@Coletrain What this is saying is that the ROG Ally experience is being tested on the Insider tracks, before it becomes toggleable on any and all Windows 11 machines.
If you are already using a ROG Ally, this does nothing for you.
This is great news for quite a lot of people. Something to note is that, if you've played Crew 2, you'll find your garage is a lot more full than you expected it to be.
If Forza Motorsport gets taken behind the garage and given the humiliating death of a 90% discount followed by delisting before it's even had a chance to live, well, I'll be disappointed. Will still pay for the full game for next to nothing. Have done with all the previous games.
The major difference between, say, Geforce Now and XBOX Cloud Gaming is concerning game ownership. XBOX Cloud Gaming bakes into the service a guarantee that, for the basic service, not 'Stream Your Own Game', that every game is available without restriction.
Most streaming services have a secondary caveat that you need to prove, after launching, that you own the game before you start. The subscription only covers the costs of the servers.
XBOX Cloud Gaming, even at the Essential tier, uses your XBOX catalogue to tell you what you can and can't play. The ownership status is covered before the game even starts. And that's the big plus for Cloud Gaming. The onus is on Microsoft, not you, to check if you own what you want to play.
@Fiendish-Beaver I'm glad about it, since there's a ton of stuff that I now have free. Yes, some people might be about as interested in the Ubisoft back catalogue as having a root canal, but it's one less subscription.
Next month, from what the infographic says, I'll never have to pay for a Fortnite Battle Pass again. Ever. Considering how much the damn things cost, that's a big win for me and a few people, and will encourage me to play the game again.
All the stuff we got today... for a relatively small increase in the price, that's the big point. Yes, you personally might not give a flying f--k, but the actual price of all the stuff they've given us... for the price of a single indie game... is worth it to quite a lot of people.
How I see it is that you're getting four games for the price that some companies sell you one. And they're throwing a bunch of free stuff at you as an apology for how f-ing long it took.
Yes, quite a few people who they're trying to get this game may well have FF7 already. But it's not the most scummy price for something. I will say that the 'Deluxe' edition isn't worth it at all.
For Microsoft, they made Minecraft be the spearhead for making a game that everyone, everywhere, can play on anything.
For Sony, they made Helldivers 2 the spearhead. When the game first came out, it was epic to hear about how players were breaking the narrative... but it wasn't our war. Now it is, and it's similar to how the Marine Corp acts...
There's Blue Helldivers, there's Green Helldivers. There's even a bunch who aren't either, but they're all Helldivers, and Super Earth appreciates all their efforts.
If they keep it as a Game Pass perk, that it's now rolling out to all tiers means that they're confident it's not going to be in Beta for much longer.
I appreciate that, if I have an issue with my Ultimate for whatever reason, the main purpose I use Cloud Gaming for, playing my XBOX when I'm out of the house, is perfectly functional.
The good news - It's on XBOX. The questionable news - It looks like hell. The really good news - All bugs are ones that Super Earth is aware of... The bad news - ...but aren't likely to fix this side of eternity.
If we end up with the chance to show our appreciation to Super Earth for our democratic right to bear arms using ODST Troopers, well, Thank you Super Earth.
We'll be sure not to accidentally nuke our Playstation brethren.
One of the first games I got as part of getting a new XBOX was Forza Horizon 4. It's always had something new to find, the open world nature means that you don't have to do anything in a particular order and there's always something new to find.
I find both Asphalt and Speedstorm to be brain-dead racing, and Motorsport is not much better. Once you've mastered the circuits in a circuit racer, you'll never lose.
Consoles like this show what miracles they do with them. Microsoft alluded to the fact it has some funky way of doing the cooling, and you can so see it there.
Would love to see a Series S just to see how tightly they packed it.
Seriously, with Nintendo's big 'I can patent the act of showing a video game character breathing' push, and both Sony and Microsoft mulling over ending the console war outright with a platinum handshake, I could see two possible fates for the videogame market...
Option 1: Nintendo manages to decisively win in the Palworld lawsuit. They continue using patents to police the industry. The indie game market collapses, and Nintendo manages to consolidate the mainline market under itself due to holding the patents that allow anyone to make a game. Nintendo win the console war without needing to take part.
Option 2: Nintendo lose the Palworld lawsuit in a definitive manner, and their attempt to patent key game mechanics collapses. Sony and Microsoft's new strategy pays dividends for them, and Microsoft leverages it's growing playerbase in Japan, and Nintendo's fall from grace, to become the No. 2 system worldwide, while Nintendo is forced to go multi-platform due to losing consumer trust in it's systems.
