@Banjo- My guess is that Helix will be a range of “consoles.” The expensive native box, which is almost a PC, a cheaper alternative that is underpowered in some respects, PC handhelds with Xbox branding, and a Stadia-like which will be the “cheap” option that requires a subscription. I honestly expect a sort of similar approach from Sony, though I think the Portal is their Stadia-like and I don’t think they’ll try a Series S type of deal. I think options is a way Xbox could actually compete far more significantly next gen.

@Banjo- No doubt. The Nano’s a nice piece of tech. I’m saying the similarity to Stadia’s paring with Wi-fi though is an omen of things to come on the console front.

Just calling it now: one of the Helix consoles will basically be Stadia. It’s how Microsoft will try to say they’re thinking about the “affordability of consoles for its consumers in an innovative and trailblazing way.”

The Nano is a neat looking controller, but I actually think the Series controller is one of the best feeling controllers already on the market.

Sounds sort of like she wasn’t a cultural fit for the direction Xbox (or Microsoft) is going. Good for her that she stuck to her values. We all know that there’s a lot of, say, differing concepts of ethical behavior in big tech right now.

@Banjo- The PC version is how I played the game as a kid. I didn’t own a PS1 until maybe 3-4 years ago now. Any PS1 games I did play back in the day are from backwards compatibility. The visuals and the music are better in the PC version to my recollection. The cutscenes, as trailblazing as they were when the game launched, looked dated by the time the PC version launched for sure.

@Banjo- Depends on which PS games. N64 did have better polygons by a mile. I think FF7 holds up too even with the flickering frames and inconsistency with the polygons, but I do largely agree with you. FF7 might not hold up if it didn’t have such solid characters and storytelling. But then I think about things like Vib Ribbon and the flatter games, ie games that look like 32 bit games rather than polygons, and it’s impressive how well some of those games hold up.

@themightyant Most people I played the Goldeneye multiplayer, to be fair, aren’t serious gamers, so that may be part of it. 75% of the people I played Goldeneye with online wouldn’t touch CoD or Fortnite with a stick, but would play Goldeneye or Doom or Quake or even Halo.

@ElkinFencer10 Well, that’d be a bummer. At least I have the original cartridge! I wonder how long it’ll stick on NSO.

@themightyant I totally disagree. I think Goldeneye’s still quite a solid experience. There’s a lot of level variety and solid design to the maps and the soundtrack really holds up. The aesthetics look a little rough nowadays, as polygon visuals aged like milk (let’s be real: the visuals looked aged already by the time the Dreamcast launched), but I dunno I feel like it’s still relatively enjoyable as a dated FPS experience.

The multiplayer is still a wonderful experience too. After ages of multiplayer FPS mayhem, Goldeneye’s levels still hit. There was something different to multiplayer shooter gameplay back then. It feels more like a party game than things like a CoD or other modern multiplayer shooters. It’s more fun than competitive in atmosphere. It’s hard to describe, but modern shooters elicit such a serious tone whereas anytime I’ve played multiplayer Goldeneye in the modern era, the sessions had been marked with laughter and silliness. It’s such a contrast.

@FraserG 😭 That’s sad, but…. I guess I get to try the disc to digital thing for the first time for Rare Replay then just to make sure I keep the game on my console!

@Balaam_ @Tasuki I don’t think that quite makes sense for a company like Microsoft. They’re doing sweeping cuts to their staff count right now in restructuring. If they’re doing this, they’re assessing ways to make money. To my knowledge, Xbox is offering severance to many of the terminated positions. If that’s the case, offer new positions like console optimization leads for WoW to people losing their jobs rather than pay months or a year’s worth of salary for no work. Putting WoW on consoles is probably a far more profitable move than E-Day. I mean, I hate to say that old live service games getting milked is the future of the industry, but it IS a more sustainable path and we all know it.

Yikes. That makes me think Goldeneye might get de-listed. I might need to buy that one quick.

I honestly can’t believe Xbox hasn’t ported WoW to consoles at this point. I mean, that would be a money printing machine. It seems like such an obvious win for the brand, even if the game is ancient. That kind of thing could honestly give the game another resurgence.

Two: The Turing Test and The Walking Dead. I got both of them in ancient times. I don’t chase achievements. If they unlock, they unlock, but otherwise I just… play games? I dunno. I always thought achievements and trophies were sort of a weird addition to gaming. I mostly play on Switch 2 these days and not a single tear was shed that Nintendo doesn’t give them.

Taking a little bit of a break from Fortune’s Weave this weekend in an effort to make some progress on the rest of my games before GTA, so I’ll be playing Well Dweller, Control Resonant, Belmont’s Curse, and Galactic Racer.

