moodmatcha

$20, 12GB, 3 hours? I hadn’t looked into it before now but the trailer vibed and I like those numbers. Just bought.

The first one by a country mile. I even went back and replayed it recently just take sure it wasn’t just nostalgia. The others definitely had their wins—3 had my favorite environment and 4’s seasons were cool—but 1 was just the most fun to actually play.

Sure, there’s a mountain of caveats, but you have no idea how happy it makes me that Remember me is so high on the list! That game is one of the few reasons I keep my 360 hooked up.

I’m guessing this is part of the plan to reduce redundant work. It didn’t make sense that every screen needed the dashboard and overall design language built up from scratch. Nice refinement overall.

@Jenkinss So thoughtful of them to mock this up for you. Exactly the same Ally X ad just below ‘Jump back in’ on every screen!

I can dig it. And hopefully it comes to Xbox One. My One X is still my favorite console, but the Scorpio boot animation is so loud! XD

Exclusives are the reason I currently own more than one console, but nowadays I’m perfectly content passing on a game that’s not convenient to play. I’ve passed on games that were available on my hardware because I didn’t want to make space for another 100GB+ game.

Without exclusives, features like back compat, quick resume, steam input, and mods have kept me interested in Xbox and PC gaming, but I’m not sure anymore what could tempt me into buying new hardware.

Still not 100% sold, but it’s good to know I’d get all the gift cars

Sounds like they’re keeping AI out of development and possibly backing away from copilot on Xbox? I’ll take that as a win. Curious as to how personalization and discovery will play out, but at least they sound reasonably out of the way.

@AI-Generation As hardware gets more homogeneous and development gets more complicated, bespoke features tend to get sidelined. That’s why virtually every game between PS5 and XSX are identical save for minor fluctuations in dynamic resolution or how steadily they hold the frame rate target.

@fizban3332 We’ll see how that plays out. I’ve also seen rumors that ‘next gen’ games won’t have the fee (because they’re just PC games) but prior gen games will, which just seems unnecessarily confusing.

I’m crossing my fingers that it’s dropped entirely, but we don’t know anything for sure yet and until then I remain annoyed XD

I’m all for anything that makes Xbox feel like its own thing, even if it’s only superficial

@Elbow I feel like the question is more of what Microsoft wants to accomplish in the gaming industry. Do they want to bring value to the industry or be a middleman that takes value out of it at everyone else’s expense? Whatever the calculus on online fees, they do it because it’s easy money and they can get away with it.

This looks fun, but a paid, online only game requiring a GamePass subscription makes it a no-go for me. I wish consoles would drop the online fee already. Games are already having a hard enough time surviving and we don’t need to platform holders making things more difficult with their rent-seeking.

I’ll still give it a shot. Even if it’s not perfect, it still sounds like something I could enjoy. Between a game’s biggest flaw being too little or too much, I’d gladly take the former.

I love the flat Nexus, so Series X|S for me. Though the new glowy, translucent nexus in classic green is a close second.

I’m optimistic in Asha’s Xbox in the near term, I’ll never trust Microsoft to be a good steward in the long run. As soon as the brand has built enough good will, they’ll inevitably just set it all on fire again for a quick buck.

I like it. Calls back to the classic translucent double-layered crystal days that’s been making a comeback with their recent licensed hardware.

@ElectricWizard Same, it’s my favorite.

I guess I’m the only one that like it XD Guess I won’t have to worry about availability.

@TrevorP86 Same. I’ve always been so confused about that. I hear so many reports about people going through dozens of controllers, yet I’ve never had an issue with any of my 5 XB controllers or my Switch’s Joycons.

$5.99 Cloud-only plan. No multiplayer, no GamePass library. Please and thank you.

I’ve played for a couple hours and it’s interesting but I’m not sure if I’m enjoying myself yet. I’ll keep at it but I’m not sure if it’s for me, even if I really want it to be.

Honestly, I don’t know how to feel. I’m still playing my existing games but I’m avoiding buying anything new on Xbox until I’m sure there’s a path forward for me. It doesn’t matter if there’s a new console and the platform’s in decent shape if I’m priced out.

With all the hype over the tech in this one, I was worried it wouldn’t scale. Glad to see it runs so well. I wonder if it’ll be Steam Deck Verified or even if they’ll do an iPhone port again.

To be honest, I was a lot more interested before they announced Leon and the action element. Though I’m glad to hear it’s linear and isn’t excessively long. Maybe on sale.

@Fiendish-Beaver supposedly most growth in the Xbox brand had been coming from cloud and PC, so there’s seemingly validity in the concept. I think the execution is what let the strategy down.

