oopsiezz

@Dampsponge the servers for Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and Black Ops 2 on Xbox and PS3 are still heavily populated by hackers. This is primarily driven by the theater mode exploit (also known as "theater infections") Players don't even need a modded console. By going into the in-game Leaderboards and searching specific gamertags, they can locate and watch specific "infected clips" in Theater Mode. Watching these clips exploits the game's code, automatically injecting a functional mod menu directly into their session.

So a Xbox owned game gets released on PS5/PS4 and skips Xbox?

Microsoft sure know how to treat us well. /s

@Fiendish-Beaver it's very telling how these same people are completely absent. 😉

Well at least the remaining devs have a new project to work on.

More F̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶s̶ confirmed.

@awp69 "You really practice what you preach huh?"

Yeah, I do. You don't see me jumping in every time when someone says the lineup or X game is "great" and pointing at the reviews saying "look at these bad reviews, how can you like that?" I, like others share our opinion and move on. Notice how your comment has been ignored month after month of mid lineups up until now? I also don't jump in defend a mid lineup. We all have DIFFERENT tastes. You sure seem to act like everyone should share your opinion though. Why do you care so much about what games we like and don't like? We are free to share our opinions just like you, doesn't make us wrong. It's our money, it's a service we pay for. If we aren't happy with the lineup that is valid, review scores don't matter if it's something we have zero interest in.

"People shouldn’t degrade a line up just because it’s not for them. "

People shouldn't judge and jump on other people's opinions and tastes in games to defend a mid lineup either, but here we are "but this game has good review" it's a deckbuilder, I'm still not playing it. Games that YOU like, may still be bad games to others.

@awp69 A good reviewed game doesn't automatically mean it's for everybody. I don't understand why you can't seem to understand such a simple concept. We are not missing out on anything, we have our own eyes and minds and can clearly see what we will and won't like. You say this every time a mid lineup is announced and it's just sad.

It's misleading to say "Xbox" will entertain a billion people. Even if they reached that goal, it would be through mobile & PC not the roughly 70M or so Xbox one / series consoles. It's just like when Xbox ended Gold and lumped eveyone together to prop up the gamepass numbers.

There's a couple games I'm interested in checking out but for the most part this is a pretty weak month being propped up by Halo.

This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday. Unreal Engine 5 was a Trojan horse into the gaming industry. They showed us, the gamers, the crisp cutting edge graphics but behind the scenes UE was being pitched as the only engine you would need, if all the developers are on UE you don't need proprietary engines like ID Tech and that's damn shame. This also comes at the cost of not needing veteran developers since UE has been streamlined and more developers know how to build games using it than say ID Tech, Slipspace or even Bethesda's creation engine. Unreal Engine is being used to mitigate the revolving door these companies have with getting rid of developers and replacing them with less experienced people because they are cheaper.

@tho_mi Exactly. I used to dream about developing games. Not anymore. Looking back, I'm glad I got an education in an entirely different trade. Things are looking bleak as a whole in the tech and gaming industries if you're not specialized in AI and even then I imagine there is a giant cloud brewing over top of them the moment funding starts to dry up for AI either because of the realization that the demand will never meet their lofty ambitions, or it simply becomes unsustainable to keep moving in this direction even if the demand is there for it.

Veteran developers leaving / being laid off is never a good thing. This is how we end up with a void of real talent. I can't remember who the interview was with, I'll have to look it up again but a veteran in the industry for over 20+ years was discussing this not too long ago about how these companies keep replacing their veteran staff with "new" people who don't have anywhere near the same experience with the game series, engines etc which is impacting the quality and speed of game development behind the scenes. Unreal Engine is being used / pushed onto everyone in hopes of having a single unified engine so these companies can mitigate some of the issue but that hasn't played out exactly as according to plan due to issues with UE5.

@betterthings Not outright, but the writing is on the wall. Pulling / reducing investment from these smaller, more creative games in order to invest more heavily in their big franchises. These remaining studios will be less inclined to take risks and continue making the "safe" bets and games.

