kmtrain83

I’ll just go to Japan instead.

This game used to crash my laptop computer back around 2009 but not because of bugs. I had spilled coffee on it and one of the two fans made a buzzing sound so I would just put a paper clip in there to keep it from buzzing, so there was just a single fan and whenever things got kinda hot, the laptop would just shut off in the middle of playing Oblivion.

@TrollOfWar
I've said this before but I feel like because it's Microsoft which is a multi-trillion dollar behemoth, unless they can dominate this space, they'd rather pack up and reinvest in AI and whatnot. If they'd settle for running 3rd and keeping an underdog attitude, that's still a bronze medal in gaming, and we could continue to have nice things from them. I don't think Nadella has it in him to settle though.

@Skinny-Pete
I love that Scarface analogy.
Sharma has brought positive energy to the brand, which is a good thing.
It's hard to arrive on the scene nearly six years into a console lifecycle, when sales will be in decline -> that's not her fault, it's just the natural order of things.
The next console launch will be her time to shine.

@Skinny-Pete
I don’t mean to be rude. Somehow, being a nerd became cool in the 21st century. I’m a fellow nerd.

OK so here we are again with the "Return of (bad news regarding) Xbox."

In a parallel universe, I wonder if Bethesda had never thought of Starfield, and went hard with a sequel to Skyrim, and made it exclusive to Xbox about 3-4 years ago, what position they would be in now?

I still can't tell clearly from the reporting : Is Game Pass profitable?

@Skinny-Pete
It's so hard to believe a corporation would reduce their profit margins to a significant degree, for what exactly? The goodwill of a bunch of nerds on these message boards? Corporate profits are like viruses in nature. They exist to produce, and they produce to exist.

Xbox is back!

Sooner or later, not sure when.

They are all over the place with these ideas. I wonder who will make the final call.

I think they need to slow down the constant messaging at this point and maybe sit tight until they have something more substantive to relay. This corporate lingo is getting a bit irritating.
“We’re going to lead because that’s what leaders do.”
“We’re going to put gamers first because we’re a gamers first company.”
I could probably use AI to make a lot more of these statements if anyone is interested.

They should make Minecraft exclusive.

I’m not sure if they have the goods in terms of exclusives. I don’t see Fable as a system seller even if it’s a good game. Starfield didn’t get the job done, and by the time the sequel to Skyrim comes out will anyone care. Many of the original Morrowind fans like me will be in a nursing home, playing Wii Sports.

I want to believe

@ILuvGames
Yes, if the next console is a hybrid PC, then there will need to be an adjustment to Game Pass, which adds to the confusion of having several tiers, only to have them reconfigured.

How long will this last because won't Helix be "PC Game Pass" tier, because it is a PC?

@darylb24
We will probably never know the full numbers, because it is a trade secret. What we can infer from them raising the price from $20 to $30 for the highest tier, is that they made a calculated risk that it would be more profitable to get more from existing subscribers then try to grow the base with a lower entry cost. Netflix has raised their prices multiple times in the past several years. Is that "good" or "bad" IDK?

@Fiendish-Beaver
It means whatever it means to whoever it means

Compare to Skyrim ~60 million copies sold.

Maybe they should port Starfield to more devices like refrigerators and smart speakers.

Step number 1 for Microsoft: find the leaker. Step number 2: retaliate against the leaker. Step number 3: come up with a better plan.

Nope. Black and white went out of style in the 1960s.

@Millionski
I have not seen any rumors or announcements on how they will convert what in some cases could be 25 years and hundreds of physical discs in the hard-core fan collection to this future potentially disc-free PC first platform.
My guess it would come in the form of a detachable disc reader connected by USB, but whether you need to insert the disc each time to play, or have a one time conversion to digital is unclear. The latter would be bad for the environment and flood the market with useless discs.

@Sindayl
Yes, I’m still not sure what is the value proposition of this branded PC versus building my own or getting a rig at Costco?

@SMJ @Balaam_

I wouldn’t rule out Microsoft coming out with an external disc drive to carry forward everyone’s physical collection. It’s not full backwards compatibility when it’s only available for digital customers.

Everything is “game changing” nowadays. Has it become a marketing term devoid of meaning?

Of all the options out there, including mobile PC console streaming buying new buying used buying on sale, I wonder what percent of gamers want to pay $30 a month for unlimited rentals? Like many people on this forum, I have a huge backlog of owned digital and physical games on multiple platforms, so paying additional $30 monthly for that one other game as a rental will just bump down the backlog.

Just like with a sports club sometimes you just need a new manager to turn around the season even if the players are the same.
It is very unlikely I will get the next generation of PlayStation at the rate that things are going in terms of price and must play games in relationship to my backlog. We still love enough of the Nintendo IP to invest in Switch 2 games, and that can be easily passed around among family members.
I would likely need to upgrade my aging desktop PC and that is where Project Helix may find a home however, I don’t think most people on this site are looking at that for a desktop PC replacement but rather a console evolution

This is not an Xbox?

Can I run Excel and PowerPoint on Helix? If so I might get it as my desktop replacement, because my Dell XPS is getting long in the tooth, with only 256GB SSD and 1660 Ti GPU.

@Banjo-
I’m not sure if it’s a PC or not. If they let you “Exit to Windows” then in theory you should be able to run your Microsoft Teams meetings when you’re not gaming.

