Zenszulu

Well I gave it a try and it's definitely buggy. Even trying to create a character avatar wasn't working properly for me as every thing I selected wasn't showing on the model but apparently it did actually take effect when I gave up and started anyway. Even the game itself is very glitchy and buggy so I can imagine the experience now won't be anything like the final game or I hope not anyway. So I'll give it a miss for now as I feel early access stuff like this isn't always representing what the final game will be and may take away my enjoyment.

At this point Microsoft is a third party publisher that also happens to have a console on the market

Last month will probably be the final time I get clear of 20,000 points then and it was only just. Oh well. As long as I get enough monthly to claim gamepass monthly it's fine.

@GuyinPA75 surely more people playing the game that is already free to play would create interest from Microsoft and Bethesda than one person picking up copies of a game. It's not making more people take interest in the first game enough that anyone is playing it more so it's not very successful.

Why would one person buying used copies of a game suddenly make them make a sequel? I mean it's not like Bethesda get money from it anymore and if I recall it's free to play on stream these days and no one plays it. So seems like this one guy what's them to make a sequel only he will play.

While games like Mass Effect 2 and Batman Arkham City got better critical praise overall the the originals I personally feel the first games were better because of the lasting impact they had at the time and being a huge step forward and I played both a huge amount at the time. Like several others have said the two Mystwalker RPGs are up there for me too Blue Dragon got very poorly received at the time for being too old in game design but that is what tends to happen with each new generation the older style gets seen as bad for a while.

@CharlieChooChoo I am pretty sure I recall reading that too that the Series X was already their pro console for this generation and they just released it at the start of the generation rather than wait. That is the very reason why the Series S is the base model for them and they want all games running on that.

@outswimmingtheflood I was just coming to say something very similar. It feels that this version of Forza plays it very safe even to the point where it comes off dull in terms of presentation.

I already stopped doing the daily achievement on this after it dropped from 50 to 5 points as it has dropped from around 1500 a month to just 150 and that didn't seem like it was worth my time. Now if they do keep adding things to slow collecting point more and more people will just stop using it. I can't say I want to have to put the effort in to keep using bing multiple times a day to get a few points at a time. I get they are probably also doing it to get people to do it naturally throughout the day with bing as their default search engine but only way that will happen is if they actually improve bing rather than try forcing people for some points.

If you keep predicting the same thing every year eventually over time it has a chance of becoming true.

I'm really not surprised as I recall they had two different trailers at one point that seemed not contradict what it was aiming for. It was in development for five years and what they finally had to show for it was a completely different kind of game than they were claiming they were making and one that was pretty empty from what I seen. The reason it failed financially is they suddenly tried to get the money back they spent from people just expecting them to buy something that isn't in any kind of playable state and not what they have been promising for years. Once people started sharing videos online they must have realised no one would buy it.

Taking any chance you to create an article with GTA 6 in the title I guess.

Never been a fan of gaming shows like this as it just seemed to be a trailers show with an award or two thrown in between them. I tried watching it and gave up half way as it was too over produced. It seems to have almost replaced E3 in people's minds as them expecting huge announcements and also seems to lack identity on if it wants to be an award show or an overly long press conference of new and upcoming game releases.

How many OG Xbox's were sold on the UK though? Just a simple statement without actual figures doesn't mean much.

So I did my own research the OG Xbox sold between 2.14 and 2.3 million units in the UK. While the 3DS/2DS sold around 3.9 million units. So this suggests the PS5 has sold close to double both Series consoles in the UK.

So maybe 31 December 2025...

@TakeItEasy no fridge sales are

I swear they are starting to sell more fridges than consoles these days.

Seems like they want people spending longer using bing rather than just the few minutes it took to knock the searches out. I am positive last month will be the last time I get over 20,000 points a month usually before 24,000 and 26,000. It's like they are going out of their way to make people not want to use it.

Translation: If were selling more we would open tell you.

Let's not kid ourselves that is the exact reason they haven't openly given numbers.

It just seems like a generic statement which was probably just sent out rather than anyone actually acknowledging anything. It has almost seemed like it winding down in the past couple of months. I'll go on the console app and there is no longer anything there except the weekly streak. Maybe they are getting ready for a relaunch in the new year but I am not holding my breath. Not overly concerned about it but the lack of any communication is actually poor.

