@MrReaps What is this "Microsoft Gaming" suddenly being pushed? More rumors out of the rumor mill? That is a horrible name, BTW. Just stick with Xbox, no matter the hardware.
@Reaper_cet Because most people are selfish and self-centered in their thinking, especially regarding esoteric or obscured business factors. YTbers dumb everything down and cater to their audience (the more they amp it up the more money they make). The fuels the engine and the cycle continues.
Closing Tango hurts. No doubt they simply were not making money (despite multi-plat status). I like their games and wish there was a way to hold onto them. No doubt the squeeze is on Xbox due to the upfront expenditure for ABK. That money won't be recouped to 8-10 years, though its far better than having it sit in banks.
Arkane Austin, well...Redfall was not soon forgotten. Prey was great, yet a commercial failure.
The other closures/dissolutions would have gone unnoticed.
@P3nguinprisM @abe_hikura I have serious doubts about that. Bethesda was looking to be acquired because going it alone was becoming risky. They would have been forced to make some cuts, far sooner than the MS acquisition.
Now, would Hi-Fi Rush have done better if not in Game Pass? That is hard to say — Game Pass was and is automatic advertising and caused many people to give it some consideration. Far greater numbers of people dismissed it and advertising wouldn't have done much to prevent that. I can admit that the announcement mid-show of a "rhythm game" was not immediately palatable to me. Chai's character design was also unappealing.
However, Hi-Fi was in GP and I started the download before the show completed. It turned out to be a great game. Would I have bought it otherwise, most likely not.
@rustyduck What I think is a major problem was raising the spectre of "no more exclusives." Specifically, porting games to PS a year later, sooner, or ever. That will hang over them and deter people from picking up the next machine. MS pulled this3.5 years into the Series S|X gen, after selling 27-30 million units. What happens after two years of living under this threat (and any ports during that period), then expecting to launch a new console to higher demand?
The closure of Tango is another major blow to public interesting in Xbox.
@GamingFan4Lyf Come on. This news is unfortunate, but let's be serious.
The expenditure for ABK will take years to recoup (and then profit) and I think those financial types are impatient. I imagine if the PalWorld devs were owned by a large publisher and put out one more miss before Palworld, they would have been canned, too.
@Mooky779 I played all of Sea of Stars on Steam Deck through XPlay/XCloud. My only gripe is that you still can't play your own games that way, so I have to consider this when buying games.
I've seen multiple YTbers blame Series S for "holding back" the Xbox and in the same breath, say Xbox should put a portable in the place of Series S next gen. How wide do you think the performance divide would be then? They could even shrink a current Series S down (with more RAM, of course) 4 years after launch.
@Trmn8r Some information came regarding how Redfall came to be. From what was reported, the studio and/or Bethesda wanted to make a co-op live service type of game. Only they didn't know exactly what that meant. As well, this was not the studio's (Arkane's) expertise.
The plan never solidified, and dev became disillusioned and apathetic. As time went on, many developers quit. I believe it was reported that 1/3 of the studio left. Those remaining were hoping MS would free them by cancelling Redfall, once the acquisition was complete.
I have a Xbox/Windows PC save that is over 11 days of playtime and Steam save that is very early (got coerced into the Crimson fleet storyline for a 600-credit bounty ). I will continue with both.
@fbnaulin Todd is the director/visionary and also the public mouthpiece — it is a difficult position to be in. I think he was on that Lex Friedman guy's show months before release. He said they were focusing on 30 FPS but did not rule out other modes at a later time. Can't remember if vehicles were brought up.
Obviously, if there was no 30 FPS lock at launch, the framerate would have been all over the place, which does not look good. They've now had the time tweak the game so the avg FPS is good enough to cap at 60 FPS. It will probably still bounce around at times.
@fbnaulin Howard & crew want the game to look a certain way. If they could make it look better and perform better on consoles, they would, but...they're consoles. Somehow that continues to escape people. The 60 FPS/performance modes that are coming will not look as good (frame for frame) as the original 30 FPS mode.
Depending on the type of game and performance on console, I opt to play on PC. If I have to shoot, overwhelmingly I play on PC, driving & sports games I play on console. 2K always tanks the PC version with last year's engine, away. Play Anywhere is a godsend. On PC, I'm shooting for 90-244 FPS, depending on the display I'm using.
Got back into Wasteland 3 this week. Put in a good amount of hours, making solid progress for the first time since 2020. Then two of my crew became stuck in place.