Seriously, Sony and Microsoft could make up and become stronger together, or Nintendo's patent actions could cause the industry to be in a very bad place. I don't see Sony OR Microsoft being the ones who'll decide the next industry move.
@RiverGenie If you use an XBOX Series console, you automatically are using it. Which is part of the point.
Smart Delivery, Smart Resume, Play Anywhere... They all have one thing in common. Namely the fact that they all just do their job, and at the user level, 90% of the time, you never actually see them in action, but you use them all constantly.
And that's the big thing about Microsoft's strategy for quite a few of their technologies, that you are using them from the moment you start playing... and never actually realise you are.
I'm likely to buy this, not at launch, but eventually, because it's pretty much the Starship Troopers game I never thought I'd ever see. The same biting satire, the same action of pretending that what you do actually matters in the end... The thing that is even more epic about Helldivers 2 though is that, when the player base decides to flip the script, the developers don't sit there trying to work out how to keep the narrative going, they managed to flip it back. The game's storyline when we get on it is very different from the original, and when Helldivers 3 comes along, no-one has a clue what that will be like. And that is why this game will sell.
I played the demo, and the controller I used for it had an uncontrollable drift issue whenever I wasn't in gameplay on FFXVI and the console itself for about an hour afterwards.
The story is nonsensical, the hero unlikable and the only good things about the plot are the doggo and the female lead. It's the same reason I don't own FFXV. The last couple of Final Fantasy games have tried to capture the same dynamic as they had with Squall... when even I will admit that I own FFVIII for Triple Triad and not it's plot. FFS, The only recent new game I've actually enjoyed is Final Fantasy XIV, and that's because you're not some anti-hero who spends half the plot angsting about events beyond their control.
OK, Poke-like game where the gimmick is that you can merge with your mons. The only thing I'm worried about right now is simple...
What's going to cost me real money? Are the not-Pokeballs going to be 10 for a dollar? Is there going to be time gates that require me to pay the workers up front with real money to get them to do their job at a decent speed? Will there be cooldown timers that strangely go away when you feed $5 into them?
@Nighto4 I try to be polite to the other side. I used to own a Playstation too. Then it fell off the table one too many times and the hard drive malfunctioned.
The nice thing about the FF7R release isn't that it's happened... It's that we're skipping the interim versions. We're getting the 'full' Intergrade version, meaning that SquEnix are likely to develop the other 'discs' in parallel for all platforms, and only Episode 1 was a Playstation (Timed) Exclusive.
Also, for quite a few people, for their Final Fantasy library to be able to go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... ...12, 13, 14, 15, 16 with the best versions in every case is epic.
I got a Series S to replace an XBOX One S, no bells and whistles, just the console, and I haven't looked back. It will run XBOX Series exclusives with no problems, it will run retro games... even from other publishers... equally well, and it's small, light and practically silent.
Literally, it's a mug's game to choose between getting an XBOX One X and an XBOX Series S. With the XBOX One X, you still will find several of the biggest titles refusing to run, while the Series S has nothing on the current XBOX storefront that has compatibility issues with it. And it will fit into most media setups. And with the XBOX Series X vs the S? The Series X would be a good substitute for a breeze block, it costs a lot more and there's no exclusives between the two. Again, Mug's game.
I feel that the modern Doom trilogy is pretty much a version of a different trilogy... Evil Dead. Right down to the third game going medieval on everything.
And, just like Evil Dead, the story might be questionable, the mini-games poor, but you didn't come into this expecting a grand sweeping narrative. You want your boomstick, you want your chainsaw, and you want to kill an excessive number of eldritch creatures that are pouring out of Hell.
I see that Push Square mainly scored it down since it has Microsoft on the box somewhere. I can't name one Doom game I played for the story. I played them to rip and tear until the credits rolled.
Implementing "Raytracing" would likely see an nVidia or AMD badge appear on the interface for Minecraft, depending on whose implementation of the standard they use. Vibrant Visuals uses a similar open standard, giving many of the benefits without the licensing fee.
Vibrant Visuals is one of those things that works best in motion. Seeing the light sources reflect off items, watching as the shadows creep across the ground as time passes, watching the simulated light pass through the water. It looks really good whatever quality you have it set to.
Finally, set the game to 'Prefer Performance', look at the settings and tweak them to preference. You turn the render distance up to full and the graphics settings to Ultra on Series S, and you will see the frame rate tank. You turn each setting up individually and see what looks best without killing your frame rate, you'll get much better than 'Fancy' graphics on anything.
