If they do more than one again [they should to potentially be closer to 'affordable'] they still need to limit the options.

Too many options is also a bad decision. Two consoles and 1 handheld, that's the max they should attempt.

@Banjo- not really, Xbox is one of the worst streaming services. Also 15 hour month limit WITH Ultimate AFTER spending $79-$99 USD on the game.

Biggest non news I've ever heard. Replace GTA6 with any game, still sucks. Until they at minimum give 100 hours steaming with Ultimate they have nothing here.

I've tried vanilla, complete and remastered now. It feels slightly more playable this time but I still don't know by how much. Still feels super arcade-y in the wrongs ways and nothing you do with the new menu adjustments fixes anything besides camera movement and roach movement. Diving and melee still sucks.

Even 60fps mode feel clunky, and worse than FF7 Remake and Rebirth even at 30fps. I'm still gonna chug through it to get to the story but man...this is still a slog and I don't have high hopes for Witcher 4.

AI ruining Microsoft and Xbox. Nadella should have been fired years ago, maybe the bad bets on AI will be the end of line in the next year or so. Can't wait for this nightmare to be over.

$900-$1200 USD with some sort of physical media for new games, I'll bit the bullet on Helix.

I'm already at a place with my Series X disc collection I can either wait to play them (after Helix is out) or if they are PlayAnywhere in the next few months/1 year moving forward pop it in the Xbox One S [I got recently] take the entitlement and install then play it on my PC (as it is hooked directly to my OLED TV anyway).

And frankly get what I paid for my Series X now and wait until Helix and/or move on to PC. If I still want new Series X discs get only PlayAnywhere titles for now on Xbox.

I play games to get away from stress and things in our commerical world like ads. Also sounds like this is anti-Quick Resume in many ways, the current systems best feature and a reason to play single player games on the Xbox console to get past startup ads.......

@Millionski I say this as nicely as possible with what proof do you have that is true?

Sony might be closing a studio here or there, they try to keep teams together and mostly cancel projects. This is all still very bad but when Microsoft just cancelled projects no one battled an eye. Or if they did well yeah it's Microsoft lol.

Microsoft has been winning fans back with GamePass for years, but hasn't been winning fans back with their games. I know that was the intent (likely) with the merger originally but really they haven't had a public known hit at all since Sea of Thieves which was before that happened. Even all the games from Blizzard and Bethesda since merger have been meager at best...except Indiana Jones at least reviews (we know the game generally is decisive publicly).

I get the intent of what they did today in ways but when I think about every point they made there is only one that stands out and it's Halo being made by Activision team (whom likely will get a game out much quicker) that seems positive, even as a before day 1 Halo CE fan.

Everything else? It doesn't scream 'we are gonna release 3-5 new AA or AAA games a year'. It means what the word they said: reset

Good on the French Government halting nonsense like firing people for no real reason besides "just cause", or "restructuring", or "it's good for investors".

I'd rather Arkane not get touched until they could be sold or bought by another party and hopefully at the very least finish Blade.

You know PlayStation has been horrible the last few months but Microsoft and Xbox here just obliterating themselves even further....wow this is worse than I thought.

How does this company technically release but 1-2 games per year as of now? They might get back to 3-5 new games a year but we are back to 2018, AGAIN.

It doesn't sound like either a PS6 or Helix will be worth buying even if they were cheaper boxes. Nvidia ruining themselves also, and almost AMD doing the same. Intel barely releases anything.

At this rate Nintendo Switch 2 and an all AMD PC are the future I guess.

Also how does this put them in a place where games cannot be exclusives now? Feels like with this news that's the point for their popular IP. I get that could be a positive but how do they get those sales with GamePass day 1 and PS5 versions? Nothing continues to make much sense.

Onimusha probably 1/2-3/4 done. Honestly wasn't expecting to be this long of a game.

Ya we just need to see if it plays any other PC games besides Xbox PC games.

Honestly by default it shouldn't as it will be too expensive if it does. Just give people options at different price points.

