what it offers (I notice Diablo 4 is a psn game to keep this month), but nothing matches game pass for value when its firing on all cylinders 😀

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 21-22)

Titntin

Fantasy Life i still, so much content It might take a while to finish!
I fancy some arcade stick schumup goodness, so Im goiing to play Cygni which I picked up in the sale recently.
Im still replaying Forza Horizon 5 too, I never tire of these titles.

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

Re: 'Xbox Edition' Meta Quest VR Headset Leaks Ahead Of Rumoured Release Next Week

Titntin

This is what I feared would happen. This is literally an existing product with an xbox badge, No invention no newly added features, just another badged pc product.
Xbox have previously been about adding new offerings to the market, offering inventive features such as quick resume etc - not just badging existing tech. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

As for VR, Id love go be into it, but the toll it takes on me via motion sickness and vertigo is very severe and can last weeks.
Ive learnt that, regrettably, I cant enjoy VR fun, but I envy those that can.

Re: Poll: When Do You Think Xbox's Next-Gen Console Is Coming Out?

Titntin

Back on subject, I suspect late 2027, but that may stretch into 2028.
I think they may need to wait till then for chip/component prices to drop to the point where they offer a performent unit for price people can swallow.
Mind you, the worlds gone crazy, so its tough to predict what will happen in these markets...

I'm still running a 3090 gpu on my pc, but im not likely to upgrade it till I see the options that will come with the new MS machine. If I play games on a neXt box, I can not bother with a gpu upgrade as mmy pc will be fine for the rest of its tasks for years.

Re: Poll: When Do You Think Xbox's Next-Gen Console Is Coming Out?

Titntin

@NishimuraX
You can reply that this is not your experience, but its clearly not an outright lie as so many long term PC owners will attest. Your tolerance for experimenting with settings and dealing with windows drivers may be far higher than many, but as someone who has had a top notch pc since before seperate gpus were released, I also share the experience that playing on a pc is seldom install, run, play. Its one of the reasons so many people still prefer to play on console despite many of pcs obvious advantages.
If you genuinely believe your kind of insulting post is adding to a reasoned debate Im here to tell you it most definitely is not and yet Im sure you might actually have some insight that might help inform an adult conversation. Why not share your experiences instead of pathetic fanboy insults?

Personaly Im hoping that the OS update and overlays that Microsoft are working hard on right now, will remove the issues of finding correct settings at least and maybe help to maintain drivers and windows with little to no user input, so that the experience is much more console like. Its clear, at least to most people, and to Microsoft themselves, that this is whats needed to move PC gaming into the console domain and steam OS has been leading the way. Good luck to them, Im very hopeful they succeed.

Re: Talking Point: Did Xbox Just Hint At A Hybrid Next-Gen Console?

Titntin

There was no hint of hybrid, they simply doubled down on their 'everything is an xbox message' and mentioned that will include their handhelds such as the imminent ROG.
Much as I want a tv friendly pc unit, I hate windows, so Im actually rooting for steam to get a steam box launched as an alternative.
Seeing a windows logo on the telly as I switch my console on is not something Im rooting for, even though Id buy it without another option! Maybe the new interface will be so slick I'll never notice its windows, I can hope for that!😀👍