One thing I could see being at the Showcase is Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, even if it's in a sizzle reel. Hell, best paired announcement Microsoft could put out would have Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail coming next month and World Of Warcraft Console Edition coming soon to Game Pass.
"Hey, we heard that you like playing MMORPGs. Here's the two biggest ones in existence, and you can play them on XBOX."
Every time I see an article about how the 'Series S' is inadequate, I have to point out that it's all buzzwords and relying on the consumer not being a big tech nut.
Yes, if the Series S was expected to output some games at 4K, it would have issues, but the games are almost all optimized to run at much lower resolutions and still output at the same frame rate. There's very few games with noticeable load times once you get into the game, and the only reason that the Series S's RAM would affect world size is if you load the entire map in one go.
Massive open world games can literally have you traverse the entire map and not spot the loading zones the same way as on PS3 and XBOX 360 or PS4 and XBOX One. And almost none of them go 'Our game has impaired performance since the Series S exists'.
And the fact that they sold their cloud gaming service...
Call Of Duty was always going to be multiplatform, they were promising day 1 parity releases for at least the next 10 years.
There were a lot of other smaller concessions that are much less talked about, with the regulators using the 'issues' Sony raised to stick it to what Sony portrayed as a monolithic competitor that had acquired one too many studios.
I liken it to David and Goliath, except in this case, Goliath managed to persuade the audience to let them dictate the terms of their fight with David, thinking that they could force Microsoft to lose money and ABK. Microsoft managed to get the extension, and managed to get the win.
@IronMan30 @TheSimulator Which is why Sony's caveats for the ABK deal to go through as it did was so bad for Microsoft. Microsoft were going to say 'Call Of Duty stays multiplat, everything else depends on us'.
Sony, despite having a massive market lead, pretty much forced Microsoft to add far more games to their multiplatform strategy than would make their purchase of ABK profitable, while Sony continue to bully publishers into very lopsided exclusivity deals, pretending that there's a chance in hell of Microsoft getting anything.
Sony pretty much, back when the ABK deal happened, pretended that their 54% market share didn't exist. Microsoft suddenly had way too big a market share, and if they bought ABK, they'd try to force companies to make all their games exclusive to Microsoft...
Kinda like what Sony did with Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth (only for Rebirth to fail to meet targets) and Final Fantasy XVI. Square Enix need to recoup those losses, and the only way to do so is to tell Sony that the exclusivity only harmed their sales figures.
I don't know how much influence Sony had over the protracted time it took for XIV on XBOX, but that it's on everything that it can be, practically at least, is good news for everyone.
The reason Microsoft are going all in multiplatform is because of Sony's arm-twisting over the ABK deal. They were ready to go the same route as Sony have with their exclusives, a year or two of exclusivity followed by optional multiplatform release, but Sony pretty much forced the courts to demand Microsoft give away as much of their exclusivity as possible, while Sony continues unchecked.
The slow failure of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake games is a symptom of Sony's true strategy, where ALL games are on Playstation, and a Playstation Exclusive is a Playstation Exclusive, and anyone else's 'exclusives' must come to Playstation to be 'successful'.
Square Enix's recent 'change in strategy' shows they've jumped off Sony's Jim Ryan helmed ship, and realised Sony is consolidating the market around themselves, preparing to get Nintendo to be their handheld division while Microsoft slowly die.
I read this as Squ-Enix noticing that their strategy of backing Playstation to the hilt recently has only made their sales suffer.
They had the biggest chance to leverage their biggest success in recent history, with FF7 Remake, and increasingly, their reluctance to bring it to anything else has seen even that underperforming.
They're looking at a massive payday when Dawntrail comes out, with new server clusters being set up since the demand is there. The only thing they changed was putting it on XBOX Series consoles.
If Microsoft announced on the Showcase that Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Call Of Duty were coming to XBOX Game Pass in a few months, they could increase the price and no-one would notice.
@BAMozzy There's been a lot of good noises about relisting the Transformers games, with them being one of the few BC titles NOT available on the XBOX One/Series storefront.
@JoyfulFire XBOX always has been a case of that you need to go into the actual game to figure out what is taking up space in your save. The whole situation where they had to rework Cloud Saves in the last few months shows quite how much the current save system doesn't quite work.
The nice thing about this is that you DON'T need to set the default background to have game art on. That it's now a blanket override for any background means you can set any background and just leave game art on.
The one thing it does well is consolidate a lot of content from the various other Lego Star Wars games, and streamline an incredibly bloated experience while also getting some new jokes in that, when the original games were made, couldn't happen.