Also playing LAD: IW, Harold Halibut, Forza 5, and Tekken 8 this weekend.
In the 80's, we had some of the most brilliant market campaigns ever, executed by Hasbro; G.I. JOE and Transformers. Toys with comic books, TV shows, and movies to back them up. The first G.I. JOE 5-part mini-series aired on immediately after school on the last day of school in NYC. I can home from finishing 1st grade and that is how the summer started.
@Meehanuk_1987 Huh? What's the difference between PS and Xbox? I could see playing it on a portable like Switch might somehow feel more compelling. I completed Sea of Stars on Steam Deck over XCloud; not sure when or how often I would have fired it up on the big screen. I played while using the TV for watching other sports, series & movies.
@Nintendo4Sonic Most people in the West wouldn't give it a chance without a Game Pass residency. What is a "Suikoden" or "Eiyuden," anyway? I tried one of the previous games on Game Pass. There may have been rewards points attached to game objectives, specifically.
I swear, it feels like 4 or 5 of these games have been announced in the last 2 years. The name(s) keeps popping up.
@cardcrusher29 I used to earn about 35-36k every 6 weeks. That's without trying get to score an achievement every day. I knocked $25-50 off of SF6 & MK1 ultimate and Tekken deluxe editions.
It's all funny money; I'm not complaining. There still plenty of points to be made. My GPU membership (28 months) still grows.
@RexPowercolt Yes, I agree, it could be a contender. As you said, it could be a light year for releases, with MS/Xbox publishing a good amount of the competition. Then consider the technology on display (lifelike visuals, light & sound), along with the mental health theme, the depictions of hallucinations being integral. The team would have paid careful attention to the story because of this responsibility. The previews seem positive on everything, including the combat.
@OldGamer999 Ninja Theory is focused on telling a unique story with Hellblade and it was never going to get turned into Ninja Gaiden (any of the versions). That would be pretty silly and trivialize the theme. Senua is a normal woman (physically) suffering from psychosis, not a cartoon ninja, armored super-soldier or a mythical roided-out god. The premise that she is on a trek of revenge is pushing it far enough.
Xbox has 5+ weeks left advertise HB2; the visuals will grab a lot of eyes.
@GeeEssEff While that is entirely reasonable, this happens with every game. TotK was preordained to be nominated and likely win GoTY two years ahead of release, and the media kept up that energy. Mario Sunshine just showed up late and waltzed into the category.
@IOI I have seen posts even on this site where people wanted HB turned into something "God of War"-like. As absurd of a tonal swing as that would be.
Which makes me wonder about the other GoW, Gears of War. Yes, it has an action theme for gameplay...but what happens when the graphics are far more realistic (like the UE5 demo shown a couple years ago)? Will the characters still use goofy dodge roll and wall-bounce animations?
@Lup Nintendo will release 5 Mario and Mario-adjacent games for the Switch (the games media won't know what to do with themselves), sweeping the GoTY nominations. J/K.
I think Hellblade 2 has a good chance of being (begrudgingly) nominated this year. Xbox will be releasing much of its competition. CoD and Tekken will be silently disqualified. Probably the same for Helldivers 2 and Palworld.
@GuyinPA75 I just double-checked when I saw your message. There was no full button reassignment interface as there is for the Elite controller. You can remap the share button and change its behavior, swap sticks & triggers, as well as invert sticks. That's all the app on my machine will allow at the moment.
Some people seem to want to turn it into Days Gone. I'd rather SoD2 retain its gameplay elements and improve upon them. The overall presentation, quests, and characters could use an uplift, too.
@FatGuyInLilCoat I don't buy 1st party Xbox games anymore because I'm stocked up on Game Pass. I was stubborn about joining for a while, finally giving in around June 2020. What a great service. I used to buy every Xbox ultimate edition at $99. The money wasn't a problem, but hey, why not take the offer?
I still buy a lot of games, mostly older ones, on Xbox. Newer games I tend to buy on PC.
When I see $70 games now, I usually hesitate, save for favorite franchises (SF, MK, VF, Tekken) and special cases. Most times I wait for sales ($10-$35).
When I was a kid, games were over $70. My brother and I would scrape money together to buy games. We got into importing, too. Japanese games were $80-$120 (SFII worked out to $150).
YouTubers and Game sites are scoffing at this and not stopping to think, as usual. Bond said the largest "technological" leap, not discernable graphical leap. What technological advances have ramped up in the last 5-10 years?
