dskatter

Smart delivery makes a physical copy pointless, sadly. If you have a series X, you’re not allowed to play the Xbox one version, and that’s almost certainly what would be on the disc. Kinda defeats the purpose of a physical version.

Enjoyed the first one. I’ll probably get the second one on ps5, as that’s my main platform.

Zero issues with this decision.

It’s awesome that MS can actually take something that was REALLY bad for them at the time and now find a bit of humor in it. I respect them for that. Love it when a company owns their past boo-boos like this.

These need to go on general sale to the public.

I freely admit that, after buying a series X as my first XBox earlier this year, Horizon 4 and 5 were HUGE reasons why I ended up keeping the console.

They’re just pure fun.

I got my first XBox earlier this year, and got a few discounted Ultimate 3-month codes. Used two of them so far.

Gamepass got me into the Forza Horizon series, as well as the Halo series. I’ve since bought Horizon 3-5, as well as all the main Halo games (MCC, 5, Infinite) as well as disc copies of several others I’d discovered via gamepass.

So for me just starting, it’s been good. Most of the other games were titles I’d already played on PS4/5, but trying games like Hi-Fi Rush got me to purchase them. Though…that got bought on PS5. >.> Did buy High On Live on XBox, though!

I prefer to own my games (or in the case of digital versions, indefinitely rent…) so gamepass is more of a “let’s try these titles I’d normally never touch!” service. It’s worked out for me, but other than Indy…I don’t see much on the horizon that truly appeals to me for next year.

@somnambulance Thankfuly I’m not in the middle of any major games right now. Finished Metaphor and Stellar Blade (finally!) last week, so I’ve been just been casually playing some Forza Horizon 3 here and there. I’ll probably go back to Mario and Luigi Brothership to pass the time till Indy becomes playable for the plebes who didn’t pay extra.

@Jaxx420 I usually don’t comment-stalk but since this guy did I snuck a peek. Yowza. Also, it amuses me that I’ve been an XBox owner for longer than they’ve had an account on this site.

That is excellent. I have a lot of respect t for ifixit, and kudos to MS for doing this. I wish more companies would.

@somnambulance It does amuse me when people fling insults at the wrong person!

It further amuses me when people like that just further the whole “rawr you play other platform, you not true Insert-Platform-Here player!”

I’ve been debating whether to use one of my GP Ultimate 3 month codes next week to play Indy, and I probably will. If I like it, I’ll happily straight-up buy the physical version for PS5 next year no matter how far I get in the series X version. I tend to do that, actually BUY games I like, even after playing them on gamepass.

I’m betting that guy won’t purchase an actual copy for any platform, but will still decry me as a fanboy…

@Major_Player Pretty sure you meant to respond to me, not Somnambulance.

That said: I sure as hell am a PS fanboy since FF7. And a Nintendo fanboy since the NES. I still dislike Microsoft in general and have for years. And yet I actually purchased a series X and have been enjoying it for the most part. GASP! Especially Forza Horizon 3-5 and the Halo games! DOUBLE GASP!

Not really sure what my relatively new joining of the XBox ownership club has to do with my reaction to an XBox site review but you do you, man. You do you. Plenty of PS games are overblown and overhyped, too, and it’s nice when reviewers aren’t throwing out automatic 10/10 scores just because exclusive.

Commenters on the Pure XBox review: “HOW DARE YOU REVIEW THIS SO LOW, IS THIS EVEN AN XBOX SITE?1?1?1?1?”

Me: “Hey, refreshing honesty, I like it. It’s good to see the negatives and that the reviewer isn’t glossing over sticking points. Well done.”

I’ll pay the ten cents a year extra on my utility bill to have a faster start time, I’m cool with that.

Haven’t had gamepass active for a couple months. Have a key to use and won’t bother till a few weeks after launch so the usual paid beta tester…I mean, early access player bugs get worked out.

@Savage_Joe I’d like to think those would be rendered in-engine and not pre-recorded scenes.

I’d LIKE to think that, anyway.

@GuyinPA75 Agree to disagree. I was in the closed beta (edit: of Suicide Squad), and hated it.

Definitely agree that Gotham Knights is better, tho.

Still too much for Suicide Squad.

$4.99 for Suicide Squad.

…still $4 too much.

Did they add a boot-up splash screen asking reviewers to not judge the game based on how it was when it was released?

Still amused at the dev’s comments on that.

“Yay, I look like I’m on fire!”

Sniper about to pull the trigger: “Yay, he looks like he’s on fire!”

It’s nice seeing people defend one multi-billion dollar corporation against another multi-billion dollar corporation in this comments section. XD

@Rog-X You know, you keep saying that, and yet I can get disc games for dirt cheap regardless of what people charge for digital codes.

It’s almost like…I’m still saving money getting that PS5 and MS is making a large mistake not matching Sony’s hardware prices. Especially given Sony’s (and Nintendo’s) dominance in the console market currently. Not to mention the crippled series S, where Sony’s digital only PS5 is just as powerful as the one with the disc drive…

@OldGamer999 And you can add a drive to the still-cheaper digital PS5, to boot.

But a free wrap, that definitely makes up for a higher price and no way to add a blu drive later, surely?

“It’s unfair to rate our vehicle badly at release. Yes, the collision detection wasn’t working, the gear shift wouldn’t let you go above second, and it got 10 MPG. But we’re working on all that! These low reviews are just not warranted!”

