TrollOfWar

@Fiendish-Beaver With how development cycles work in software projects, it is highly unlikely that features like the Quick Resume toggle or the custom colors were implemented in just 2 weeks, including internal QA.

I miss demo discs. You had replayable demo versions of a bunch of games at low cost, without any launch drama.

@FraserG Thanks for your reply. I get it that it's good business for the publishers.

I guess it's similar to cases when a game is day 1 on GamePass while players on other platforms pay the full launch price.

I don't get it, why is the dicounted price of FF7 Remake - Intergrade higher on Xbox (£ 23.99) than on PSN (£ 15.19)?

@Fiendish-Beaver I hope you find something good to play with your friend. I used the last days of my GamePass subscription last year to play Call of Duty WWII and Black Ops 7. Both have a "zombies" horde mode Black Ops 7 is such an inconsistent, confusing mess, but the standard multiplayer is still fun if you can ignore the sweaty players.

I have some good memories playing Gears of War 2 horde mode online with friends.

@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah, I also had to look it up again. 😅

"Spec Ops" or "Special Ops" are the "coop" modes in some the "Modern Warfare" games (classic and reboot).

The old MW3 had "Mission Mode" where you had certain objectives to do, "Survival Mode" where you had several waves of increasingly stronger enemies attacking you and "Chaos Mode" which was also wave based but with points to acquire perks and increase combos.

The MW reboot has "Operations" for story-based operations, "Missions" for a more curated experience and "Survival" which the wave based mode. Actually that "Survival" mode was exclusive for 1 year on PlayStation back when the game released in November 2019.

"Xbox Helix" is decent enough, unless Microsoft again adds something like "variant S", "variant X" and "variant Pro Elite".

Or maybe call it "Xbox Gen5" 😉

@Fiendish-Beaver As far as I remember you can play the survivor mode in private sessions online with one other player.

The 2019 released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had the PlayStation exclusive Spec Ops mode for 1 year.

EDIT: The "Survival" mode of the coop "Special Ops" modes was exclusive to PlayStation for 1 year.

It's crazy how an older, more simple iteration of Call of Duty is more fun than the modern releases which focus on cosmetics and the live service.

The Sword of Ianna, maybe something new on Evercade.
And maybe Sea of Thieves.

@Banjo- I have my "New" Nintendo 3DS XL next to my bed. Unfortunately I'm playing it less nowadays. Last year I started Paper Mario: Sticker Star which felt a bit boring in my opinion and after discovering the Evercade handhelds I'm now spending more time playing Evercade games.

@DennisReynolds

Me i just find it amusing how you guys on here are now suddenly ok with timed/exclusives deals when its MS doing them.

To be honest, I don't see anyone here caring or being happy about any form of exclusivity for this game. Most people here are probably not even aware that a PlayStation release doesn't seem to be planned at the moment. I don't see any reason for people here to be outraged.

There could be many reasons why Square Enix is prioritizing an Xbox release over PlayStation. Maybe combining the PC port and release with Xbox was more efficient, maybe they didn't have any PlayStation porting capacities available in time for this.

Personally I think this game specifically should come to PlayStation as well. There is a big audience for JRPGs there. And I think it will probably arrive at some point on PlayStation.

I think @Gemini53 highlights how outraged some hardcore PlayStation fans on PushSquare feel. Maybe that outrage is valid as the PlayStation community is known to be very emotional about Square Enix games and the company did commit to releasing all their games multi-platform.

I played and finished the original game on the Nintendo 3DS. It's a decent, turn-based JRPG with a beautiful visual art style. But the story drags on for too long...
... You basically need to play through a large part of the story 4 times to get the true ending.

@Gemini53

Bizarrely it strikes me that the thought process behind Helix seems to benefit PC gamers more than it does Xbox gamers.

It does benefit PC gamers more, yes. But I think because Microsoft started to realize that gaming ia becoming more popular on PC with new gamers than on consoles and they are now shifting the focus to PC.

Xbox players will also benefit, as they will get access to 40+ years of PC gaming (which they previously didn't have) and they do not have to worry if a game comes to their system, unless it's fully exclusive to PlayStation or Switch.

