abe_hikura

So far, bad. Really bad

We have barely seen anything added to Gamepass, we haven't seen any of the "course corrections" we were hoping for (saving talented studios from the CoD mines), Xbox first-party releases haven't increased and in exchange, the act of buying Activision seems to have broken Xbox.

-They spent a year+ in courts talking about how bad Xbox is and how it can only ever compete by absorbing a large publisher. Demolishing consumer confidence and tanking sales

• They overextended on staff and then laid off developers and shuttering studios. I'd much rather keep the two lost Bethesda studios than what we've gotten so far from Activision.
  Corporate daddy Microsoft wants that 79 billion+ back and now Xbox is doing silly things like abandoning exclusives... the whole point of buying Bethesda and Activision in the first place.

The whole point was to sure up Xbox against Sony and it's done the opposite. We went from "you need Xbox or Gamepass to play this games" to "eh you can get 'em on the PS5 you already have"

I want to be to excited for it. It has a cool look and it's Rare but with abosultely nothing to go on. this could easily be a Viva Pinate successor or some grand adventure...

I wasn't sure why I was holding off buying the original, it was the definitive edition talk.

Solo Starfield DLC and Baldur's Gate 3 (its just not grabbing me, I think it threw the companions at me to quickly).

Coop: replaying the gears series, we're part way through 3.

VR: Zero Calibur 2.

Its a great headset that competes well with other more expensive options...

That said didn't think I'd miss the days they would use a design change (even a colour) in the refresh to hide a price rise.

It's wild to me that at a time when Xbox consumers are demoralised they are apprently just changing the box of an accessory to ask for more money.

Obivously if it ends up doing anything different, disrguard the tangent

Honestly enjoying it myself.

I think Halo on PS5/6 (without gamepass) would

1) be very profitable for Microsoft.
2) The end of Xbox as a console, even if MS claimed otherwise.

It doesn't matter if they only plan on releasing it to "prime" Sony users for the next main entry which will be exclusive it will se the precedent that all the games will come.

It the exact same thing that makes steam gamers go "I'll pick it up on sale" and Xbox users go "I'll wait for gamepass". Doesn't matter if it's explicitly not going g to be onsale/gamepass, they will wait.

(Related, it also Didn't work for Sony whey they thought releasing games late on PC would make them flood to Playstation).

Kinda surprised it's happening, now, 10 years later.

But man am I down for more. I was lucky the game's random nature gave me a "just right" experience (My brother struggled because it always seemed to be there harassing him, no time to build anticipation)

Dont get me wrong, this is hopefully good news and Im delighted "multiple" projects are coming...

However it bothers me that this means there nothing new from Halo for this gen. Its wild to me that fans can make things like a Helldivers clone in Forge and 343... sorry "Halo Studios"... needs to shift to an entirely new engine before getting anything else for X/S

We really are stuck in a cycle of "yes this sucks now but it will get better" aren't we. The good stuff always lurking around the next corner

@FraserG Indeed, hopefully some of those acti-Blizz titles drop.

I wonder if they plan on adding something as a counter to CoD for those who don't play it or if they are going to hold off on that in the hopes they try CoD.

Look forward to Inscrytion and Sifu but boy does that look light.

I'm enjoying it so far. Dose feel like your Dragonborn/Far Harbor/the Pitt sort of expansion. Isolated from the main "map" and removed from the primary narrative. Got this spooky vibe to it, some of the fights have been tricky on my difficulty level, and I'm finding the characters a lot more compelling than I was expecting for space cultists.

I'm not entirely sure the founder of the religon wasn't just "really goth" based on his picture.

Managed to panel-beat my current playthrough into resembling my original one. I suspect Andreja's personal quest is going to have hooks into this (like how Nick had a connection to Far Harbor)

I'm equally excited and concerned.

This is either going to be something really special or incredibly disappointing. At this point, I'm worried it's not going to be an actual game but just an interactive narrative like Heavy Rain.

I would have considered a Series X-X (?) if it was priced how the 1X was to the 1 but at £700 no way. At £700 I'd just buy a PC (upgrade mine) Would it be as good as a PS5? probably not but it would access to more games (including more and more PS exclusives) and I'd be able to tell it not to waste resources on 4K.

I doubt we're getting much in the way of Activision next month. Though I expect a "counter" to CoD from the Activision back catalogue Tony Hawks or Spyro seems the logical options.

@InvaderFromSpace considering their streaming push, you'd think they' do a cheaper cloud only tier.

@FraserG Thank you

I wasn't expecting much in the way of "First-party" news so I was rather happy with the show, got some new GP titles, and got a look at some interesting games. So I'm happy enough.

Unreleated but @FraserG I don't suppose you guys know anything about the Shadows of Doubt Xbox delay?

Cool, will jump on these since Shadows of Doubt's Xbox port got an unspecified delay

It always low level bothered me that I had one app for cloud streaming, and then a different app for console streaming. All my "Xbox" stuff should be in one place.

February is starting to look really busy. Having Monster Hunter and Avowed in Feb makes me less likely to get Shadows.

I really should jump into Gotham Knights before it leaves nut considering Shadows of Doubt drops tomorrow I doubt I have time for it.

My expectations for this is range from "Here's some stuff for gamepass" to "We're testing a gamepass cloud only tier in Japan"

@themightyant @Nic-Noc20th-C knowing how 'well' Xbox has been able to manage its studios if the console version ever comes out it'll do so alongside CIV7.