@GuyinPA75 The difference between "COVID Tax" and Trump's tariffs is that, unless you think it's fake news, Trump has gone on record as requesting tariffs of over a hundred per cent on Chinese goods.
Practically everything you're using right now to play games has come from China in some way.
So, no, this isn't Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all charging people through the nose because they can. Someone needs to pay those tariffs, and consoles are already loss leaders. So, If the next consoles are $1000 and some of the components in the box say 'Made in Vietnam' or similar, I certainly know why.
Trump's attitude to how to fix the world markets, namely tariff everyone into buying American products made in American factories, is just going to send every industry in existence into freefall worse than the pandemic.
Nintendo are making the consumer pay, Sony are making the consumer pay and Microsoft are making the consumer pay.
The only way to save our wallets... Anyone got a time machine to find some way to stop Trump winning?
Right now, gaming is just not good value. Throw in Trump effectively sending the global economy into freefall, and I could see the neXt-Box costing $999.99 for the 'economy' version, and even the cheapest games costing $40-50... and it will only get worse.
The value of pretty much all the world's currencies are taking a huge dip since Trump's devalued the whole concept of money.
The clucking moron claims that the fact the US Economy is in freefall is 'Biden's fault', while trying to force the world to take from itself to pay him.
If the downward spiral doesn't stop, I could see XBOX Game Pass being about the same price as a full price game in 2023, and it still be 'good value'.
Microsoft's strategy coming out of the ABK deal is to try to get Microsoft games on EVERYTHING. Yes, Sony can bleat about how their version of Forza Horizon or Doom Dark Ages is the best version, but they're still lining their rival's pockets.
Summer Game Fest 2026, Microsoft could leave Sony in the dust by the simple fact all of Sony's big third party announcements... are Microsoft's games.
@HeavyHoggJP Sony pretty much got exclusivity for Hoyoverse's games and Infinity Nikki through shenanigans for long enough that, as you allude to, by the time that Microsoft get them, interest has definitely waned.
The lifespan of mobile titles is a lot shorter than most, and Sony knows it.
@darylb24 Also, it helps with the fact they had to partially divest themselves of Cloud Gaming to get Sony to shut up with the ABK deal, since Sony were trying their damndest to make the deal no longer financially profitable for Microsoft.
The media industry, gaming and films, both have a major issue with pseudo-imagery, and misclassification.
The Dead Or Alive games are rated for 15 year olds. The Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series are rated for 12 year olds. Neither of them are much better than Mortal Kombat, which gets it's rating since it doesn't even try NOT to be gruesomely violent.
Anyone, sort your full library by content rating, and you will be shocked by how many games that really should be a hard 15 to 18 rating get rated at least one level lower.
I've been driven nuts by the requirements on this game. Hoyoverse just confirmed that I'm not going to need a whole new device for playing it in the near future.
OK, When is either of the Honkai games coming to XBOX?
Microsoft threw down the gauntlet when they offered Sony a lot more than they needed to with the ActiBlizz settlement, and Sony's not reciprocating.
Nintendo's Palworld litigation and numerous anti-emulation and anti-fangame stances recently have made the whole fact they released MKW at $80 and require you to double dip for 'upgrades' make them as bad as Sony.
All Microsoft would need to do is make a xCloud 'console' that's say $150 (including a controller), a Series S successor that's around $300, the handheld at $400 and their Series X successor at $600, and they would be able to gain interest from quite a few people since they'd be the only company who actually are selling to the budget market.
Yes, they might not have Mario, Starfox, Splatoon, Pokemon, Zelda, Metroid... but tell me this... How many of Nintendo's internal franchises have really had much in the last few years?
If they did a remaster of Phantasy Star Online 1 or Phantasy Star Universe, I'd put the money down.
Other than that, Final Fantasy 11 would be nice, and not just since there's a hole in my game list... It goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14...
Warner Bros Discovery seem to be doing everything in their power to cause the company to tank.
Multiversus and Hogwarts Legacy were a license to print money, and both are having support pulled early. Meanwhile, Kill The Justice League failed to capture an audience, even with the hype of Kevin Conroy's appearance in it, and they kept releasing more content for it. Both Batgirl and The Flash were gateway films to DC's new movie-verse, with The Flash having more and more controversy due to it's volatile marquee star... and they cancel Batgirl. They are pretty much selling Looney Tunes to Ketchup Entertainment while clogging their streaming service with whatever crap they can shovel out.
Seriously, David Zaslav is destroying the Warner Brothers legacy, ostensibly to cover a debt that he saddled the company with!
