Xeno_Aura

Xeno_Aura

Ex-moderator, we don't talk of that

Comments 128

Re: Total War: Warhammer 3 Launches On PC Game Pass To Superb Reviews

Xeno_Aura

@Bdbrady Total War games are pretty separate from most. I've only played the old one's from the 2000's, but mostly each side gets "groups" of units, like 3 groups of archers, 2 groups of infantry, 1 group of cavalry etc. And then you have to strategically position and attack with them to win. Terrain, elevation, unit counters, morale etc. are all taken into account on how well your troops do.

It's basically a complex battle simulator. But I believe newer Total War games also add elements of territory capture and map conquest alongside it. So you choose to attack a region on the map and whoever wins takes control. But I'm not 100% sure as it has been some years since I played.

Re: Game Developers Are Starting To Take A Stand Against NFTs

Xeno_Aura

This will be in response to Team 17 starting to do NFT's.

Overcooked, Yooka-Laylee and Aggro Crab were all published by T17, and all of the development teams behind them have condemned T17 for it. Think they want to make it clear they don't agree, and Aggro Crab devs said they won't work with T17 in future.

Re: It's Official, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Releases This April

Xeno_Aura

Little concerned there doesn't appear to be any mention of multiplayer... None of the promotional material nor any of the trailers or gameplay we've seen so far suggest either Local or Online multiplayer. Which is odd, as to my knowledge, every LEGO game so far has had multiplayer locally...

It does look pretty good aside from that, but I'm wondering if they are changing it into more of a singleplayer, story-driven experience and sacrificing multiplayer for it.

EDIT: Oh, nevermind, the Xbox Store page does say 2 player local multiplayer. First time I've seen any confirmation of it though haha.

Re: 'Pandemic' Likely To Be Removed From The Xbox Store This Month

Xeno_Aura

Could be due to licensing issues with the company that owns the rights to the actual board game.

Possible that Asmodee only had the license to distribute the video game for a few years and wasn't able to negotiate a new deal with the IP owner.

I doubt that the relation to the world situation has much to do with it. Plague Inc. has seen a big boost in popularity over the last 2 years, if anything, the pandemic helped games like this.

Re: Xbox Fan Feedback Survey Highlights Game DVR As Biggest Series X|S Issue

Xeno_Aura

Yeah, pretty much agree here. Xbox game captures have audio sync issues and have had for a long time. Meaning your audio is about 1.5 seconds out of sync with video. Means I have to video edit any clips I want to share, pretty stupid.

The Xbox UI has been terrible since the launch of Xbox One sadly, they switched over to the Windows 8 Metro UI and never fully switched back after MS abandoned that type of UI. It was one of the major reasons I went with PS4 over XBO last-generation, as the UI was much smoother, simpler and easier to use. If I had the customization available, I'd probably get rid of about 60% of the UI my Xbox has. xD

Re: Xbox Dev Mode Accounts Were Disabled By Mistake, Suggests Microsoft

Xeno_Aura

@dreadful The requirement isn't to publish something within 90 days of making an account. Likely these dev accounts have been active for several years without showing any intention of actually developing for Xbox.

The 90 days they were given is to create a store listing for an upcoming product, if you can't make that in 3 months, it's essentially proof that you aren't developing for Xbox and shouldn't have a developers account. That's what MS was asking them to do, not make a whole game in 90 days.

Re: Xbox Begins Disabling Dev Mode Accounts, Removing Access To Emulators

Xeno_Aura

@Banjo- I'm not sure how they would go about blocking emulators entirely. Their 2 options would be to basically stop the developers programme and dev mode entirely, which could happen, but would overall harm the Xbox platform, not just in PR.

The other option would be to prevent games accessing files on the system so you couldn't load ROMs, however I believe this would be impossible to do as it would render countless games unusable.

Re: Xbox Begins Disabling Dev Mode Accounts, Removing Access To Emulators

Xeno_Aura

Not sure why this article mentions emulators at all though...

This is because people are signing up to a developer program and then not developing. It isn't because they're using emulators.

Dev Mode was made so indie game developers have an easier time of making games for Xbox than for Nintendo/Sony, which I can confirm it is much easier to develop for Xbox than the other 2. If people are signing up to it and then not actually developing, they have no (legitimate) reason to be on the programme.