AI (NPUs doing into PCs as we speak). MS invested $10 billion into Open.AI, and billions more into their company and others.
AI supersampling effects.
Frame generation.
Ray-tracing.
Noise reduction for ray-tracing.
More TFLOPS and way more TOPS.
Even faster load times (a given)
A new controller (Will they ditch analog sticks after 27 years?)
A separate SKU for portable Xbox (possible PC-hybrid).
Bringing MILO back (LOL j/k...but they could do it for real this time)
@K1LLEGAL He has been gone at least prior to Gamescom last August. The Senua actress says so herself in an interview at Gamescom (and it did not appear to be news even then). She was working with a new director for the game, who you see in other "behind the scenes" footage. The media is using it for controversy clicks now that the game is near.
The expected length depends on the game. If Dragon's Dogma 2 or LAD were 8 hours, that would be really weird and $70 would feel too high a price. Even $50 would feel too high a price.
@Tyrant_T103 It is just the reality of consoles. I've consistently built and upgraded PC for 30 years because as you can see, we are still waiting for consoles to hit and hold the 60-fps mark. Thirty FPS is simply inevitable on consoles.
In fact, PCs have blown so far passed it, 60-fps is a "something's wrong" warning. Console game libraries came to PC and PC still has their "exclusives" due to resource requirements and happenstance.
I plan to bounce between PC and Xbox when playing Hellblade 2, starting on Xbox to examine performance and use the larger display.
This was painfully obvious the focal frame rate in all the reveals. Just based on the graphics, console platform, games like Starfield, and reality...I don't know how anyone could be shocked.
@OldGamer999 @somnambulance Xbox has a good chance picking up significant momentum in 2024. Unfortunately, during the quiet 5 month wait for HB2, they have stymied themselves again and damaged confidence with the porting effort. I don't know who thought this was a good idea or how it truly came about, but the timing was horrendous. It reminds me of Ghostbusters when the jerk forces them the open the ecto-containment unit.
@somnambulance The fanbase is divided because of the porting program. Specifically, porting to PS — I get it. Xbox is a public company and under a massive company in MS. Spencer has to answer to Satya and shareholders.
The sales divide between PS and Xbox is too great (again) to avoid MS scrutiny. If both were at 40 million units then PS5 would be pushing harder to PC. Spencer would have more breathing room. Buying ABK shown a spotlight on Xbox inside MS. Execs will ask, "if we are making CoD for PS, why not make other games for PS?" Sell s/w on consoles MS/Xbox did not have to produce and combine to be more console than they could ever sell.
As far as devs voluntarily skipping Xbox, those are rumors, and goofy ones at that. Unless the dev is paid by Sony or so small they can't develop all versions simultaneously in a reasonable time period, it is senseless. A healthy developer would not target 67% of consoles over 100% of consoles unless paid to do so. Xbox is a platform holder and even they are second-guessing absolute exclusivity.
@Doomcrow That is not what he said. He said Starfield being 10/10 would not stop the momentum that was built by PS4 in the previous gen. Xbox needed to keep their momentum from 360, and Mattrick squandered it. The next best thing would have been to be in the position (studio and project-wise) that they are in now when the Series gen started. It was not possible.
@somnambulance You can't blame him for that. Mattrick pulled the pin, popped the handle, and chucked him the grenade. He's done an admirable job thus far.
@AlienigenX The Housers, Leslie Benzies, and Lazlo have all departed Rockstar. Top it off with "modern sensibilities" and the humor/writing will likely be hamstrung.
@AnVold We don't know the specs. Could be cheaper than Series X, could have 2 TB SSD and other upgrades at $500. If you already own a Series X, there's little point in upgrading with next gen coming in 2026-2027. This is for new buyers and may save MS some cash in production.
@Phil-Spencer-Gate Regarding #2, Sony has a history in TV, film and music, so they tried to apply a pop culture approach to games. They try to make games look cool to people who don't play games. They started by "borrowing" from popular movies & IP (e.g. The Getaway imitating popular Guy Ritchie movies).
MS just did not seem to want to spend money on this. They focused on gameplay and were pretty tight with the wallet for too long. Services and multi-player were an important tool in bringing in more customers.