Accidental shadow copies or other content that is effectively 'hidden' waste is a good thing for Microsoft to go after. Most device cleaners have an option already to highlight when you have two or more copies of the exact same file(s). For the Free Up Space option to now go 'Ahem, I think that your space problems might be due to that errant excess copy of Call Of Duty', that's really useful.
I could see that they do a simple thing with the 'completing games for you'. You get AI credits somehow, say, 1 credit per half-hour of gameplay and you can spend, say, 1 credit for 30 seconds of assisted gameplay.
There needs to, alongside encouraging people to use AI to aid them, an equal discouragement for people to just tell Copilot to 100% their games. One easy discouragement is that you need to leave the game running since Copilot can't just pull up your game and progression. A second easy one is not allowing people to get it for literally free.
Well, my personal experiences with it... Half a dozen freezes, no real lag spikes and one entire session scrubbed when the game slowed down to a crawl once then crashed entirely. Did find that the controller was an excellent massage device during both incidents.
However, when it works, it works, and it's definitely looking like this will be one of the better F2P titles, but it will have to try really hard to stand up against Warframe, which is a practically entirely free experience.
@Deljo You'll notice unlock conditions on everything that needs unlocking. Once you've done at least... I believe it's a full run with five decks, you'll unlock challenges. After that, do it at your own pace.
The thing about Balatro is that you always want to do 'better'. When you've got it, you have this odd feeling that, if you changed up your jokers, or added some different deck modifiers, or...
And then you realise that you misplaced several hours, but hey, you've won with that deck. Now for the NEXT deck... and then you unlock challenges... And then you buy the game since you realise it's coming off Game Pass and wonder where all the time went.
Comments 381
Re: The ROG Xbox Ally's Dashboard Will Soon Be Available On Standard Windows PCs
@Coletrain What this is saying is that the ROG Ally experience is being tested on the Insider tracks, before it becomes toggleable on any and all Windows 11 machines.
If you are already using a ROG Ally, this does nothing for you.
Re: Vampire Crawlers Is A Survivors Spin-Off, And It's Set For Xbox Game Pass In 2026
@FrenchVaniIIuxe Don't worry. They still haven't found any vampires. But your free time is still deader than disco.
Re: The Crew Motorfest Races Onto Xbox Game Pass This Week, And You Don't Want To Miss It
This is great news for quite a lot of people. Something to note is that, if you've played Crew 2, you'll find your garage is a lot more full than you expected it to be.
Re: Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 Gets Small Post-Launch Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
The biggest problem with BO7 is it's campaign. Both the fact it's bare-bones and the fact it's always online.
Can we please have single-player content with our games again?
Re: Epic Details Exactly When Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Players Can Access Fortnite Crew
@PhileasFragg Microsoft have made it clear that the subscription version will be automatically cancelled until you stop using Ultimate.
Re: Reaction: As Gran Turismo 7 Gets A Major 2025 Expansion, Forza Motorsport Deserved More
If Forza Motorsport gets taken behind the garage and given the humiliating death of a 90% discount followed by delisting before it's even had a chance to live, well, I'll be disappointed. Will still pay for the full game for next to nothing. Have done with all the previous games.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Expands With 'Unlimited' Usage & Special Perks For Game Pass Members
The major difference between, say, Geforce Now and XBOX Cloud Gaming is concerning game ownership. XBOX Cloud Gaming bakes into the service a guarantee that, for the basic service, not 'Stream Your Own Game', that every game is available without restriction.
Most streaming services have a secondary caveat that you need to prove, after launching, that you own the game before you start. The subscription only covers the costs of the servers.
XBOX Cloud Gaming, even at the Essential tier, uses your XBOX catalogue to tell you what you can and can't play. The ownership status is covered before the game even starts. And that's the big plus for Cloud Gaming. The onus is on Microsoft, not you, to check if you own what you want to play.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Expands With 'Unlimited' Usage & Special Perks For Game Pass Members
@Fiendish-Beaver I'm glad about it, since there's a ton of stuff that I now have free. Yes, some people might be about as interested in the Ubisoft back catalogue as having a root canal, but it's one less subscription.
Next month, from what the infographic says, I'll never have to pay for a Fortnite Battle Pass again. Ever. Considering how much the damn things cost, that's a big win for me and a few people, and will encourage me to play the game again.
All the stuff we got today... for a relatively small increase in the price, that's the big point. Yes, you personally might not give a flying f--k, but the actual price of all the stuff they've given us... for the price of a single indie game... is worth it to quite a lot of people.