Either way, dev mode is not required for emulators. Emulators are fairly frequently uploaded to the MS Store and can be installed on any Xbox, regardless of if you are a developer or not.

Re: Rumour: Halo Infinite Early Multiplayer Launch 'Delayed At The 11th Hour'

Xeno_Aura

@FraserG Pringles did a promotion a couple of days back saying that Halo Infinite was launching on the 15th as well, but took it down after a few hours.

I believe this site: https://www.pringles.com/us/halo.html Originally had a countdown to the 15th. The website is literally still called "Pringles Halo Infinite Countdown" but there isn't a countdown in sight anymore.

I'm pretty firmly in the camp of 343 intended to do this as a surprise release for the 20th anniversary (15th is Halo's 20th anniversary remember, it was a launch day game on Xbox). But something came up and delayed it, likely a bug.

Re: New xScreen Footage Shows Portable Xbox Series S Concept Is A Winner

Xeno_Aura

@Woodinghal But if you have wi-fi/internet, then you're in a house, and if you're in a house, you'll likely have TV's/monitors for your Xbox's that are far higher quality than this.

Like I said, I don't really see a situation where you have your Xbox, and don't have a TV. Even yourself, you're already holding LAN parties, so that means you do have enough displays for this already.

Plus whoever is on an 11" screen is going to be complaining that they're at a disadvantage because everyone else is on bigger displays.

As far as price goes, they seem to be charging a reasonably fair amount for the display (Although I have no idea on what they're charging for shipping), portable displays do generally cost a lot. But you can get a 4k 28" monitor for the same price, and a 1080p 24" monitor for half its price.

The only convenience I see it offers is that you don't need an HDMI cable and it's a little easier to transport. But you sacrifice money and image quality for it.

Re: New xScreen Footage Shows Portable Xbox Series S Concept Is A Winner

Xeno_Aura

@NeoRatt Yeah, giving it a 10 hour battery life would require increasing the weight and size of it a lot, which would make it even less portable than it already is.

Making an Xbox/Playstation a portable device is kind of a pointless idea in the first place. The XSS is small, but still too big to take with you when you're out and about.

The only scenario I feel like you'd use this in, is if you went to a friends house and there wasn't a spare display, which is pretty rare these days. You could just bring a TV with you, or they'd likely have a TV/monitor spare somewhere to use.

The "LAN" party concept they show off is cool, but realistically doesn't happen with consoles, only PC's. Seeing as consoles have by and large scrapped the idea of LAN.

Re: Age Of Empires 4 Team Suggests An Xbox Version Is On The Cards

Xeno_Aura

@RedKnight34 Yeah, I'd guess they'd make this a Series X|S only release, as they will probably want to push the new consoles next year.

It could run on XBO though, it's not terribly demanding in terms of hardware, less so than Halo Infinite for example.

@Krysus I'd guess PC is by far the priority for this kind of game, you'd probably get less than a quarter of the playerbase actually playing this on an Xbox. Similar situation to devs usually prioritizing Windows over Mac and Linux (Which often see releases several months later). There's still some stuff with the PC version they need to add really though. Right now there's no way to pause in a multiplayer match, and no way to save a multiplayer match either. Both of which were in previous entries of the series, so it's a shame they're not present. Pausing is kind of essential if you're playing a 2+ hour game with friends.

Re: Phil Spencer: Xbox Won't Be Making A VR Headset Anytime Soon

Xeno_Aura

@NEStalgia Not sure I'd agree, the Quest 2 has been the most successful VR device to date (tied with PSVR, but likely to overtake it) selling over 5 Million headsets. At £250 it's fairly reasonably priced for the consumer, it requires no setup, no cables and most games work in a small area (2x2 metres is fine for basically any game, some games require no space).

PSVR2 is hopefully following a similar step to Oculus where the headset is entirely wireless and you just press a button to turn it on and connect.

