swedetrap

One of the best games of the past decade, easily. You're missing out, even today.

Very much looking forward to Hot Wheels Unleashed 2. The 1st one was one of my most-played games when it came out and I don't think I've played Mario Kart 8 since then. Not that it's a better game than MK8, more that I needed something new, seeing as how I'd technically been playing MK8 since the early Wii U days.

I loved the OG Overwatch quite a lot in the early days, you know, before 99% of the other players turned it into a bitter, toxic cesspool.

90% of my friends love these games. I tried the first one 3 times and just don't get it. Still, I'm glad my friends are happy.

Game Pass on my ASUS ROG Ally is far and away my favorite thing right now. I took the plunge and bought the XG Mobile dock (and yeah, ouch, stung the wallet a LOT) and the boost in performance has made it my go-to for nearly everything, docked or portable. I have so little cash left now that Game Pass is a lifesaver, and it helps that there's been so many great releases lately.

I picked up Immortals of Aveum on sale for $8 and I'm loving it. I'm a few hours in (maybe 25% through it? I don't know) and it reminds me of OG Xbox and 360 games. Weird, fun, and above all, different than most of what's out there right now.

As a big fan of Quantum Break, I found Control rather lacking. I played it to completion but there wasn't enough enjoyment there to warrant continuing onto the DLC. It's great that Game Pass subscribers get to play it though. It's worth the time, it just wasn't really worth the hype in my opinion.

When one company acquires another there are immediate and obvious redundancies. One massive company doesn't necessarily need 3-4 marketing teams, multiple social teams, etc. This was going to happen no matter what. It's awful, yes, but it was to be expected.

I use DualSense controllers with my PS5 when I can be bothered to play it (ahem, Gran Turismo basically) and honestly I still don't get the hype. It's definitely the best controller Sony has ever put out but the bar there has always been decidedly low as PS controllers have always been painfully small in my opinion.

Having said that, I wouldn't mind if Xbox controllers had the same feedback features but at this point I'm so used to using the back paddles on my Xbox Elite 2 controllers that I probably wouldn't consider anything that didn't have that feature.

They went and dropped it at the same time F1 23 came to Game Pass, so it'll be a while before I get to it.

The first Hellblade unexpectedly became one of my all-time top 5 games, so I was already happy just getting a release date for the sequel. The rest was the icing on the cake. I had no idea Indiana Jones was as far along as it appears to be and I had zero interest in Avowed until this presentation - now I'm really looking forward to it. My kid and I watched the Ara thing and both agreed it's more her thing than mine, but I applaud Microsoft and Xbox for having a little something for everything (sans the grumpy people above that apparently just don't like games at all? Can't help them)

As someone with a PS5 that is not at all a fan of the Spider-Man games to date (Assassin's Creed with webs. Woo) I have to say that beyond FF7's continual retelling, I see nothing that's going to convince me to pull my PS console out of the closet.

And now back to Starfield, already in progress...

I’d love some kind of multi ssd expansion. Why can’t I chain 2-3 of these things in one slot?

Redfall isn’t the best game I’ve ever played but I’ve definitely been enjoying it, despite the rather shaky “stealth” bits (that aren’t stealthy at all).

It gets points from me just for trying something mildly different. Too many games lately have been the same old third person adventure.

@NEStalgia Last years MLB The Show was noticeably worse on my PS5 than the XSX version but I played on PS5 anyway because that's where my MLB friends are....because there hadn't been a proper MLB game on Xbox consoles for years.

Strange. I played through it on my PS5 and didn't notice any of the issues DF described in that version. I downloaded it on my XSX via GamePass just to see it on my favorite console and didn't notice any differences. I love the game despite its control quirks (which I admit, I didn't know I could tune) - I suppose if I'm going to nitpick things and cross-reference with frame counters and such, fine, but I'm more interested in what's fun vs what isn't. Nothing about either version detracts from what I love about the game so (shrugs)

Here's the thing. If you can beat Persona 3&4 AND Monster Hunter Rise before the next Game Pass drop, you get to complain. Otherwise, hush.