Re: Seven Mega Man Games Are Heading To Xbox In The New 'Star Force Legacy Collection'
Yeah, the Battle Network collection for some unknown reason skipped XBOX entirely. But my wallet just cried out in agony.
Re: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Finally Heads To Xbox In January 2026
How I see it is that you're getting four games for the price that some companies sell you one. And they're throwing a bunch of free stuff at you as an apology for how f-ing long it took.
Yes, quite a few people who they're trying to get this game may well have FF7 already. But it's not the most scummy price for something. I will say that the 'Deluxe' edition isn't worth it at all.
Re: Multiple Games Get New Xbox Reveals Following September 2025's Nintendo Direct
Dammit! My budget can't take this!
Re: You Can Play Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds For Free On Xbox This Weekend
Whoever said "Democracy Is Life" clearly never fought a conflict for Super Earth.
Re: You Can Play Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds For Free On Xbox This Weekend
@Ricky-Spanish Ah, Super Earth. May you spread democracy to the galaxy once more. Or die trying. Repeatedly. Sometimes due to enemy actions.
Re: Helldivers 2's Player Count Spikes Massively Following Xbox Series X|S Release
For Microsoft, they made Minecraft be the spearhead for making a game that everyone, everywhere, can play on anything.
For Sony, they made Helldivers 2 the spearhead. When the game first came out, it was epic to hear about how players were breaking the narrative... but it wasn't our war.
Now it is, and it's similar to how the Marine Corp acts...
There's Blue Helldivers, there's Green Helldivers. There's even a bunch who aren't either, but they're all Helldivers, and Super Earth appreciates all their efforts.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Is Coming To More Game Pass Members, Along With Some PC Titles
If they keep it as a Game Pass perk, that it's now rolling out to all tiers means that they're confident it's not going to be in Beta for much longer.
I appreciate that, if I have an issue with my Ultimate for whatever reason, the main purpose I use Cloud Gaming for, playing my XBOX when I'm out of the house, is perfectly functional.
Re: Helldivers 2 Has No Xbox Reviews Yet, So Here's What The Players Are Saying So Far
The good news - It's on XBOX.
The questionable news - It looks like hell.
The really good news - All bugs are ones that Super Earth is aware of...
The bad news - ...but aren't likely to fix this side of eternity.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (August 19-28)
Glad to see Persona 4 Golden get back on the service. But I will say one thing...
We're about to have a bunch of stuff announced, and shadow drops almost always happen. Don't guarantee this is it until the last conference ends.
Re: 90+ 'Stream Your Own Game' Titles Added To Xbox Cloud Gaming Lineup
@Cakefish There's one good filter that's all they really need... 'Purchased'.
I don't need to be going through 3-4 hundred games I DON'T own to find the handful of games that I do.
Re: One Of The 'Worst Games Ever' Is Getting Remastered In A Beautiful Collection For Xbox
"What could possibly go wrong?..."
Hmm... This got a release date. OK, There's the answer.
Re: Helldivers 2 'Bring The Boom' Trailer Teases Halo ODST Crossover On Xbox
If we end up with the chance to show our appreciation to Super Earth for our democratic right to bear arms using ODST Troopers, well, Thank you Super Earth.
We'll be sure not to accidentally nuke our Playstation brethren.
Re: Talking Point: Is Forza Horizon About To Become Xbox's Main Forza Franchise?
One of the first games I got as part of getting a new XBOX was Forza Horizon 4. It's always had something new to find, the open world nature means that you don't have to do anything in a particular order and there's always something new to find.
I find both Asphalt and Speedstorm to be brain-dead racing, and Motorsport is not much better. Once you've mastered the circuits in a circuit racer, you'll never lose.
Re: This 'Clear Edition' Xbox Series X Is Going Viral Right Now
Consoles like this show what miracles they do with them. Microsoft alluded to the fact it has some funky way of doing the cooling, and you can so see it there.
Would love to see a Series S just to see how tightly they packed it.
Re: Sony SVP Discusses 'Moving Away From A Hardware-Centric Business Model'
Seriously, with Nintendo's big 'I can patent the act of showing a video game character breathing' push, and both Sony and Microsoft mulling over ending the console war outright with a platinum handshake, I could see two possible fates for the videogame market...
Option 1: Nintendo manages to decisively win in the Palworld lawsuit. They continue using patents to police the industry. The indie game market collapses, and Nintendo manages to consolidate the mainline market under itself due to holding the patents that allow anyone to make a game. Nintendo win the console war without needing to take part.
