TrollOfWar

I wonder if Back 4 Blood was successful? It had a fairly large hype before launch, but not much of a buzz afterwards. It was a fine spiritual "Left 4 Dead" successor, but it was fairly safe and didn't evolve the formula much (apart from some deckbuilder card modifiers). This would have to be better than Back 4 Blood.

@SigmaTheDJ

If MS had sold more consoles than Sony and Nintendo in the Xbox One generation, they wouldn't be peddling any of the nonsense they're peddling now. When one number looks bad, hold up another number and say "this is the one that matters!".

So you're suggesting what exactly?

1. Should Microsoft/Xbox continue with the same strategy as Sony, make their own 1st party games exclusive and invest an abundant amount of money on 3rd party exclusives for the Xbox consoles, and lose a lot of money along the way while trying to gain back a bit of a market share from PlayStation, even if PlayStation is in a strong, dominant position in the console space?
2. Just say that they lost the console wars, give up and close the whole Xbox gaming branch, including all the studios and games they invested in and maybe let Activision and Bethesda continue as 3rd party publishers?
3. Find a new business strategy which works best for them, like for example putting their games on as many platforms as they can, while they continue with their hardware ambitions and put a positive spin on it?

Of course Microsoft/Xbox would think differently if they were the ones selling the most high-end consoles and had the most console users. And Sony/PlayStation might be talking about how other numbers matter more to them. And the world would look different if Germany had won World War 2. But that's not what happened, so people need to make the best out of the current state.

@Coletrain

I think Xbox becomes a wildly successful publisher and software OS provider in the near future, with hardware being just a little bonus.

I think it's possible that exactly that is Microsoft/Xbox's future strategy, similar to Google Android (vs. Apple iOS). Android currently has a 72.55% of the global mobile OS market share, while iOS has 27.05%. Google also produces and sells their own smart devices (phones, tablets, watches), but their hardware business pales in comparison to other Android hardware manufacturers and of course Apple. Though I fear Microsoft might have a long way to go to get Windows OS into a good shape and get rid off all the bloat, but I guess the new Xbox full screen experience is a step into the right direction.

As for PlayStation, the brand is already on its way to become the trendy Apple brand of gaming.

... which is why we are focused on consoles and spending a ton of money and resources investing in Scarlett [later known as the Xbox Series X & S]. The same thing on PC."

I wonder what happened that it took Microsoft so many years to get any progress on the Windows/PC side?
Also it would be interesting to know how "a great Xbox in home" translates to their future plans?

I loved playing Project CARS with a racing wheel. This game looks interesting, but seems like many patches are needed to get this into a good shape.

From a publisher's perspective, they definitely would like more shadow drops. Less marketing expenses, no disgruntled fans if promised releases get pushed back, no negative day 1 reviews.

But this tactic doesn't work for everyone. Your dev studio needs a good reputation, or the franchise needs to be super popular for this to work well.

Of course they are. Every developer wishes for their game to be played by as many people as possible, no matter which platform.

I bet PlayStation devs would be just as "thrilled" to bring their games to other platforms, including Nintendo and Xbox.

@Titntin You're welcome. Enjoy the game. 😉

@Titntin

Really? How did you put up with god awful shimmering? The moment you get to a foggy area (the pathway down from the opening car park), I found the shimmering and fuz of the fomeffects unbearable on the pro..

Did you play on "quality" or "performance" mode? According to Digital Foundry the 1.06 patch released in November 2024 disabled PSSR upscaling in "performance" mode, resulting in less distracting visual shimmering noise. PSSR is still active in "quality" mode. Link: https://www.digitalfoundry.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2024-df-weekly-silent-hill-2-patched-on-ps5-pro-and-pssr-is-gone-from-the-performance-mode

@MaccaMUFC

wonder why they’ve remade SH2 and not SH1 first.

Silent Hill 2 has one of the best "psychological" stories in horror games and has a strong cult following. The story is stand-alone so there is no connection, unlike SH1 and 3.

