Comments 251

Re: Halo Studios Gives Reason For Dropping PvP Multiplayer In Campaign Evolved

Zenszulu

Can it really stand shoulder to shoulder with something if a large part of what made it become such a favourite with people at the time is removed? All that tells me is they don't actually know the reason the game was so loved and as much as people remember the campaign the vast majority of people played it for years after because of either split screen multiplayer or lan connected games. That is what elevated the game as the successor to goldeneye in that regard as far as console fps went.

Re: Xbox Journalist Says Latest Rumours Are 'A Huge Challenge For The Brand Right Now'

Zenszulu

The reason they have become believable is people have lost any faith in Xbox in general this year. It's almost as if those working there are oblivious to their own words and actions causing people to lose faith with them. You can blame people spreading rumours all you like but when you are also sending mixed messages on what your overall vision is don't expect your existing customers to always be happy as a result.

Re: Xbox Rewards Adds More Weekly Point Buffs For Game Pass Ultimate Members

Zenszulu

Rewards used to make Gamepass pay for itself as in a 3 month period you used to easily be able to earn enough points to get a 3 month Gamepass Ultimate gift card and still have many points left over. Even though they nerfed it last year it was still possible to do it every 3 months. I wonder how this will effect the amount of subscribers in total too as I am curious how many people actually used the rewards this way.

Re: New COD Sales 'Estimate' Helps Explain Xbox's Price Hike For Day One Game Pass Releases

Zenszulu

This is one of the problem Microsoft seemed to have. They were expecting everyone to rush out and buy an Xbox and subscribe to Gamepass because they made all of these third party acquisitions. These games were never system sellers on their own as they usually sold equally across all the platforms they were on. The reason they sold so many is pretty much everyone had the chance to play them. It may shock some people but if all you console is offering as a selling point is the same games you can play on the others but the others offer a huge library of games that you can't then people will go to the ones with more choices.

Re: Xbox Issues Statement Denying Rumour That Next-Gen Console Could Be Cancelled

Zenszulu

It is difficult to completely accept this as a definitive answer. They have said one thing multiple times only to do the opposite after. Do I think there will be a console with the name Xbox on it in the future? Yes but I feel it will be a branding only and it will be PC hardware makes like Asus that are making them and it will be essentially just an operating system. In a way kind of like the 3DO model. So definitely this console/pc hybrid that has been rumoured.

Re: Talking Point: How Do You Feel About Ubisoft+ Classics Being Added To Game Pass Ultimate?

Zenszulu

It really depends on how much time you spend playing games and how many you get through. If you have the time to play several hours daily and play through multiple games a month it's good value for you. Adding a load of extra games and other perks is all well and good but you have to find the time to take advantage of it. Sometimes too much as part of a subscription isn't great value if you don't really use much of it.

Re: Xbox Fan Shares Their Concept For A Game Pass 'Select' Plan With Optional Add-Ons

Zenszulu

The problem with this is services EA Play and Ubisoft+ and even the Fortnite thing would probably attract fewer customers. All those services agreed deals with Microsoft to be a part of the top tier and probably got paid up front doing so that kind of thing would never work as they would be relying on you essentially subscribing to them separately for them to get any money from it. It's nice in theory sure but it ultimately wouldn't work for those things as they would be no different to a normal subscription model except you are managing the payment through a gamepass account.

Re: 'Price Increases Are Never Fun For Anybody' Says Xbox Exec Defending Game Pass Changes

Zenszulu

This is up there with telling people who don't have an always on connection that they still have a product for you with an Xbox 360. When you're doubling the price of something the value instantly diminishes. You can add as many extras as you like on to the higher tier but if they aren't what the customer wanted to begin with it isn't actually adding value just people paying for extra that they will never use.

Re: Rumour: Microsoft & ASUS Wanted To 'Further Subsidise' The Price Of The ROG Xbox Ally

Zenszulu

Ah the old we wanted to save you money but we decided against it. The only way they would have even considered this though is if it was going to be heavily pushed and advertised as an Xbox console to the mass consumer market. Since it was never going to be that and it was always going to be marketed towards the tech enthusiast as a niche product I can't believe it was ever a serious consideration.

Re: Opinion: The Value Proposition Of Xbox Series S Is Better Than Ever In 2025

Zenszulu

Is it good value for what you get yes very much so. Comparing it's used price to a recently released system that is far more in demand that the Series S has ever been is a bit of a stretch. Value can be very much subjective on what you can get out of any kind of hardware so just simply being a lower price and having access to all those games doesn't always make it the best choice for value for everyone. The other reason why the Series S is so low in price used is because no one seems to want one and you can go into any pawn shop or CEX and see several systems all lined up on display often for months and they don't shift fast even at the prices they are. You could make this exact same argument against any older harder compared to newly released hardware. It's great that you got something you wanted at a low price but it almost sounds like an article that is trying to convince people not to buy a Switch 2 because it is new and costs more than an old used console more than anything.