Comments 1,012
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
@MrReaps What is this "Microsoft Gaming" suddenly being pushed? More rumors out of the rumor mill? That is a horrible name, BTW. Just stick with Xbox, no matter the hardware.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
@Reaper_cet Because most people are selfish and self-centered in their thinking, especially regarding esoteric or obscured business factors. YTbers dumb everything down and cater to their audience (the more they amp it up the more money they make). The fuels the engine and the cycle continues.
Closing Tango hurts. No doubt they simply were not making money (despite multi-plat status). I like their games and wish there was a way to hold onto them. No doubt the squeeze is on Xbox due to the upfront expenditure for ABK. That money won't be recouped to 8-10 years, though its far better than having it sit in banks.
Arkane Austin, well...Redfall was not soon forgotten. Prey was great, yet a commercial failure.
The other closures/dissolutions would have gone unnoticed.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
@P3nguinprisM @abe_hikura I have serious doubts about that. Bethesda was looking to be acquired because going it alone was becoming risky. They would have been forced to make some cuts, far sooner than the MS acquisition.
Now, would Hi-Fi Rush have done better if not in Game Pass? That is hard to say — Game Pass was and is automatic advertising and caused many people to give it some consideration. Far greater numbers of people dismissed it and advertising wouldn't have done much to prevent that. I can admit that the announcement mid-show of a "rhythm game" was not immediately palatable to me. Chai's character design was also unappealing.
However, Hi-Fi was in GP and I started the download before the show completed. It turned out to be a great game. Would I have bought it otherwise, most likely not.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
@rustyduck What I think is a major problem was raising the spectre of "no more exclusives." Specifically, porting games to PS a year later, sooner, or ever. That will hang over them and deter people from picking up the next machine. MS pulled this3.5 years into the Series S|X gen, after selling 27-30 million units. What happens after two years of living under this threat (and any ports during that period), then expecting to launch a new console to higher demand?
The closure of Tango is another major blow to public interesting in Xbox.
Re: Xbox Exec Provides Reasoning Behind Bethesda Studio Closures
@GamingFan4Lyf Come on. This news is unfortunate, but let's be serious.
The expenditure for ABK will take years to recoup (and then profit) and I think those financial types are impatient. I imagine if the PalWorld devs were owned by a large publisher and put out one more miss before Palworld, they would have been canned, too.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Mind If The Next Xbox Was A Portable Console?
@Mooky779 I played all of Sea of Stars on Steam Deck through XPlay/XCloud. My only gripe is that you still can't play your own games that way, so I have to consider this when buying games.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Mind If The Next Xbox Was A Portable Console?
I've seen multiple YTbers blame Series S for "holding back" the Xbox and in the same breath, say Xbox should put a portable in the place of Series S next gen. How wide do you think the performance divide would be then? They could even shrink a current Series S down (with more RAM, of course) 4 years after launch.
Re: Hellblade 2 Will Display With Black Bars Outside Of Ultrawide Mode
Don't care much about there being letterboxing. I will probably bounce between Series X on the big screen and PC with 3440x1440 monitor.
Re: Redfall One Year On: Xbox's Vampire Misfire Still Lacks Bite
@Trmn8r Some information came regarding how Redfall came to be. From what was reported, the studio and/or Bethesda wanted to make a co-op live service type of game. Only they didn't know exactly what that meant. As well, this was not the studio's (Arkane's) expertise.
The plan never solidified, and dev became disillusioned and apathetic. As time went on, many developers quit. I believe it was reported that 1/3 of the studio left. Those remaining were hoping MS would free them by cancelling Redfall, once the acquisition was complete.
Re: Talking Point: Will You Be Playing Through Starfield Again At 60FPS On Xbox Series X?
I have a Xbox/Windows PC save that is over 11 days of playtime and Steam save that is very early (got coerced into the Crimson fleet storyline for a 600-credit bounty ). I will continue with both.
Re: Bethesda Shares A Sneak Peek At Starfield's First Land Vehicle
@fbnaulin Todd is the director/visionary and also the public mouthpiece — it is a difficult position to be in. I think he was on that Lex Friedman guy's show months before release. He said they were focusing on 30 FPS but did not rule out other modes at a later time. Can't remember if vehicles were brought up.
Obviously, if there was no 30 FPS lock at launch, the framerate would have been all over the place, which does not look good. They've now had the time tweak the game so the avg FPS is good enough to cap at 60 FPS. It will probably still bounce around at times.
