sikthvash

I would prefer if they used AI to assist in things like the testing and debugging of games. That's primarily what these things were created for; to ease the burden and speed up the mundane tasks. Not for replacing human ingenuity.

With all this flip-flopping, lack of clear direction & terrible PR, I honestly can't see Xbox properly competing in the console market post SX & S, specifically in the hardware sales. Ultimately, I think they're going to steer back to software focus and rake in the money on multi-platform releases and subscription models. Profits will be good, but we will potentially lose out on having the iconic box and logo under our TVs.
I feel like Xbox were on the cusp of regaining the glory days of old, like with the 360, but they seem to be in a constant state of flux to settle in to something proper and defined. Hopefully they can spend some time laying the groundwork, fixing their trully awful store and apps on PC & releasing some quality entries from their vast IP.

I would love to dip back into Halo 5 multiplayer - my absolute favourite!

Oh to get Sea of Thieves on a Nintendo console!

I thought they'd since doubled-down on not releasing any more hardware and were focusing on the 'play anywhere on any device' aspect of Gamepass? One would assume then they are working on new data centre / cloud tech with AI enhancements. My guess is they could potentially offer full backwards compatibility in various VMware / containers, so we could see tons of old games come back.

@InterceptorAlpha something to do with resolution and foveated rendering perhaps? I imagine this would be great in VR!

Considering you walk around at a snail's pace in the dark and this isn't a shooter, 120 FPS is not really essential for this title anyway.

Ooo, let's hope it not a Funko Pop release &/or a $500+ resin statue

@JayJ I think it's a combination of things, from the rubbish PR surrounding games on other platforms, increase in costs for GP subscriptions, to the big push to say no more hardware & you can just stream Xbox on any device to this... more physical hardware, building on top of a pre-existing stockpile they can't shift. They shot themselves in the foot with mixed messages about how to play the games you know and love; they completely fudged it. This is why I honestly think the pending holiday season will see more sales from Nintendo & Sony. I'm not saying what Sony are doing is totally right & unique by any means as they have been faltering with daft decisions too, but they are pushing sales and testing the waters with, for the most part, excellent PC ports, albeit long after they've hit the consoles. I loved my Xbox SX from the release, but I feel all the best experiences they offer can be seen on PC & PlayStation, with a smattering on Switch too. It's a difficult one for Microsoft as I think they're likely to double down on subscriptions and digital releases across the board & leave the hardware side to other manufacturers in the hope they corner the market on said subscriptions. I just don't think it's sustainable & they're making a mistake. I, like many others, feel let down by Microsoft and the combination of decisions they've been making. Like many other big corporations, they only care about the bottom line. Maybe they'll still do good with the cross-platform sales, who knows, but right now, the once faithful Xbox hardware will gather dust and I fear the name once synonymous with mighty hardware might become irrelevant (unless they put their hand in their pocket and buy Steam hahahaha)

So..... the Holiday season sales will be a win for Sony & Nintendo then!
I wish Microsoft would focus their efforts on a Series 3 of the Elite Controller and get the quality control right this time.

At this stage, they should just bring back the Games for Windows monikor, but maybe rebrand as Games for Every Other Console, but Xbox

And all it takes to play this game is a simple sign-up to our Console Only, Higher Tier, Gaming Ultra, Core Plus Alpha, Ultimate New Game Pass + Onyx Package

All of these subscription models are not sustainable...across the board; It's all going to come crashing down, & regardless of what happens, it's the consumer that will be missing out as more and more content gets locked behind complicated BS paywalls.

looks at header picture So, Mecha Donnie Darko is coming out when?

@theduckofdeath aye, but they did let the community come in and fix it for them ^_^ I miss the Castle Wars and the cool CTF variants

They should have just built upon the multiplayer that existed in the MCC, added in Halo 5's superior multiplayer, added new content, fixed the lobbies / NetCode and keep that going until they have a decent replacement rather than this half-baked freemium BS. I left Halo Infinite a long time ago, popped back in once or twice and realised they hadn't added anything noteworthy and promptly not looked back.