Re: Xbox Introduces Controversial Age Verification Process In The UK

Zenszulu

My Xbox account is about 18 years old at this point nearly 19. My first achievements are dated all the way back to the end of 2006 yet I need to now prove I am over a certain age. In principal I get what they are trying to do but it is going beyond protecting people and starting to dictate what they deem appropriate to view because they don't feel anyone under 18 or their parents can regulate stuff themselves or handle certain topics.

Re: Xbox Takes Action After WipeOut For PS1 Gets Ported To Series X|S

Zenszulu

@RZ-Atom you very much are criticising them for not showing an interest in how the gameplay is. They are your words. That isn't their focus. It is solely about the tech power the games. You can want full representation on everything about the game but you are obviously going into watching their videos knowing you won't get that. I read the context of what you wrote perfectly fine you just don't seem to realise that what you said is what would be considered criticism of it for some reason.

Re: Xbox Takes Action After WipeOut For PS1 Gets Ported To Series X|S

Zenszulu

@GameOverScreen they aren't biased at all they simply report their findings on how it runs on particular hardware. If it runs better on an Xbox they will say and they have done many many times in the past. Just because you ignore those times and are for some on reason annoyed that they dare point out a game runs better on something other than Xbox hardware doesn't make it true. You are the one that comes across as a fanboy hoping they get shut down because the information they have gathered doesn't say what you want it to.

@RZ-Atom they aren't reviewing the gameplay and the game itself though that isn't their purpose they are doing tech analysis that is literally why they were set up. You are criticising them for not doing something that they aren't aiming to do in the first place.

Re: Former Xbox Dev Claims Turn 10's Forza Motorsport Team 'Is No More'

Zenszulu

I don't see this as great. Wasn't a fan of the latest Motorsport as it felt lacking any kind of personality almost like it had it's identity ripped out from it. But it was always a good rival the Gran Turismo and was definitely a reason to get an Xbox is you like racing games. I can understand that the Horizon series has probably started to overtake it in terms of sales over the past several years but for the studio that made the series to be turned into support for an offshoot of that series seems like it would be hard for anyone left there to not struggle with that. That's if these is anyone senior left.

Re: Kojima's Xbox Game 'OD' Hasn't Been Affected By Microsoft Layoffs, Says Report

Zenszulu

It seems like every game that has been announced as being in development now has to have some kind of confirmation it is still a thing. I would say there are probably many games that Microsoft has in development that haven't been announced that get cancelled but then they also have a tendency to announce them so many years in advance now it's hard to tell.

Re: Perfect Dark Actor Calls On Fans To 'Speak Up' And Help The Game Survive

Zenszulu

I imagine the amount of time the game has been in development has been good for her and other voice actors too probably getting more money each time they have asked them to record new stuff with no potential release date on the horizon. If that were me I would want that job to keep going too. I know that may sound negative but I am sure it is a common thing with voice actors especially if they have been used since the early days of the development of a game they will usually have a good amount of dates booked for work.

Re: Ex Blizzard Boss Thinks Microsoft Should Pick Its Xbox Strategy And 'Stick To It'

Zenszulu

This is the problem they have switched their focus so many times in the last 4 years it's hard to know what they want. First they started by buying publishers expecting everyone to flock to Xbox and Gamepass because they own all these Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard games. Then it's just countless different things with the play anywhere stuff and everything being an Xbox, third party releases and all the rumours around their next consoles also having access to PC storefronts. They are confusing their customers as to why they actually need an Xbox at this point.

Re: Xbox Emphasises That Its Next-Gen Devices 'Aren't Locked To A Single Store'

Zenszulu

I get that this will give greater choice but I can't see how this won't impact Microsoft's sales even further when it comes to software considering those PC centric store fronts often offer games at far cheaper prices. When I buy games on my PC the Microsoft store or Xbox app are probably the last place I go to buy the game and it is often only something I use for Gamepass games.

Re: Warner Bros Games Revenue Declines By Almost 50% At The Start Of 2025

Zenszulu

The seem to be up and down in revenue in all different sectors of their business. Since they started running TNT sports in the UK they have apparently suffered huge losses on that too. Although from what I have read the reason BT wanted to get rid of it was because they were losing money every year due to the huge amounts of money they were spending and not getting the number of subscribers they needed to match it.

WB is one of those that has themselves spread way to thin by trying to do everything related to media in some way and they are suffering with all of it.

