@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!
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.
@Millionski I'm asking myself very similar questions and have no answers. I can only hope it gets better, but I suspect it will get worse. How can they make me think a devil like Bobby Kotick was a safer pair of hands?
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Marathon is the one that's been 'delayed indefinitely'. Not closed, not half its team reduced, but given time to see what they can save or make from what was obviously going to be a disastrous launch.
@Millionski Thats whats so disappointing. While they were buying they painted an image of a group that could fund smaller teams, breakout ideas and passion projects. Truth is it will be huge earner or your studio will go. Just one of the many outright lies.
@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.
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..
@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.
Despite all the releases and all the teams MS now own, only one title is an MS published title, and every title here is multi platform ( I guess they all are now). Great list - just reminds us of how many great games there are these days and why my backlog is so large.
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....
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
Until it covers at least 50% of titles, its just not a big deal to anyone except a marketting executive or people who like to parrot them. This is of very limited use to any real gamer with a mix of titles on the eco system.
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.
@TrevorP86 Maybe, but its working for them and bringing in money they can rely on, without having to fire teams of developers every few months. As a buisness its clearly working.
@TrevorP86 ""If you can't beat them, copy them" - Sony on subscription services"
Except PS now launched before game pass by quite a big margin. One thing I wish they hadnt copied was charging for online multiplayer, it was a horrible cash grab and still is.
I wasnt convinced by the gameplay, but this was a fantastic tech demo! I admit I'd like to see it running on a pro, but I wont buy in for such a short game with limited gameplay, no matter how good it looks...
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 😀
I already have a decent PC. Xbox simply becoming windows gaming was not what I wanted at all and badged hardware is not inventive. Happy for those this appeals to, I dont want to rain on anyones parade, but this just means xbox is a publisher only to me once this gen is done, and Ill take that as long as the games keep releasing.
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!
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.
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.
@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.
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!😀👍
Whats most important about this message is a doubling down of promising backwards compatibility, as the transition to windows makes this particularly difficult for 3rd party games. I can only assume they are looking to emmulate the series machines on PC hardware, or they are including bespoke chips, but that adds to expense. However they achieve it, god speed, as people deserve to access all there games and not just a few which have PC versions.
To me, this also confirms that the transition to windows pc hardware is confirmed, which confirms the death of a bespoke hardware platform for future consoles.
As I want a TV friendly pc box, this is good news, but part of me mourns the seemingly confirmed death of the xbox console as we've always known it.
New hardware is always exciting though, bring it on!
My Series X will not remain connected to controllers wirelessly with any consistency anyway. As soon as you switch on 120hz output the controllers immediately disconnect. At 60 hz connection is intermittent. Research suggests this happens to a lot of people with no fix. So I can take the wired one, as wireless and xbox just doesn't work for me anyway. Looks like a good option with some decent tech for the money!
A new Horizon game would be great, but they have to drop this 'Superstar' character and work on a compelling story that allows the player to feel some sense of progression and not be lost and swamped in a game world which gives you everything for nothing and offers so much you don't know what to do next. FH4 was the sweet spot in terms of progression, it still felt like there was a reason to win races. They need proper script writers, voice actors and a better back story than the travelling festival. What they have was OK 20 years ago but its actually embarrassingly bad now and needs new direction. But the gameplay is fantastic and there's a lot of variety, another setting with reasons to race would be a winner.
@themightyant If you liked dmc combat, then you might like it - I certainly did and enjoyed playing to its conclusion. Cid is a strong character. I buy at least 40 games a year ( and probably more) on the other platform, but series X is gamepass only, and even then I buy many titles that are on GP, just not on this platform.
It's a shame as several publishers are already looking to see if it's worth publishing on this platform and this news won't help the xbox cause...
Very easy to have a reasonable impression of a game if you are not paying for it. Some people have been hoodwinked into paying proper money for this completely unfinished mess, and that should never be OK.
I've bought just one title on Series X since launch, and I know I'm not alone. Of course this game won't shift big numbers and squenix will soon see launching games on this platform will not make a big difference to units sold. Sad but true.