Option 2: Nintendo lose the Palworld lawsuit in a definitive manner, and their attempt to patent key game mechanics collapses. Sony and Microsoft's new strategy pays dividends for them, and Microsoft leverages it's growing playerbase in Japan, and Nintendo's fall from grace, to become the No. 2 system worldwide, while Nintendo is forced to go multi-platform due to losing consumer trust in it's systems.
Seriously, Sony and Microsoft could make up and become stronger together, or Nintendo's patent actions could cause the industry to be in a very bad place. I don't see Sony OR Microsoft being the ones who'll decide the next industry move.
Re: Talking Point: Looking Back, How Useful Has Smart Delivery Been To You On Xbox?
@RiverGenie If you use an XBOX Series console, you automatically are using it. Which is part of the point.
Smart Delivery, Smart Resume, Play Anywhere... They all have one thing in common. Namely the fact that they all just do their job, and at the user level, 90% of the time, you never actually see them in action, but you use them all constantly.
And that's the big thing about Microsoft's strategy for quite a few of their technologies, that you are using them from the moment you start playing... and never actually realise you are.
Re: Poll: Helldivers 2 Isn't On Xbox Game Pass, So Will You Be Buying It?
I'm likely to buy this, not at launch, but eventually, because it's pretty much the Starship Troopers game I never thought I'd ever see. The same biting satire, the same action of pretending that what you do actually matters in the end...
The thing that is even more epic about Helldivers 2 though is that, when the player base decides to flip the script, the developers don't sit there trying to work out how to keep the narrative going, they managed to flip it back.
The game's storyline when we get on it is very different from the original, and when Helldivers 3 comes along, no-one has a clue what that will be like. And that is why this game will sell.
Re: According To Sales Estimates, Final Fantasy 16 Had A Rough First Week On Xbox
I played the demo, and the controller I used for it had an uncontrollable drift issue whenever I wasn't in gameplay on FFXVI and the console itself for about an hour afterwards.
The story is nonsensical, the hero unlikable and the only good things about the plot are the doggo and the female lead. It's the same reason I don't own FFXV.
The last couple of Final Fantasy games have tried to capture the same dynamic as they had with Squall... when even I will admit that I own FFVIII for Triple Triad and not it's plot.
FFS, The only recent new game I've actually enjoyed is Final Fantasy XIV, and that's because you're not some anti-hero who spends half the plot angsting about events beyond their control.
Re: Aniimo Is A New Free-To-Play ARPG, Confirmed For Xbox In 2026
OK, Poke-like game where the gimmick is that you can merge with your mons. The only thing I'm worried about right now is simple...
What's going to cost me real money? Are the not-Pokeballs going to be 10 for a dollar? Is there going to be time gates that require me to pay the workers up front with real money to get them to do their job at a decent speed? Will there be cooldown timers that strangely go away when you feed $5 into them?
Re: Multiple Final Fantasy Games Confirmed For Xbox, Including A Shadow Drop Today
@Nighto4 I try to be polite to the other side. I used to own a Playstation too. Then it fell off the table one too many times and the hard drive malfunctioned.
Re: Multiple Final Fantasy Games Confirmed For Xbox, Including A Shadow Drop Today
The nice thing about the FF7R release isn't that it's happened... It's that we're skipping the interim versions. We're getting the 'full' Intergrade version, meaning that SquEnix are likely to develop the other 'discs' in parallel for all platforms, and only Episode 1 was a Playstation (Timed) Exclusive.
Also, for quite a few people, for their Final Fantasy library to be able to go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... ...12, 13, 14, 15, 16 with the best versions in every case is epic.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Feel You've Had Value For Money With Your Xbox Series X|S?
I got a Series S to replace an XBOX One S, no bells and whistles, just the console, and I haven't looked back.
It will run XBOX Series exclusives with no problems, it will run retro games... even from other publishers... equally well, and it's small, light and practically silent.
Literally, it's a mug's game to choose between getting an XBOX One X and an XBOX Series S. With the XBOX One X, you still will find several of the biggest titles refusing to run, while the Series S has nothing on the current XBOX storefront that has compatibility issues with it. And it will fit into most media setups.
And with the XBOX Series X vs the S? The Series X would be a good substitute for a breeze block, it costs a lot more and there's no exclusives between the two. Again, Mug's game.
Re: Review: DOOM: The Dark Ages (Xbox) - Puts The Finishing Touches On A Masterful Trilogy
I feel that the modern Doom trilogy is pretty much a version of a different trilogy... Evil Dead. Right down to the third game going medieval on everything.