The one thing it doesn't do is offer anything near the seminal Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga. There's a lot that's been changed, some of the jokes have been altered and the DLC has no story content linked to it.
It's a game that promises everything, but, after you get a certain amount into it, you're starting to ask if that's REALLY everything... and find yourself saying 'No, it isn't.'
I found myself dealing with shuffling games a lot, even before I got my Series S and Expansion Card... until xCloud came along. If a game is 50+ GB and on Game Pass, I'll only install it for local multiplayer. Otherwise, I'll choose 'Cloud Play' and keep my space safe.
@xxk7xx I was being slightly sarcastic. Seriously, Microsoft needing to release SOME of it's games multiplatform to placate the CMA and similar after the ABK deal, That's understandable.
But there's no-one demanding that Ratchet And Clank come to XBOX or that Sony's next Little Big Planet style game is on all platforms, but Microsoft?
People keep telling THEM to give Nintendo and Sony their games, and Nintendo as well keep getting asked to release their games on 'more' platforms.
@xxk7xx Oh yes, and the week after that, release Halo on Playstation along with the Forza games...
If Microsoft were to release every single AAA title they have in their library on Playstation 5/6 and Switch 1/2, they'd kill themselves as a console manufacturer ten times faster than anything their competitors could possibly do.
The important thing is that they got a adapter that matches the Spartan Edition. Not whether or not they had some issues with some of the Halo iconography, or that it costs about the same as the g'damn console on eBay.
Would you want your classic Halo SE console to have a big black box sticking out of the back just so you can use a HDMI cable?
@Kalele Microsoft announced a collaboration with Riot that gave everyone full access to all heroes on LoL and Wild Rift, and various perks on the spin-offs. Those did happen, and are still happening right now. It's crossed wires if you think they announced the League Of Legends console release through Game Pass.
Generally, announcements are that games have been optioned by Microsoft and are LIKELY to appear on Game Pass if something doesn't go wrong, like, well, above.
99% of times, those releases do happen, and they have their time. If a company moves the release later and later then goes 'Umm... Nope, we're not releasing on XBOX', it's not Microsoft's fault that release didn't happen.
I'm probably going to get the Starter Edition and have the game installed on Day 1. And then be able to play it on Day 2 or 3 due to how long the first patch takes.
@S-Bacc That's something that's been a problem with Playstation's streaming for a long time.
Microsoft are working to get what they have on the system working FIRST, then trying to get more games working on the system. Yes, they're using Series S versions, but also, they're running potentially dozens of instances off that same VM with really good latency.
Playstation Now might be older, but it has it's own share of issues they still haven't fixed.
@carlos82 I agree with you there. Yes, someone tell Pat McAfee to go soak his head, but the other four packs are some of the most unexpected, and welcomed roster additions going.
From just these early reviews, this won't be a very long OBT. The game is already making some pretty major waves with the player base, and of they were to announce full release in the first week or March, they'd find the player count skyrocketing.
Microsoft are pretty much weathering the storm from the whole ABK situation with the best response. These four games and the commitments they made are Microsoft's way of telling the FTC and CMA that, if they want to fix the competition, stop demanding the competition bow down to Sony.
Best update they could do to RE4make... Give Ashley a costume that gives her mouse ears and a tail. However much the content is sold for, it would sell.
@Fishticon I expect a massive XGP drop coming in the next few months. Microsoft themselves said that we're not going to get an influx of ABK content straight after acquisition, partially since Microsoft put planning that aside while dealing with umpteen regulatory hurdles.
Yes, they dismissed a few people. Likely WB Discovery did the same thing. Course, I don't see Microsoft asking ABK to cancel all their upcoming games and then wondering why they're not making anything off them.
I see that Nintendo know full well about Palworld, and aren't planning to take it down due to the laws concerning parodies and how it's distinct enough. Considering they took down the mod sharpish, they're watching it like a hawk.
@InterceptorAlpha I suspect this means that making ports of the main client or Wild Rift for consoles may happen, but they're focusing on new content for the main games instead of completely new games.
What I see the problem being is that something about how saves are uploaded is hitting a soft limit, and Microsoft are trying to change the limit to one that's future-proof.
When this is fixed, it's likely to be, in the current gen, fixed forever. But if saves bloat even more in the next gen, they'll need to fix it again.
I'm wincing about the fact that best 'ongoing' game went to a title... that they just ENDED development on a few weeks back. Seriously, CD Projekt Red went on stage, said their speech, knowing full well they didn't deserve it.
Never mind how underwhelming most of the World Premieres were.