I've always believed GP canablises sales and it's one of the reasons I try and stay unsubbed. If you're just looking after no1, there's no question its great value for the consumer, and much as I'd prefer it if I didn't have to use it, sometimes it's too good value to pass up. But it's game devs that ultimately lose money and refreshing to hear one of them have the balls to say so.
Wuchung could be a good one. I've unsubbed for a while so I'll probably try it if/when I resub!
Not interested in the others, I tend not to enjoy survival games, so I didn't get on with Grounded, but I did try for a few hours, but no 2 is bound to appeal to many.
@FarmDog08 @Fiendish-Beaver.
I'll be 61 this August too. They will have to pry a controller out of my dead hands as I'll always play games 😊👍
I've already cancelled GP. I bought many of the bigger games offered in the last few months so the value proposition is not so good for my needs, there's precious little coming in the next few months that appeals to me which I won't buy rather than rent, so it's a easy choice that gets much easier if they increase sub costs.
It could be excellent, but it is too far off to call right now. But design aesthetics and characters seem on point, so hopefully this realises its potential.
@Cakefish Whatever they do, they can't do it with code they don't own. Your 3rd party titles will remain mostly locked to the platform you bought on. I can't see any statagey that will change that, but I'm happy to be wrong if someone would like to offer a solution?
@Dan1283 LOL, meanwhile I've cancelled gpu but kept psplus. Gpu is 50% more expensive than plus and there are many months when you can see why! But this is not one of them months to me and as they only let you pay monthly now, I've no issue dropping gpu when it doesn't provide what I want. But I've a boatload of titles I'm still playing on plus.
@Cakefish Much as I wish for that seemless transition for you, it won't happen. Most people reporting less than 10% of their owned games are play anywhere. Not even all Microsofts own titles all conform, it will never be the case for all games. Transitioning means losing access to the majority of your games, but I fear there will be little choice in the matter, have some or have none.
Comments 2,914
Re: Helldivers 2 Is Officially Releasing For Xbox This August
@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
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
@Millionski
I'm asking myself very similar questions and have no answers.
I can only hope it gets better, but I suspect it will get worse.
How can they make me think a devil like Bobby Kotick was a safer pair of hands?
Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Marathon is the one that's been 'delayed indefinitely'. Not closed, not half its team reduced, but given time to see what they can save or make from what was obviously going to be a disastrous launch.
Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox
@Millionski
Thats whats so disappointing. While they were buying they painted an image of a group that could fund smaller teams, breakout ideas and passion projects. Truth is it will be huge earner or your studio will go. Just one of the many outright lies.
Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox
"Kotaku understands that cuts are underway at State of Decay 3 studio Undead Labs as well."
More than one source now...
Re: State Of Decay 3 Has Gone Quiet, But Apparently It's Safe At Xbox
@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
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
@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: Xbox Layoffs Begin As Phil Spencer Shares Internal Microsoft Gaming Update
Removed
Re: Xbox's Everwild Reportedly Cancelled As Layoffs Hit Sea Of Thieves Developer
More mismanaged dev staff being thrown on the fire to save the incompetent executives who 'managed them' into this state. Pathetic.
Re: After Half A Year, These Are The 10 Highest-Rated Xbox Games Of 2025
Despite all the releases and all the teams MS now own, only one title is an MS published title, and every title here is multi platform ( I guess they all are now).
Great list - just reminds us of how many great games there are these days and why my backlog is so large.
Re: Two Decades Later, Burnout 3 Is Still Incredible To Play On Xbox
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: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (July 2-15)
Nothing to make me regret unsubbing. Some of these have been on GP already?
Re: Talking Point: Would You Play An Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Remake?
If only they had made the worlds first AAAA game by taking the best bits of the Sea and Ships from Black Flag.
Re: Ex Blizzard Boss Thinks Microsoft Should Pick Its Xbox Strategy And 'Stick To It'
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: Two Decades Later, Burnout 3 Is Still Incredible To Play On Xbox
Loved burnout. Racing was thrilling and crash mode was an inspired mode. Its of a game type we just dont see much of anymore, and I regret that..
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 28-29)
Still replaying Forza Horizon 5 and idling too much time away in Fantasy Life i. Im not making much progress on my backlog, but I am having fun.
Whatever you are playing this weekend, I hope you have a good one 👍
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want To See From Xbox In The Second Half Of The Year?