I'm 50/50 on this. I Love the other games but this being (another) prequel has me concerned. Don't get me wrong I think the whole E-Day event would be fantastic but how much is it actually going to focus on E-Day? I fear it'll accelerate right past the invasion aspect and it just plays out like Gears 1 again.

@themightyant agreed there's nothing that can be gained in those "early" 2 years that will offset the PS6 leap frogging.

Unless! The next xbox is upgradable, then they can equal/leapfrog PS6 when it gets annouced.

It makes sense that IF you making weaker hardware might aswell also have a handheld configuration.

Especially now competition isn't just Nintendo but expensive handheld PCs too.

@LuXifer Considering all the court cases they had to fight and the agreements they had to make (giving Ubi the cloud rights, putting Xbox games on other cloud streaming services, 10 years of CoD games for Switch) it probably cost them even more.

At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if an Xbox first-party game is a timed PS5 exclusive.

@RentedPanda very true but I guess the difference is Sony's approach gets them games "now" where as Xbox's approach gets them later at some unspecified point.

You could have given me a hundred guesses and "majima pirate adventure" wouldnt have come up. And I am delighted by that.

Kinda weird it's not a gaiden but I guess that means more than just "side story" to them (guess those are short and this is not.)

@LuXifer What it seems to be is the Activision purchase was just too much for Microsoft to ignore. Before it was happy to let Xbox do whatever but now It wants that 69 billion paying off ASAP so it strip-mining Xbox to do so. Releasing exclusives on other platforms for "instant cash" and ratcheting up game pass in the hopes of generating more revenue.

Gee I wonder why Xbox sales started strong and basically died over the last 12 months.

12 months...

• where Xbox spent hours on court talking g about how bad shape their console business is in and how they've already lost.
• Releasing their exclusive games on rival platforms.
• messing around with the platforms services
• failed at releasing consistent games (both ont terms of quality and releases).
• where series S keeps generating "holding back" headlines.
• not competing with Sony has it secures third party, after third party exclusive.

A complete mystery.

*note I am a big Xbox fan I want all the companies to be strong so they make better games and compete to give us the best offers so we don't get more PS5 Pro pricing.

@Ricky-Spanish Yeah' I've been burnt too many times buying games and they get stealth dropped to risk buying anything we know is actually coming

With Activision eventually joining GP I'm not buying any in BC or the publisher sale. But man Tony Hawks was real tempting

On Xbox, at the moment...it's a toss up between Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Dogma 2.

I'm very excited about this, can't wait to play it but the whole "decide the fate" thing feels... off.

Because barring any amazing plot twists, that fate will only last until my next jump through the unity. Spent the last week sorta rebuilding my first playthrough ATM.

Note: I like the whole NG+ is part of the narrative thing, do wish they'd add more universes and some kind of randomiser (even if it's just gear) but, as I suspect the point is, my connection to the world of Starfield is lessened with each jump.

It seems like Microsoft used to leave Xbox alone to do whatever (what's the occasional 7 billion to MS) but when they bought Activision (plus all that fighting in the courts) changed that. You don't get to spend 69+ billion of your "business dad's" cash and not have him looking over your shoulder.

All the stuff that's been going on since is much more in Microsoft's usual business practices and not the direction Xbox has been going in over the last decade.

I'd be grabbing Dead Rising but due to cash reasons I'll be buying Shadows of Doubt instead.

Will pick DR up later

I remember playing Halo coop at a friend's house and being on the edge, then we played RAW and that got it on the old Christmas list.

It sat next to our gamecube for multiplayer.

Said it b3fore an Xbox handheld has to be able to play Xbox games natively.

The market doesn't need yet another PC handheld let alone one that's sole USP is that it has an Xbox logo. There will be better and cheaper handheld PCs, playo g your existing g Xbox library is the one thing they can do that other companies can't.

(Ideally it'd be a dual boot device)

It would be a nice excuse to play it again.

@Vordus or a "remastered and extended" version of the documentary with a paid dynamic background.

I refuse to get any hopes up. I've been burned a lot in recent months of this sort of teasing and it's not been "the thing that you want" and something else.

So I'm setting my expectations to "documentary about the series"

Depends what the "offline mode" actually is. Riders Republic offline "zen mode" doesn't have progression and what not.

£500 would be my max.

Any higher is just PC land. If I'm going to be dropping more than £500 on AN UPGRADE then might as well upgrade my PC.

@Pabpictu Agreed. If Valve is ever going to try the whole "steam machine" thing again, that would be the time.

@GeeForce Maybe but I see a couple of potential issues

1: Sony can then ensure the PS6 is better than the Xbox Next. Just make every spec that little higher and the only counters are let them (in which case why rush out the Next?) or do an early mid-gen upgrade (leaving both to leapfrog each other).
2: With the PS5 being so dominant this gen, third parties (and Xbox apparently) won't launch games that are "next-gen only" and ensure the PS5 gets the same games as Xbox Next) so customers won't need an Xbox to play them.

IF Xbox wanted an upgrade I think something like an external addon* would make more sense instead of a whole new console. It'd be comparatively cheaper and would work on the Series S too.

*like those external GPUs and that booster Nintendo trademarked that was clearly for some sort of "pro-dock"