And, just like Evil Dead, the story might be questionable, the mini-games poor, but you didn't come into this expecting a grand sweeping narrative. You want your boomstick, you want your chainsaw, and you want to kill an excessive number of eldritch creatures that are pouring out of Hell.
I see that Push Square mainly scored it down since it has Microsoft on the box somewhere. I can't name one Doom game I played for the story. I played them to rip and tear until the credits rolled.
Re: Minecraft's New Graphics Upgrade Is Now Available On Xbox
@RiverGenie Agreed, Agreed and Agreed.
Implementing "Raytracing" would likely see an nVidia or AMD badge appear on the interface for Minecraft, depending on whose implementation of the standard they use. Vibrant Visuals uses a similar open standard, giving many of the benefits without the licensing fee.
Vibrant Visuals is one of those things that works best in motion. Seeing the light sources reflect off items, watching as the shadows creep across the ground as time passes, watching the simulated light pass through the water. It looks really good whatever quality you have it set to.
Finally, set the game to 'Prefer Performance', look at the settings and tweak them to preference. You turn the render distance up to full and the graphics settings to Ultra on Series S, and you will see the frame rate tank. You turn each setting up individually and see what looks best without killing your frame rate, you'll get much better than 'Fancy' graphics on anything.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Still Buy An Xbox At Microsoft's 2025 Prices?
@GuyinPA75 The difference between "COVID Tax" and Trump's tariffs is that, unless you think it's fake news, Trump has gone on record as requesting tariffs of over a hundred per cent on Chinese goods.
Practically everything you're using right now to play games has come from China in some way.
So, no, this isn't Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all charging people through the nose because they can. Someone needs to pay those tariffs, and consoles are already loss leaders. So, If the next consoles are $1000 and some of the components in the box say 'Made in Vietnam' or similar, I certainly know why.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Still Buy An Xbox At Microsoft's 2025 Prices?
Trump's attitude to how to fix the world markets, namely tariff everyone into buying American products made in American factories, is just going to send every industry in existence into freefall worse than the pandemic.
Nintendo are making the consumer pay, Sony are making the consumer pay and Microsoft are making the consumer pay.
The only way to save our wallets... Anyone got a time machine to find some way to stop Trump winning?
Re: Talking Point: Would You Still Buy An Xbox At Microsoft's 2025 Prices?
Right now, gaming is just not good value. Throw in Trump effectively sending the global economy into freefall, and I could see the neXt-Box costing $999.99 for the 'economy' version, and even the cheapest games costing $40-50... and it will only get worse.
Re: Xbox Is Raising The Price Of Consoles, Games And Accessories
The value of pretty much all the world's currencies are taking a huge dip since Trump's devalued the whole concept of money.
The clucking moron claims that the fact the US Economy is in freefall is 'Biden's fault', while trying to force the world to take from itself to pay him.
If the downward spiral doesn't stop, I could see XBOX Game Pass being about the same price as a full price game in 2023, and it still be 'good value'.
Re: Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 1)
@Ricky-Spanish
Step 1 - Get an expansion card.
Step 2 - Download 'Call Of Duty'.
Step 3 - Add the components for Modern Warfare 2.
Step 4 - ???
Step 5 - Profit.
Re: Bethesda Partners Directly With PlayStation On Strange DOOM: The Dark Ages Trailer
Microsoft's strategy coming out of the ABK deal is to try to get Microsoft games on EVERYTHING. Yes, Sony can bleat about how their version of Forza Horizon or Doom Dark Ages is the best version, but they're still lining their rival's pockets.
Summer Game Fest 2026, Microsoft could leave Sony in the dust by the simple fact all of Sony's big third party announcements... are Microsoft's games.
Re: ZZZ Officially Releases For Xbox In June 2025
@HeavyHoggJP Sony pretty much got exclusivity for Hoyoverse's games and Infinity Nikki through shenanigans for long enough that, as you allude to, by the time that Microsoft get them, interest has definitely waned.
The lifespan of mobile titles is a lot shorter than most, and Sony knows it.
Re: Xbox Adds Multiple Highly-Requested Features In April 2025 Update
@darylb24 Also, it helps with the fact they had to partially divest themselves of Cloud Gaming to get Sony to shut up with the ABK deal, since Sony were trying their damndest to make the deal no longer financially profitable for Microsoft.
Re: Xbox Seemingly Blocks Upcoming Release Due To 'Provocative' Content
The media industry, gaming and films, both have a major issue with pseudo-imagery, and misclassification.
The Dead Or Alive games are rated for 15 year olds. The Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series are rated for 12 year olds. Neither of them are much better than Mortal Kombat, which gets it's rating since it doesn't even try NOT to be gruesomely violent.
