theduckofdeath

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Well, we don't know their actual goals; this year, last year, whenever. We get rumors and "reports" from alleged journalists and "insider-adjacent" individuals. Too many take these reports for gospel. Those reporting have a clear profit motive, for starters.

The "100 million subs by 2030" thing for example. If I remember correctly, that was a hypothetical from an old, leaked email or slide. Why not 90 million? Or 110 million? 2028 vs. 2030 vs 2032? Sounds like a somewhat arbitrary scenario being tossed out there.

@abe_hikura The message is one of condolences. They didn't need all those people and thus the company was burning excess cash. All of MS is affected.

@Titntin Yes. Games returning to Game Pass is not uncommon. Some are included in standard.

@dreadful MS won't do that because a company makes more money (immediately) selling to as many people as possible. More than any individual, constrained company. If they took everything exclusive now, it would take a lot of time to manufacture and sell consoles to fill the gap.

Not to mention backlash and people not having the money. They would rather sell $50 - $550 worth of games than roll the dice and hope that person has the cash to buy an Xbox (which may still be sold at loss) and some games.

The best chance of what you're describing would have been if they had a similar studio makeup and release cadence as they do now, at the Series launch in 2020. There is still the next gen launch to come, so we will see what they do there. As people love to claim, Microsoft "flip-flops" and "pivots" all the time.

@TheGiraffe Typing that and reading it aloud should be enough for you to realize that is not what they are doing.

@Fiendish-Beaver Just like any portable or VR device?

Fryer is looking for clicks & views. It is possible she is disgruntled. Her video is using detractors talking points and conveniently leans on assumptions, while leaving out pertinent known information.

@Ricky-Spanish Xbox is doing great now, the problem is they abruptly pivoted to porting games to PS (right when game production was picking up). That leads some people to be upset, some happy, some indifferent, some disingenuous, and way too many hyperbolic in their reactions.

Fryer has a YouTube channel to drive clicks for profit. She managed to be more negative and exaggerative than the DF guys. Could be she is actually bitter and wants to see 12-15 games shoved solely through the Xbox console. I doubt that is purely what is driving her.

@RiverGenie The Steam Deck is my first and only handheld. Unless you count those flat, static B&W LCD handhelds that Nintendo released in the early 80's. I never cared for handhelds because the technology just wasn't there. Then I grew older and started to drive, so it seemed there was little utility for one.

@Ilyn Play Anywhere is something I wanted since the 360 launched. I've been playing on PC since the original PS launched. Console always lag behind PC in performance and control. PDZ and Oblivion would have been so much better with Play Anywhere.

Any title that where success lies on aiming & shooting, chances are, I am playing on PC. Poor console performance? Playing on PC. Amazing tech? Playing on PC. The six games you mentioned in your last sentence, I played all of them on PC. RE2Make, RE3Make, and RE4Make look amazing on PC with HDR (wide screen, too).

Play Anywhere grants you flexibility at the same cost. It's an escape hatch when console games are not performant and with Game Pass, well, it's not even Steam vs. Xbox store anymore. Plenty of times I want to chill out on the couch and play something. Usually that is smaller games, sports/racing. fighting, etc. I'll still play some shooting games on console with a controller from time to time.

I do wonder if they pay attention to where and what a user is playing. So, this guy has Steam (and/or Epic, EA, Ubi, etc.) linked to his account and he is on Game Pass. He buys these particular games or genres here and others there. Distribution of play time, etc.

@Romans12 No. Prices don't get set at the dollar-to-pound or dollar to Euro conversion. If something is $499 USD it will likely be 499 pounds in the UK.

@IOI People are apparently dumbfounded by driver updates and mouse-oriented interfaces.

But seriously, people bought the Ally and complained about the desktop user interface and performance overhead of Windows. Now Microsoft addresses it and suddenly there is a problem?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Are you seriously STILL denying the Sony blocked BMW from Xbox? At this point? BMW is releasing a later year, to the day, on Xbox.