@swedetrap You're probably right. I understood it like they won't focus on just those 2 every year.

@somnambulance Not really. Xbox Series X/S development kits (SDK units) began shipping to developers shortly after the E3 in 2020 and the console released in November 2020.

A similar timeframe might be viable here as well.

I do wonder, will the compatibility of Xbox console games (OG, 360, One & Series) be limited to this new Xbox Helix device or something available for every Windows PC? And will it work with all graphics cards (including Nvidia) or just AMD?

@kmtrain83

Yes the release of Helix could coincide with GTA 6 coming to PC, but 4K 60 FPS would take a powerful graphics card...

If the "Xbox Helix" can run Xbox Series X|S games, then technically it will be able to run GTA 6 before the official PC launch. And if the performance of the Xbox Helix is stronger than the Xbox Series X, then I wonder if it could have something like "FPS boost" (maybe via AMD's frame gen) to achieve higher frame rates. I'm speculating of course, but this could be quite exciting.

@Coletrain

Also, would love haptic feedback on the pad. Love that on dualsense but not a fan of the ergonomics

Well, you probably can connect a DualSense controller to the "Xbox Helix" if it's a PC.

@Jayphex

I don’t understand PC gaming, so if this runs PC stuff too would that mean it would have to have a graphics card similar to a current spec one in order to run games at a particular performance?

The current Xbox Series consoles and this future "Xbox Helix" devices are/will be using AMD manufacturerd PC components for rhe CPU and the graphics card, but the "Xbox Helix" will have a stronger, next gen graphics card with new features (better ray-tracing, AI upscaling, AI frame generation).

So, based on what Microsoft is saying, this new device will be a PC, with a fixed specification, which can run future PC games, and also Xbox games. Technical compatiblity to Xbox console games is possible since it using more modern AMD components, but currently it is unknown how it will be achieved in Windows.

I wonder if the Xbox Helix will support VR headsets (like the PSVR2)?

@Balaam_

I’m trying to imagine an absolute best case scenario here.

...

This is still a really miniscule window of time to even think about getting something out the door and ready for launch in what would be supposedly the same year, 2027. I don’t see how anything but a low budget, low tech, low scope indie game could see release in the launch window. I fear for another Series X launch fiasco repeat, where yeah the hardware is great but there is literally no ‘next gen’ software at launch and you’re stuck playing last gen content on your shiny new $1K+ investment. That’s not a good look.

Who knows, it might run GTA 6 at 60 fps and 4K. That might be enough for some people. 😉

But seriously, if it's a PC (with a specific Xbox Helix profile target) then any game currently in development for PC, like The Witcher 4, the next Black Myth game, etc. is technically going to run on the that Xbox Helix device.

@Cikajovazmaj

I miss the days (arguably Nintendo is sort of still there) when these announcements were "more games, better, now" instead of all this modern PR newspeak.

Well this case is special, because its from the GDC - Game Developers Conference. The presentation is aimed at an audience of developers who care more about the development capabilities than the sort of games which would run on it. It's up to that audience to develop those future games. 😉

Didn't some Xbox exec last year say that they learned their lessons and will not release Modern Warfare and Black Ops back-to-back? 😄

To be fair, I didn't expect it to change, as these games are planned many years ahead.

I am surprised that Project Gotham Racing 4 is not on the list. I would love to play that game again.

Wow, the user reviews on Metacritic aren't all too positive: https://www.metacritic.com/game/marathon/user-reviews/

The Sword of Ianna on Evercade
And maybe a bit of Sea of Thieves.

@kmtrain83 I could be wrong and Microsoft could create something no one expected. But as of now, when I say the "future of Xbox is on PC", I'm thinking that Microsoft will not separate between Xbox as a console and Windows for PC gaming going forward. Xbox will be the full screen experience for gaming on Windows, kind of like Steam OS (built on Linux) has a full screen mode. Microsoft gaming hardware will have the "Xbox" brand, similar to Lenovo "Legion", Asus "ROG", HP "Omen" or Dell "Alienware", but the "Xbox" full screen app mode will be available for every device running Windows, maybe with features like "quick resume" and "auto HDR" ported to Windows.