Helix being under $1000 USD with it having disc to digital, Kojima games continued to have majority of 3rd party games, etc is a sure way to get most people's appeal. If they stated an external drive can be purchased and there will be Helix native physical games? Yeah that's a pretty easy purchase for me.

One of the bigger releases for Xbox, are you all not going review it? You all haven't reviewed The Blood of the Dawnwalker or Onimusha: Way of the Sword? What's the deal.

@SodaPop6548 yeah that creep, no thanks.

Physical CD and vinyl? This ***** is about control over what we purchase nothing more.

Having Wallen on the soundtrack I might as well double skip the game. What a disaster.

Definitely sounds like PlayStation lost way too much money the last few years and just simply couldn't afford Kojima anymore. And that's cool they have their own projects to move forward with, but this absolutely seems like a 4-5 year off video game, which is fine. We know OD was always going to happen first. Anyone disappointed they didn't see more it's obvious it's half a generation away. The only disappointment was no OD gameplay, but he replied it was on hold due to SAG actors strike.

Perfectly fine with it, as long as those games have disc releases too. Otherwise I'll play it when it comes to GamePass or dirt cheap.

Revelations is still one of the best experiences this year.

Only other games I can say are also up there with it is Zero Company and Onimusha.

@Fiendish-Beaver yep exactly, this stuff is cool but very basic things we just should expect not be talking about hardly ever if ever.

@gaminggod Kojima stated late last year Physnit is "5-6 years away" btw. OD might come out close to next gen hardware launch, but Physnit probably middle of next generation.

As much as you all want to believe Day One games on GamePass will continue for much longer, it won't. We are getting close to them being removed, just look at what they did this year for the Call of Duty games

I can hear people now saying Xbox is dead if they do that, no it just means the cheap ride is over. And the question is will you fight to make digital purchases owned and/or start buying physical games?

If not well the reality is you worked on killing the brand yourself, so why does it matter?

If you don't treat GamePass/any digital purchases all as rentals and only physical discs (owning a license) you can keep/resell them I don't know what any of you all are doing.

More than half my Xbox One/Xbox Series discs 27 or 28 are able. After getting Zero Company, Onimusha, and Monster Hunter Stories 3 physical recently it's 30+ of the 65-70 discs I have potentially capable. I really need Sega, Square and Ubisoft fo get their ***** together. If not I just won't buy their games on Xbox or possibly at all anymore. It's their choice as they are ALSO the worst offenders of Game Key Cards as well. So the shoe is fitting the foot as they say.

I have 3x Xbox original and Xbox 360 physical discs but we know those games will never be able due to:
1. Not being a Blu-ray disc
2. Not having individual ID disc

People need to get their head out of their ass thinking OG and 360 would/will be able with this program.

Played this week for a 2 hours, don't care to play more. Know what it is and the good and hbad of MW:R and MW3. Just kind of fine and a mess at the same time, definitely doesn't seem like the entry they should have launched off GamePass with.

Finished 007: First Light (PC), one of the better games this year.

Started Star Wars Zero Company (Series X) and it's so so good. A bit rough loading and Hawks walk/run animation but everything else is better than I thought it would be. A very pleasant surprise!

@FraserG yeah of course I'm worried about those as well AND the gameplay as it most likely 30fps only. Also I did not like GTA5..at all. Especially the gameplay, it felt a bit too slow for me. And I do not like the forced auto-aim snapping in GTA or RDR. I grew out of that 15 years ago.

Everything else though, looks super impressive. Animations and music incredible.

@RedNinjaX basically yeah for physical 360 games. Maybe they could let you put the 360 disc into One/S/X or Series X console and allow you play on Helix via network/account validation but just don't see another way without risk of egregious manipulation by users.

@MrMoses @FraserG yes actually you can do via Xbox One with a Series X only disc. This was specifically asked for Series S and verified via Gamertag Radio yesterday directly to Jason Roland at Gamescom: https://youtu.be/IwGSTMBWDPU question at 2:30 related and informed more possibilities. It is related to having a One, One S, One X, or Series X to do this process no matter if Xbox One disc or Xbox Series X discs. Doesn't matter, so they thought ahead here.