Less word salad and more specifics..
Re: Xbox Play Anywhere Is Growing Massively In 2025, And There's A Lot More To Come
Until it covers at least 50% of titles, its just not a big deal to anyone except a marketting executive or people who like to parrot them. This is of very limited use to any real gamer with a mix of titles on the eco system.
Re: Forza Motorsport Studio Said To Be 'Bracing' For Job Cuts At Xbox
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: Forza Motorsport Studio Said To Be 'Bracing' For Job Cuts At Xbox
@Ricky-Spanish Forza Horizon is developed by playground games, the team developing Fable, so Horizon sales dont factor for Turn 10.
Re: PS Plus Has 'Surpassed Expectations' Since Becoming More Like Xbox Game Pass
@TrevorP86
Maybe, but its working for them and bringing in money they can rely on, without having to fire teams of developers every few months.
As a buisness its clearly working.
Re: PS Plus Has 'Surpassed Expectations' Since Becoming More Like Xbox Game Pass
@TrevorP86
""If you can't beat them, copy them" - Sony on subscription services"
Except PS now launched before game pass by quite a big margin.
One thing I wish they hadnt copied was charging for online multiplayer, it was a horrible cash grab and still is.
Re: Random: Xbox Fan Can't Believe Their Luck After Winning Expedition 33 Xbox Series X
Thats great! I love these specials and this is a particularly good one.
Re: Hellblade 2 To Receive Free 60FPS Xbox Upgrade Alongside PS5 Release This August
I wasnt convinced by the gameplay, but this was a fantastic tech demo!
I admit I'd like to see it running on a pro, but I wont buy in for such a short game with limited gameplay, no matter how good it looks...
Re: PS Plus Has 'Surpassed Expectations' Since Becoming More Like Xbox Game Pass
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: Death Stranding 2 Debuts To Impressive Reviews Ahead Of Hopeful Xbox Release
I loved the first one and Im going to enjoy this one. I hope it comes to xbox quickly so everyone who wants to can enjoy this.
Re: Talking Point: Have This Month's Announcements Made You Excited About Xbox Again?
I already have a decent PC. Xbox simply becoming windows gaming was not what I wanted at all and badged hardware is not inventive.
Happy for those this appeals to, I dont want to rain on anyones parade, but this just means xbox is a publisher only to me once this gen is done, and Ill take that as long as the games keep releasing.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 21-22)
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
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: Phil Spencer Gives Special Shoutout To Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Indie
No idea if the game is any good, but with a soundtrack I grew up with Im gonna be playing for sure!
Re: Poll: When Do You Think Xbox's Next-Gen Console Is Coming Out?
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?
@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: These 11 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (June 18 - July 1)
Dreadful imo. Happy Im cancelled for now.
Re: Talking Point: Did Xbox Just Hint At A Hybrid Next-Gen Console?
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!😀👍
Re: Xbox Announces Next-Gen Console Strategy, Promises 'Deeper Visuals' & Backwards Compatibility
Whats most important about this message is a doubling down of promising backwards compatibility, as the transition to windows makes this particularly difficult for 3rd party games. I can only assume they are looking to emmulate the series machines on PC hardware, or they are including bespoke chips, but that adds to expense. However they achieve it, god speed, as people deserve to access all there games and not just a few which have PC versions.
To me, this also confirms that the transition to windows pc hardware is confirmed, which confirms the death of a bespoke hardware platform for future consoles.
As I want a TV friendly pc box, this is good news, but part of me mourns the seemingly confirmed death of the xbox console as we've always known it.
New hardware is always exciting though, bring it on!
Re: GameSir's Highly-Anticipated 'G7 Pro' Controller Is Getting A Special Version For Xbox
My Series X will not remain connected to controllers wirelessly with any consistency anyway. As soon as you switch on 120hz output the controllers immediately disconnect. At 60 hz connection is intermittent. Research suggests this happens to a lot of people with no fix.
So I can take the wired one, as wireless and xbox just doesn't work for me anyway. Looks like a good option with some decent tech for the money!
Re: Talking Point: Would You Like To See A New Type Of Forza Game In 2026?