@Balaam_

Resolution tops out a bit higher on PS consoles, but the series X holds to that 60fps line more consistently which is the better win. ... Seems like a win, but it isn’t.

You're the first person here to call it a "win", and then take it back. The visual/performance differences between PS5, PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X are less visible than game comparisons between PS2 & Xbox or PS3 & Xbox 360. I guess some fanboys like to label these comparison videos as a "win" for their favorite brand, as the number of exclusive games has diminished over the years and now they need new things to compare in online "console war" debates.

It’s a textbook example of lousy, incompetent ‘optimization’. ...
Consider—if Konami had let Sony develop it in-house, we could have seen a scenario where Nixxes did the PC port.

It's a bit harsh to call it "lousy, incompetent ‘optimization’" just because the PS5 Pro version doesn't perform better than the other versions. Even larger studios with more budget and experienced developers have a difficult time optimizing Unreal Engine 5 games. Konami chose Bloober Team because they are located in Poland, so they are cheaper than other studios and they are experienced in horror games. Also I would guess that Bloober Team had a tight schedule to deliver the game and might have received PS5 Pro dev kits shortly before the planned release.

Had the Silent Hill 2 Remake been developed in-house at PlayStation, it would have been a more expensive project and probably Sony might have liked to have a share of the revenue. Most of the PlayStation studios are located in the west so the developers have higher salaries and many of those studios were busy with their own live-service projects when development started on the Silent Hill 2 Remake.

Which would be the best version, and playable on Magnus next gen. Which would mean Xbox would have the best version, but it would be a case of having the best version without any compromises.

I guess many people prefer to play the game now, rather than having to wait another 2+ years until next generation, only to play a hypothetical "slightly better" version. Now Xbox players can play the game on their preferred system and if they choose to buy a new gen system in a few years, with "Magnus" they'll have the option between the Xbox and the Steam versions.

There is more of a power delta between the X and the Pro than there is between base PS5 and the X. Anything the X can do, the Pro can do better—but it doesn’t.

While the PS5 Pro's graphical performance is 45% faster than the base PS5, it still has the same CPU. I guess PSSR has been a bit oversold, the quality improvements differ widely from game to game. Maybe next year's version will improve it.

As things stand, the X version is the ‘best’ version but it’s a poorly optimized port that’s only marginally better than the already garbage PS5 version.

Not sure if everyone would agree with you, as the Silent Hill 2 Remake sold quite well on PS5.

@GamingGod

@Balaam_ I played this on pro and it was absolutely fine I don’t get the criticism

Digital Foundry had an analysis video when Silent Hill 2 Remake launched showing how PSSR on the PS5 Pro has some distracting visual noise. That's what @Balaam_ might be referring to.

Played some Burnout Revenge (Xbox 360 version) last night.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about this. Might give it a try

@EdgarTheBug This year's Call of Duty does feel a bit like a filler. Reminds me of Black Ops 4, which didn't have a campaign and only added the battle royale mode.

I wouldn't bet on any major changes to the engine to make it "current gen" . The engine is fairly versitile and looks decent enough, there are millions of players still on Xbox One and PS4, and Microsoft promised to release Call of Duty on Nintendo hardware.

@AgentCooper

Probably worth noting the discount runs until January which is pretty excellent 👍

Thanks for the info, might get it next month then.

Nice to see Battlefield 6 back in good form.

With this year's Call of Duty Balck Ops 7 reception being less favorable, I wonder what sort of discussions are going on at Microsoft and Activision when they compare the performance to Battlefield.

I don't remember anything noteworthy from the 20th Xbox anniversary apart from a multi part documentary. So I don't expect anything exciting from the 25th anniversary.

@Runex2121 That is quite the interesting statement being said by several Steam Deck and Xbox ROG Ally X owners that they are spending more time playing on these PC handheld than on a big screen due to having a little time to play and these devices are easy to pick up.

I don't quite see the point Ampere Analysis research director Piers Harding-Rolls is trying to make. Microsoft has clearly given up on trying to promote and sell Xbox Series consoles, so I don't think they're planning on having GTA 6 sell more Xbox Series consoles.