This whole case, from the beginning, is about Sony being worried it can't buy out the competion or shut it down.
If the gaming industry was a Monopoly game, Sony gets a 80% cut of any money made by the Utilities and Railroads, and practically owns the last third of the board, Microsoft has started buying properties on the middle third, stopping Sony buying the back half of the board entirely, and Nintendo own the first quarter of the board, and everything else is still just about independent.
Was surprised to see KI need an update today. Some teething issues with handling DLC, due to the Anniversary Edition being it's own DLC blob, but I hope Microsoft rework KI's DLC in the coming weeks to fix that.
Something I wish to say is I hope MS Blizzard do a option for WoW Classic at this point... Pre-Cataclysm and Post-Cataclysm Azeroth.
Yes, it's nice they're adding content from it, but Cataclysm was also when the old map was wiped out in the first place. I'd not have minded if they skipped this expansion, TBH.
I was expecting to see something like this head up Blizzcon. Hello, I'm the new boss, I've got a busy year clearing up the rubble and building something new out of what's left.
This may well end up being the biggest console war in gaming history, if Microsoft releases WoW on console in Spring as well. Literally, Phantasy Star Online 2, Final Fantasy XIV and World Of Warcraft in direct competition.
I highly doubt the CMA are going to block again. They know their case is on thin ice. If they try to delay it past Mid-October, they'd need a really good reason, and that went bye-bye when Ubisoft bought the short-term rights to part of xCloud in the UK. The CMA might take Microsoft to court independently to get them to spin off Azure, but for this case, their major argument is gone.
For the FTC, as Microsoft point out, it's just burning taxpayer's money to reopen the case. A judge literally went 'No, No and Hell No' over it all. All an 'in-house hearing' is, to me, is the FTC telling the FTC that the FTC is right to say what they're saying, and that they can dissolve the merger (good luck) because the FTC decided that the FTC had the right to do it.
No, that's not how it works. The moment this case leaves the FTC offices, they'll suddenly get a bunch more 'Hell No' statements and they'll try to reword it until someone says 'Maybe'.
@GuyinPA75 It likely will still be around for a long time, even without direct support.
Yes, It's a crying shame that it won't be able to be bought new digitally any more, but unless the same forward compatibility that defined the XBOX One in the end goes away, it will still be playable on the next next gen consoles.
In a few days, those who own it will never lose their memories of the halcyon days when it was supported and had something new every few weeks, and will be able to get everything they missed.
Once it's 100% completed, yes, it won't get played again, but at least it will exist as something more than a digital phantasm.
What I'd like this to mean over the next year is that Battle.net merges with or migrates over to XBOX Live, with people being given six to eight months after the process starts to link their XBOX account to their old Battle.net account, so they can transfer any games they own to the new system.
After that, the base version of World Of Warcraft is added to PC Game Pass, with 'plans' to release it on console in the future, and they could toss a few games like the Transformers titles, which Activision have said they want to relist, along with the original Warcraft and Starcraft onto Game Pass Core, with the more recent ones requiring at least PC Game Pass.
Literally, as long as the third party support is good, we'll get some interesting things happening over XBOX and Game Pass by this time next year.
Anyway, Around 2020, Nintendo had just put the Wii U in it's grave, and sharks were definitely circling if the Switch failed, which it thankfully didn't. Microsoft don't have a handheld division, it's part of why they are trying to acquire King, and quite a few people have mused about Microsoft and Nintendo entering a mutually beneficial partnership.
So, while it sounds like greed, it would be, IMHO, worse if Sony did it. They have bad blood with Nintendo, especially after the Vita didn't have as much success as they'd like. Nintendo would be a portfolio and a way to tell Nintendo that they shouldn't have done that deal with Philips way back when, and now they're still a Sony product line.
The nice thing about this, if the Core library doesn't go down, only increase, it just confirmed several games that MIGHT leave Game Pass just got made permanent.
Means for quite a few people who bought only the Dimensional Shellshock DLC for Shredder's Revenge just saved money, for example.
Minor PSA for people who have U+ or Crew 2 some other way, and are starting Motorfest...
When it asks you if you want to link the two games, do it. Even if you go back to Crew 2, as soon as you add a car, 99% of the time, it'll add it to Motorfest within a few moments of starting on the newer game.
Even if you start Crew 2 now, you can get a free car, a free buggy, a free boat and a free plane, just by registering for the basic Crew 2 activities.
The meaning behind this differs depending on if you're still on an XBOX 360 or if you've moved to XBOX One or later.