I expect I’ll probably be able to finish Well Dweller, which feels like a breath of fresh air in being so short after Fortune’s Weave literally already being my second most played game ever in the Switch ecosystem of consoles (and with a legitimate chance to leap past Tears of the Kingdom very soon).

For some reason, Belmont’s Curse hasn’t clicked for me, which is sort of bumming me out as a massive Castlevania fan. I don’t know if it’s the artstyle or the fact that Well Dweller just feels so much better immediately, but the game feels just sort of ok so far and I hope that changes.

Galactic Racer is fantastic and I love it. It’s far better than I expected, but I should’ve known this one is literally for me, being a big fan of the previous podracer games.

And, man, I cannot believe we’re in a universe where I didn’t drop everything to play a Remedy game, but here we are. I’m wondering if I’ll get anywhere in Control before GTA. But Fortune’s Weave has been that good. I expect I’ll return to finish that one next week, but I just need to take a break because Act 3 has been wearing me out. Game’s fantastic, would be a 10/10 if the battles in Act 3 weren’t so darn long. Still the best game I’ve played this year though and I’m tempted to say it’s still a 10, just with a big flaw.

Man, I can’t wait to see what this game is actually about. My most anticipated game by a mile.

That’s actually really cool. My journey’s been dry with Xbox the last few years, but I love looking back on the good, old days. My current Xbox account probably starts with Halo 3, I think? Could be an even older game though.

Anyone else remember when people would have multiple accounts because they didn’t link credit cards to their accounts yet and would just make a new account if they forgot their password or wanted to play with a different group without letting an old group know? 😂 I mean, seriously, no one thought any account would last for ages like they do nowadays!

@ScalenePowers I played both Crimson Desert and am at the tail end of Fortune’s Weave, and I’d put Fortune’s Weave way ahead of Crimson Desert. Crimson Desert is massive but sort of incoherent as a story. I don’t mean that as a jab as I thought Crimson Desert was a lot of fun and a huge achievement, just not a GotY tier title for me because it’s just a fun sandbox. Fortune’s Weave, on the other hand, is massive and incredibly tight knit as a story. Fortune’s Weave is my most played game since Elden Ring. I don’t often get to 100 hours in games willingly, but I’m close now.

Truth be told though, a week ago I’d have told you Fortune’s Weave is an absolute 10/10, but Part 3 has been wearing me out. The game does go a tad bit long and Part 3’s battles aren’t as fun and it’s largely because of the duration of time battles take rather than their difficulty. My progress has slowed because now it may take me a few days to complete one battle. Admittedly, I can see my family growing tired of me spending two hours in a single battle, saying I’m almost done for an hour because more and more units keep spawning. 😂 The pacing in Part 1 and 2 felt perfect, but I do feel some editing could’ve condensed things a bit. They made a wise decision keeping four paths for DLC. Lol.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave deserved to be nominated. No offense to any of the other nominees, but Fortune’s Weave is absolutely massive and embraces strong storytelling in 2026, which is such a rarity in gaming right now. It’s one of the highest reviewed games this year, certainly with an aggregate score above most of the games nominated. It’s almost certainly my GotY, though I’ve yet to play Control or GTA.

That said, Resident Evil Requiem or Pragmata honestly should win. Capcom’s busted their back to give us four solid games this year, with three of them already being nominated for GotY in some places already. Requiem and Pragmata are both extremely solid games. Requiem’s probably the overall stronger game, but Pragmata’s a unique new IP and it’s great to see games like that be noticed, especially when you can tell it’ll be considered an iconic game as time passes.

It’s so weird to me that most people weren’t working in office by this time. I mean, seriously, most of the rest of the world transitioned back into working in office years ago. It’s not exactly strange that management probably wants to directly manage people. We all know working from home is more fun, but a far looser experience.

Well, here’s an initiative I hope fails spectacularly. Vote with your wallet. Don’t let Microsoft get away with this one. Let them realize their greed will not work this time.

@darylb24 Alphabet is the only one without a juggernaut gaming platform that we know of. I sort of feel that Asha’s “Xbox isn’t for sale” may be a loaded statement because she hasn’t said if Activision or Blizzard or any of the other studios are. Xbox could always pivot away from its current position and function and become something other than a console platform. I hope we see some actual information soon, so we can know what the vision is. Truthfully, we still don’t know Asha’s plan for the future. We’ve only seen her work to adjust things in the right now. Even her first Xbox showcase was more or less just as much a platform to sell studios as it was built to highlight new games.

I would come back if it was Day 1 games only. I don’t want or need most of the “perks” we’ve been offered over the years. Offer Day 1s for a reasonable price and you’ll have me hooked as long as there’s new games I want to play.

Mr Records for me. Looks fantastic!