They aren't far off going full third party developer seeing as they seem less and less interested I'm making exclusive games that sell their own hardware. They have become more of a publisher that happens to have hardware on the market. The thing is I have found their cloud gaming service to actually be poorer than Sony's and I will get more frequent drops and pauses in steam. That is over several different pieces of hardware so I imagine even on TVs it's no different. If they want to be streaming on everything they need to have a much better streaming technology first.

That they are officially leaving the console market and going full third party?

I have been noticing things taking ages to register today and then while it was I noticed the removal of those points. The app on console seems to have had almost next to no extra points the last couple of weeks. I'm not overly bothered but it's become very noticable and it is constantly slowing down how long it takes for things to register.

This is why you don't let Peter Molyneux talk about his projects as he often over promises because his ideas usually are too optimistic for the hardware and are often a generation or two from even being possible. He himself is aware of this and has often caused major headaches for the publishers he works for.

185,689 at the time of this message. I usually use it to top up on Gamepass but I have over 2 years on that left from doing that so I'll just let the points tally for another year or so.

@Romans12 There are still less people subscribed to Gamepass across console, PC and whatever other means there are on playing it than there are XBox consoles sold and I would guarantee the majority of users are on console. So would it not make more sense to aim to sell more consoles in order to increase the subscription you say they are aiming for as their priority?

They also don't heavily promote Gamepass to anyone outside their own Xbox userbase for the most part so they are still heavily relying on those who buy their consoles. So in this case selling more consoles would be a good Benchmark as to how many subscribers they can get. Also by the last numbers released PlayStation has nearly double the amount of subscribers Xbox has so I would hardly say they are in any metric the number one gaming company by a landslide.

Well since Microsoft had the resources to actually be able to turn things around over the past decade it's not totally surprising but to this day they are still feeling the effects of it in that people are starting view them as a third party publisher that just so happens to have a console.

In terms of the generation that helped shape and move the generation forward the 360 era is by far the best and it isn't even close. Despite the hardware not being the most reliable and towards the end of the generation they ran out of steam it is certainly the one that stands out the most.

Some people seem to think this generation is the best based on a few comments based on more powerful hardware alone if you remove the hardware from the equation then despite all of Microsoft's spending they are still struggling to find an identity for the systems outside it has gampass and as a result it still doesn't get the average person interested and think it is must have like the 360 did for a large period of time.

Over the last 6 months the vast majority of high points earners have either been vastly reduced or removed entirely. It seems they are expecting people to be willing to spend more without relying on the rewards as much going forward as they expand what is available on Gamepass.

This could possibly be used to create AI generated games for people to try and quickly make money from. Not saying it will be widely abused but there will be some who use such technology to make the game for them with little effort. I wouldn't imagine the results would be good but it will be no different to the loads of "games" on digital stores now where people use public assets and slap them together.

I'll be honest I have played more of Gotham Knights that I was expecting since I decided to pass on it was released. Even though I don't like it as much as any of the Arkham games and some of the combat just doesn't feel as good I am still enjoying it for what it is. Although once I have finished up with it I doubt I'll go back.

@VisitingComet1 yes in my world it is not a perk that I would deem essential for a reason I would go for a job. I would view it as a bonus and a nice one at that but just because I play video games it wouldn't be the reason that would make me want to work for any company and that sways my decision in accepting a job. If I no longer received something like that it wouldn't make me dislike my job anymore or feel hard done by.

@VisitingComet1 Sorry but are you suggesting people started working for Microsoft because they would get free gamepass? Losing that one thing is not a major loss in life regardless of if the company you work for is the one running the service they are under no obligation to have to allow all employees to get that service for free. If the perk was something that made your life easier like access to certain medial things it would be an issue to just cut it but not an entertainment subscription service.

@Kienda If it was something that was considered a life essential or something that helped their families live better lives as a result then taking it away from people would be a bad thing. Since it isn't and is a subscription service then complaining about no longer getting it for free is them being entitled.

From by point of view they come across as being entitled to having something just because they have a job there. If they are complaining about losing something like that yet probably get countless other things as a benefit of working for Microsoft then they need to take a look at themselves.