On the contrary, if Microsoft releases their next gen PC Xbox and it would run GTA 6 at a better performance than any other console, I could see that being a a decent sales boost - that is if the next PC Xbox can run GTA 6 if Rockstar plans to release a PC version at a later stage like they did with GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

@Balaam_

This is one of Xbox’s first and most successful pivots, namely the acknowledgment that Forza Motorpsort just can’t beat the ambition and lavish attention to detail of the GT games, so they needed to carve out a new path.

While Gran Turismo is definitely the better track racing series now, I think there is room for both Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport and they could learn from one another.

In my opinion the problems with the most recent Forza Motorsport game is that it launched with less content than previous titles, the gameplay changes ("CarPG") didn't click with the playerbase, the visual improvements aren't that big and it still has an identity crisis regarding the target audience (casual players vs. sim-cade fans), as seen with the less optimal support of racing wheels (controller players are oftentimes faster, wheel force feedback is inaccurate), questionable penalty system in online modes and no qualifying in the single-player career mode.

I enjoyed FM3 and FM7 a lot, but after having played Project CARS with a racing wheel for several dozens of hours, I feel like the recent Forza Motorsport should have been much better.

@fatpunkslim

Even if there were a few bumps along the way, overall, it went really well.

I wouldn't call Microsoft Xbox's actions just "a few bumps", with 5 or so closed or spun off studios, several cancelled games (Perfect Dark, Everwild, Contraband, Blackbird), price increases for hardware and subscriptions, and thousands of layed off people since the ABK acquisition.

@dskatter Personally I haven't played the original Marathon games from the 90s, but I guess for fans of the original games, this new multiplayer-only game is a letdown. I actually really like the aesthetic design and the grim sci-fi setting of this new Marathon, but I am not quite sold on the multiplayer-only experience and even as part of the beta feedback I expressed my desire for a single-player campaign.

@dskatter I played the Marathon beta a few weeks ago, I'm of course not allowed to talk about it due to an NDA, but it's not a terrible game. The problem is that it's not what people want Bungie to make, it doesn't have a mainstream appeal and at this point Marathon doesn't seem to have that "genre defining" impact Halo and Destiny had.

It seems like Bungie had no good plan what to do after Destiny 2 ends. Marathon as a PvPvE extraction shooter feels kind of like a filler until the next big game (probably Destiny 3) comes along. But that plan doesn't roll with a publicly traded parent company which expects a steady growth and a return of investment.

Personally I'll switch to Essential, my backlog is way too large to care about new releases on GamePass.

But regarding the GamePass price increase, people should compare the price plans to other subscription services (especially ad-free) like Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and of course PS Plus and see how GamePass compares. I was shocked to see Netflix Premium costing 20 Euros per month.

Hopefully the successful release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox will result in more PlayStation games releasing on Xbox.

@Fiendish-Beaver Thank you for sharing your gaming history. I see your an enthusiastic Xbox gamer. Personally I also prefer playing on Xbox, though I owned some PlayStation and Nintendo devices over the years. But I don't want to worry too much about what is out of my control.

I believe the "next Xbox" might potentially be what you already have as your gaming PC. I can see Microsoft trying to transfer as many Xbox features as possible to Windows, including some form of compatibility to old Xbox console games.

@Dm9982 Maybe Epic can create a more lightweight version of Lumen for gaming handheld devices such as Switch 2. I don't think older games would get ported to a new UE5 version, but at least future releases could benefit from it.

@Fiendish-Beaver We'll see in due time how the Xbox hardware side will evolve. My advice is not to care too much what will be in the future. Enjoy what you currently have, Xbox Series consoles get continued support. And when next generation launches, take your time to decide which platform suits your needs the best. 😉

Imagine there's no PlayStation,
It's easy if you try.
No need for Xbox,
Just one console, you and I.

​Imagine all the gamers,
Playing games in peace...

​You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the "console wars" will be done.

I agree with Reggie, Xbox is now multi-platform, so they should port more games to Switch 2, especially if they want to increase profitability across all studios. Optimizing games for the Xbox ROG Ally could also help for Switch 2 versions.