So you better believe Xbox One consoles might also go up in price just because it can functionality do this process for users.

@FraserG Great article, I've seen a lot of misinformation elsewhere trying to downplay how important and good this is for gaming and consumers.

Also seems like mostly PlayStation diehards doing this as they will absolutely not have the exact system for PS5 to PS6. They could have a system that involves a one time validation per disc and that's it (still better than nothing though).

Very quickly $900 current gen console gone.

Good luck anyone thinking next gen will be cheaper and/or more available, frankly you are living in the past and will be left behind. Better hope for a super long cross gen for games.

This is actually worse than I thought. I thought maybe it would take 1-2 hours for the US stock on Xbox to sell out due to price... Nope, next gen is going to be wild.

Biggest win by Xbox probably since the release of Halo 3: ODST on Xbox 360.

Absolutely massive, almost even more important than backwards compatibility itself.

Almost closing the door on much reason to get a next PlayStation console, only exclusives could save it.

@fatpunkslim not exactly, having a lower high price doesn't invalidate rumors. It just means Xbox is wanting to subsidize and/or subsidize more than they have in the past in relation what they will get from the consumer over time.

To me this means a $1300-$1500 USD Helix is not getting PC 3rd party stores by default, and will not have an internal drive either.

24gb shared (v)ram
1-2tb SSD
256-bit bus GPU high CU RDNA5 and mid-clocked 20-24 thread CPU cores Zen6 for APU

Access to PC Xbox App games along with BC of previous Xbox console games.

Subsidized potentially down to $749 USD on low end and higher end $999 USD.

This is the most important parts:
First party games are moving to $79 USD on high end and other games tiered +$10 to cover console subsidization.
Pay a one time fee to get access to any/all PC 3rd party storefronts (Steam/EGS/GoG/Uplay/EA): $150-$250 USD

Only real surprise was a better Witcher 3..so that's awesome but still shockingly bad overall. Too much samey GaaS.

Use PC first and foremost even more, play PS5 Pro more. That's it. If Helix sucks or no way to use or disc to digital by itself probably sell my Series X discs I guess then wait for everything digital be playable on PC.

Xbox has to earn it but so does any company if I consider "next-gen".

Horde Siege is very good, versus again is just shotgun rolly polly spam fest. Straight up garbage that should have been changed.

I'll run through campaign and play Horde Siege for as long as it feels fresh/enough content but that's probably it. As someone that played hundreds of hours of Gears 1 and Gears 3 versus I'm tired of the lack of good balance already for E-DAY versus.

Gonna have to be the one to warn others that Black Myth Wukong isn't a good game, very slow for an action game. Doesn't feel good to strike/hit anything.

I really wanted to like it but alas there should have been a real demo and/or disc release on Xbox. I got lucky waited a real long time and tried it on PS5 Pro via Gamefly. Couldn't make it past 4 hours. Looked horrid on performance mode and neither the other modes are good enough to play with it's bad input latency. I know some like it but it's a very polarizing one.

Already played a bunch of Tōkon and Gears E-Day beta. Tōkon is good and there is staying power but I don't know if it's worth more than $20-30 even as a fighter, could be good long-term but hard to see it yet. E-Day is different and similar enough to be extremely interesting from a gameplay standpoint. Siege is great, and pvp is better but not great and let's double/triple team shotguns rule the game (just like Halo CE pistol). There is some input latency I haven't experienced in past Gears games that is affecting the fun even on 2.4ghz wireless controllers and Ethernet connection with a beefy computer running well above 60fps.

Started BoR and it's a lot better than reviews and people have stated. Overall it's gameplay is very Nier-like and the story isn't too bad just a bit forced without enough context. Not mysterious like Nier just feels like you should already know things, it's weird people thinking it's slow... anything but that.

@IllusiveMan I've played the full game solo legendary to completion during pre-release weekend on Series X. I saw very few frame drops on the performance mode, one of the better Unreal games with many things going on screen.

Though with that said I haven't touched the game much since the official release day but only because I wanted to try the 3 new maps, all ran generally fine but did see a bit more fps drops vs the full campaign levels. Maybe potentially a patch came out and made the performance worse overall I'm not aware of?