As for the games and compatibility to Xbox console games... It's technically doable to get Xbox console games running on Windows PC. There's a small community project called "XWine1" which aims to build a translation layer (not emulation!) which translates Xbox OS system functions into Windows. They got Forza Horizon 2 running in Windows (not perfectly). Now if Microsoft, with all the money and resources they have, would create such an Xbox translation layer for Windows, that would be pretty elegant solution to the problem. In case of games with both console and Pc versions "Smart Delivery" would choose the best option and cloud saves would make sure that you have your most recent save file. The only issue I can think of might be related to licensing, where some publishers might not want players to be able to play a console version on PC, but I guess that's where "Play Anywhere" comes in play.

I could be wrong of course, but for me this makes the most sense. Microsoft wouldn't have to maintain 2 separate OS (Xbox OS and Windows OS) for some weird dual-boot hybrid, the user experience would be seamless and console-like and game developers for future games would only need to focus on building for Windows, which also strengthens the position of Windows OS for gaming on PC and developer support for DirectX. This would come full circle with Microsoft's initial vision of Xbox being a console running Windows. Let's see what the future brings. 😄

Based on what I heard and read until now, I think it will be an expensive, niche devices for those who are invested in the Xbox platform and want to take their library to PC. Microsoft will not be concerned about selling millions of devices, as long as millions of gamers play on Windows and buy their games.

I think the future of Xbox will be on PC. The question is, how Microsoft will sell the vision and how well it will work on launch?

@Sol4ris

🤣 And no doubt critics will dutifully oblige Bungie's request.

Looking at the Marathon Metacritic page, it looks like all gaming outlets respect Bungie"s request.

Maybe they fear from Sony putting them on a blacklist and not providing review codes anymore if someone breaks the embargo.

@Balaam_ I don't mind PlayStation studios creating live-service games, as long as they are good. Helldivers 2 is good, Gran Turismo 7 is good, MLB The Show has players who enjoy it.

But I totally agree with you. I love the style and aesthetics of Marathon, but I also wish it was some sort of weird sci-fi single-player horror shooter with a mind-blowing story.

But for a live-service leaning towards PvP game I don't think it offers enough, especially at the price of $ 40. I could see myself playing it with friends for a few sessions, but honestly there are enough free alternatives which people can play instead.

I don't want Marathon to fail and it may be a game for a different audience than the people you find on these forums, but it fails to get me hyped. And this review embargo doesn't really give a positive impression.

@IOI

@fatpunkslim @TrollOfWar Using that headline as a metric is disingenuous since Helldivers 2 is pretty much the only exception to the rule as it’s the only game that has sold more on PC than PS5 with nearly 2/3 of its total sales being on PC, it’s even stated on the article itself that’s an anomaly due to Helldivers 2.

True, Helldivers 2 was an exceptional and tremendous success on PC. It's also the only truly new game (ignoring remakes and remasters) which was released day 1 on PlayStation and PC simultaneously.

Player interest in new single-player games typically lasts one to two weeks, with engagement declining by approximately 60 % by the fifth week. By the time a PlayStation game releases 1-2 years later on PC with no fanfare, interest in those games has declined dramatically. But who am I to tell PlayStation how to do their business, they are the industry leaders. 😄

@Questionable_Duck Yeah, could be the case that the Steam Machine will only sell a few millions, but I heard that they want orher hardware manufacturers like Lenovo to create their own Steam OS based Steam Machines. I think it could strengthen Valve's position where PC players would get a Steam Machine for the big screen TV rather than a console.

My guess is that Sony's strategy might be more capturing players new to gaming and players from PS4/Xbox One to whom Steam might be more attractive, and less of PlayStation vs Xbox move. But what do I know, I'm just a random gamer. 😅

I think for Sony the next Xbox is less of a concern, even if it's a PC with an Xbox sticker that plays Steam and Epic games, and who knows when it will release and at which price.

Their bigger problem is Valve's Steam Machine, a console-like gaming PC which connects to your TV, is in the same price range as a PS5 Pro, has more exclusives from indie developers by default, has cheaper games, a bigger back-catalog due to no generational limits and doesn't require a subscription for online gaming. Plus a handheld in form of the Steam Deck rounding up the Steam ecosystem.