Anyone, sort your full library by content rating, and you will be shocked by how many games that really should be a hard 15 to 18 rating get rated at least one level lower.
Re: ZZZ Is Officially Coming To Xbox, Announcement Stream Revealed
I've been driven nuts by the requirements on this game. Hoyoverse just confirmed that I'm not going to need a whole new device for playing it in the near future.
OK, When is either of the Honkai games coming to XBOX?
Re: Five Ways The Switch 2 Reveal Has Been A Huge Win For Xbox
OK, My ten cents on this...
Microsoft threw down the gauntlet when they offered Sony a lot more than they needed to with the ActiBlizz settlement, and Sony's not reciprocating.
Nintendo's Palworld litigation and numerous anti-emulation and anti-fangame stances recently have made the whole fact they released MKW at $80 and require you to double dip for 'upgrades' make them as bad as Sony.
All Microsoft would need to do is make a xCloud 'console' that's say $150 (including a controller), a Series S successor that's around $300, the handheld at $400 and their Series X successor at $600, and they would be able to gain interest from quite a few people since they'd be the only company who actually are selling to the budget market.
Yes, they might not have Mario, Starfox, Splatoon, Pokemon, Zelda, Metroid... but tell me this... How many of Nintendo's internal franchises have really had much in the last few years?
Re: Talking Point: Which MMORPGs Would You Love To Play Natively On Xbox?
If they did a remaster of Phantasy Star Online 1 or Phantasy Star Universe, I'd put the money down.
Other than that, Final Fantasy 11 would be nice, and not just since there's a hole in my game list... It goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14...
Re: Report: Hogwarts Legacy DLC Cancelled, Definitive Edition Scrapped As Well
Warner Bros Discovery seem to be doing everything in their power to cause the company to tank.
Multiversus and Hogwarts Legacy were a license to print money, and both are having support pulled early. Meanwhile, Kill The Justice League failed to capture an audience, even with the hype of Kevin Conroy's appearance in it, and they kept releasing more content for it.
Both Batgirl and The Flash were gateway films to DC's new movie-verse, with The Flash having more and more controversy due to it's volatile marquee star... and they cancel Batgirl.
They are pretty much selling Looney Tunes to Ketchup Entertainment while clogging their streaming service with whatever crap they can shovel out.
Seriously, David Zaslav is destroying the Warner Brothers legacy, ostensibly to cover a debt that he saddled the company with!
Re: New Xbox Insider Update Aims To Help 'Free Up' Storage Space
Accidental shadow copies or other content that is effectively 'hidden' waste is a good thing for Microsoft to go after. Most device cleaners have an option already to highlight when you have two or more copies of the exact same file(s). For the Free Up Space option to now go 'Ahem, I think that your space problems might be due to that errant excess copy of Call Of Duty', that's really useful.
Re: Phil Spencer 'Excited' About Xbox Copilot, An AI Tool That Helps Players Finish Games
I could see that they do a simple thing with the 'completing games for you'. You get AI credits somehow, say, 1 credit per half-hour of gameplay and you can spend, say, 1 credit for 30 seconds of assisted gameplay.
There needs to, alongside encouraging people to use AI to aid them, an equal discouragement for people to just tell Copilot to 100% their games.
One easy discouragement is that you need to leave the game running since Copilot can't just pull up your game and progression.
A second easy one is not allowing people to get it for literally free.
Re: One Of The 'Most Played' Games On Steam Now Has A Free Xbox Beta
Well, my personal experiences with it... Half a dozen freezes, no real lag spikes and one entire session scrubbed when the game slowed down to a crawl once then crashed entirely.
Did find that the controller was an excellent massage device during both incidents.
However, when it works, it works, and it's definitely looking like this will be one of the better F2P titles, but it will have to try really hard to stand up against Warframe, which is a practically entirely free experience.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Balatro' On Xbox Game Pass So Far?
@Deljo You'll notice unlock conditions on everything that needs unlocking. Once you've done at least... I believe it's a full run with five decks, you'll unlock challenges. After that, do it at your own pace.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of 'Balatro' On Xbox Game Pass So Far?
The thing about Balatro is that you always want to do 'better'. When you've got it, you have this odd feeling that, if you changed up your jokers, or added some different deck modifiers, or...
And then you realise that you misplaced several hours, but hey, you've won with that deck. Now for the NEXT deck... and then you unlock challenges...
And then you buy the game since you realise it's coming off Game Pass and wonder where all the time went.