If this is a PC, you probably could just plug in a CD player using a USB connector to install games onto the internal drive. You should be able to do that on any PC. The drive just has to be able to read Xbox discs. They already make these drives for the series X, so why not just make a detachable version?

The bigger question will be if that drive does a single digital conversion or you will have to reinsert it each time to run the game.

If they do the digital conversion, there will be a whole lot of useless plastic all of a sudden, and this could get dumped into the donation centers

This is an interesting strategy, trying to generate some buzz with the hard-core, but not necessarily destroy their profit margins

This was a family favorite 4 player coop, but the kids eventually outgrew it

@MinervaX76
It's possible to work in an organization where things don't have to be mandated explicitly, for people to know that they are expected.

@MinervaX76
I don’t know this strikes me as adding AI to the console, even though they intimated that they wouldn’t push this as heavily

@MinervaX76
That’s interesting because when you get those pop-up on PlayStation with the walk-throughs on your phone app, it can tell what section of the game you’re in, but I don’t think it can actually see what exactly you’re doing in game. I wonder if this is more intrusive.

I built up such a backlog during the pandemic, that a new game will either need to be "must play" territory, or in a series that I already enjoy for me to add it to the list. I could see myself trying this out on subscription in 3-5 years (if I still have any), or deep discount.

@Flanders
I wonder if Project Helix Game Pass cost will go UP to match Ultimate, or go DOWN to match PC, because it is a hybrid.

This is better than stepping on rakes.

Still, what would really move me is if they dialed back the recent price hikes -> that would show gumption, and not just be a PR stunt.

@cragis0001
This is kind of what happened already in the 1980s. Microsoft cut a deal with IBM, and slowly at first but then suddenly with the burst of PC clones, they found a way to get their OS onto tons of computers, thereby crowding out the likes of Apple, Commodore/Amiga, and Atari in the PC gaming space. The circumstances are different now, in that Steam gets a bigger cut of PC game than Microsoft (Windows itself generates a bit), and of course mobile gaming, which outpaces both console and PC. Microsoft has some mobile assets in King (of Candy Crush fame), but I don't hear much about if they are trying to push mobile, nor do I care, as I more or less dropped those kinds of games several years ago.

There seems to be a lot of consensus, but maybe it’s just the type of article that invites this sentiment.
Who knows, between AI and the cloud maybe we’ll just be making our own video games in the 10 to 20 year mark with a simple voice command.

Why would a fairly well known game like Dragon Quest VII Reimagined not have four reviews yet? It would easily be in the top 10. Nothing on this list screams "You must get an Xbox," and that is part of the problem. Meanwhile for Switch 2 on Metacritic the Monster Hunter Stories 3 lands all the way down at 12th place with an 82 (ie "great.") NSW2 is still being criticized as heavy a mediocre 1st year lineup, but it has the added elements of Pokekmon Pokopia, Animal Crossing update, Ys X Proud Nordics, Mario Tennis, and Xenoblade X update.

@Cakefish

I was also wondering about the fate of Play Anywhere. Furthermore, I believe the Game Pass PC vs Ultimate tiers need to be consolidated, and lowered in price to match the PC edition, forgoing significant revenue.

I’m still struggling to find a reason for Helix to exist, and to differentiate itself from any other mini desktop gaming PC. If it comes down to things like Achievements and Quick Resume, do we assume these are Xbox exclusive, and could never be replicated by the likes of other Steam, Sony, Nintendo, etc? So many questions!

@BAMozzy
I’m still not sure I understand the new normal. If Xbox the console creases to exist, then of course it will take no time at all to port to it.

I forgot Xbox "app" on Windows 11 is a thing, so I'm trying it out. The first thing that happened is a pop up window (love them pop ups when I'm on my work PC) saying their is misalignment between my Microsoft account, and my son's account for the Windows store. I have to choose. He's the one with the Game Pass, so I picked his. Then I clicked on Minecraft launcher, which said "Recently updated." It proceeded to install another update, which was admittedly fairly quick. Then I got a splash screen telling me to "Sign In With Microsoft." -> Didn't I just do that with the first pop up? Okay, forget Minecraft. Then I went to an oldie but goodie that I sunk many hours into back in the day: Age of Empires II. It's not installed, but I can "Play with Cloud With your Subscription." Okay, great let's get to it -> only now it says "Let's get ready... Controller disconnected." ... I seem to recall playing this with mouse and keyboard all those times. Why would I use a controller for the "best play experience?" .... Meanwhile, in the time spent, I could have likely completed an entire run on Hades 2, Switch edition.

The advertisement above shows a bunch of technology arranged like it's being tossed into a junk pile. Was that the original graphic, or was it modified for this article to highlight the fact that this message is going into the trash heap?

@TheGameThrifter
Well, being from an immigrant family, pretty much every fast food joint we visited, my mum was probably thinking, "This is a Macdonald's"

@TrollOfWar
Yes the release of Helix could coincide with GTA 6 coming to PC, but 4K 60 FPS would take a powerful graphics card...

I'd like to hear some technical translation of the PR speak. What do they mean by "order of magnitude" leap? That usually means > 10 times improvement. Also curious as to this AMD SoC , what would be the equivalent NVIDIA dGPU. For desktop gaming PC's, it's all about the GPU > people pay thousands of dollars for just that one add-in board.

I guess the youths are not into this chibi super hero squad stuff.

He must have a mix of emotions. He was at Microsoft since 1988 when it was a Seattle based start up, with nothing but moxie to help him gain through the ranks. He seems to be embracing this early retirement (forced resignation).