@BAMozzy while I agree that it can be improved and many games have managed that saying something like it will be for people that discover it in the future and for new subscribers later down the road is the equivalent of saying the people who could have had a better experience at the start and won't return because of it don't matter.

It still doesn't change my point that publishers want to rush games like this out clearly unfinished with the plan of turning it around later just so they can meet a release date that they refuse to change.

The problem with patches like this is most people have already given up and moved on because of the state the game released in and it it worrying that publishers seem to not think that getting these things right at launch would probably give them a better chance and keeping a dedicated userbase for much longer rather than hoping people come back and try again down the line.

@AccessibleDaydream I get how you can feel that way that is why I usually try and get the difficulty set to where I can still feel like I am having to pay attention and my opponents aren't dumber than a bag of potatoes. It's the same with any sports games I play if you play them on the lowest difficulty I would feel like I am cheating myself by simply knowing I would win but by finding a level I feel even my average skills can compete with I at least feel I achieved a victory.

Never been a big fan of racing games online usually because I suck at them and prefer playing through a career mode where I feel like I have achieved something rather than constant loss.

three of mine did my launch one and one I got just after they started including a HDMI port and then the black Elite mode one I had too honestly that turned me off of getting an XBox One. I often wonder if the number of 360's sold was inflated by people buying replacements as it was far too common in the first few years. I also had to have the disc drive replaced on the first one I had because it just stopped opening. The fact is it was poorly designed and was rushed to get it out much quicker than the PS3 and no amount of slight tweaks was going to fix the problem as the only way they managed to fix it in the end was completely redesign it in later models.

@Savage_Joe yes getting paid a huge amount of money in the process I am sure he is broken inside as a result. What a terrible thing to happen to him he may never survive.

I am not sure how this is in any way karma? Just because someone originally rejects your idea doesn't mean they are getting punished for it now by some kind of cosmic force. Plenty of pitches get made for games and not all get accepted the first time or even by the first publisher no point hold a bitter grudge over it.

Streaming doesn't make it compatible in simply makes it playable on it.

Like it or not Series S is their primary console this generation and that is why they won't just suddenly be dropping support for it because people who don't own one think they should because they feel it is holding the generation back. Without it I can't imagine the vast majority of those people would have simply decided to buy a Series X if that was their only option. If anything the Series S has stopped them falling even further behind in terms of hardware sales compared to the PS5.

it's pretty much how you would expect them to look if they were remade on the PS2 at the time.

@Sifi you can buy digital codes from many places for Playstation while not the subscriptions anymore the money can still be used for subscriptions. I often do it so not sure why you claim you can't, you can also pay less than £100. Also yes value is very much subjective with any subscription service as what value one person gets from it will be different to what someone else does. You also don't have to pay twice on PlayStation once you are on the Premium tier as that is roughly the equivalent in price to Gamepass Ultimate.

@Kaloudz it doesn't bother me too much either. I played through man N64 games with awful framerates but they were still playable. As long as the game doesn't grind to a crazy slow pace and is enjoyable regardless not even constantly hitting even 30 is much of an issue. Sadly you have a collection of people who seem to claim anything below a constant 60 makes a game totally unplayable. Very few games can boast that they manage that and usually its games that aren't taxing the hardware as much or in terms of PC games most of the settings turned down so it looks much worse. I sometimes feel people don't actually play these games anymore just like to argue over the performance.

@Kaloudz who knows really since most top console hardware struggles to keep a stable 30 in the most graphically intense games still. Devs will always try and push the hardware that much harder just to get it looking a little prettier and until the day comes where you can make whatever you want visually with zero hit to performance it may be a long way off before even that becomes the norm.

@Kaloudz not even claiming to be an expert on this but 40 fps makes a game smoother on a 60hz display because it is divisible by an even number and not an odd one like 30 which causes more stutter.

@Sifi it may be more per month and that is only slightly but you can always get a years subscription and then it becomes much cheaper per year than gamepass. That is also if you don't take up any offers or get gift cards from online retailers that sell them for lower than face value. At base prices though there is very little difference in price and the value is subjective depending on the games you like playing.