Microsoft's response was "we cannot comment on the business deals made by our partners." Repeatedly. Not "No," not "we are trying to help Game Science with a Series S issue." Microsoft also said, "Game Science did not report any difficulties with Series S to us", after GS tried to use that excuse.

How would you interpret those statements, provided you were not hellbent on denying Sony blocked BMW from Xbox in the 11th hour?

@Jenkinss I still feel kind of guilty for falling for Sony's PS2 phony game trailer campaign and skipping the Dreamcast. At the time, I had just started working professionally, so I was trying to be somewhat financially responsible.

The fake trailers started when I was a still a senior in college. Fake Tekken Tag Tournament videos and other games. Plenty of hyperbolic statements about the "Emotion Engine" and the "Graphics Synthesizer." I never feel for it again, yet others do, incessantly. Sony persists with this approach to this day.

@Kaloudz I have BMW on PC. The game looks great overall (graphics & presentation), with some graphics and performance issues. The level design is kind of old school with very little "climb-ability," you can't really try to explore off the tracks (e.g. climb rocks). No map either, if you rely on those.

BMW is action game with some Souls-like factors. Not really a Souls game in a negative sense. There are a few tougher bosses but not really. Nothing like Souls games in challenge, creativity, the thrill of the battle. This is something Lies of P nailed.

You just kind fight a boss, maybe lose a few times, but generally know what you need to do. You just whack-whack-whack, remember to use your abilities and their cooldowns effectively, and you'll be successful. Not to suggest there are not some combat mechanisms you need to understand, but it is pretty simple.

For me, there was no real feeling of accomplishment after beating a boss, because there was not much of a struggle. Not much you needed to learn and exploit.

You're way too quick and way too generous calling that gameplay.

@Kaloudz If you're parking a lot of games on the drive and desire the portability maybe it would be worth it. For someone in some corner of the games industry, sure. I upgraded from a 1TB to a 2TB, which was worth it.

On PC, I recently built with 2 2TB NVMe drives and a 2TB SATA drive. The previous machine was running out of room at 5 TB total. My backlog a lot of "almost done" games over the years and I was hanging on.

I remember completing this as it was an early gen Game Pass game. Not really within the realms of subject matter that usually interests me, but I figured, "Eh...Why the hell not?" There were things to discover and puzzle to solve.

The story sounds dramatic (traumatic?), though it didn't really have much impact (for me). I just decided to see what to truth is by completing the chapters (which weren't long, kind of like TWD games).

I dug this game. The outer world segments, above ground, could have been more fleshed out. It was easy to get in an extended (to say the least) cycle of smashing those soda can drones. The game had some good boss design and looked great.

I didn't have the issues some people share with the melee combat; you're swinging large iron pipes with weights on the ends, so the last thing it would be is swift. The dungeons posed some good puzzle challenge. There was one key disc I missed and had to move on.

This should be obvious but, play in Russian dialog audio with English subtitles.

Metaphor is fantastic. I'm 140 hours in and fear I've got another 15-20 hours left. Had to put it on the backburner when Oblivion and Clair Obscur released.

I missed this one, it sold out quickly.

@Fiendish-Beaver Looks like the Witcher controller is a "Core" unit — no extra parts. The DOOM Elite was the full kit with case and attachments.

I missed this one — it is showing as sold out now.

@Bmartin001 Looks like they are being added to Standard (Core).

@themightyant Looks like there are actual Xbox controller handles built into the sides/back. That is huge.

No, it won't be cheap. Got to be realistic.

@Fiendish-Beaver Microsoft/Xbox owning Bethesda doesn't change anything from Sony's perspective of a platform dealing with a third-party publisher. Bethesda would continue to be treated as any other third-party publisher and that ad was targeted solely to Sony PlayStation platform at added expense.