If you're still on XBOX 360, in around a year, the marketplace will shut down, and you'll only have any games you currently own for as long as XBOX Live exists.
If you're playing XBOX 360 games on XBOX One, nothing really changes. The majority of games have already moved their content to the modern store, so you'll be able to buy the DLC as normal.
The problem is not with that they put 'Go To Store' there, it's that, up until this update, your library was in a nice easy to spot place on the opening tiles.
The XBOX 360 was a really easy interface to get used to, especially after the update. This one is constantly two steps forward, three steps back. It gives with one hand, and takes with the other.
You want to put your regularly played games on the main screen? No, we want to shill you stuff you might not actually want to buy.
You want to have access to your game library in an easy and intuitive way? No, we want you to use the Store, every day. As much as possible.
If they pushed the 'Store ribbon' off the bottom of the screen, you'd have more of the background image, but, shock horror, you'd not be bombarded with ads. So Microsoft refused to move the Store ribbon and just shrank everything.
As a few people have said, that it's tied to XBOX Game Pass Ultimate inclusion for support is a problem. The release of Fortnite on it was a good first step, but then Microsoft stumbled anyway.
Now, if PSO2, and hopefully Overwatch 2, were on xCloud, and Ultimate subscribers can add say, 5 random games from their library to xCloud, that would interest a lot more people.
Something I will say for those who are likely to rant about PS5 not getting 8-Player split screen...
Sony have had a hard cap of 4 controllers on one console ever since the PS3. It could support 8 players on one console... if you could connect 8 controllers.
It's the distant future. Consoles are now a box in the corner of the room that you subscribe to the Nintendo Network, Playstation Network or Microsoft Network. It would be at that point that there would be no more arguments about which console or what console is better. But the problem? The industry wouldn't want to develop for such a climate.
Comments 381
Re: Xbox Games Showcase 2024: Date, Start Times, Rumours, Leaks & More
One thing I could see being at the Showcase is Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, even if it's in a sizzle reel. Hell, best paired announcement Microsoft could put out would have Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail coming next month and World Of Warcraft Console Edition coming soon to Game Pass.
"Hey, we heard that you like playing MMORPGs. Here's the two biggest ones in existence, and you can play them on XBOX."
Re: Xbox Appears To Be Changing The Box Art For New Physical Releases
I do understand why they don't list the Series S on the box...
Well, where do you insert the disc?
Re: Xbox Series S Under Fire As Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Tech Specs Revealed
Every time I see an article about how the 'Series S' is inadequate, I have to point out that it's all buzzwords and relying on the consumer not being a big tech nut.
Yes, if the Series S was expected to output some games at 4K, it would have issues, but the games are almost all optimized to run at much lower resolutions and still output at the same frame rate.
There's very few games with noticeable load times once you get into the game, and the only reason that the Series S's RAM would affect world size is if you load the entire map in one go.
Massive open world games can literally have you traverse the entire map and not spot the loading zones the same way as on PS3 and XBOX 360 or PS4 and XBOX One.
And almost none of them go 'Our game has impaired performance since the Series S exists'.
Re: New Free-To-Play PVP Shooter 'Marvel Rivals' Locks In Xbox Release
I don't mind Scarlet Spider being PS5 exclusive if we get Ghost Spider/Spider Gwen on XBOX without any exclusivity issues.
Re: DOOM: The Dark Ages To Be Announced At Xbox's Showcase, Claims New 'Exclusive'
And the fact that they sold their cloud gaming service...
Call Of Duty was always going to be multiplatform, they were promising day 1 parity releases for at least the next 10 years.
There were a lot of other smaller concessions that are much less talked about, with the regulators using the 'issues' Sony raised to stick it to what Sony portrayed as a monolithic competitor that had acquired one too many studios.
I liken it to David and Goliath, except in this case, Goliath managed to persuade the audience to let them dictate the terms of their fight with David, thinking that they could force Microsoft to lose money and ABK. Microsoft managed to get the extension, and managed to get the win.
Re: DOOM: The Dark Ages To Be Announced At Xbox's Showcase, Claims New 'Exclusive'
@IronMan30 @TheSimulator Which is why Sony's caveats for the ABK deal to go through as it did was so bad for Microsoft. Microsoft were going to say 'Call Of Duty stays multiplat, everything else depends on us'.
Sony, despite having a massive market lead, pretty much forced Microsoft to add far more games to their multiplatform strategy than would make their purchase of ABK profitable, while Sony continue to bully publishers into very lopsided exclusivity deals, pretending that there's a chance in hell of Microsoft getting anything.
