darylb24

@PsBoxSwitchOwner It depends on what you are looking for in a game really. I have played around 10 hours and it's got a very MMO style world filled with fetch quest and content to grind gear/skills. If you like that sort of thing then you will love this game.

If you are looking for a more structured single-player game like a KCD 2, RDR 2, or even Dragons Dogma 2, you will be disappointed, as the quest design is very basic, and you repeat a lot of the same tasks, like grinding materials.

It's kind of like Monster Hunter Wilds without any story.

Some people will love it and some people will not, and that's okay.

I got it for PS5 Pro as I have no Idea how it will run on the series X.

I just want a huge sandbox I can mess around in and this game sounds like fun. I don't need this game to be story rich, just fun to play.

As for the puzzles, if I don't figure it out after a while I'll just Google the solution (same for the boss battles).

@Gemini53 Maybe you got some kind of Hookshot shadow ban for Push Square insubordination, haha.

Great stuff, it is good to see Xbox supporting developers and improving the player experience in this way.

I wonder if Fable or Gears of War gets pushed in 2027. Unless GTA 6 gets another delay, then they have August and October to seemingly squeeze 4 games. They have been known to delay games out of the end of the year to let it breathe before (Avowed)

@Gemini53 Well, I think we need to wait and see how it actually operates before we jump the gun and just call it a straight-up PC. Xbox themselves refer to it as a console, and we will find out soon enough what it does and doesn't do.

The PS5 and Series consoles are bascially PC's masqurading as home consoles. It just depends on how well you hide that it is a PC, really.

Damn, a lot of negative energy here. You can just say you don't like Xbox or don't want the next console if it's easier, lol.

All I can say about this console, like with the PS6, is "let's wait and see ".

Also side note, GDC is designed for developers and those in the console business, not info for consumers, so yes, it will sound like jarggon speak to many, but they aren't trying to market anything to gamers here.

@Balaam_ Series X dev kits dropped in March 2020, and the console launched in November 2020. Most 3rd-party games will "spec up" in a cross-gen fashion for the first 2-3 years, as we have seen this gen. After that, you will see the console really pushed.

1st party games out by late 2027 will have more time, but most of the games coming out this year and next will get a "next gen" update.

The same will happen to PS6 when they launch cross-gen games for 1-2 years. It's the reality of game development this decade of diminishing returns, and it doesn't matter how much or little you spend on a console or PC.

All you can really do is pick the hardware that you think will offer you the best experience, or maybe some game exclusives (There aren't many of those left outside Nintendo).

I think gaming is moving to a place where Phil isn't enjoying it as much anymore, and when that happens, it's time to retire, for sure.

I wish him a great retirement for all his hard work, and Asha all the best as she gets to grips with new generations of gamers and their new habits.

@fatpunkslim Yeah another big bonus

@dskatter DF is going to show console footage later this week if you are curious about how the game actually plays on Xbox.

Game looks great! roll on May!

I am going to enjoy this on Series X!

I mean, MS gaming is a consumer-facing brand that makes them profit. Of course, he is going to continue to invest in it.

It's what the next MS CEO decides to do that matters more. Satya won't be around forever.

@Weebleman @UnlimitedSevens He didn't decide to retire until March 2025, and this interview was in January 2025.

@TheGameThrifter Well, those are the questions that Asha will need to answer over time. All we can do is give her time and wait and see.

@TheGameThrifter Well over 30 million (as of a couple of years ago) people have bought an Xbox Series X or S. They can ship units, but the pivot away from console exclusives and price rises in their core US market has hurt the brand and, in turn, the sales.

If they were to have timed exclusives and improve the brand, they could hit a similar number again (if the console is under $600).

If it is over that mass market price point, I am certain they will have a set number in their head (maybe 5-10 million like the Steam Machine) that they are happy with. For them, it's about profitability and user acquisition in the PC market/MAUs rather than how many consoles they should sell.

The main reason Asha was brought in is that she has a track record of scaling large tech services (Facebook Messenger) and user acquisition, too. Microsoft needs to gain PC market share to grow, as console sales overall (across the 3 main brands collectively) are slowly retracting.

I hope they are successful. A successful Xbox means a better Sony and Nintendo (bring back those rewards and make online free/keep prices down).

@themightyant I would not read too much into IGN coverage - they always manage to show the worst versions of pre-release games.

We'll see more direct from the source soon.

Jason Ronald will be talking about this at GDC next Wednesday, so no surprise this was announced now.

People are so obsessed with hating anything AI that they don't consider those with disabilities/less able might benefit from this optional setting.

@themightyant They will be showing off more of that before launch. We are still over 2 months out.

@Bloodvixen Forza 5 and Oblivion Remastered did very well, but games like Gears Reloaded, The Outer Worlds 2, and Flight Sim 24 all sold under 500K copies on PS5, which is a fair bit less than what MS would have been hoping for, given development time and porting costs.