This will lead to a stagnation of innovation and creativity, back to making the same games over and over again I guess. No more Dishonored is a crime in of itself.

I'm curios how these studios and games will be handled now? Will Xbox be required to negotiate contracts to have them on gamepass, or will Senua, Senua, Blade etc still be coming to gamepass?

Damn. We knew this was coming but this is brutal. Hoping all the affected developers are able to find new work quickly, the job market isn't very good right now especially for video game developers.

Of course I gotta add, F̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶N̶e̶w̶s̶ confirmed.

This poll is more evidence that Xbox truly lost the worst generation to lose. Everyone's libraries on Xbox & Playstation turned to mostly digital during the Xbox One / PS4 generation and most people aren't willing to just leave them behind.

I haven't experienced this luckily. But I do occasionally log in and cars from the car pass as well as different car packs get added to my garage and I have VIP without paying for it. Last time it was gone after logging in the next day, this time I have kept the VIP for 2 days straight now.

I have over 300,000 reward points, been saving them for years now. The past 2 years has been rough going, Microsoft has made it so you make less and less points which sucks.

Damn thats one ugly looking controller. And $150 usd!? Yeah, no. Lol

The problem is the game doesn't fit on a disc. You are still required to download additional GBs of data during the install. Discs that don't contain the whole game are about as good as a digital copy.

"When the servers go down you lose your games."

When the servers go down your disc becomes an $80 frisbee.

The months where the first Tuesday isn't until basically the second week sucks. Have to wait an extra week for the gamepass announcements.

So when does the poll end? Ultimate edition is the clear winner, and it's not even close. Lol

343 / Halo Studios has a mountain to climb to win back fans after Halo 5 and Infinite. I was one of the biggest fans of Halo, Halo 3 was my real first foray into competitive online multiplayer, loved me some games of swat. But these new Halo games just.. suck. No point beating around the bush.

@fatpunkslim "I’m not going to repeat myself every time, but I’ve already listed several examples that were officially denied from inside Xbox."

Yet every day for the last week or so all you keep repeating is "more fake news". Even when confronted by @Weebleman that the onus of proof falls to you, when you have no sources to say the contrary to what insiders are reporting, you just keep on calling everything fake news and "the only people reporting that are paid Sony influencers" apparently.

Happy to hear Obsidian is safe. I heard yesterday that Business Insider is reporting that Microsoft is expecteded to layoff around 5,500 jobs which equates to roughly 2.5% of their entire workforce, with the games division said to be hit the hardest.

@fatpunkslim Notice how this is one of the only "fake news" of yours where credible insiders came to deny it, unlike all the other "fake news" you claim everything is? As I said yesterday, credible leaders are reporting alot of smoke, and none are denying them, unlike how this one got debunked right away.

So long as Xbox continues releasing "physical" copies with discs that still require large downloads in order to play, there's no point to keep doing physical. A disc that requires internet to play is no different than digital, it just has extra steps.

"When the servers go down, all your games are gone."

When the servers go down, your disc becomes an $80 frisbee.

@Lanmanna Did you read the article? Helix is likely to not have a disc drive, and neither will the PS6, meaning physical's days are numbered come next gen.

I wonder if we will get these same notifications when Xbox removes more first party games from gamepass. Kinda wild how there isn't as much uproar over this as there should be after years of promises that ALL Xbox first party games would be available on gamepass day one and never removed.

@MinervaX76

"The Verge says Microsoft "hasn't fully finalised" whether Project Helix will ship with a built-in disc drive or not, although Windows Central is of the belief that it won't."

You must have missed that part. Discs will be useless next gen. They are already useless to me now. No need to for a disc to digital program when ALL my games are digital already.

Well well well.. looks like some people jumped the gun in the previous article about news of Sony going all digital.

As I said before, digital is the future. I have been all digital for almost 16 full years now. My collection goes with me everywhere I go, no need for discs or bulky cases.

After the fuss a vocal minority put up about GTA VI being all digital, they must be losing their minds right about now hearing this and Windows Central reporting that Helix will be doing the same. Absolutely no surprised there when Xbox physical sales make up less than 10% vs digital sales making up 90%.