A new Horizon game would be great, but they have to drop this 'Superstar' character and work on a compelling story that allows the player to feel some sense of progression and not be lost and swamped in a game world which gives you everything for nothing and offers so much you don't know what to do next.
FH4 was the sweet spot in terms of progression, it still felt like there was a reason to win races.
They need proper script writers, voice actors and a better back story than the travelling festival. What they have was OK 20 years ago but its actually embarrassingly bad now and needs new direction.
But the gameplay is fantastic and there's a lot of variety, another setting with reasons to race would be a winner.
Re: According To Sales Estimates, Final Fantasy 16 Had A Rough First Week On Xbox
@themightyant If you liked dmc combat, then you might like it - I certainly did and enjoyed playing to its conclusion. Cid is a strong character. I buy at least 40 games a year ( and probably more) on the other platform, but series X is gamepass only, and even then I buy many titles that are on GP, just not on this platform.
It's a shame as several publishers are already looking to see if it's worth publishing on this platform and this news won't help the xbox cause...
Re: Hands On: Not Gonna Lie, I'm Enjoying MindsEye On Xbox Right Now
Very easy to have a reasonable impression of a game if you are not paying for it. Some people have been hoodwinked into paying proper money for this completely unfinished mess, and that should never be OK.
Re: According To Sales Estimates, Final Fantasy 16 Had A Rough First Week On Xbox
I've bought just one title on Series X since launch, and I know I'm not alone. Of course this game won't shift big numbers and squenix will soon see launching games on this platform will not make a big difference to units sold. Sad but true.
Re: Developer Reveals Surprisingly Critical Feedback After Launching On Xbox Game Pass
I've always believed GP canablises sales and it's one of the reasons I try and stay unsubbed.
If you're just looking after no1, there's no question its great value for the consumer, and much as I'd prefer it if I didn't have to use it, sometimes it's too good value to pass up.
But it's game devs that ultimately lose money and refreshing to hear one of them have the balls to say so.
Re: Four Games Are Confirmed For Xbox Game Pass In July 2025 So Far
Wuchung could be a good one. I've unsubbed for a while so I'll probably try it if/when I resub!
Not interested in the others, I tend not to enjoy survival games, so I didn't get on with Grounded, but I did try for a few hours, but no 2 is bound to appeal to many.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 14-15)
Fantasy Life i still.... I'm also really keen on starting Sandland and continuing with SpaceMarine 2.
Whatever you are playing, I hope you have fun!
Re: 'Subscription Price Increase' Tag Reportedly Added To Xbox Cloud Gaming Website
@FarmDog08 @Fiendish-Beaver.
I'll be 61 this August too. They will have to pry a controller out of my dead hands as I'll always play games 😊👍
I've already cancelled GP. I bought many of the bigger games offered in the last few months so the value proposition is not so good for my needs, there's precious little coming in the next few months that appeals to me which I won't buy rather than rent, so it's a easy choice that gets much easier if they increase sub costs.
Re: Phil Spencer Hypes Up Clockwork Revolution Following Xbox Games Showcase Reveal
It could be excellent, but it is too far off to call right now. But design aesthetics and characters seem on point, so hopefully this realises its potential.
Re: PS5 Execs Questioned About Xbox 'Moving Away From Console' In Official Sony Interview
@Cakefish Whatever they do, they can't do it with code they don't own. Your 3rd party titles will remain mostly locked to the platform you bought on. I can't see any statagey that will change that, but I'm happy to be wrong if someone would like to offer a solution?
Re: Two More Xbox Game Pass Titles Are Arriving This Week (June 12-13)
@Dan1283 LOL, meanwhile I've cancelled gpu but kept psplus.
Gpu is 50% more expensive than plus and there are many months when you can see why! But this is not one of them months to me and as they only let you pay monthly now, I've no issue dropping gpu when it doesn't provide what I want. But I've a boatload of titles I'm still playing on plus.
Re: PS5 Execs Questioned About Xbox 'Moving Away From Console' In Official Sony Interview
@Cakefish Much as I wish for that seemless transition for you, it won't happen.
Most people reporting less than 10% of their owned games are play anywhere. Not even all Microsofts own titles all conform, it will never be the case for all games.
Transitioning means losing access to the majority of your games, but I fear there will be little choice in the matter, have some or have none.