I sometimes forget I even have an Xbox as all I do on mine is play MW2. Are they still making games for this thing? </sarcasm>

Watched the whole series twice and loved it. I honestly didn't get what all of the hate was for. If you went in expecting to watch one long Halo Reach through Halo 3 cutscene, your expectations were way off base. TV and gaming are different; simple as that. Given the format switch, I thought it was highly entertaining and did the gaming side of the stories justice. I couldn't be more excited for season 2.

Awards? Solid D. I've had every Playstation console since the beginning and tend to play 100% of their exclusives but I've never been a God of War fan, so Ragnarok really doesn't do anything for me.

Reveals? Solid C. That said, I don't get why the Sony jealousy here? They didn't show a whole lot of exclusives; most of the reveals were multiplatform except for a new Horizon game and FF16. I honestly laughed at the Forespoken trailer because Sony refunded me for my preorder of that game a few months back, now they want me to preorder again? I played the demo this morning and it's fine I guess, but with a new Armored Core on the way, I'd say everyone won something on the reveal side.

For what it's worth, Digital Trends has all of the review integrity of a spoiled blueberry muffin. They often purposely run counter to popular opinion just for clicks. Ignore.

I subscribe to both but can't take the PS offering seriously until they fill out the pre-PS4 library quite a bit. Right now it's a joke.

This s**t is important! I refer you to the Spider-Man "puddlegate" thing from a few years back. S**t like this makes or breaks AAA games! I can't wait for the Digital Foundry poo analysis.

To the average console-owning casual gamer (think 90%+ of the gaming population) CoD is THE first-person shooter. Full stop. Nothing else even comes close. Is Xbox going to make CoD an exclusive? I doubt it. As we've seen with Minecraft, there's a lot of money to be made by employing a multi-plat strategy. Why upset the PS user base when you can charge them $60-$70+ annually? That'd be stupid.

Nope. Never left. I neglected my OG Xbox quite a bit back in the day because I was way into PC gaming, but from the 360 onward I've been 100% xbox, despite owning every other console along the way (including an OLED switch and a PS5 now, both of which seldom see use)

@BBB yeah, I used teleport in that game religiously. Felt like, a waste of time not to.

I bought this because I really wanted to like the 1st game and figured that a sequel would have fixed the various issues I had with the original (namely difficulty, a fairly generic aesthetic, and questionable-feeling controls).

Unfortunately they more or less doubled-down on all 3 of those issues. 3/10 at full price. Maybe 4 or 5/10 on a discount.

I never miss the new F1. Ever.

@GuyinPA75 Could not agree more.

More like Fall GuyZzzzzzzzz.

Holy crap, yes!!!!

The majority of people who don't like Phil Spencer seem to be the same people that take issue with his clear business acumen and their perception that said acumen somehow interferes with his ability to deliver quality gaming experiences. The guy runs a very profitable entertainment arm of a massive business. While Microsoft and Xbox might not be number one in gaming now (or ever) there's no denying that he has an incredible budget behind him and seemingly 100% faith from the MS board.

Phil and his team took the ashes of the disastrous Xbox One launch, the relatively weak Xbox One years, and

1. created an unheard of (in gaming anyway) subscription business model

2. acquired numerous studios of varying sizes (with more on the way it would seem)

and 3. more or less turned around the public perception of the Xbox brand

One doesn't do those three things if they're full of BS.

I own all 3 consoles and play all 3 mostly equally but the only gaming executive out there that comes across as a real human being with ANY interest in my chosen hobby whatsoever is Phil. If it's a lie, well, he's a Brando-level actor.

Minecraft Dungeons was an unexpected hit in my household so definitely looking forward to this.

86%
It'll be unfairly compared to Streets of Rage 4 (a modern classic of the genre if ever there was one) but the nostalgia factor will boost the score a bit.

@Kaloudz Good question. It's definitely shallow. The change-up in combat has made it feel much less interesting than the original. I respect what they tried to do, but I don't care for the final product. In terms of length, you probably have a point there, but I suspect few people will be coming to the game without the knowledge that it's a fraction of the overall story. From that perspective, yes, it feels like it shortchanges the player quite a bit.