While PS5 sales numbers are in-line with PS4's numbers there is still some way to go, especially with PS6 being postponed if the rumors are true. Usually in previous console generation you would see strong permanent price reductions on console hardware towards the end of a generation. With rising component costs, it looks like Sony will have to rely on exclusive games to attract more people rather than lowering the price of the console.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner

@fatpunkslim sales on PC make up around 2% of Sony sales.

It’s a small number.

Not quite. It's 30% - 40% of PlayStation's first party sales. Link: https://www.techspot.com/news/109514-pc-sales-now-account-nearly-third-sony-first.html

It's 2% of PlayStation total revenue, which includes Fortnite, Call of Duty and Genshin Impact micro-transactions.

@Gemini53

Did he sign an NDA or anything similar?

If not I imagine he could very well tell Activision to do one.

And let's be honest, who gives a monkey's fart about Activision. 🤷

I can see Activision being successful with their case in front of a court. I'm not sure who exactly leaked it, but it was already known that Black Ops 7 would have some online coop campaign with an open ended "extraction" -like last mission and some weird fantastic boss fights, which was a huge bummer for people who were looking to buy Call of Duty for a classic offline single-player campaign and the game was negatively branded before the release - which lead to lower than expected sales numbers and Activision losing money.

I'm not saying Activision's approach is good, as they try to take advantage of people's expectations, who otherwise would blindly buy the Call of Duty games. But Activision is right that the leaks had a negative impact on the performance of last year's Call of Duty release.

The second thing is the 'return to Xbox,' we are going to start with console, and make sure that we understand that this is our reference experience.

It reads like, whatever they are planning to create, the experience needs to be "as good as the Xbox console experience ".

BTW, Digital Foundry's take on the current state of Xbox is also worth listening to: https://youtu.be/0_6BUiAycxY They address the current problems the Xbox brand faces and which sort of changes are feasible in the future.

While I see the argument that according to reports, Sony is also planning to keep their games exclusive to the PlayStation console, so everyone is now looking at locking in content, personally I don't think this is a good approach, especially for Xbox.

These games cost a lot to develop and if we want Microsoft/Xbox to continue releasing games like Halo, Fable, Gears and Forza Horizon in the future, we also need to understand that the games need to sell successfully (that includes on PlayStation and Nintendo). Otherwise Microsoft will close down the studios and invest in other more profitable endeavors.

I think Seamus Blackley comment, about Microsoft sunsetting Xbox, is his perception of the current state at Xbox. He knows how Microsoft works and thinks as he was part of that organization, but he doesn't know Microsoft's current plans and strategies.

@Globo There is also a YouTuber called Carzy Burger who has a lot of Evercade related videos. He created an Evercade collection starter guide 2 weeks ago: https://youtu.be/Pod4Ir58Mzk

@FraserG Can you maybe rename the website to "EvercadeEra"? Seems like there are many of us Evercade enthusiasts here. 😄

@Globo I've got 2 Super Pockets, Capcom and Neo Geo Edition. Also have the 2020 released and now discontinued original Evercade Handheld, bought it used and replaced the display. And I'm considering getting a EXP-R and VS-R.

In my opinion the build quality of the Super Pocket handhelds is fairly good. Yes, the IPs display is small (about the same size as a GBA display, but the it's sharp and has bright colors. The back buttons are a bit awkward to press. But the Super Pockets are regularly on sale (as low as € 47,90 / £ 35) which makes them a good deal in my opinion.

I got my first Super Pocket last year because I wanted to play Tomb Raider on the go. Now I'm more excited about new Evercade games than current gen games. I'm considering getting an EXP-R because it has a Tate-mode for vertical scrolling arcade shoot'em ups.

