I totally believe the previous head of AI development that no AI slop will be used. Especially when her X replies seem generated from AI and her gamertag has only existed for a few months with easily AI-trainable games being the only ones played on said account.

I totally believe this will be a great thing!

“MS decided I wasn’t needed anymore, but we’re pretending this is my choice.”

I’m sure the person in charge of MS’s AI initiative will TOTALLY not shove AI into games left and right.

Totally.

Never forget that, as stupid as MS can be with studio closings and firings…Sony can be just as idiotic.

Seriously, I kinda hate MS (tho I own a Series X) but Sony is doing nothing to endear themselves to me right now. And I’ve been a PS guy since the original, as well as a Nintendo guy since the NES.

The rate things are going, I might just focus on Switch 2 games and call it good.

@chesheer Looks like they had backing from Tencent. I think they qualify as greedy, even if not the actual publisher.

@themightyant So you’re saying that Gamefreak needs to start outsourcing the Pokémon games! I can get behind this.

It’s truly amazing that THIS is coming from the same company that gave us those barely-worth-bothering graphics in the last few Pokémon games.

@HonestHick It just boggles my mind that they’re willing to pony up the cost for a full 64GB game card…but they couldn’t do the lesser cost of a second disc for series X/PS5.

Sigh. The life of a physical gamer can be an annoying one! Still, I support real physical releases and I will reward them with a double-dip on S2!

@HonestHick Again: Multiple disc releases exist already. Hell, the standard XBox game case is MADE to hold multiple discs since the Series X can’t use the high capacity discs the PS5 can.

A dual disc release would be far cheaper than using a 64GB S2 game card. Discs are cheaper to produce.

Bethesda boggles my mind sometimes. But I will likely be buying Indy on S2, even though I played it on GP and own it on PS5 digitally!

Bethesda just confirmed on Twitter that Indy will be fully on Switch 2 game card, not a game key.

Which of course begs the question…why did they give us a game key disc for PS5 and series X? Or two discs?

I truly do not understand the publishing decisions made anymore.

@themightyant It was awful for me. I very much disliked it. And I own it on disc!

It’s almost like two different people can have differing opinions on the same thing!

Team Green can keep Starfield.

But as an owner of all three current consoles, I love seeing this.

@Cakefish Yup. Somehow it isn’t an issue on PS or PC, but MS’s nanny censoring makes it an utter joke.

12.7 billion instances were people playing FF14 and censoring the in-game chat words “Thanalan” and “class” due to rear-related letters being contained within.

…you may think I’m joking, but these examples actually happened. The FF14 chat censorship on XBox is pretty much why I’ll never play it on my Series X again and only on my PS5. It is utterly ridiculous.

I hope the tens of tens of people who played this game appreciate the effort.

Hilariously Woot has WWE2K24 for $4.99 for XBox right now.

I’m sure this will attract tens of tens more players.

I love seeing this game succeed. Thanks to my Team Green brethren who continue fighting for Managed Democracy against the alien hordes!

I saw this news and am ready to bust out my PS4 disc copy for a hopefully free upgrade. Hopefully my primarily Team Green friends will get the same treatment!

Cloud and…AI strength.

Touting Copilot, one of the things responsible for making hardware more expensive, is a bold strategy. Especially while touting more cloud strength…since people will start to not afford new hardware.

Am I the only one annoyed by that little combo?

The Series S version running better than the Switch 2 version should be an automatic assumption given that it is not a hybrid console and doesn’t have to account for a portable mode as well.

The fact that the Series S and Switch 2 are as close as they are in performance when the S2 draws around 18-20W of power docked and the Series S draws from 50-85W is honestly a testament to just how well the Switch 2 performs.

presses X to doubt

@Rangers420 Wow, it only took 26 comments for someone to bring some form of politics into this for no reason. Congrats on being that post!

With all those cancelled projects, I suppose they have the time to finally get these upgrades done.

There is a LOT of Xbox fanboying happening with that XBoxEra review, good grief.

Makes me want a current-gen FF13 trilogy port so a PS site can say the same thing and then add, “and our FF14 chat isn’t censored to a stupidly excessive degree, so WE are once again the premier platform for Final Fantasy!”

You know, just to stir the pot a bit more. Keep the rivalry fresh.

I will laugh if the date comes and goes without a peep from them.

It looked like such generic slop, and I find it hilarious that this was the “one last thing” that they were so proud of at those awards.

Of course, Persona 4 Arena got a full Ultimax release on PC, Switch and PS4 back in 2022, while skipping the XBox.

Still feels weird that they didn’t port that over to run natively outside of BC for team green, or at least make the digital version accessible. Especially with Atlus being very XBox focused in their promotions these days.

Isn’t Unity the company that tried to make people pay per installation at exorbitant rates?

If so, he’s probably better off looking for another position anyway. Unity still has egg on their face from that.

@Dm9982 Whatever my opinion of the game itself is, Outlaws is a prime example of what the S2 can do. The fact they squeezed that game into a portable console made by Nintendo without sacrificing more than they did is astonishing.

@OldGamer999 It is! But one screwup with my account and boom, access to all those games goes away.

Convenience IS wonderful, and for some games I absolutely went for it. Helldivers 2, Mario Kart 8/World, etc. Games I knew I’d want instant access to at a moment’s notice. I’m not a total stick in the mud.

@OldGamer999 No, thank you. I’ll keep my discs so I actually own my games. Same with my blu-ray collection for movies.