@ZuneTattooGuy During Ninty's latest Q3 results, 55% or $1.122 billion was from physical game sales... they've gone on record to say they will continue with physical releases; 'This policy will remain unchanged going forward'
I fully suspect Xbox & PS5 physical sales will continue to decline though.

What's going to happen to all that awesome talent? If they were restructuring / merging to form a super studio group with A / B / C departments I could understand, although that alone could cause havoc for staff logistics alone. I think we're looking at the last proper home console for Microsoft as they probably going to focus on software & distribution across multiple platforms, with a mix of streaming and releases on other store fronts (Steam, PSN etc)

FFS, just what this game needed was an extra layer of BS microtransactions with grind sauce.

It leaves Microsoft needing to pull their socks up. At the moment, after their baffling PR reaction, or lack therof, to the rumour mill of games coming to other systems (which obviously makes good business sense, not adverse to that at all) & my general experience with their naff Windows Xbox Games app, I think they need to work on communication, tidy up what they have in place & be clear about their strategy going forward, rather than leave their fan base in limbo. This generation feels like it has had more downs than ups; sure, Covid, manufacturing issues & greedy big business layoffs have all contributed, but besides the good support of games like Sea of Thieves, we've not seen a lot of the Microsoft IP that makes owning an Xbox exciting. Same goes for PS5 - most of the great experiences there come from ports and a small handful of sequels. Most of the better experiences have come from indies across the board.
Overall, I don't think it's neccessary to answer with a new updated model, but concentrate on game output. Guessing Microsoft's investments are still yet to come to fruition though.

I suspect we're getting a Conker's Bad Fur Day sequel with Chris Pratt voicing the titular character

@Banjo- the Gameboy Advance didn't have that feature, unless you are simply thinking of pausing the game and walking away.
I'm aware of how the Switch works bud and I know it's not the same thing as quick resume in terms of storing it in RAM, however it is still a fantastic and convenient feature and one that works. I find a lot of the features across W11 and Xbox simply don't work, including quick resume which apart from a select few titles, I find I have to quit and re-open (& no, I don't just mean games that require an online connection), or the auto HDR, or the auto updates (why is this simple feature still an issue? I have to go in manually & search every time).
Don't get me wrong, I love the console, but I think Microsoft need to tidy things up in the OS and functionality; consistency & realiability doesn't appear to be their strong suit.
If you're enjoying it and it's working for you though, that's great!
Happy gaming dude!

Honestly, I haven't used in it in ages, as it nearly always casued issues with most of the games. It felt like an empty promise. Switch resume game feature is superior in every way.

It's fine, each of the big 3 and the major publishers can just do an online presentation, cut out all the fluff and concentrate on delivering what we want to see: games. e3 was such a massive expense - I'd rather see the companies pay their hard working developers what they deserved. Hoping less crunch time for producing stupid CGI trailers too.

No coud saves backups?

Nothing surprise me when Ubi.. Darling hold my hand 🎵 'Nothing beats a Jet2Holiday!' presses skip button ...soft are involved.

I voted C - with stumbles including Halo Infiinte's lack of meaningful improvements, Starfield and Redfall being underwhelming & a price increase for GamePass, I felt like this year has been fairly lacklustre. However, we have had some smaller treats like HiFi Rush, Cocoon, Sea of Stars, Lies of P, all of which bolstered the GP lineup. We have also had some good updates to Sea of Thieves. Some other mishaps along the way include the Activision deal which took a long time to go through, the associated document leaks and a miscommunication about ending the Xbox 360 store contributed to my grading. Not a bad year considering, but room for improvement, especially as PS5 is picking up and Switch is soaring. They also need to fix various things on Windows 11, like the stupidly slow Xbox app & overlay.

Brilliant news! Maybe they'll tackle quality control next for their first party controllers, like the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2.