Re: Square Enix To Include Xbox As Part Of 'Aggressive' New Multiplatform Strategy
@NEStalgia I wasn't talking about Dawntrail.
Sony pretty much, back when the ABK deal happened, pretended that their 54% market share didn't exist. Microsoft suddenly had way too big a market share, and if they bought ABK, they'd try to force companies to make all their games exclusive to Microsoft...
Kinda like what Sony did with Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth (only for Rebirth to fail to meet targets) and Final Fantasy XVI. Square Enix need to recoup those losses, and the only way to do so is to tell Sony that the exclusivity only harmed their sales figures.
I don't know how much influence Sony had over the protracted time it took for XIV on XBOX, but that it's on everything that it can be, practically at least, is good news for everyone.
Re: DOOM: The Dark Ages To Be Announced At Xbox's Showcase, Claims New 'Exclusive'
The reason Microsoft are going all in multiplatform is because of Sony's arm-twisting over the ABK deal. They were ready to go the same route as Sony have with their exclusives, a year or two of exclusivity followed by optional multiplatform release, but Sony pretty much forced the courts to demand Microsoft give away as much of their exclusivity as possible, while Sony continues unchecked.
The slow failure of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake games is a symptom of Sony's true strategy, where ALL games are on Playstation, and a Playstation Exclusive is a Playstation Exclusive, and anyone else's 'exclusives' must come to Playstation to be 'successful'.
Square Enix's recent 'change in strategy' shows they've jumped off Sony's Jim Ryan helmed ship, and realised Sony is consolidating the market around themselves, preparing to get Nintendo to be their handheld division while Microsoft slowly die.
Re: Square Enix To Include Xbox As Part Of 'Aggressive' New Multiplatform Strategy
I read this as Squ-Enix noticing that their strategy of backing Playstation to the hilt recently has only made their sales suffer.
They had the biggest chance to leverage their biggest success in recent history, with FF7 Remake, and increasingly, their reluctance to bring it to anything else has seen even that underperforming.
They're looking at a massive payday when Dawntrail comes out, with new server clusters being set up since the demand is there. The only thing they changed was putting it on XBOX Series consoles.
If Microsoft announced on the Showcase that Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Call Of Duty were coming to XBOX Game Pass in a few months, they could increase the price and no-one would notice.
Re: Xbox Appears To Be Getting Ready For Crash Bandicoot On Game Pass
@BAMozzy There's been a lot of good noises about relisting the Transformers games, with them being one of the few BC titles NOT available on the XBOX One/Series storefront.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Is Adding The Ability To Manage Save Files
@JoyfulFire XBOX always has been a case of that you need to go into the actual game to figure out what is taking up space in your save. The whole situation where they had to rework Cloud Saves in the last few months shows quite how much the current save system doesn't quite work.
Re: Xbox Is Testing A New Dashboard Feature To Improve Backgrounds
The nice thing about this is that you DON'T need to set the default background to have game art on. That it's now a blanket override for any background means you can set any background and just leave game art on.
Re: Talking Point: Two Years Later, Did LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Live Up To The Hype?
The one thing it does well is consolidate a lot of content from the various other Lego Star Wars games, and streamline an incredibly bloated experience while also getting some new jokes in that, when the original games were made, couldn't happen.
The one thing it doesn't do is offer anything near the seminal Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga. There's a lot that's been changed, some of the jokes have been altered and the DLC has no story content linked to it.
It's a game that promises everything, but, after you get a certain amount into it, you're starting to ask if that's REALLY everything... and find yourself saying 'No, it isn't.'
Re: Talking Point: Do You Actively Avoid Xbox Games With Massive Download Sizes?
I found myself dealing with shuffling games a lot, even before I got my Series S and Expansion Card... until xCloud came along. If a game is 50+ GB and on Game Pass, I'll only install it for local multiplayer. Otherwise, I'll choose 'Cloud Play' and keep my space safe.
Re: Killer Instinct Bonus Update Adds New Stage And '87 New Colorways'
@xxk7xx I was being slightly sarcastic. Seriously, Microsoft needing to release SOME of it's games multiplatform to placate the CMA and similar after the ABK deal, That's understandable.
But there's no-one demanding that Ratchet And Clank come to XBOX or that Sony's next Little Big Planet style game is on all platforms, but Microsoft?
People keep telling THEM to give Nintendo and Sony their games, and Nintendo as well keep getting asked to release their games on 'more' platforms.
Re: Killer Instinct Bonus Update Adds New Stage And '87 New Colorways'
@xxk7xx Oh yes, and the week after that, release Halo on Playstation along with the Forza games...