I expect Avowed and South of Midnight won't be selling like hotcakes either.

(IMO)They would be better off focusing on porting live service big hitters like Forza 6, COD, and The Elder Scrolls 6. Porting anything else might not make financial sense, and that is why Asha is going to look at the data to review what isn't working and why the gaming division is down in revenue 3 years in a row.

They should not waste time/talent, and financial resources porting over games that won't make them a significant amount of money. No point porting games just for the sake of it.

I guess we will find out over the coming months what Asha decides to do when she sees the PS5 sales data.. It's very hit and miss.

@ IronMan30 Good luck getting a free PC copy of 007 First Light if you buy it on Switch 2 lol.

Play Anywhere is always a net positive for gamers, as you will always own the console and PC versions of the game (and you can play the cloud version too).

You might own a Series X now and then move onto a PC later, knowing the game (and all your saves) will be there waiting for you. It won't be stuck on a console ecosystem forever without an additional purchase.

I loved the game at launch and plan to get it again for my PS5 Pro.

The website has seen these improvements too - maybe Asha has told someone to finally bring the webiste out of the 2010's!

I think if you are looking for stable fps, Series S is the way to go. If you want to play something like GTA 6 or Crimson Desert, the Series is cheaper in the UK and the only way to go at this moment.

Bring Persona 6 to Game Pass, that is all.

@Gemini53 Ultimately it's coming from a group of people who will likely never even reach 10% of the career success she has achieved so far.

I hope for her success because if she is successful then Xbox will be so as a consequence.

Straus Zelnick, by his own words, is not a gamer, but he can run a billion-dollar business and empower the people who can make video games. The best service/media business leaders make good choices, empower staff, and get out of the way to let them create.

Asha doesn't need to be a video gamer; she needs to make good business and brand decisions that will support the creative teams.

I will judge her on what she delivers to me as an Xbox player, not on how many/if any hours per week she plays games.

I would rather start optimistic and become a pessimist than any other way. I would rather wait and see than doom and gloom right now. Skepticism is reasonable, but cynicism, which I have seen, is not, as we don't know anything about her yet.

Curious what the future holds for Xbox - I will hold judgment for the future.

Thanks for the decades of service to gaming, Phil. I hope he has a good retirement.

I aim to get a copy for my PS5 Pro and Series X (Hopefully cloud compatible).

A Dev has clarified they are just updating the website but it's a lower priority Vs the development of game updates. I'm surprised the article hasn't been updated like on push square.

@Fiendish-Beaver I feel like Game Pass offers the best value for players who don't buy lots of games day one.

KCD 2 coming to Game Pass soon..

March is shaping up to be a great month for gamers

Honestly, I never really used this, and it seems it was barely used at all when you have things like Discord/mobile apps.

A logical move regardless of what the doomers might say. If it helps streamline the future oS for speed, then even better.

Plenty of the SoP coming to other platforms it seems

@FraserG It's a shame you don't get the same resources as Push Square and Nintendo Life, but I guess it's understandable from a site traffic point of view. Just feels a little scaled back from previous years post 2024.

@Elbow, I guess it's the reality of the Xbox-centric landscape now, with sites like Xbox Era moving multiform/ Windows Central cutting all but Jez on the gaming team and others likely following suit over time.

Does Pure Xbox no longer do reviews? Feels like ages since the last one (November, I think).

A game that even a pirate would not touch.

This is definitely something I want to check out on Game Pass.

When it comes to earnings calls the CEO will tell shareholders what they want to hear. In reality he has no idea or little to no control over if Rockstar will have the game ready by November. Every earnings call he is like "yeah definitely this time, feeling really confident about this time". It's like the boy that cried wolf lol.

@chesheer AMD does have control over the creation of the design and manufacture of the custom chip, so that it can determine the earliest it can launch. There are also contracts in place so they will have some say as long as they have a contract.

@Weebleman To be fair, it might be that some departments have 30%, and some will have lower or even higher %'s. When they said it wasn't a fixed 30% across the board, they probably didn't actually lie. Businesses never have fixed profit margins across all products because they are cost-dependent. Even at the current console prices, they are getting nowhere near 30% profit margin on them. They would be lucky if it's even running at a profit at all.

I really enjoyed both games - probably a 9.5/10 on both for me. I do understand, however, that they are closer to AA games and are not really mass market. They took too long to make for what they are. They need to focus on one AAA game every 4 years or so across Xbox, PS5, and Switch 2, and they will do fine. Getting games to run on the Switch 2 is vital to tap into the RPG players on that platform.

81 MC is an 8/10 game overall, which is exactly what you should expect from a remake, really. I'm glad to hear that they took out the extra fluff. The target audience for this game no longer plays 1-2 games per year, so only exceptional games will warrant anything over the 70-hour mark.