If Halo, Gears, or Forza were going to sell someone on an Xbox, they’d already have one. I think they’ve long since missed their chance for exclusivity. They had a number of big releases before publishing on PlayStation. If the hype around those games didn’t move the needle, on top of having the cheapest console and severely underpriced GamePass mitigating the need to shell out more money building a library after dropping hundreds on a box, I don’t know what could. More exclusives wouldn’t sell consoles, it’d be burning money. And while it shouldn’t matter to me how Microsoft manages their money, if something’s not sustainable there’s a good chance it’ll go away the moment it’s convenient (see GamePass pricing).

@Fiendish-Beaver My thought was that while exclusives were still selling consoles, they sold PlayStations and Switches and the market has now moved to a point where it’s difficult to overcome that momentum by just taking away games.

I understand where Microsoft was coming from with the ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign—if you aren’t going to convince customers to buy your expensive box, get them to engage with your platform on the devices they already have. I think that strategy will be key to bringing in new customers.
As for where that leaves the console, I think that for Xbox it’s more about retaining customers. Keep your current customers happy and when you get new ones, give them somewhere to go to deepen their experience. That’s where ‘This is an Xbox’ went wrong. It doesn’t matter how many customers you’re bringing in if you’re losing them just as fast because the existing ones feel abandoned.

@Fiendish-Beaver In a world where physical games are niche and you can’t sell your library to switch platforms, boxes are expensive and it’s difficult own more than one, platform exclusive features go unused, and there are thousands of games demanding all of your time, I don’t think exclusivity will sell systems anymore. If you can’t play a game with what you have, then you’ll just play a different game.

All these statements, it’s starting to feel like she’s just thinking out loud 😅 I’m here for it. These next few years will be interesting.

RE: Exclusives, I believe the hardware justifies the exclusives, not the other way around. Up through the PS360 era, the hardware was materially different and multi platform support had large implications for the development process. PS4, XBO, and onwards, they’re all just the same box with different logos. Exclusives feel kinda silly. Honestly, consoles almost feel silly entirely. IMO what we need is a reassessment of how they’re positioned in the market and the value they’re intended to bring.

-Pivot ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign to ‘No device left behind’ and bring XPA to One SX and Series SX.

-Make sure console gamers understand the expansion of Xbox benefits them, that there’s a benefit to owning a console, and that they’re not being abandoned to chase a new audience. Also that their hardware won’t arbitrarily miss out on game releases that they’d otherwise be capable of running because the developer only pushed a build for the latest device.

-Acknowledge the component crisis and emphasize that Xbox intends to meet customers where they are while still pushing technology forward with new devices.

-Drop UWP format so the Xbox app and XPA games will run on Linux and Mac via Wine.

-Feature collections of games that are lightweight or scale well to run on older and low power hardware. Advertise Xbox as the best place to play for gamers on a budget or those that can’t afford or don’t want to upgrade their hardware.

-Allow CSS customization of the dashboard (like Steam) and host custom themes. If someone wants to remove ads or use the Blades dashboard, they can just install that theme.

-When component prices are reasonably stable, launch a high powered, unsubsidized FSE Xbox with back compat support, a first party handheld with One S/360 back compat, and a subsidized low powered console that supports XPA and back compat but lacks the windows desktop

@InterceptorAlpha Hate the company meddling with our favorite hobby? Go wild. Hate the people executing those bad decisions? Sure, but don’t be gross about it. But Asha, she’s done nothing but show up and try to earn trust. At least give her the chance to earn the hatred, and even then don’t be gross about it.

Seems like a dedicated, well-intentioned person and I’ll be rooting for her. Love the idea of her having all night gaming sessions as ‘research’. My main worry is Microsoft itself. Will she be able to run the division from her on-the-ground perspective or will Microsoft undermine her from the outside? Do they have any intentions for unpopular decisions that she’ll have to take the fall for?

I’m actually liking the sound of this. 4’s seasons were enough to see me through to the end of the career, but I DNF’d 5 after a few hours. I literally had all the cars I wanted and got tired of wading through the million map markers for the events I wanted to do. Guess we’ll see how this goes.

Sure she just recommitted, but I’m still anxious that whatever confidence we had in Phil’s and Sarah’s promises, the new leadership won’t have the same commitment. I can’t imagine entering such a prominent position and being content just executing someone else’s plan. And if the plan was to stay the course, why change up leadership?

Also noting that the commitment was to console, but not specifically first party hardware and that segment abruptly pivots to talk of PC, Mobile, and Cloud. I’ll hold onto to what optimism I can but I guess we’ll just have to see how things play out.

Weird there were two ‘girl and her wolf fighting corruption’ games in the SoP, though they both look fantastic. Might just check this one out

It’s sad that the franchise was taken from him and given to someone else but it’s great to see he likes where it’s going.

If next gen is shaping up how it seems, the box itself would be much less important than the tools it’s built on. I’m sure they could get away with not mentioning it for some time, at least until all the pieces have come together.