If Microsoft were to release every single AAA title they have in their library on Playstation 5/6 and Switch 1/2, they'd kill themselves as a console manufacturer ten times faster than anything their competitors could possibly do.
They need SOME exclusivity, people!
Re: 'Halo Spartan Edition' Original Xbox Adapter Announced By XBHD Maker
The important thing is that they got a adapter that matches the Spartan Edition. Not whether or not they had some issues with some of the Halo iconography, or that it costs about the same as the g'damn console on eBay.
Would you want your classic Halo SE console to have a big black box sticking out of the back just so you can use a HDMI cable?
Re: Xbox Game Pass Suffers Rare 'Cancellation' Due To Change Of Publisher
@Kalele Microsoft announced a collaboration with Riot that gave everyone full access to all heroes on LoL and Wild Rift, and various perks on the spin-offs. Those did happen, and are still happening right now. It's crossed wires if you think they announced the League Of Legends console release through Game Pass.
Generally, announcements are that games have been optioned by Microsoft and are LIKELY to appear on Game Pass if something doesn't go wrong, like, well, above.
99% of times, those releases do happen, and they have their time. If a company moves the release later and later then goes 'Umm... Nope, we're not releasing on XBOX', it's not Microsoft's fault that release didn't happen.
Re: Final Fantasy 14's Full Xbox Release Date Announced By Square Enix
I'm probably going to get the Starter Edition and have the game installed on Day 1. And then be able to play it on Day 2 or 3 due to how long the first patch takes.
Re: Digital Foundry Tests Xbox & PlayStation Cloud Gaming, And The Results Are Mixed
@S-Bacc That's something that's been a problem with Playstation's streaming for a long time.
Microsoft are working to get what they have on the system working FIRST, then trying to get more games working on the system. Yes, they're using Series S versions, but also, they're running potentially dozens of instances off that same VM with really good latency.
Playstation Now might be older, but it has it's own share of issues they still haven't fixed.
Re: WWE 2K24 Unveils Stacked Roster Of DLC, Including Two Former AEW Stars
@carlos82 I agree with you there. Yes, someone tell Pat McAfee to go soak his head, but the other four packs are some of the most unexpected, and welcomed roster additions going.
Re: Final Fantasy XIV Online Is Going Down A Treat On Xbox Series X|S So Far
From just these early reviews, this won't be a very long OBT. The game is already making some pretty major waves with the player base, and of they were to announce full release in the first week or March, they'd find the player count skyrocketing.
Re: Sea Of Thieves Sets Sail On PS5 This April With Xbox & PC Crossplay
Microsoft are pretty much weathering the storm from the whole ABK situation with the best response. These four games and the commitments they made are Microsoft's way of telling the FTC and CMA that, if they want to fix the competition, stop demanding the competition bow down to Sony.
Re: Disney Invests $1.5 Billion In Epic To Create New Universe Connected To Fortnite
Right, so instead of reviving Disney Infinity, they're dropping the Magic Kingdom into Fortnite...
Not the dumbest thing I've ever heard...
Re: Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition Announced, Launches Next Week On Xbox
Best update they could do to RE4make... Give Ashley a costume that gives her mouse ears and a tail. However much the content is sold for, it would sell.
Re: Xbox's Gaming Revenue Receives Huge 49% Boost YoY From Activision Blizzard Acquisition
@Fishticon I expect a massive XGP drop coming in the next few months. Microsoft themselves said that we're not going to get an influx of ABK content straight after acquisition, partially since Microsoft put planning that aside while dealing with umpteen regulatory hurdles.
Yes, they dismissed a few people. Likely WB Discovery did the same thing. Course, I don't see Microsoft asking ABK to cancel all their upcoming games and then wondering why they're not making anything off them.
Re: Palworld 'Roadmap' Reveals Eight Major Features Coming To Xbox & PC
I see that Nintendo know full well about Palworld, and aren't planning to take it down due to the laws concerning parodies and how it's distinct enough. Considering they took down the mod sharpish, they're watching it like a hawk.
Re: League Of Legends Developer Riot Games Lays Off 11% Of Its Workforce
@InterceptorAlpha I suspect this means that making ports of the main client or Wild Rift for consoles may happen, but they're focusing on new content for the main games instead of completely new games.
Re: Xbox Still Working On Baldur's Gate 3 Saving Issue, Taking It 'Very Seriously'
What I see the problem being is that something about how saves are uploaded is hitting a soft limit, and Microsoft are trying to change the limit to one that's future-proof.