I fully expect Xbox to follow suit. I personally have been all digital for around 16 years now so absolutely nothing changes for me.

@BDK71 you're right, we will probably know more before the end of this week. All signs are pointing to Thursday or Friday for the massive layoffs.

"We're not reducing our overall investment in games."

Let's see how well that statement ages after this time next week.

I just realized the Blade movie was actually indefinitely delayed a year after Xbox announced the Blade game. I would not be surprised at all if Blade is in fact canceled. Blade isn't nearly as big as other Marvel characters, so without the hype and interest generated by the movie, the game could be set to underperform. Microsoft was probably waiting to see if the film was going to get back on track but there are no signs of that happening.

@Weebleman it's very noticeable, and very telling how nobody is coming out and denying the reports. 9/10 if a rumor is false there's insiders saying "I haven't heard that" or "this is false". Nope. Insiders are all saying its going to be bad.

@fatpunkslim everwild says hello. Perfect darks says hello. Both after reporting the games were "coming along well"

So.. basically any game that's not Gears, or Halo or Forza Horizon (rip Forza Motorsport) / Fable related is on the chopping block? What the hell is going on at Xbox?

Ultimate edition % just keeps growing day by day. 705 votes alone, up from 382 on Sunday.

@Jean_McClane "Xbox is doing the exact same thing, and no one is quitting the ecosystem."

Tell that to Microsoft after admitting they lost millions of subscribers "just doing the same thing." Tell that to Sony who saw a 58% decline YoY on hardware sales the month their price hike went into effect. But sure buddy, no one is leaving over these anti consumer moves these companies are making.

One could say Xbox is in their own State of Decay, right now. 😥

The extended pre alpha footage they showed off is starting to feel like Ninja Theory's Senua reveal that was used to make the studio more attractive to prospective buyers..

If this and Ninja Theory's rumor turns out to be true, Xbox is truly going to look completely different come Thursday. Xbox's main PR agency, Assembly, has also started layoffs today.

The PS5 Pro has really started to shine and gotten to stretch it's legs as time has gone on and developers figure out what it can, and can't do. With many players priced out of next gen, many are simply going to opt for their current console for the foreseeable future and the Pro is going to continue to be the best place to play games on console for these people and only enthusiasts will have Helix. Even PS6 is going to be at least $1000 which is still pricing many out. I simply can't understand why Xbox did not have an answer to the Pro ready like they did last gen. The real kicker is seeing Xbox first party games that play and perform better on Playstation. What are we even doing here, Xbox?

This would be a death sentence for Xbox. Gamepass is a key service that I honestly believe has kept Xbox afloat and would have been shutdown years ago without. A reduction in games isn't exactly forward thinking strategy. Xbox needs to go all out on gamepass to gain back the millions of subscribers they shed when they jacked up the price.

Definitely feels like a knee jerk reaction to bad publicity. Everyone with a brain would know GTA VI was always going to sell better on Playstation but 8:1 holy smokes.

@fatpunkslim and Helix will be significantly more expensive than the PS6 which will make it an enthusiast console. Which then means all the Playstation fans will get the PS6 and the casuals will get a PS6. But hey, Helix will have "30% more games" for the fraction of the market that buys it.

@ecurb7 no, not a joke. Proud to be the first to review GTA VI on Xbox in my region. All I have to do is edit it after release with my actual review. It's already getting a bunch of thumbs up as well so my review might end up being the "most helpful" and showing up at the front as well by the time the game comes out.

Looking like IGN'S poll wasn't far off. With 63% of the vote 588 people will be getting any edition of GTA VI vs 280 saying they won't. 382 voters alone are opting for the ultimate with 41% of the votes.

GTA VI is set to be the biggest entertainment launch in history and poll after poll shows most gamers are choosing Ultimate, myself included. 💪

@Balaam_
"there are less expensive (i.e. eyepatch and skull&crossbones) ways of obtaining said code on pc at a later date."

And that mentality is exactly why Rockstar is releasing VI on consoles only with no simultaneous release on PC (where all games are digital anyways so your point is mute.)