themightyant

@FraserG Thanks for the comprehensive review. Looks like good tech that will hopefully get better with time. A couple of questions:

• Do you have the standard ROG Xbox Ally too, not the X model?
• Which games were the ones that struggled to hit 30fps.

Vitally important. As text and UI designed for a big TV can be impossible to read on a smaller device. Making games either a chore or virtually unplayable.

As I said on another thread if XBox is serious about making "everything an Xbox" then they need to mandate that text and other UI elements will all be legible on all devices going forward. If you design your game with this in mind from the start it isn't too complex, but if you try and shoehorn it in later it's a total nightmare.

Looking forward to finding out what this is. But I find is a little baffling just how little we know about it. I’m not even sure what genre it is. Though that is quite exciting too. Going in blind, risk free with Game Pass is a boon, but probably not great for sales.

@theduckofdeath So in your eyes it’s everybody else’s fault but Microsoft’s? That’s denial.

Yes it’s true there are plenty of Anti-Xbox cretins online making up fake news, just as there are fools making up stories about PlayStation and Nintendo. Fake news is everywhere, that isn’t going to change.

The difference with Xbox, and why this is a much bigger problem for them right now, is that they have fostered an environment where rumours start to be believed more often than not. This is due to their constant flip-flopping policy shifts and woeful communication. Saying one thing and doing another. If you honestly can’t see that… I don’t know what to say.

It’s far too easy to play the victim card and think Xbox is being hard done by here, but the reality is they have to take some blame for creating this environment and fix it. Otherwise false rumours are going to keep gaining traction and further damage the brand. Neither of us wants that right? I want them to be better, to be stronger, but that doesn’t happen unless they accept their failings and improve.

I'm fine with 'tough BUT FAIR'... as long as the second part of that equation is there. Some previous Ninja Gaiden games with terrible cameras and enemies attacking from offscreen, or other issues, that haven't quite got this balance right imo. They haven't always felt FAIR. But hopefully they get it right in this one.

@Cakefish Yes that's another. I could have gone on and on with examples, but picked three.

Also great point about COD being specifically excluded from GP Premium tier that's about as strong evidence as we will get.

@RiverGenie It absolutely IS a challenge for everybody at the moment, no one is denying that. But Xbox is jacking prices up more severely than everyone else under the same conditions. E.g.

• XSX and 2TB model have increased $100 & $200 since launch. Meanwhile PS5 and Pro have increased $50 each. Why is Xbox increasing their hardware so much more than the competition?
• Game Pass has gone up drastically TWICE in 18 months. In June last year you could get Day 1 games on console for $10.99 a month and Ultimate was $16.99. Today you can only get Day 1 games for $29.99 a month. So that's a $228 a year increase for Day 1 games and $156 annual increase for Ultimate since ABK.
• PS+ also had a price increase in that timeframe but in the US it was only on their already cheaper annual rates, $20 / $35 / $40 for Plus / Extra / Premium, the monthly cost stayed the same. Again why is Xbox increasing prices so much more than the competition?

Of course I can't PROVE that this was directly caused by ABK, but neither can you prove it wasn't, so Microsoft is safe to shout their mouth off and say what they want... Which was precisely my point, many simply don't believe them anymore, and so rumours fester.

But do you honestly think ABK isn't a large part of it all? Do you really think Day 1 games on Game Pass would be $29.99 a month today if they didn't buy ABK? Honest question.

@Feffster I absolutely don't want to see them fail either but they can't help falling over themselves. e.g. This month SHOULD be a victory lap with Keeper, Ninja Gaiden 2 and The Outer Worlds 2 all releasing on Game Pass in one month... yet all anyone can talk about is more Game Pass price hikes, the $1000 cost of Xbox Ally X & other recent unpopular decisions. And that's before we even get to the rumours.

Ryan McCaffery's Xbox rake stepping analogy is the most accurate description i've seen, Xbox can't help but self own. Such a shame.

They made their own bed for rumours like this to fester by constantly flip-flopping their policies, such that anything seems possible.
For example:

• Saying ABK buyout would not lead to job losses or Game Pass price increases... what happened?
• Saying it's "just 4 games" going multiplatform when in fact it was just the beginning, as we all knew.
• One week Phil Spencer is praising how far Everwild has come, that he's looking forward to it, the next it's cancelled.