That video was the kind of thing that happens when there is some form of a marketing deal in-place. The existing normal commercials and trailers address all platforms. Sony continues to focus on perception. The Ghost of Yotei video was released on the same day as the Oblivion Remake shadow drop as some kind of a proof-of-life.

@LogicStrikesAgain People don't have unlimited time or money, so Xbox putting games on PS does not necessarily mean PS players are buying MORE games. They are certainly buying Xbox games, at the expense of Sony sales and third-party sales. The PS has become more crowded and competitive.

MS, on the other hand, is granted instantaneous access to an additional 60-75 million console units in exchange for 30% of software unit sales. MS did not have to manufacture, store, ship, or sell those units to customers. They did not take a monetary loss on the sale of those consoles.

MS and Sony compete for components to build those consoles, and MS also uses them in XCloud as well. NTM, "the console market isn't growing." If one side sells more, the other has to sell less. Regardless, neither side could ever sell more units than PS and Xbox combined.

@Fiendish-Beaver Sony definitely had a hand in writing that script:

"Hey, Sony-guys!" LOL

No mention of Xbox whatsoever.

Yes, this video will likely boost sales of DOOM, benefiting MS and Sony (developer and platform, as is the norm). The appears more likely to be a paid spot (on Sony's part). They love to do this stuff (Callisto Protocol, CoD, etc.).

@Fiendish-Beaver This is paid advertisement. Sony is still paying to spread the impression that big third-party titles are special or exclusive on PS, even if MS/Xbox owns them, apparently. Some "casuals" may know MS owns Bethesda but be unclear if DOOM is Xbox exclusive. Either way, Bethesda & MS get the ad money and higher sales of DOOM.

So glad to see this realized and I would love to see Morrowind get a similar treatment. One issue I've encountered is when creating my male character, lipstick is permanently enabled. LOL. Eye shadow, however, has an appropriate "off" toggle in the color selector.

@Fiendish-Beaver I am at the 139 hours in Metaphor and have just the Trials and the final mission to complete. I did have to redo the "Day of Calamity" after a major screw up.

@Ricky-Spanish Yes. Somehow people forget this. To rent a game $4-$6 for 2 days (return on the third). You have to travel to the store and back twice. Even with mailers, time is lost in transport.

I buy 1-3 games a month all the while having Game Pass Ultimate since 2020. Series X, One X, PC(s), Steam Deck are hooked up, though old One X doesn't get much attention. Not every game comes to Game Pass. The service is fantastic, though.

EDIT:

Just took a quick look at my purchase history for March:

Steam store - 5 games
CD Keys - 4 games
Greenman - 1 game
Xbox store - 1 game, 2 upgrades

So, I guess that is abnormal.

@dreadful Yes, hearing that some much has to be ripped out of a game drops even passing interest to almost nil. If the devs see fit to revive it, I would like to experience the game that inspired them.

This is another point against the leap of faith so many have taken that Steam will come to the next Xbox. Consoles are locked down with proprietary security (hardware and software), software qualification and censorship, their own digital stores and SKUs, reason not to allow just any .exe to be being run, etc.

Far Cry 5 on GP was a fun one to relax and cause a little havoc. Not sure if it is still there. I had completed all the others on PC and got burned out after FC4. Felt good to return after a long break.

@Kaloudz Yes, the payment method provider charges a fee for transactions. I imagine it varies, so the fee and the capabilities of the payment provider may be why MS is switching to another.

@Millionski Nintendo Switch is not only absolved scrutiny for poor performance, graphics, technical prowess, etc. Somehow, reviewers run in the opposite direction, with hyperbolic exaggerations and praise about anything they do. Instead of being knocked 2 points, you are awarded 2 points, for example.

Meanwhile, every other platform is held to performance scrutiny, or the graphics, performance, and several other factors are suddenly of paramount importance. Xbox games are judge with the highest scrutiny (and vitriol).