@ZuneTattooGuy @Vipor007 I don't think either you understand... First is the Thirst Party, then comes the After Party, and by the time the Third Party comes along, everyone is quite hungover and there's barely any pizza left.
Anyway, I'm hoping for Balan Wonderland 2 & the Hentai update for Sea of Thieves.

A lot of these deals are when the Deluxe Super Ex Plus Alpha Editions are over £80-90, so still a ridiculous price. The rest of them are the same prices we've seen many times before, or are available on Game Pass. Best to use a price checker on the few games you're after.

Shame no re-re-re-re-re-re-re-release of Skyrim.

Whilst these are great titles, these should be permanent residents on GP - we could do with some more recent games added as I suspect quite a few people have played these already.

Wow, paying extra to be what is essentially a beta tester, what a privilege

@yesyesyesyesyesyes Apologies, not familiar with the Dev!

All for retro FPS, but there's some weird design choices here, plus the HUD is just awful with the clash of colours and text - looks like it was knocked up in MS Paint (& not in a good way like Jim'll Paint It)

So long as there aren't an abundance of inane fetch quests centering around 'get this one item.... then get two more of them... then I want 32' then I'm down for some mindless zombie action. Sometimes, straightforward and fun is what we need and it doesn't have to be a massive, sprawling world, it just needs to be focused.

Just getting it to work properly would be a major improvement. Previous years, I managed to finish the punch cards, only to not be rewarded with the MS points and then had to spend ages talking to the most unhelpful team, only to be sent round in circles.

I'm a little underwhelmed by this new footage. The level design seems a little bland & repetitive. A few tight corridors, rooms or walkways to a slightly larger area where you fight a larger, damage-sponge enemy... rinse & repeat. I suppose it is only 10 minutes’ worth, but I'm definitely waiting for a review before I dive in.

With shocking anti-aliasing and very poor shadow quality no doubt. The first outing on XBSX was so naff in the graphical department, that it looks better on Switch.

As amazing as Elden Ring is, let's not forget that it probably has a limited target audience compared to HP which has the books and films behind it; it's always going to outsell the competition.

Hopefully EA will buy Activision, Xbox will then buy EA, then Sony will buy Microsoft, then Nintendo will buy Sony, then SEGA will buy Nintendo, then we can play the perfect hybrid game , God of Wario Duty Legends on the Dreamcast 2.

@Kaloudz Interesting... I read it comes with a free coaster (a copy of The Callisto Protocol)

"It doesn't make sense for us, a bread manufacturer, to make waterproof toasters for the monsoon affected countries"

@ThatFilbo I understand war is a terrible thing & I certainly do not condone the invasion & aggression of Russia, but if we were to boycott this then we also need to boycott everything Tencent has had their fingers in (which funnily enough, includes this game) & a multitude of other things. Ask yourself, where do I begin & where do I stop? Where does your chair come from? Where do your clothes come from? Where does the majority of the money you spend on items go to? Don't think I'm arguing with you, I do get where you are coming from, but we're all contributing to a lot of bad people who do bad things.

Haven't touched Halo Infinite in months. I'll probably head back in a year or so once the community have brought it back from the brink of death with their awesome modes & maps.

I'm a bit disappointed with the grpahics of Ni No Kuni on Xbox - the shadows in particular are super blocky / low res and look worse than the Switch version... how is that possible?!

@Chaudy Saints Row IV is 9 years old, FF7 has already been given away for free with PS Plus, minus the PS5 upgrade / Intergrade DLC, then the Assassins Creed games have been given away free before and some of them are being unsupported and made inaccessible come September, so really the only decent one is Stray.

@PhileasFragg All Microsoft / Activision & Blizzard hardware & software will be withdrawn from sale. The Competition and Markets Authority will then push for exclusive sales of the superior Intellivision Amico instead...

@Hydra_Spectre Don't get your hopes up as the article says they've wrapped up working on FPS boost & there's no plans to do any more. It's possible they looked at Dragon's Dogma a couple of years ago.

Skies of Arcadia pleeeeeeeease! Sega are sitting on a goldmine of classics that deserve a second chance on modern hardware.