Re: Bethesda Shares A Sneak Peek At Starfield's First Land Vehicle
@fbnaulin Howard & crew want the game to look a certain way. If they could make it look better and perform better on consoles, they would, but...they're consoles. Somehow that continues to escape people. The 60 FPS/performance modes that are coming will not look as good (frame for frame) as the original 30 FPS mode.
Re: Talking Point: How Often Do You Pick 'Quality' Over 'Performance' Modes On Xbox Series X|S?
Depending on the type of game and performance on console, I opt to play on PC. If I have to shoot, overwhelmingly I play on PC, driving & sports games I play on console. 2K always tanks the PC version with last year's engine, away. Play Anywhere is a godsend. On PC, I'm shooting for 90-244 FPS, depending on the display I'm using.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 27-28)
Got back into Wasteland 3 this week. Put in a good amount of hours, making solid progress for the first time since 2020. Then two of my crew became stuck in place.
Also playing LAD: IW, Harold Halibut, Forza 5, and Tekken 8 this weekend.
Re: Fallout Continues To Dominate On Xbox As Bethesda Reveals Incredible Player Numbers
In the 80's, we had some of the most brilliant market campaigns ever, executed by Hasbro; G.I. JOE and Transformers. Toys with comic books, TV shows, and movies to back them up. The first G.I. JOE 5-part mini-series aired on immediately after school on the last day of school in NYC. I can home from finishing 1st grade and that is how the summer started.
Re: Review: Tales Of Kenzera: ZAU (Xbox) - A Heartfelt Exploration Of Grief Smooths Over Most Issues In A Decent Metroidvania
The director, Abubakar Salim, played "Father" in Raise By Wolves on HBO. He does VO for a number of games.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Adds A 'Day One' RPG Today, Plus Three New Titles For Core Members
@Meehanuk_1987 Huh? What's the difference between PS and Xbox? I could see playing it on a portable like Switch might somehow feel more compelling. I completed Sea of Stars on Steam Deck over XCloud; not sure when or how often I would have fired it up on the big screen. I played while using the TV for watching other sports, series & movies.
Re: Review: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Xbox) - This Suikoden Spiritual Successor Is A Perfect Fit For Game Pass
@Nintendo4Sonic Most people in the West wouldn't give it a chance without a Game Pass residency. What is a "Suikoden" or "Eiyuden," anyway? I tried one of the previous games on Game Pass. There may have been rewards points attached to game objectives, specifically.
I swear, it feels like 4 or 5 of these games have been announced in the last 2 years. The name(s) keeps popping up.
Re: PlayStation Exclusive 'Kena: Bridge Of Spirits' Rated For Xbox Series X|S
@Fiendish-Beaver Yes, there has been a lot of false equivalency and "one-sidedness" regarding Xbox 1st party ports to competing platforms.
Re: Digital Foundry Impressed By 'Stunning Visual Design' In Ori Dev's New Game
I bought into early access and will check it out this weekend.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Fans Are Preparing For A New Era On Xbox This Week
@cardcrusher29 I used to earn about 35-36k every 6 weeks. That's without trying get to score an achievement every day. I knocked $25-50 off of SF6 & MK1 ultimate and Tekken deluxe editions.
It's all funny money; I'm not complaining. There still plenty of points to be made. My GPU membership (28 months) still grows.
Re: Talking Point: Will Hellblade 2 Be A Genuine Game Of The Year Contender This Year?
@RexPowercolt Yes, I agree, it could be a contender. As you said, it could be a light year for releases, with MS/Xbox publishing a good amount of the competition. Then consider the technology on display (lifelike visuals, light & sound), along with the mental health theme, the depictions of hallucinations being integral. The team would have paid careful attention to the story because of this responsibility. The previews seem positive on everything, including the combat.
Re: Talking Point: Will Hellblade 2 Be A Genuine Game Of The Year Contender This Year?
@OldGamer999 Ninja Theory is focused on telling a unique story with Hellblade and it was never going to get turned into Ninja Gaiden (any of the versions). That would be pretty silly and trivialize the theme. Senua is a normal woman (physically) suffering from psychosis, not a cartoon ninja, armored super-soldier or a mythical roided-out god. The premise that she is on a trek of revenge is pushing it far enough.
Xbox has 5+ weeks left advertise HB2; the visuals will grab a lot of eyes.
Re: Talking Point: Will Hellblade 2 Be A Genuine Game Of The Year Contender This Year?