I will describe it in the following manner — Xbox games are judge within a 10-point container. A game can never score more than 10/10 or 100% (no matter how impressive a set of game elements are), so if there is anything "wrong", lacking, or to the reviewers subjective disliking in the game, that game will lose points at a higher rate of scrutiny (even by some "Xbox people").

Sony, and even more so Nintendo games, conversely, are seemingly judged with an overflow/reserve tank. Issues with the game are glossed over (and often buried) and the positives are fawned over. The overflow tank fills in the gaps.

@Kaloudz In the background, there are multiple available systems that handle credit card transactions. Stripe, for example. It is big business.

Companies need an accredited (if that is the proper term) organization to take credit card payments. You could not build a website tomorrow and start taking credit card payments. Companies that handle payments need strict approval. That companies API would probably have to be integrated into your website.

I'm a huge fan of this series and this game. Keep the fixes and improvements coming. Currently, I'm playing through on Series X (couch) and Steam. Separate playthroughs.

@Titntin I would go back and play this one through again, in time. There're many other games to complete. I do fire it occasionally to mess around in the final area. There is also that final big puzzle to complete.

Avowed right now. I plan to start Blue Prince and final finish (hope-hope) Metaphor Refantazio. This week I completed South of Midnight (coming away very impressed) and Sniper Elite 5 (great immersion on "Authentic" difficulty).

@Benjamin No telling if and when MS gets the Xbox OS or the compatibility thereof in Windows. No telling if all games existing would be compatible. We don't even have Steam integrated into the Windows Xbox app yet.

I was loving the challenges, then I had to take a break and haven't returned. This spring maybe. Right now, I'm about to complete Metaphor.

Xbox Phoenix
Xbox Legion
Xbox Armada

Provided any PC handheld is powerful and well crafted (ergonomics, control devices/surfaces, OLED screen), I would consider buying it. Some Xbox native compatibility could be added later. The Steam Deck is great, but I don't bother attempting to run many demanding games on it.

Another sticking factor is that I don't want to end up collecting these things. The Steam Deck count is already at two, and it is my first portable console ever.

@Millionski There are so many questions that arrive from this (e.g. what happens to the (Xbox store which helps to subsidize the console?).

YTubers have run away with this in a reckless fashion. The whole "the next Xbox can play PS games via Steam/PC stores" is routed as much in console war rhetoric as convenience. Instead of focusing on the most obvious product being a version (or mode) of Windows more akin to Xbox in interface and features. That could run on portables for Lenovo or ASUS. The more complex you get from there, the more unlikely it becomes.

We have PC available to play games on right now; we have for decades. This notion of "I don't want to install drivers" is absurd in this day & age. The rumors describe these people being spoon-fed a PC. They don't strike me as a reliable base you would want to gamble such a massive detour on.

PC becoming more like Xbox is the path of least resistance by far. Fewer constraints on power (electrical and performance), cost, heat, dimensions, and user competence.

@16BitHero My nephew tries to talk me into playing WWE games again ever year. The one I played was Smackdown 2008.

@Batfan2425 If you are playing on Steam Deck, you can setup XCloud through Edge browser and have it launch like an app. You can play Game Pass games, but not your own.

I think I played Watchdog Legion on Series X near launch. The framerate (to me) was so bad that I put it down.

I'm playing Avowed on PC at the moment, having not tried it on Series X yet. The game world looks beautiful, and the combat is really fun, providing challenge on the top difficulty.

Right now, I am also playing Metaphor (finally), just avoiding the "Calamity". Another challenging game — I love it. A couple of weeks ago, I completed NG2B. Got go for Master Ninja and the missions before losing my edge again.

Great timing on this update. I had been playing conservatively on Xbox and Steam (no play anywhere for the purchased). Just got out of the Lesser Zone recently. Had a harrowing firefight yesterday, in a new town where the enemies dropped the VSS Vintorez (Vintar?), GP37, the Super, another sniper rifle. All on one short block.