Re: Phil Spencer: Xbox Won't Be Making A VR Headset Anytime Soon

Xeno_Aura

Yeah, I think it's more likely MS will partner with an already existing headset maker like Oculus or Valve rather than make their own. (Most likely Oculus, as it's actually affordable). Having Quest 2 support on Xbox would be pretty neat, it's a solid headset on its own, and it can connect to PC's (and potentially Xbox's) via Wi-fi to play wirelessly.

Re: Xbox Series X|S Has Now Sold Over 100,000 Units In Japan

Xeno_Aura

@JetmanUK @LX_FENIX Sony is faltering in Japan compared to other regions however. PS4 performed markedly worse in Japan compared to PS3.

PS1 JP sales: 21.6m
PS2 JP Sales: 23.2m
PS3 JP Sales: 9.3m
PS4 JP sales: 8.3m

Despite PS4 selling significantly more Worldwide than PS3, it still kept the decline in Japan. Might be a generation or two away from Xbox challenging them, but Sony can't be complacent, they are in danger of losing footing in Japan.

For the record, PS5 sales are matching PS4 in their 1st year of release in Japan.

Re: A Star Wars Video Game Reveal Is Being Teased For December

Xeno_Aura

@elpardo1984 Yeah, what I was thinking. There's literally a Star Wars game announced a while back with "Bounty" in the name, seems quite likely.

EDIT: Technically the name is "Star Wars: Hunters", but I presume the premise is about bounty hunting still. Announced for iOS, Android and Switch in the Nintendo Direct in February.

Re: Medal TV, The Game Capture Platform, Has Partnered With Xbox

Xeno_Aura

@Xiovanni You can only upload clips to Xbox app, or message them to friends via Xbox messaging, or upload to Twitter. There's no way to upload to a website and then link them to someone who isn't on Xbox or Social Media. Xbox has no option to upload to a video sharing site like YouTube, which this is basically covering for now.

So if you wanted to send a clip of your performance to someone on Discord, you'd have to upload your clip to Xbox LIVE, then download it to your PC, and then upload it to YouTube from your PC, then send the YouTube link.

Now it looks like you can upload to Medal directly from Xbox, and then you can copy the Medal link and link to it anywhere.

Re: Video: Alan Wake Remastered Gets A Side-By-Side Comparison Trailer

Xeno_Aura

@GamingFan4Lyf For all we know it could be a side effect of how much games cost to make nowadays. I imagine a remaster such as this is on the cheap side, so it might be a way of gathering funds for big budget projects too. Companies might be throwing in remasters to bolster their bank accounts in between making the expensive stuff.

Re: Video: Alan Wake Remastered Gets A Side-By-Side Comparison Trailer

Xeno_Aura

@GamingFan4Lyf @Dezzy70 I do think however that there's another side of the market which is new players who didn't and don't necessarily want to play the originals because they're "old" games and they missed them the first time around.

I know someone who got into gaming later on in life, and never played the Spyro/Crash games when they were out on PS1 in the 1990's, but have played and enjoyed the remasters when they came out 20 years later, because they didn't want to go back and play on a PS1 which they had never played before.

Remastering a game that is 5 years old, I do think is a bit silly. Alan Wake is 11 years old now though, which is on the borderline, so there's a new generation of gamers who might be interested in it, but don't want to play an "old 360 game".

Plus the original was Xbox exclusive, so anyone who sticks with Sony platforms have possibly never played it, while the remaster is on PS and Xbox.

Re: Halo Infinite's Second Technical Preview Is Off To An Impressive Start

Xeno_Aura

@Would_you_kindly Yeah, I definitely think Infinite is designed with the Series consoles and PC in mind.

I believe Digital Foundry says that it runs as low as 540P Resolution and 30FPS, whereas on Xbox Series S it runs at 1080p 60FPS, and Xbox Series X it runs at 4k 60FPS, and XSX/XSS both have the option to play at 120FPS as well, whereas XBO is stuck at 30FPS.

They basically ended the analysis by saying people shouldn't really consider playing Infinite on the XBO, as it won't be practical against next-gen and PC users who are running at 4x the frame rate and will be able to see and react much faster.

I think they've designed it for next-gen, and are just "allowing" it to run on XBO, but aren't really pushing it as an XBO game, it's just an option that is there for people that really want to play it on old hardware.

I think it looks pretty good on the next-gen consoles, I play it on XSS and it looks "good", nothing exceptional though.