I would be tempted to buy this new Rare Edition of the Super Pocket, if I didn't already have 2 of them. So I will patiently wait for Banjo Kazooie to release on cart. I saw several people concerned about Banjo Kazooie's analog controls not being suited for the d-pad controls of the Super Pocket, but apparently Blaze Entertainment has found a studio which which can adapt the N64 games with "modern optimisations and refine the emulation of the game specifically for Evercade devices". Link: https://evercade.co.uk/introducing-64-bit-console-gaming-on-evercade/

Hidden Cats in Istanbul
Cathedral on Evercade (nearly done)
The Sword of Ianna on Evercade

If I were head of Xbox, what would I do... Create an addictive social gaming platform similar to Roblox, where kids can use GenAI to generate new games. /s

@Gemini53 @themightyant @ilyn Regarding the timing of the announcement, I believe Windows Central had it in their article, that IGN was planning to break the news before Microsoft was ready. That's why it seems so hasty.

@themightyant

But talk is cheap, it's actions that matter, I will be interested to see what ACTUAL action she takes give time.

Fully agree and that Seamus Blackley interview does give a somewhat cautious perspective on the current things.

@fatpunkslim

Seriously, this guy sounds bitter — what is he even talking about? He worked at Xbox for only three years, and that was 24 years ago… He’s completely out of touch with what’s happening at Xbox today.
So honestly, his opinion matters about as much as any random troll on Twitter.
Thanks for designing the first Xbox, sure — but that’s it. It’s obvious he just wants attention by siding with the haters who say anything for clicks, because that’s the easy route.
But the guy clearly has no idea what’s going on anymore

Having read the entire interview now - it's worth a read by the way - I think you're wrong about Seamus Blackley.

He was invited by GameBeat for the interview to give his opinion on the current situation with Xbox. He is not seeking for attention.

He has been a key member of the team which created Xbox, so he and his team faced some big challenges and learned a lot, like how to build partnerships with developers and build trust with the gaming community, things the new Xbox CEO needs to learn if she wants to be successful.

Even after he left Microsoft, Blackley was still active in the gaming business. He did all the mechanical licenses for Guitar Hero and Rock Band at the Creatice Artists Agency.

Of course, if Microsoft's plans for gaming are about moving away from a traditional gaming business and integrating AI into games then everything Blackley has to say is unimportant to them.

@eduscxbox

Why are people mixing up 'pivot away from console' with 'exclusive games'?!

Issue is not the exclusives. Xbox has no exclusive since 2016. The issue was that console was left aside in favor of PC and Cloud.

The problem wasn't the 'This is An Xbox' marketing either, problem was that Xbox consoles weren't part of that.

Main issue is the lack of support for the console. Would they keep supporting Series X|S and have done all the rest exactly the same there would be no problem by now.

I don't think people are mixing up 'pivot away from console' with 'exclusive games'. They are speculating if "exclusive games" would be a partial solution to fixing the support for the Xbox consoles.

Personally I am not a big fan of exclusives, I think everyone should be able to play games on their preferred hardware. But the question is, how would Microsoft/Xbox show their support to the Xbox consoles, apart from "exclusive games"? How would they stand out and differentiate themselves from PS5? GamePass apparently is not enough.

@fatpunkslim

The message ‘This is an Xbox’ was impactful — everyone remembers it, for better or worse — but it probably lacked subtlety.

@FraserG

I agree that the messaging is what's wrong with Xbox right now. They're actually doing a lot of things right, but it doesn't feel like it... "This is an Xbox" feels like it's alienated more people than brought them on board.

I think the problem with the "This is an Xbox" message was the missing delivery. It's critical and vague, it confused many people, but there was no delivery tied to it. No new Xbox device which would validate the message, no Xbox mobile store on all devices, no clarification on what's to come.

@EdgarTheBug

The fact that all of this is a thing for a trillion dollar software company is absolutely f pathetic.

That's often the case with large corporation. The bigger they are the slower, more number focused they become. That's why large corporations usually aquire small start ups with a good idea.

@TryToBeHopeful

they’re not going to be able to walk back on those multi platform commitments as that’s what got their mergers approved legally.

As far as I know, Microsoft only committed contractually to release Call of Duty on all platforms for the next 10 years and the cloud streaming of Activision-Blizzard gamed via Ubisoft for the next 15 years. There was no agreement on all Microsoft owned games to release multi-platform.

So they could theoretically walk back on the strategy, but it's not something they can change from one week to the other, and it wouldn't make players happy on other platforms.