I don't need it...but not gonna lie I'll probably buy it if it's as cool or better than Doom The Dark Ages standard controller.

@IllusiveMan from my playthrough on Series X it has almost all the features of Unreal 5. No other game has this..anywhere... No other game on any platform.

There are questions on project timelines at Halo Studios but they nailed the performance and features in CE. The Series S runs at 1440p upscaled 60fps. You just aren't getting that ANYWHERE else with Unreal Engine 5.

Pretty weird comment, the only major issues I've heard/seen is base PS5 drops in fps at a distance with enemies....that it.

I complain a lot about performance/visuals often but this is just....not really correct. Was this needed for CE and did it make it better? No not really but it's cool this exists.

Love the Evercade. Real hardware with owned physical games. I'll be getting both of these even have license access on other platforms.

@InterceptorAlpha generally any reviews besides Final Fantasy games on Xbox have overall crap review scores. It's best not really to look at really any of them since they are mainly fanboy dribble than reviews anyway.

Completely fine, not underwhelming just dull. Also runs like ass on my 5070 Ti when RT and DLSS is turned on. Just completely unacceptable performance.

Silly and not that exciting imo. It should have been reversed even though I like Horde quite a bit. I'm just simply more interested in this games pvp than really anything even the campaign.

Definitely will give it a try, though did not like the original Mortal Shell.

Basically dead quiet except OG. Need to get caps replaced and cleaned. Not gonna be cheap.

@MrStark that's not how anything works.

This has likely been in planning for 5+ years if not an idea for a decade. It was just a when and execution.

The ONLY thing this has to do with Sharma was a when announced...that's it.

Good stuff, more in line with PS Classics on PS4/PS5 now.

4k60fps also on Switch 2. If only it was a game card... I'll get it on Xbox disc at some point just because it was gonna be a "up to 11 dvds on Xbox 360" meme which made it PS3 exclusive.

It's XBOXs saving grace if it does indeed have a disc drive, built-in or external. If I can play my legacy of Xbox games there yeah Xbox wins.

I'll figure out a way to scrap together $1200+, probably selling my PS5 Pro and PS5 discs.

I still find this highly doubtable but one could hope one console will have a drive even if it's definitely the very last time.

If we actually owned the games like GoG, able to transfer license to another person, or even sell digital to others at discount none of this would be so bad.

Xbox, Steam, EGS, and GoG have refund paths while Sony (doesn't at all at download) and Nintendo (doesn't at all unless major release issue). [Stating from a USA market perspective]

It's obvious people want convenience, but we are still lacking not just a sense of ownership with good security but true ownership of games. Even discs are just transferring of license (better than nothing). The masses blindly bought digital only [didn't read *****] and ***** us all, like always.

I'd love to be digital only for video games moving forward but I need to be able to own my digital game purchases. It's just not there yet/doesn't seem like platforms want that/doesn't seem like countries want to be pro-consumer via laws of media. So this is EXACTLY why I choose physical 95+% of the time.

Booty adds: "I wouldn't overly fixate on single-player.

This is what gamers do and he has no control of it. It's a REASON why console hardware is purchased, which leads to other third party sales on the platform.

God damnit if he is that dense there truly is no hope for Xbox in the short term. What a moron.

@BAMozzy exactly if I want to own most of my games I'll buy primarily Switch 2 and GoG (and burn my game installers to disc) games. Skip the ones like GTA6 until it's much cheaper and released on Steam for half the cost.

@InterceptorAlpha yep worse than a Series S. You can easily get a used one for $200-$300 once without having to pay a stupid streaming fee also to play your own games.

@GuyinPA75 yep though inherently that will go to the PS6 handheld as the only "semi-affordable" option for most so it better be able to use USB-C docks or be able to purchase an official Sony one. Otherwise I'll skip PS hardware til likely a PS7 to play next exclusives from PS (or PS5 Pro if they are cross-gen). @FreasurePlanten Digital only is ONLY appealing for a handheld from PlayStation.