The same might be true of Forza Horizon 5, they haven't shown XBO footage of that yet, so I'm expecting a fair few downgrades for that game when they finally reveal what the XBO will play it like.

Re: Xbox Is Rolling Out Some New Exciting HDMI-CEC Features

Xeno_Aura

@NEStalgia Pretty sure most TV's made in the last 6 or 7 years will have CEC, it's an early HDMI invention. Around before the Xbox One launched for sure.

Different companies will call it different things though. Samsung call it Anynet+, LG call it Simplink etc.

My Samsung TV from 2013 has it.

Re: Don't Worry, Call Of Duty: Vanguard Isn't 270GB On Xbox

Xeno_Aura

@uptownsoul You should try ARK Survival Evolved, it's well over 100GB big, on PC it's about 170GB.

I think in a couple of years we'll probably be at the point where the XSS will only hold 1 new game at a time. Releasing the consoles at 500GB and 1TB was a bit crazy of both MS and Sony. Those were the sizes the XBO and PS4 ran at, and game sizes have definitely increased in the last 10 years.

Re: Art Of Rally Patch Fixes 'Press Any Button To Start' Issue On Xbox

Xeno_Aura

@Originut It is actually very difficult (a lot more so than people imagine) to release a game bug free and account for every bug. I'm going to assume that they tested it each time in the same way, on the same console they have access to, and didn't test outside cases, which is a really common thing for a dev familiar with a game to do, they just don't think to play the game like an actual player would. Possibly because the game was already out on other platforms, they might have made the mistake of assuming that because it works on those, the Xbox wouldn't have a problem. But each platform does have its own oddities and bugs.

Another potential mistake they made, was a simultaneous release on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X all on the same day. Releasing on 7 consoles, when you have 3-4 programmers is going to cause a headache.

Ultimately, the game should have probably been sent out to a bunch of people they could trust to fully test the game, and it appears it wasn't. The only way to really iron out bugs in a game is to get a lot of people NOT familiar with it to play it, because the devs will be blind to the bugs, because they'll have easily played hundreds of hours by this point.

Re: Among Us Devs 'Offended' By Fortnite's New Impostor Mode

Xeno_Aura

I think we all saw this coming for a while.

The same could have been said about Among Us for other games though? The Innocent vs Traitor gameplay style has been around long before Among Us. Games like GMOD:TTT had it, Mafia, Werewolf. Others in a similar vein are Project Winter, Dread Hunger etc.

I get that they used the word "Impostor", but they have to use one word for it, and it probably is the most fitting.

It's just having attention drawn to it because it's a big game, but I'm guessing Among Us has been ripped off more directly than this in the past 2 years. Just by smaller devs who didn't get attention.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Will Seemingly Run At 4K, 60FPS On Xbox Series X

Xeno_Aura

@ResoluteCustoms A few games run at 4k on XSS, such as The Touryst and Ori Will of the Wisps, but GTA V will likely be 1080p 60FPS if they do some graphical enhancements.

@Blessed_Koz It'll perform better on XSS than the XBO X just due to the XSS using more advanced tech and having a much better CPU. Most games run better on XSS than XBO X. Halo Infinite for example.

Re: Here Are The Release Times For Microsoft Flight Simulator On Xbox Game Pass

Xeno_Aura

@Krysus It's not difficult to get an Xbox Series S, they've been in stock everywhere since about February with no stock shortages. Although I get why people want to wait for a Series X.

They probably had good intentions with saying it would come to XBO, but it was never going to happen, anyone who played it on PC would have realized that the XBO just isn't powerful enough in the CPU department to get this running.

Re: Xbox Doesn't Want To Go Down The PlayStation VR Route, Suggests Phil Spencer

Xeno_Aura

@Generik Oculus Quest 2 can stream via wi-fi from your PC to the headset and it works pretty well.

Same technology could easily be used to stream from an XSX/XSS to an Oculus Quest 2 (or a MS headset) and play VR games.

My guess is VR just isn't mainstream enough for MS to look deep into it. The Oculus Quest is probably the first VR headset I would say might be used by non-enthusiasts, due to being cheaper and requiring virtually no setup (and little space).