When this is fixed, it's likely to be, in the current gen, fixed forever. But if saves bloat even more in the next gen, they'll need to fix it again.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Game Awards 2023?
I'm wincing about the fact that best 'ongoing' game went to a title... that they just ENDED development on a few weeks back. Seriously, CD Projekt Red went on stage, said their speech, knowing full well they didn't deserve it.
Never mind how underwhelming most of the World Premieres were.
Re: The FTC Is Continuing To Fight Xbox's Activision Blizzard Deal
This whole case, from the beginning, is about Sony being worried it can't buy out the competion or shut it down.
If the gaming industry was a Monopoly game, Sony gets a 80% cut of any money made by the Utilities and Railroads, and practically owns the last third of the board, Microsoft has started buying properties on the middle third, stopping Sony buying the back half of the board entirely, and Nintendo own the first quarter of the board, and everything else is still just about independent.
Re: Xbox Appears To Be Teasing New Game Pass Reveals For TGA 2023
One possibility - They do have an entire flotilla of announcements that haven't happened yet.
I'll just say three letters: A... B... K...
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (November 28)
Was surprised to see KI need an update today. Some teething issues with handling DLC, due to the Anniversary Edition being it's own DLC blob, but I hope Microsoft rework KI's DLC in the coming weeks to fix that.
Re: BlizzCon 2023: Every Diablo, Overwatch & Warcraft Announcement
Something I wish to say is I hope MS Blizzard do a option for WoW Classic at this point... Pre-Cataclysm and Post-Cataclysm Azeroth.
Yes, it's nice they're adding content from it, but Cataclysm was also when the old map was wiped out in the first place. I'd not have minded if they skipped this expansion, TBH.
Re: Phil Spencer Says 'The Future Of Blizzard Is Brighter Than Ever' Under Xbox
I was expecting to see something like this head up Blizzcon. Hello, I'm the new boss, I've got a busy year clearing up the rubble and building something new out of what's left.
Re: Square Enix Confirms Early 2024 Launch For Final Fantasy 14 Beta On Xbox
This may well end up being the biggest console war in gaming history, if Microsoft releases WoW on console in Spring as well. Literally, Phantasy Star Online 2, Final Fantasy XIV and World Of Warcraft in direct competition.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want To See From Xbox & Activision Blizzard?
The Transformers games getting relisted on backwards compatibility...
XBOX owners who want to play Diablo 4 or Overwatch 2 just getting told 'Yes, you're approved'...
Figure-less releases of all the Skylanders games...
Bobby Kotick leaving for Christmas...
Re: FTC Continues To Challenge Xbox's Takeover Of Activision Blizzard
I highly doubt the CMA are going to block again. They know their case is on thin ice. If they try to delay it past Mid-October, they'd need a really good reason, and that went bye-bye when Ubisoft bought the short-term rights to part of xCloud in the UK.
The CMA might take Microsoft to court independently to get them to spin off Azure, but for this case, their major argument is gone.
For the FTC, as Microsoft point out, it's just burning taxpayer's money to reopen the case. A judge literally went 'No, No and Hell No' over it all. All an 'in-house hearing' is, to me, is the FTC telling the FTC that the FTC is right to say what they're saying, and that they can dissolve the merger (good luck) because the FTC decided that the FTC had the right to do it.
No, that's not how it works. The moment this case leaves the FTC offices, they'll suddenly get a bunch more 'Hell No' statements and they'll try to reword it until someone says 'Maybe'.
Re: Final Warning! Marvel's Avengers Is Being Delisted On Xbox This Week
@GuyinPA75 It likely will still be around for a long time, even without direct support.
Yes, It's a crying shame that it won't be able to be bought new digitally any more, but unless the same forward compatibility that defined the XBOX One in the end goes away, it will still be playable on the next next gen consoles.
In a few days, those who own it will never lose their memories of the halcyon days when it was supported and had something new every few weeks, and will be able to get everything they missed.
Once it's 100% completed, yes, it won't get played again, but at least it will exist as something more than a digital phantasm.
Re: UK CMA Grants 'Preliminary Approval' Of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Purchase
What I'd like this to mean over the next year is that Battle.net merges with or migrates over to XBOX Live, with people being given six to eight months after the process starts to link their XBOX account to their old Battle.net account, so they can transfer any games they own to the new system.
After that, the base version of World Of Warcraft is added to PC Game Pass, with 'plans' to release it on console in the future, and they could toss a few games like the Transformers titles, which Activision have said they want to relist, along with the original Warcraft and Starcraft onto Game Pass Core, with the more recent ones requiring at least PC Game Pass.