... and that's just the start of it. If they stop treating us all like idiots and not backtracking on half of what they say then we MAY start to believe it when they say something.

Whether the rumours are true or not isn't even really the point, it's that Xbox has made it so that many will believe them, and that's on them.

@Mastlander98 @Coletrain these are built as replaceable parts. You can change the stick pretty easily, if within warranty do that, but if out of it they are just screwed in and attached with a ribbon cable. If you can’t do it yourself electronics repair places will do it easily. It’s a simple fix. It certainly isn’t “toast” if the sticks drift. Right to repair.

Brilliant game. I loved how "not real" it was, it was just fun mechanics and zaniness - mushroom clouds literally going 'Boom' - before games became so grounded in reality. I wish more games would embrace the silly and just go out there to do whatever is fun, even if it doesn't make any sense.

Games have got so long it makes them LESS replayable. What happened to the 8-15 hour games that could be replayed over a weekend? It's a shame but most games are one and done for me, that's why I don't mind renting them on Game Pass, if I want to replay them I can buy them on sale.

But it still depends on the game. Something like Dishonored I just get an itch for and pick up and play a level or two. But replaying whole games, not that often anymore. It also doesn't help that so many new games release, I can't keep up with that.

Obviously it's only 3 screenshots mostly focussing on the UI... but to be honest that looks pretty ROUGH. Not much like the stunning preview art we saw in trailers.

I realise a lot comes together at the end of development, but considering they reportedly started with an art style before designing the game it's a surprise to see this looking so poor.

A 5-10% discount for less than 48 hours… and with an expiry on spending it... how generous. /s

@JayJ I get what you are saying... but there are still significant technical advances over 7 years. For example CPU (the Zen 2 in XSX/PS5 is relatively weak now, vs Zen 6), Memory allocation and bandwidth (16GB total isn't that high today. Expect 24-32GB) and for the next gen especially AI features like upscaling can have a profound impact on the visuals and performance of the game. Series X doesn't really do this at all. When we see what can be achieved on PC I'd still expect a noticeable increase in visual fidelity, and processing power, for the next gen... which is several years away, not today.

But the mid-gen consoles like Xbox One X, PS4 Pro & now PS5 Pro also make the generational step SEEM smaller than it is. When you compare launch XBox One vs XSX it's night and day. There's still a large step to be made even if it's isn't as large as 20-30 years ago.

Additionally I am also basing it on the bell curve of sales of consoles, which are already slowing going into year 5-6 and will continue to slow into year 6-7+. Console manufacturers want to keep a balance between selling units and not alienating buyers by replacing tech too early. While many may vocally disagree (people like to complain after all) the sales don't lie and after around 7 years consumers seem happy to consider spending again and replacing older hardware. If this wasn't true and consumers weren't buying the devices they they wouldn't be selling it. They react to our spending habits as much as the other way around.

Still Expedition 33 but Silksong ran it close and is a masterpiece, as is Blue Prince. Those would comfortably be my top 3 in that order. After that everything gets harder. Doom the Dark Ages was good... but also a LITTLE bit disappointing, I need to replay Stord of the Sea to get a better grasp on how I feel on that one as I played it when ill in a blur, but had a good time.

I also haven't played some of the other big shouts like Hades 2, KCD2, Death Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bananza, Split Fiction, Yotei, Shinobi or Ninje Gaiden Ragebound

@Banjo- Value is always subjective, but it would be exactly the same lifespan as Xbox One X, assuming they dropped dropped support for it as soon as the PS6 came out, which they likely won't, so it will likely last longer than that console.

It's silly, but also only 5%, not a big deal, there are other ways to boost faster.

Makes absolute sense for a small team to prioritise the largest platforms. But it still sucks for Xbox fans. Hopefully it comes soon, the game looks great.

@MrStark I mean some months like this month £22.99 still seems like great value to me with Keeper, Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4, this and others all coming. The trouble is time. They could add 100 more games a month, but I wouldn't have any more time to play, so it wouldn't actually increase the value.