@GeeEssEff While that is entirely reasonable, this happens with every game. TotK was preordained to be nominated and likely win GoTY two years ahead of release, and the media kept up that energy. Mario Sunshine just showed up late and waltzed into the category.
Re: Talking Point: Will Hellblade 2 Be A Genuine Game Of The Year Contender This Year?
@IOI I have seen posts even on this site where people wanted HB turned into something "God of War"-like. As absurd of a tonal swing as that would be.
Which makes me wonder about the other GoW, Gears of War. Yes, it has an action theme for gameplay...but what happens when the graphics are far more realistic (like the UE5 demo shown a couple years ago)? Will the characters still use goofy dodge roll and wall-bounce animations?
Re: Talking Point: Will Hellblade 2 Be A Genuine Game Of The Year Contender This Year?
@Lup Nintendo will release 5 Mario and Mario-adjacent games for the Switch (the games media won't know what to do with themselves), sweeping the GoTY nominations. J/K.
I think Hellblade 2 has a good chance of being (begrudgingly) nominated this year. Xbox will be releasing much of its competition. CoD and Tekken will be silently disqualified. Probably the same for Helldivers 2 and Palworld.
Re: Here's What's Included In The Xbox April 2024 Update
@GuyinPA75 I just double-checked when I saw your message. There was no full button reassignment interface as there is for the Elite controller. You can remap the share button and change its behavior, swap sticks & triggers, as well as invert sticks. That's all the app on my machine will allow at the moment.
Re: Fallout 4's Next-Gen Update Is Coming To Xbox Series X|S Later This Month
Two questions:
1) Will the PC version be updated?
2) Will there be cross-save/cross-progression?
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want To See Xbox Do With State Of Decay 3?
Some people seem to want to turn it into Days Gone. I'd rather SoD2 retain its gameplay elements and improve upon them. The overall presentation, quests, and characters could use an uplift, too.
Re: Saber Interactive CEO Reckons $70 Game Prices Will Go Away
@FatGuyInLilCoat I don't buy 1st party Xbox games anymore because I'm stocked up on Game Pass. I was stubborn about joining for a while, finally giving in around June 2020. What a great service. I used to buy every Xbox ultimate edition at $99. The money wasn't a problem, but hey, why not take the offer?
I still buy a lot of games, mostly older ones, on Xbox. Newer games I tend to buy on PC.
Re: Saber Interactive CEO Reckons $70 Game Prices Will Go Away
When I see $70 games now, I usually hesitate, save for favorite franchises (SF, MK, VF, Tekken) and special cases. Most times I wait for sales ($10-$35).
When I was a kid, games were over $70. My brother and I would scrape money together to buy games. We got into importing, too. Japanese games were $80-$120 (SFII worked out to $150).
Re: Feature: 40+ Xbox Series X|S Games To Look Forward To In 2024
If the System Shock remake is the same one that came to PC, it is highly regarded. I haven't had a chance to start it.
Re: Xbox Doubles Down On Highly Ambitious Plans For Next-Gen Hardware
YouTubers and Game sites are scoffing at this and not stopping to think, as usual. Bond said the largest "technological" leap, not discernable graphical leap. What technological advances have ramped up in the last 5-10 years?
AI (NPUs doing into PCs as we speak). MS invested $10 billion into Open.AI, and billions more into their company and others.
AI supersampling effects.
Frame generation.
Ray-tracing.
Noise reduction for ray-tracing.
More TFLOPS and way more TOPS.
Even faster load times (a given)
A new controller (Will they ditch analog sticks after 27 years?)
A separate SKU for portable Xbox (possible PC-hybrid).
Bringing MILO back (LOL j/k...but they could do it for real this time)
Re: Hellblade 1's Director Is No Longer Part Of Ninja Theory, Confirms Xbox
@K1LLEGAL He has been gone at least prior to Gamescom last August. The Senua actress says so herself in an interview at Gamescom (and it did not appear to be news even then). She was working with a new director for the game, who you see in other "behind the scenes" footage. The media is using it for controversy clicks now that the game is near.
Re: Xbox CVP Kareem Choudhry Set To Leave Microsoft After 26 Years
@armondo36 Twenty-six years at one company, dude.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Prefer Shorter Or Longer Games In General?
The expected length depends on the game. If Dragon's Dogma 2 or LAD were 8 hours, that would be really weird and $70 would feel too high a price. Even $50 would feel too high a price.