This oldie will stick to physical media anytime it’s possible.

@Dm9982 PS5 has a large install base compared to the Switch 2, at least for the moment. S2 is outselling PS5 right now but obviously Sony has already gotten the PS5 into more hands. Remember that those existing consoles don’t magically disappear.

MS would be stupid to exclude one or the other. Making an X game run on the S is a good parallel for making a PS5 version comparable to the X and then a Switch 2 version on par (or slightly below, possibly) the S. Though they’d have to drop it more for portable mode.

Either way, I own both so I’ll be content!

@swedetrap You can’t play GT7 offline at all beyond some tutorial stuff, so I’m not sure I’d use that as an example.

Of course Fable will get a PS5 port. Hopefully a Switch 2 port as well.

In a world where Forza Horizon 5 is on PS5 and 6 will be after a delay, it’d be silly to think Fable won’t get the same treatment.

@Neither_scene The X has three
advantages over the PS5, in my time with both.

1-Quick Resume. If you’re playing a non-online game, it’s excellent. Though I had a few times where it glitched, and it’s utterly USELESS on online-based games…

2-Multiple external drives. The PS5 (and PS4) limits you to one external hard drive via USB. Xbox seems to play nice with at least two, if not more.

3-Backward compatibility with a metric ton of 360 and OG Xbox games. I wish I could play some of my PS3 titles on my PS4 or 5, and I actually rebought the FF13 trilogy on 360 disc to play them on my Series X.

The Series X does indeed a slight horsepower advantage over the PS5, but then the Series S comes in to play and says, “Hey, remember I exist and please don’t do anything I can’t handle!” and then it mostly stops being relevant, sadly.

PS advantages: While it doesn’t have quick resume, it DOES support rest mode with a game running so you can jump right back into it. Also, the PS5 uses faster internal and expansion storage making load times much faster in general.

And of course, PS has the larger install base. Plus, there’s the recent sales numbers where MS is lucky if they sell a thousand XBoxes a month in a place like Japan…and Sony routinely sells a much larger number.

It does amuse me that MS has been releasing more games for the PS lately than SONY has. But then, MS also absorbed a ton of developers and these releases are mostly ports of existing games and not day 1 launches.

I hope MS keeps doing hardware, mostly for the competition, but I can’t deny the Sony and Nintendo fanboy in me chuckles every time I see that “Microsoft Game Studios” logo on those platforms.

May Team Green have a great 25th anniversary and I hope XBox lovers get some very good news this year!

@tho_mi Everything is an Xbox, so why bother making XBox branded XBoxes anymore?

Whoever came up with that marketing slogan has to be regretting it at this point. >.>

Me, I’m happy to have Horizon 5 (and 6, after the likely short exclusive window) on my PS, as well as Gears and Indy. Hopefully the MCC will come as well, not just the reimagined/remade Halo 1.

I own a Series X, but I rarely boot it up. I’m a PS/Switch gamer primarily, and everything MS is doing lately makes me happy I went that way.

That said, it would be sad if MS gives up on their own actual console hardware. Especially in this anniversary year.

@tho_mi And Sony gets 30% of every sale, or whatever their cut is.

I doubt Sony minds all that much. MS is a better third party developer than a hardware provider anyway at this point.

Well, at least if another company does them, you can be relatively sure the whole game will be on the disc/cart…

@FrenchVaniIIuxe Oh, I think we all know they’ll butcher it.

Making exactly what they wanted worked out the first time. I trust them to do as well if not better the second time, as long as they don’t cater to their haters.

@Balaam_ Well, in fairness, Hi-Fi Rush isn’t published by MS anymore so of course it gets a real physical release! The lack of MS got it done.

…sadly it’s through LRG, so there’s still a massive horrible catch.

Yay! Hi-Fi Rush on disc! I can hardly wait to-

sees Limited Run Games

…ick.

I miss the pre-trophies/achievements days. When people just played the game to enjoy the game.

@BattleMonkey Google committed to Stadia long-term, too.

@BattleMonkey MS has made it clear that consoles are not a priority, so therefore I’m not making MS a priority in any way.

That sucks. I honestly had no idea who this man was, but the fact that he was a force behind resurrecting the Mighty Orbots as a possible figure gives me automatic respect.

@SalaciousCrumb And if it is, my PS5 and Switch 2 might be my last consoles! My backlog is massive enough that I really won’t miss anything if I just tap out then.

The series X is my first and last Xbox, so I chose the PS6 option.

That said, anyone who would voluntarily pay over $1000 for a gaming console is…well, nuts. And from the poll results, there are people willing to do that

I wouldn’t even pay that much for a PS6, and I’m a Sony/Nintendo fanboy!

@Fiendish-Beaver Hell, they could always just use those agreements to make a Super Duper Special XBox Branded PC or something. A special edition XPC if you will.

There is zero guarantee there will be a new console. Remember, Google swore up and down that Stadia was a success right before they pulled the ripcord.

MS has kept their place in the console market for years, and I give them credit for that even as I was a massive XBox hater to the point that I swore I’d never own one. Past me would be aghast at my ownership of a Series X.

But as I’ve said before…it is my first and last XBox. Whether that reason will be due to my lack of buying one or the non existence of new XBox consoles remains to be seen.

@Balaam_ I hope you’re right. Design stage makes MUCH more sense, and if that’s what they meant then all good.

…of course I still doubt there’ll be anything but an XBox branded PC in the future, but eh!