As expected, 7 years after the last gen - which is normal - and it's still a whole 2 years away, assuming a November release again.

@Kezelpaso @somnambulance @FraserG I can definitely understand that. With the length of game's development a few years longer might make sense.

THAT SAID... We KNOW we will get several years of cross-gen anyway, by the time actual Xnext & PS6 games come out it will be 2030 anyway.

@ilyn Scepticism is always wise for leaks like this, but the channel has a pretty strong record when it comes to AMD spec leaks. While some things changed with time he was by and large accurate on the specs of XB One X, X Series X, PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5 & PS5 Pro (as well as countless other AMD PC parts).

What he was less accurate on imo was his interpretation of how powerful some of those specs would be in reality. E.g. he put Series X significantly above PS5, which hasn't really been the case in reality, and he put PS5 Pro ahead of where it actually is.

But there is a LOT of wiggle room in these Magnus specs e.g. not knowing the clock speeds, not knowing if it's 24, 36 or 48 GB of GDDR7, not knowing how many cores may be disabled, not knowing the aimed for TDP (power draw). Based on all those variables the system could be wildly different in power.

Additionally when he is talking about theoretical comparative performance gaps he is clear in saying that it's based on the theoretical maximum, which it is unlikely to be, if only to keep the price vaguely affordable.

Personally i'd expect the raw specs to be broadly accurate based on his history - though some things may change - but i'd take any comparative statements with a giant pinch of salt.

If I was playing it i'd want to play with players in a similar RANGE to me. That doesn't mean everyone should be the same skill level, but skip the sweaties and those whose skill is far lower. Neither is fun imho.

2027 always made more sense. Look forward to seeing the final outcomes in a few years, and more importantly what devs can actually do with it. I’ll likely be there day 1.

@Balaam_ THIS! There’s little advantage having a console that is significantly more powerful, and more expensive when you, and other developers, will be aiming your games at everything else from Switch 2 to PS5/6. Yes you might be able to run games a little better (which will make some enthusiasts like me happy) but at what cost of you lose so many users due to high prices?

That's pretty cool. Will certainly help when I play through it again. I wonder how long it will take just to a story run without all the side quests.

Do you want games to run at 30fps!!!

I just don't understand this. Why bother ONLY putting 19gb of data on the disc (on PS5), and why insist on an internet connection. The sort of madness we need to push back against.

@Banjo- A lot of rumours are negative right now, but sadly a lot of them are also proving to be true.

Of course there are plenty of bad actors out there too trying to grift or console war, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't disregard all bad rumours. In the meantime enjoy the Series X, Game Pass is on another roll, I can't keep up!

Perhaps one day, but not anytime soon, especially on other platforms. Microsoft seem to be doing all they can to ditch physical and go 'adorably all digital' asap. But Sony still sells 24% of units as physical media however.

People have been proclaiming the end of physical media, and consoles for that matter, for decades and it hasn't happened, I think we've got at least another generation or two to go, though perhaps not on Xbox. The stink that will erupt WHEN they ditch it will be bigger than any we have seen... unless they somehow allow converting physical games to digital licenses.

Either way you asked for a solution and I gave one, even if there are downsides like convenience and space!

@Banjo- Hmmm... I hope you are right. I had considered that line about designed and engineered by Xbox to include the Xbox ROG Ally as it was co-developed by both, as well as perhaps other future devices.

I don't think it was supposed to launch before next gen, it was just that next-gen was reportedly going to be earlier (i.e. 2026) which also seems like it may no longer be the case.

Either way I hope you are right! I can't keep up with all the rumours and nonsense surrounding Xbox.

@Banjo- FYI it seems the hybrid console / pc handheld is the one that was reportedly cancelled. Which is a shame, if true. Like you that was the one I was more interested in.

I think the smart money is on waiting for a second iteration anyway. It's a LOT to spend and I suspect they will make a lot of small but important improvements in future, just as Steam did with the Deck.

Hopefully if we have already done this it was a one time thing for the account and won't need to be redone.

Limiting social features to 'friends only' if you don't verify your age is a smart solution.