-Complained no car manufacturer EVER, but somehow expected from software devs these days.

As for the whole ratings three months later thing..if it takes three months to fix the freaking bugs, maybe…and this is a crazy statement, I know…don’t release the game in a rough buggy state and MAYBE hold off for three months? Releasing a finished product is difficult, I know, but somehow other companies and industries seem to manage it…

I freely admit that they got two physical purchases out of me. One was the PS4 version on disc for about $10 when no one wanted it (I bought it knowing a free PS5 native upgrade was coming!) and then the complete edition for series X so I’d have the DLC on disc as well. I’d honestly have gotten the PS5 version instead, but Phantom Liberty was included as a code, not on physical media.

@FraserG Yup! That ultimate edition of Horizon 4 is a stupidly massive amount of content for an already amazing game, and the game itself is almost single handedly responsible for me keeping my series X! And I normally HATE racing games!

It’s sad that these are the lowest digital prices…because I paid FAR less for the physical versions of some games on this list. Starfield for $41.99? I paid like $25 for the disc via Amazon a few months ago.

That said, anyone who doesn’t leap on Forza Horizon 4 at this point is deeply missing out.

My memories were of not owning any Xbox till the Series X.

@Vaako007 A physical version of this game would probably be 500 GB and (since MS didn’t upgrade the optical drives in the X) come on MANY MANY discs.

And it’d still require internet because MS. XD

@gollumb82 Indeed, why would people expect to be able to play a game they paid for at launch! Such unreasonable people.

@MaccaMUFC If this is the future of gaming, I’m glad I have a few hundred games in my backlog. I’ll be good without cluster-effs like this in my future.

Your all-digital streaming future, ladies and germs!

@Ilyn Stuff like this kinda solidifies my series X being my first and last XBox, sadly.

@mac_da_man “Everything with a screen” being an Xbox is only useful if you’re willing to play cloud games.

@demian How many XBox games has Insomniac made since Sony bought them? Go ahead, I’ll wait while you look it up. I’ll give you a hint: zero.

Sony buying them doesn’t NOT mean their software becomes 1st party only either. It’s a case by case basis. Sometimes it’s a Bungie, sometimes it’s an Insomniac. If the majority of someone’s playtime is given to From Software titles, it isn’t “childish” to say Xbox is dead to them if future titles go first party only. It’s a fairly rational response.

@elpardo1984 Are there also dozens of games released this year that sold 20 million within a few weeks?

I kinda doubt it!

Astro Bot and Metaphor were fantastic and definitely deserve those nominations.

Black Myth Wukong is on my wish list, and I’m glad it made it there as well.

Balatro isn’t my thing, and DLC shouldn’t be nominated for best game so Erdtree isn’t even on that list as far as I’m concerned.

…I should probably get back to FF7 Rebirth one of these days…

MS should probably hit Sony up about their Kraken compression techniques.

$13.99 for Kill the Justice League.

…still $10 too high for my blood.

@gollumb82 Til you have an internet outage, then that owned hardware might look a bit more desirable…

Oh god, it’s XBoxes all the way down! Xboxception!!!

@Medic_alert Thanks, I hate it!

@MeanBeanEgg ..I’m even more so, so sorry.

@MeanBeanEgg I’m so, so sorry.

…Dustborn?

Well, I guess they need to get people to play that steaming pile somehow.

@NeoRatt You…are underestimating the current cost and difficulty of manufacturing these in comparison to standard hard drives, me thinks. As time goes on they will be, but until then…us peasants will have to make do!

@NeoRatt In fairness, a non-proprietary 8 TB M.2 SSD is around $750. SSDs aren’t cheap, especially at the speeds required for this gen of consoles.

I really don’t feel like paying that much for the ability to save a few more games. An external 8 TB hard drive and doing some storage shuffling is a much more cost-effective solution no matter how much you and I hate shuffling. Maybe when the PS6 and (whatever MS chooses to release) come out prices will have dropped substantially!

@Rog-X Not a compelling defense of proprietary hardware, in a world where I can save even more money by buying physical media.

Weird hill to die on defending proprietary hardware choices, though.

@johnK All games will run off the expansion cards.

You might be thinking of external hard drives. Only XBone/360 games will run off those, along with a VERY tiny number of X/S optimized games like the MCC.

So glad Sony went the non-proprietary route.

Odd how MS is just in love with these non-industry-standard drive expansions. Didn’t they do the same thing in the 360 era?

Meanwhile I could replace my PS3 and PS4’s internal hard drives with an off the shelf drive and didn’t void any warranties doing so, and stick a standard m.2 SSD into my PS5 with no issues.

The only things these cards have an edge on is installation speed, just insert into console.

(And yes, I do have a 1 TB card for my series X, annoyingly!)

Oh yeah. Overwatch exists.

After they failed to deliver on the promised PvE content for 2, I pretty much gave up on it. And after the game I originally paid for was no longer accessible.

Huh.

@luke88 As Jeremy Clarkson would say:

“Oh no! Anyway…”

When I bought my first XBox ever (series X) and discovered Forza Horizon 4 and 5.

So far…that’s about it. Still definitely much more of a PS/Switch guy, but Forza Horizon is fantastic. Once MS dips out of the console market, I look forward to playing it on the PS5/6!