I’m not sure I expect anything. Honestly 2027 looks sort of barren at the moment when it comes to release dates, so I suppose it’s time to start announcing games that release after Fable if there is much of anything. I don’t mind having some time to catch up though! I’d love it if Xbox shocked the world with a shadow drop, but they won’t do anything like that less than a week before GTA. 😂

I would be curious if the first glimpse of Helix comes, but I’m not expecting it. I’m honestly sort of just expecting a slide show about Xbox’s history and that’s about it.

Indiana Jones was probably the one that impressed me most. Halo Infinite felt surprisingly next gen in terms of visuals when I upgraded to the S years back now.

Looks like one of those 8bitdo controllers that I have!

You know, I totally forgot this was a thing, but seeing that it’s coming soon just made me sort of super interested in getting it. I loved Guitar Hero back in the day. Some of the most fun gaming I’ve ever had.

@Markatron84 Definitely. Honestly, the last two Mario Tennis games may be my favorite sports games in generations. Camelot just gets the feel for how tennis should feel. You can play the games with or without the modifiers, special moves, and other tricks and the game still pops. The gameplay is 100% there.

@Markatron84 I totally agree with you about Mina the Hollower. It’s got some incredible character design, but I don’t what what it is, but the further I got in the game, the less I liked it. I don’t know if it’s because it leaned so heavily into the Souls thing or what, but Mina’s missing some of the magic that Shovel Knight had.

Also, Mario Tennis Fever is a great shout! It would probably be in my top 10 if I would’ve enjoyed the campaign more. The campaign might be my disappointment of the year, but just playing matches in the game is exquisite.

For me, Fortune’s Weave is almost certainly my GotY. I don’t even know if GTA6 has a shot to compete with it. I just love everything about the game so far. The writing and storytelling is just so far beyond anything else this year. It’s literally so good! This has been a really solid year in gaming, one of my favorites. I could honestly say there’s more than a dozen games this year that are 8/10+ tier, which is fantastic!

Here’s my top games this year:
1. Fortune’s Weave
2. Pragmata
3. Resident Evil: Requiem
4. Dave the Diver: In the Jungle (provided we count DLC)
5. Rhythm Heaven Groove
6. Romeo is a Dead Man…
7. …though Star Fox is maybe better overall but it’s so short and Romeo deserves a nudge up for being so weird
8. Potentially Well Dweller based on what I’ve played, but I’ve not finished it yet. It seems to have a little bit of an edge on the games I ranked at ninth, but I don’t know where I’d rank it.
9 and 10. I’m sort of torn between Crimson Desert, Mixtape, and the Adventures of Elliot. Rubato? Maybe Onimusha? There’s probably a good 10 games that could fit in the last two spots.

For the record, I’ve got maybe half a dozen games yet to play by the end of the year to know my final ratings.

I keep saying I’m going to balance Well Keeper and Control Resonant with Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, but that’s a lie. I’m only playing Fortune’s Weave. I’ve only gotten 20 minutes into Control. Realistically, Fortune’s Weave is everything. Life’s been super stressful lately, but Fortune’s Weave is so strong, so meditative that it’s a welcome alternate world for me and I can’t get enough of it. I’m going to finally reach part 2 over the weekend, I believe. There’s a really strong chance Fortune’s Weave may end up being my GotY at this point. I can safely say games like Ocarina and GTA can wait if I’m still grinding through Fortune’s Weave by the time they both release. Game is incredible.

The Kojima partnership makes a lot more sense now!

@CasualGamerFatigue Realistically, isn’t that what we’re doing on an Internet forum as we speak? 😂

@CasualGamerFatigue It’s hard not to feel for them though. Let’s remember they grew up in Counter Strike, Halo, and CoD lobbies instead of Galaga, Super Mario, and Pac-Man, you know? Can you blame them for the toxicity that was normalized for them? 😂

@CasualGamerFatigue @Fiendish-Beaver I’ll admit that I don’t mind Sony getting battered if their response is “Ok, ok, we’ve heard you. We WILL make a new Ape Escape game.” 😂

It’s weird that we’ve entered an era where 81 is considered bad. I remember when games would score in the 60s and they’d be big sellers.

@Fiendish-Beaver As someone with no interest in Wolverine because I don’t enjoy the IP, I think the hate comes more from the distaste in Sony’s practices than the game itself. The game honestly looks like a solid cinematic action game made to appeal to fans of the franchise, but people are looking to criticize everything Sony is doing right now more harshly. As someone that hasn’t really liked Sony’s trajectory over the course of the generation, I was wondering if we’d have a straw that broke the camel’s back and it appears we did.