Forza Horizon 5, South of Midnight, Sea of Thieves, Grounded 2 would do well on Switch 2. I can imagine though that some games might not be viable from a technical standpoint. Unreal Engine 5 games like the recently announced Halo Remake, Oblivion Remastered and Hellblade 2 could prove to be too difficult to port. Or games which rely on a steady internet connection like MS Flight Simulator.

At least Microsoft should fulfill the promise of bringing Call of Duty to Switch 2.

@Cakefish I can see them advertising a new "1-hand accessibility feature" where you can play Stellar Blade with one hand on your phone, leaving the other hand free for... other things. 😏

... considering additional platform expansions to make Stellar Blade accessible to more players

They are definitely talking about an Apple iOS release. 😁

Jokes aside, it would do well on Xbox. The question is if PlayStation would publish the game like they did on other platforms or someone else?

@DennisReynolds

@Kramlar Difference is Death Stranding was 5 years old when it came to Xbox. SH2 is only a year old and its still full price on PS5

I guess, those on Xbox who waited over 1 year for the Silent Hill 2 Remake to come to Xbox can wait a few more weeks/months for a discount. The lowest price on PSN for the game was $34.99 in July.

I personally really like Halo 4. It's not as excellent as the Bungie developed Halo games, but it's still a very good Halo game. I liked the story, especially the dynamic between Cortana and the Master Chief. Love the graphics and visuals, hard to believe the Xbox 360 coupd render that. The multiplayer was also quite decent, and spec ops felt like a bonus on top. The Prometheans aren't as interesting as the Flood, that side of Halo felt more like a downgrade.

I loved Halo 5's multiplayer, especially that large-scale Warzone mode, but the story campaign was rather forgettable.

@Markatron84 I understand your point. But the way I see it, at the moment Sony is already giving that treatment to Steam players where they delay PC releases to get players to buy their games on the PlayStation store. They would stop doing that if it hurts their business that much. A proprietary PC launcher would extend the PlayStation platform (including additional active PSN accounts).

@themightyant

Sony would get less revenue from their games and Sony would be perceived poorly. It would likely be a win for Xbox.

I can only imagine what shareholders would say if Sony would intentionally block their own launcher on Xbox branded devices.

Shareholders: Why isn't the PS launcher available on Xbox PCs? It's lost revenue.

Sony Spokesperson: Our hardcore PlayStation fanbase didn't allow us.

😄

@Markatron84

Unless, of course, Sony brings out its own PC launcher and makes all of its games exclusive to it. Are the PlayStation higher-ups that stupid? Time will tell. But what I can already tell you is that if they are that stupid, PC players won't stand for it.

@Banjo-

As others have said, this is coming "soon" so it's not related to another PS device. If Sony is considering abandoning Steam and starting its own PC store just to prevent the next Xbox from running Sony's games, an idea worthy of the biggest Sony fanboy's dreams but somehow credible, Sony's going to hit a very thick wall. They would alienate PC players, including those that supported Sony games on Steam.

Abandoning Steam wouldn't be very unwise, based on how many PC gamers reacted when some games became "time exclusive" to the Epic Games Store. But Sony has been already applying a "time exclusivity" to PlayStation published single-player games for 1-2 years on PC like in the case of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 1/2 and God of War Ragnarok. They could continue that practice on Steam and Epic Games Store, and release games day 1 on PC via their own proprietary store/launcher where they earn 100% for 1st party games. Usually the marketing buzz and hype is the highest around the launch of a game, so it makes sense to use that moment to launch on as many devices as possible.

@VeganH

Nexbox can play pc games from steam, gog, epic, etc. So theoretically they're gonna play ps pc ports. Sony is like fcuk that. We'll build our own pc store(..with hookers and slots!) and not allow it to run on the nexbox.

@Sindayl

Console war is over, my butt. The only one saying that is Microsoft, just to shove the fact that their first-party games are going to PS5 down Xbox fans’ throats. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony pulled another shady move like saying, « This platform is not compatible with the PlayStation PC launcher.» when trying to install it on a future Xbox device.