Is this really any different than when EA Play let you do a few hours of a new game before release? Seems like the same thing. A perk of membership, nothing more.

For fans that haven’t played it yet, I hope this happens. As someone here with a PS5 and a copy of the game though, you aren’t really missing much. It looks nice but it’s short and rather shallow in my opinion, and who knows when the rest of the game is coming.

@ralphdibny I got the Halo pride shirt last year. Their clothes are normal fit -> slightly big in my experience. High quality stuff though. I've been very pleased.

day one buy for me.

You guys, the Fable trailer isn't even 2 years old yet. Covid/quarantine has messed with everyone's sense of time. Granted, 2+ years was probably premature, but what isn't premature in gaming these days? So long as it eventually comes out, everything will be just fine. It's in really good hands.

Meh. I have FFVIIR on my PS5 and can't be bothered to play it there, so a Gamepass release is meaningless to me. My money is on Goldeneye. If that happens I'll absolutely lose my mind in the best possible way.

Chorus is 100% awesome - already bought it and played through it; loved (almost) every minute of it. I am excited for the Ninja Gaiden Collection. Reviews have thus far prevented me from pulling the trigger on it.

I was playing GTA V for a bit and find myself getting sidetracked from it for the 3rd console generation in a row, now that Ghostwire Tokyo is out.

FWIW, I couldn't wait and bought this for my PS5. I'm 5+ hours into it and I think I've finally found a game worth owning a PS5 for - at least until March 2023 anyway. Much is made about how it's too "FarCry-like" but I really don't get it. Most every open world game has a big map with way too many icons on it - look no further than Forza Horizon 5 for an Xbox example. That said, it's got an amazing setting to it and looks fantastic (playing in 30fps mode w/ray-tracing as the game doesn't benefit enough from 60(ish) FPS.

I can't wait for my Xbox friends to get a hold of it. It'll be worth the wait.

"Keystone" is the internal Xbox codename for Xbox Series Go, their forthcoming portable. In terms of specs, it's basically mildly overclocked Durango with a maximum resolution of 900p - ironic in a way because so many Durango-era games only ever reached 900p on the OG Xbox One. Where it will get interesting is that the screen itself is roughly Nintendo Switch-sized, giving the impression that it's slightly higher resolution than either both the Switch and Steam Deck.

As someone who actually missed the old 3-5 hour Xbox 360 era action games, I love this one. It isn't 10/10 territory but just the fact that it isn't selling me skins for my silly cartoon avatar is points in its favor.

I haven't tried the campaign yet but won't rag all over Remedy until I do as they have nothing to do with the multiplayer side. That said, I found multiplayer to be rather fun but the (minor) control issues and lack of maps in "modern" mode are a bad look. Classic mode MP is just plain weird. Why can't I zoom in to aim before shooting?

Still, it was a fun hour to kill with it before dinner last night.

I'm a former fan of Sony's Vaio computers, Sony cameras, Sony televisions, hell even the Sony Walkman. These days, yeah, I have a PS5 because they have the odd half dozen games each generation that I can't play anywhere else but little more. Fact is, my friends are all on Xbox this generation and I'll Call of Duty with them there, not on PlayStation. To me, despite the PS4 dominating last gen, they're just simply not the company they used to be. They put their budgets behind the games I find to be merely "ok" (GoW, Last of Us series) and then kill the games I truly loved when they don't make a billion dollars (Days Gone). That said, how many third person action-adventure games can I REALLY play when over on Game Pass I've got VARIETY!

If the Activision-Blizzard acquisition adds to that variety, awesome.

No wonder you can't find them in stores anymore. I sold my Project Scorpio console recently for $100 more than I paid for it day one and a stock XB1X for retail price - and it was 2 years old. Crazy times we live in where more than a full year later, new consoles are still rare finds in local stores.

The Anacrusis is labeled as being in Early Access, maybe that's why it looks a little undercooked? I wasn't aware it was Early Access until I downloaded it just now. Either way, I'm looking forward to it. I can't get enough of co-op shooters lately.