I’m sure if it was a Ratchet and Clank game, it would’ve been received better, but sold worse. Also, if Wolverine came out a few years ago, I’d bet it would’ve been in the upper 80’s on Metacritic. 😂

Fortune’s Weave, Control Resonant, and Well Dweller. While I’ve barely played any games this week, I’m hoping to establish some good time into at least one of them. I’d like to beat two of them at least before Castlevania, but I don’t know how likely it is I’ll even beat one of them by that time.

I’ve got $75 of PS credit on my account right now and I was planning on buying another game (either Dawnwalker or Ace Combat, I was reckoning, but then I forgot about Galactic Racer, which, as much as I’ve burnt out of Star Wars, is basically a sequel to my favorite Star Wars game and it reviewed so well), but honestly, I’m enjoying everything I have to play so much right now that I’m sort of good on everything (and that credit may be more responsibly used in 2027 for that time period between Metroid and Final Fantasy). I might even skip Ocarina remake at launch right now because I feel like I won’t be able to finish enough games before GTA6 to be able to actually warrant the purchase. But… it’s Ocarina, so I might say screw it too. I dunno. I like what I’m playing a lot too, so there’s no wanting to rush, though there is a wanting for more time to play games.

Honestly, as much as I’ve been complaining about gaming this generation, September through the end of the year feels crazy. It’s sort of weird I was playing my Playdate more than my PlayStation over the summer (May through August) because holy cow, do I feel like games are finally so good again!

@dwayne91 We knew a lot more about the characters pre-launch with both GTA4 and 5 if memory serves correctly. We’ve barely seen either protagonist say much of anything so far beyond being style models in gameplay scenarios. I’m sure the game will be great, don’t get me wrong, but I’m wondering if this will be a new Rockstar that is more life sim than cinema spoof, being down a Hauser.

1 and 2 make sense to me. 3 would be the first Halo game I probably don’t buy and fyi, I bought every Halo game before I owned an Xbox just on the basis of loving the multiplayer aspect with friends.

That’s all well and good, but I want to know about the story at this point. It feels like GTA6 is focusing more on being a crime based life sim than show off interesting characters. Admittedly, all that they’ve shown off with that is impressive, but it’s weird that we know next to nothing about the writing of the game right now. A lot of Rockstar’s leadership has changed since RDR2, so I hope the newer talent was able to keep the same standard with those elements.

Control Resonant, Fire Emblem, and Well Dweller. Incredible line-up! The recent release slate is giving me late 90’s/2023 flashbacks.

I think Phil Spencer’s era of Halo is over. I think it’s that simple.

If this is the future, not only would this patent pause games, but also console sales as well! 😂

I imagine Xbox Game Studios will eventually shift their studios to Activision, Blizzard, and Bethesda in time unless they are running very well independently of the other studios. I hate to be a pessimist, but I would guess that the future of Inexile, the Coalition, and perhaps even Playground games largely depends on how their upcoming titles perform. If E Day, Fable, or Clockwork flop, I’d imagine the specter of more restructuring may be afoot.

I’d imagine Mojang is the studio in the healthiest place.

This reads like Bungie will continue to act like how Bungie has acted since Destiny 1.

Affordable options, OD, Physint, and a commitment to take care of creativity in the gaming industry.

Light B, strong C. Physint is my most anticipated game now and I thought it was stronger than the most recent State of Play overall. Nothing really surprising, but Tokyo Game Show rarely features massive announcements either. It was better than the Gamescom showcase.

Would be awesome if Kojima’s planning OD and Physint to be a double feature. I hope we see an update on OD at the Game Awards. I’m always surprised to see the negativity online towards Kojima. Personally, I find his games to be hit after hit. Thank god Xbox is funding him. If Physint was merely cancelled by Sony, it would’ve been a massive blow for me and my belief in the future of gaming. Hope Kojima’s making games for a long time

Outside the novelty of Gamepass in the early days, I’ve only ever used Gamepass for Day 1 titles. I’d never go back to Gamepass again. As it stands, if Fable’s worth it, I’ll sub for that one. Was originally planning to buy the game on PS5, but not anymore. I’m just going for the cheapest way to play it now. 😂

@asdfghjklz The key word is maybe. I don’t forgive that at all. Right now, I’m still highly skeptical of Asha’s direction, but it can’t get much worse than where Xbox and PlayStation are at now.

@NicolausCamp @Grumblevolcano Marathon’s dead and I don’t think this one is direct competition with GTA. If anything, if GTA lives up to expectations, I’d imagine anything in December will be dusted over as is typical with December releases.

Are they sure it went gold if it’s being delayed? Do they mean like it was Cyberpunk gold or something? This doesn’t make any sense. It’s releasing in too dense a release period for me to get it either way, but that seems sort of weird, especially for a remake of a game that isn’t even that old