Literally, as long as the third party support is good, we'll get some interesting things happening over XBOX and Game Pass by this time next year.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer Was Dead Serious About Wanting To Acquire Nintendo In 2020
Let's not also mention the talk about Tiktok.
Anyway, Around 2020, Nintendo had just put the Wii U in it's grave, and sharks were definitely circling if the Switch failed, which it thankfully didn't. Microsoft don't have a handheld division, it's part of why they are trying to acquire King, and quite a few people have mused about Microsoft and Nintendo entering a mutually beneficial partnership.
So, while it sounds like greed, it would be, IMHO, worse if Sony did it. They have bad blood with Nintendo, especially after the Vita didn't have as much success as they'd like. Nintendo would be a portfolio and a way to tell Nintendo that they shouldn't have done that deal with Philips way back when, and now they're still a Sony product line.
Re: Xbox Reveals Full List Of 36 Games Included With Game Pass Core
The nice thing about this, if the Core library doesn't go down, only increase, it just confirmed several games that MIGHT leave Game Pass just got made permanent.
Means for quite a few people who bought only the Dimensional Shellshock DLC for Shredder's Revenge just saved money, for example.
Re: The Crew Motorfest Launches Alongside 3-Day Free Trial Later This Week
Minor PSA for people who have U+ or Crew 2 some other way, and are starting Motorfest...
When it asks you if you want to link the two games, do it. Even if you go back to Crew 2, as soon as you add a car, 99% of the time, it'll add it to Motorfest within a few moments of starting on the newer game.
Even if you start Crew 2 now, you can get a free car, a free buggy, a free boat and a free plane, just by registering for the basic Crew 2 activities.
Re: The Crew Motorfest Launches Alongside 3-Day Free Trial Later This Week
@Aidax89 I'm on XBOX Series X|S, and have just started downloading it.
Re: Microsoft Announces The Xbox 360 Store Will Close In July 2024
The meaning behind this differs depending on if you're still on an XBOX 360 or if you've moved to XBOX One or later.
If you're still on XBOX 360, in around a year, the marketplace will shut down, and you'll only have any games you currently own for as long as XBOX Live exists.
If you're playing XBOX 360 games on XBOX One, nothing really changes. The majority of games have already moved their content to the modern store, so you'll be able to buy the DLC as normal.
Re: Xbox Fans React Poorly As Big 'Store' Button Replaces 'Browse My Games' In Latest Update
The problem is not with that they put 'Go To Store' there, it's that, up until this update, your library was in a nice easy to spot place on the opening tiles.
The XBOX 360 was a really easy interface to get used to, especially after the update. This one is constantly two steps forward, three steps back. It gives with one hand, and takes with the other.
You want to put your regularly played games on the main screen? No, we want to shill you stuff you might not actually want to buy.
You want to have access to your game library in an easy and intuitive way? No, we want you to use the Store, every day. As much as possible.
If they pushed the 'Store ribbon' off the bottom of the screen, you'd have more of the background image, but, shock horror, you'd not be bombarded with ads. So Microsoft refused to move the Store ribbon and just shrank everything.
Re: Talking Point: What Would Convince You To Use Xbox Cloud Gaming More Often?
As a few people have said, that it's tied to XBOX Game Pass Ultimate inclusion for support is a problem. The release of Fortnite on it was a good first step, but then Microsoft stumbled anyway.
Now, if PSO2, and hopefully Overwatch 2, were on xCloud, and Ultimate subscribers can add say, 5 random games from their library to xCloud, that would interest a lot more people.
Re: Surprise! Quake 2 'Enhanced' Is Out Today On Xbox Game Pass
Something I will say for those who are likely to rant about PS5 not getting 8-Player split screen...
Sony have had a hard cap of 4 controllers on one console ever since the PS3. It could support 8 players on one console... if you could connect 8 controllers.
Re: Remedy Dev Reckons There's 'Nothing Surprising' About Baldur's Gate 3 Xbox Series S Debacle
It's the distant future. Consoles are now a box in the corner of the room that you subscribe to the Nintendo Network, Playstation Network or Microsoft Network.
It would be at that point that there would be no more arguments about which console or what console is better. But the problem?
The industry wouldn't want to develop for such a climate.
Re: Surprise! The Kaiju Brawler GigaBash Is Out On Xbox Series X|S This Week
I do smile at the fact that the King Of Monsters got a special invite to the fight, so fans of the big guy can prove his supremacy.