Re: Phil Spencer Discusses Why Xbox Game Pass Isn't For Everyone These Days

Zenszulu

I stopped my Gamepass subscription last year but that was because I went back to PS Plus. I didn't see the point in having two similar services at the same time. It's the same as subscribing to steaming services I don't really subscribe to multiple ones at the same time because then I won't use one and waste money.

At the same time I don't rely on subscription services as the only way I play games more of an addition to what games I buy or to play stuff I would probably never buy normally.

Re: Banjo-Kazooie Revival Would Be 'Instantly Hated' By Some Fans, Says Original Composer

Zenszulu

The problem is that it has been so long since a Banjo game came out that many people have no nostalgia for it. When something has been gone that long you would have to release a pretty special game for it get peoples attention. I'm not saying it can't be done but the expectation from the guy expecting it to do Mario kind of numbers wasn't being realistic. Microsoft is sitting on loads of long dormant once popular game series though and they seem reluctant to try and use many.

Re: Xbox Handheld: Everything We Know So Far, Including The Latest Rumours

Zenszulu

Personally I can't see any Xbox handheld being anything more than a Gamepass streaming device. I don't see why they would invest it making a device that can play games locally when their main aim now seems to be getting any and all devices that can stream Xbox games to do that. I wouldn't be surprised if an Xbox app comes out on Switch 2 now as they seem to want to have a strong relationship with Nintendo going forward.

Re: Talking Point: Will Microsoft Fully Reveal Its Next-Gen Xbox This Year?

Zenszulu

In order for it to be a bigger technological leap over what is currently on the market it would have to be considerably more powerful than the PS5 Pro and I can't see that happening at an affordable price not any time soon anyway. Making that kind of claim is pure hyperbole though as there have been some pretty huge leaps in technology from generations to generation and that gap is getting smaller and smaller each time. So they have dug a hole with that claim as it is.

The very fact that you simply want new hardware just because others have released or announced it says more about you expecting them to feel obligated to release things on others schedules than their own. That why Nintendo does things when they want and not what others in the market are doing.

Re: Rumour: Microsoft Reportedly Chose Buying Studios Over 'Winding Down' Xbox In 2021

Zenszulu

A decade or so ago Microsoft just started buying developers in the hope they would just make amazing games they had done previously and that it would just work out. The problem with that method is you need someone who has a vision of what studios are doing what and not just let them get on with it. Obviously they expected people to flock to buying an Xbox simply on the previous games the studios they were acquiring made and it just didn't work like that.

They pretty much now have no choice with acquiring publishers to make themselves more of a third party publisher themselves. It just doesn't give me much hope that the next Xbox will even be worth investing it as I can imagine by that point a large majority of there games will also be coming to Playstation either the same day or within several months.

I can understand it from someone's point of view that they either do it that way or essentially lose their job because the division you are in charge of will stop existing.

Re: Phil Spencer Explains Why 'This Is An Xbox' Will Be Beneficial To Console Owners

Zenszulu

This is Phil essentially admitting defeat as far as consoles go. I am not surprised since as far back as the released of the Kinect they lost any momentum they had managed to build early with the 360 and they have never been able to get it back. Most people could see this coming when they started to realise simply buying large third party publishers wasn't boosting sales as far as consoles go. Those games from the likes of Bethesda and Activision only hold value because they were multi-platform to begin with they weren't valuable as system sellers for the most part.

Re: Xbox Hardware Revenues Down Again Despite Content & Services Growth

Zenszulu

Does this surprise anyone when they literally advertise that you don't need an Xbox to play Xbox games any more? I get that their early idea was to buy all of these publishers and simply make everyone buy an Xbox because all of the games would be on Gamepass day one. As it turns out a subscription service alone didn't entice people over to the platform much to their surprise. The amount of people who figured those who just played third party games from the likes of Activision and Bethesda grossly overstated their value. If all or most of those games are still coming out on Playstation and that platform has plenty of games that aren't on yours even from third parties most people are still going to choose the one that has more to choose from.

Re: Xbox App's New Home UI Update Available Now To Xbox Insiders

Zenszulu

If anything the should make the interface just like the XBox one so it is fully controller friendly for the big screen. At least that is what I would do especially if you want a more living room friendly PC gaming experience. Just like Steams big picture mode is a far better user experience only with a controller.

Re: Microsoft Boasts About Owning '20 Franchises That Have Generated Over $1 Billion'

Zenszulu

Bragging that you had to buy successful franchises comes across as they would rather buy other people's success than create it themselves. Yes they had success with Halo, Gears and Forza but they have completely dried up from a creative standpoint in the past decade or so and even the stuff they have created seems to be a one and done game with moderate success but no attempt to follow up on that.