Re: Hellblade 2 Sounds Like A True Next-Gen Showcase In First Xbox Previews
@Tyrant_T103 It is just the reality of consoles. I've consistently built and upgraded PC for 30 years because as you can see, we are still waiting for consoles to hit and hold the 60-fps mark. Thirty FPS is simply inevitable on consoles.
In fact, PCs have blown so far passed it, 60-fps is a "something's wrong" warning. Console game libraries came to PC and PC still has their "exclusives" due to resource requirements and happenstance.
I plan to bounce between PC and Xbox when playing Hellblade 2, starting on Xbox to examine performance and use the larger display.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Versions Of Hellblade 2 Confirmed To Run At 30FPS
This was painfully obvious the focal frame rate in all the reveals. Just based on the graphics, console platform, games like Starfield, and reality...I don't know how anyone could be shocked.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
@OldGamer999 @somnambulance Xbox has a good chance picking up significant momentum in 2024. Unfortunately, during the quiet 5 month wait for HB2, they have stymied themselves again and damaged confidence with the porting effort. I don't know who thought this was a good idea or how it truly came about, but the timing was horrendous. It reminds me of Ghostbusters when the jerk forces them the open the ecto-containment unit.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
@somnambulance The fanbase is divided because of the porting program. Specifically, porting to PS — I get it. Xbox is a public company and under a massive company in MS. Spencer has to answer to Satya and shareholders.
The sales divide between PS and Xbox is too great (again) to avoid MS scrutiny. If both were at 40 million units then PS5 would be pushing harder to PC. Spencer would have more breathing room. Buying ABK shown a spotlight on Xbox inside MS. Execs will ask, "if we are making CoD for PS, why not make other games for PS?" Sell s/w on consoles MS/Xbox did not have to produce and combine to be more console than they could ever sell.
As far as devs voluntarily skipping Xbox, those are rumors, and goofy ones at that. Unless the dev is paid by Sony or so small they can't develop all versions simultaneously in a reasonable time period, it is senseless. A healthy developer would not target 67% of consoles over 100% of consoles unless paid to do so. Xbox is a platform holder and even they are second-guessing absolute exclusivity.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
@Doomcrow That is not what he said. He said Starfield being 10/10 would not stop the momentum that was built by PS4 in the previous gen. Xbox needed to keep their momentum from 360, and Mattrick squandered it. The next best thing would have been to be in the position (studio and project-wise) that they are in now when the Series gen started. It was not possible.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
@somnambulance You can't blame him for that. Mattrick pulled the pin, popped the handle, and chucked him the grenade. He's done an admirable job thus far.
Re: GTA 6 'Sources' Share Their Thoughts As Fears Grow Of A Delay To 2026
@AlienigenX The Housers, Leslie Benzies, and Lazlo have all departed Rockstar. Top it off with "modern sensibilities" and the humor/writing will likely be hamstrung.
Re: Dragon's Dogma 2 Patch Notes Re-Confirmed Ahead Of First Xbox Update
@northernmonkey75 Capcom said framerate would improve, but not greatly. They have direct plans for improving optimization in the future.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Be Interested In Microsoft's White Xbox Series X Revision?
@AnVold We don't know the specs. Could be cheaper than Series X, could have 2 TB SSD and other upgrades at $500. If you already own a Series X, there's little point in upgrading with next gen coming in 2026-2027. This is for new buyers and may save MS some cash in production.
Re: Xbox Spring Sale 2024 'Sneak Preview' Now Live, 250+ Games Discounted
How is AEW still so expensive?
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (March 28)
@Phil-Spencer-Gate Regarding #2, Sony has a history in TV, film and music, so they tried to apply a pop culture approach to games. They try to make games look cool to people who don't play games. They started by "borrowing" from popular movies & IP (e.g. The Getaway imitating popular Guy Ritchie movies).
MS just did not seem to want to spend money on this. They focused on gameplay and were pretty tight with the wallet for too long. Services and multi-player were an important tool in bringing in more customers.
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (March 28)
I already on Diablo on PC. The other two are not sufficiently interesting to me. Hot Wheels could get 20-60 minutes, I suppose.
Re: Poll: Are You Picking Up Capcom's First $70 Game On Release?
Got DD2 on PC for $60.
Re: Poll: How Excited Are You For Diablo 4 On Xbox Game Pass?
D4 was released in June of last year and I bought it for PC. Good to see people on Xbox getting to try it out.