I don't see how Sony could launch a PC store/launcher which they would block on Windows PC's with an Xbox branding, unless they would restrict their PC launcher to Linux OS.

Also, if Sony releases a PC launcher, why should they block it on an Xbox-branded gaming PC? It's a PC, so blocking the access to the PC launcher would defeat the point of releasing it on PC. Would they block it also on other devices like the Asus Xbox Rog Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and MSI Claw handhelds if they run Windows in the new "Xbox full screen mode"? It just doesn't make sense, especially since Sony earns 100% from their sold 1st party games and 30% from 3rd party games via the launcher and every user would need to create a PSN account to be able to purchase something. They don't profit from selling console hardware, they profit from selling games, so having the launcher on other devices makes a lot of sense business-wise.

Hypothetical question: If Sony could release a storefront on Xbox Series consoles, where they earn 100% from all transactions via that storefront, do you think they would do it or not?

If the label is really meant for PC/console cross-buy releases, then a PC store/launcher might be good if Sony doesn't want Steam and Epic Games Store to get 12-30% per sold game. PC players who buy their games on the PlayStation store would require a PSN account. Such a store might also be available on whatever Microsoft Xbox is creating next.

But of course it would reduce the appeal for PlayStation consoles, as PlayStation games would be available on other devices, maybe even day 1 with the PlayStation console releases.

I bet Sony has several business and data analysts who crunched the numbers, to get to a decision.

Seeing more PlayStation 1st party games published on Xbox would be welcome. Helldivers 2 did quite well apparently. But I wouldn't read to much into this survey, an official statement from the publisher would be better.

@OldGamer999 It's Halloween, it's a weekend (no work). People are looking for horror games and movies. Some Twitch/YouTube streamers will have a Halloween special. Many gaming sites are listing the top horror games for the season. And one of the most successful horror games of the recent years skips the moment. 🤷🏼

@Simu001

If only it where PVE only. I just cannot do extractions shooters with pvp. Had way to many negative experiences in the divisions darkzones. So I won't be experiencing this game.

That's a difficult topic, which also often comes up in games like Sea of Thieves. Some players, who mostly play single player games, might want to play such a game due to its visuals, world, mechanics, but they don't want to engage in PvP.

The problem is (especially in Sea of Thieves), without the PvP part the PvE side becomes fairly predictable and boring. The PvP part is what makes the experience unpredictable and exciting.

The biggest hurdle for new players is to accept that "losing" is part of the intended experience (kind of like in Souls-like games) and each defeat should be an opportunity to learn something new and do better next time.

@DeadSpace

@TrollOfWar do you really think there is more fans of Dead Space than Silent Hill? Hmm...

Not really honestly. When Dead Space 1 & 2 released, those games had a bigger playerbase than any Silent Hill game, but now thanks to Silent Hill 2 Remake and Silent Hill f the series is more popular than ever. On the other hand the Dead Space franchise seems a bit forgotten, even after the fabulous remake from a few years ago.

My comment was more to deflate the 3rd comment from that troll trying to flame console war debates. 😉

@TheMule1983 True, the Silent Hills fanbase isn't so big compared to Resident Evil or Dead Space, but still it's a good series and one shouldn't downplay it's achievements.

@Lup Lowest price on PSN $34.99

What a huge missed opportunity to not have it release for Halloween on Xbox. Not sure if the Silent Hill 2 Remake can invoke the Christmas spirit when it releases in a month or two.

@ElPadre666 It ran quite well in the "server slam" beta a week ago. 60fps on Xbox Series X.

@themightyant I believe Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond do care about gaming and growing the market and I guess it was Phil's idea to have a cheaper Xbox Series S console to lower the entry price into this generation. But aver since the ABK acquisition they aren't really in charge of making decisions anymore. Those are done on a level above them. I appreciate Phil's "gamer" comments which clearly shows that he cares about gaming, but those comments are often at odds with what the Microsoft corporation is communicating and mandating.