@Wakkawipeout The crazy thing is as long as you factor in scaling UI early on in development it really isn't all that hard to make text, and other UI elements, that match the screen size / resolution. Sadly a lot of this is still stuck in the past.

It's like accessibility settings, you just need to start out with the intent and then a lot of it comes quite easily, whereas if you try and shoehorn it in later it becomes more of a headache.

It's a shame right now, but it's something Microsoft/ Xbox REALLY needs to get on top of ASAP if they are serious about playing your games across all devices. You can't for example just play a TV based RPG on a phone or small handheld as the text is just too small to read. Hopefully they are on top of this for the next gen and make it a system wide feature.

@FrenchVaniIIuxe It's not REALLY an Xbox as we know it... it's a handheld PC with an Xbox badge. I realise this is what Xbox is slowly becoming but right now it doesn't play the VAST majority of the games we have in our Xbox libraries natively. In future that may change.

It's also crazy expensive. The lower end model isn't really more powerful than a Steam Deck but costs a lot more and the high end model, which does look good, is $1000 USD!

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Indeed! The reported total sales for ALL major handheld PCs was 6 million according to the Verge as of February this year.

But that figure is for handheld PCs, this cancelled unit was reportedly going to be a handheld console, there is seemingly a larger market for that. E.g. Switch 2 sold more than this 6 million in its first 7 weeks on sale!

While I wouldn’t expect a Microsoft handheld console to sell anything like a Nintendo one, I wouldn’t expect it to sell better than an Xbox branded handheld PC.

@BaldB3lper78 Got to agree with this. I use my Steam Deck for many things including streaming from Cloud, XSX & PS5. But the smaller (7.4") screen makes it hard to read text clearly that was designed to display on large tv's.

Obviously that is exacerbated by the Steam Deck OLED's 16:10 aspect ratio, instead of 16:9 like TVs, so you either have thin bars or have to zoom AND the lower 800p resolution, but even so it's not ideal. I have to squint in many games. It's a shame more games don't have have UI scaling features.

With Xbox going device agnostic it would be great if next gen games were mandated to automatically adapt the UI to different screen sizes so that this becomes a moot point.

Without knowing how many units they made it's impossible to say if this is because of expected demand, low volume, or something in between. You can easily be sold out if you don't make enough.

In the UK didn't receive this email. Both the Microsoft website and Xbox Subscriptions tab shows the new higher price... but I am stacked till 2028. Whether I re-sub at that price in 3+ years... who knows?

@FrenchVaniIIuxe Buy physical media.

Always sad to see a studio close. Good luck to all involved.

@TrollOfWar @AverageJoseph Molyneux is a legend of the industry that sadly has soured his own reputation and legacy with too many wild promises not met and a lacklustre last decade. But his early achievements are undoubtable, everything from Populous, Black & White, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate, Fable, Theme Park... few industry luminaries have such a strong CV.

@TrollOfWar Yes I know it was Satya that pushed for the deal, and Xbox has never been quite the same since sadly.

No, not this late in the generation. I would hope the next gen Xbox controller has a few more features. Plus their quality control hasn't been great on the Elite, so I would want to check that was fixed before spending £150 - £200 on a controller.

A classic! Goat and all.

@AverageJoseph I agree a few things like Game Pass 10-15 minutes is easier but across the whole Rewards ecosystem (not just Game Pass) it's a LOT harder. Searches now have a delay and used to be able to be done in minutes. Weekly search rewards are now time gated /drip fed and are tied to specific searches.

Perhaps in your territory the number of points available are still high, or perhaps you don't have the same restrictions, but here in the UK it's a shadow of it's former self. I used to make 10,000+ a month spending around 5 minutes a day over a cup of tea. Now that takes a lot longer, I get half that in the same timeframe... not to mention those points get you far less. The juice is no longer worth the squeeze.

It was great while Phil was still firmly at the wheel and seemingly making decisions more freely. But since Zenimax, and particularly ABK the whole direction of Xbox has shifted and it's FELT like a different company run by Microsoft and it's shareholders, no longer putting gamers first. I struggle to think of the last time I felt like we were the priority.

@Kezelpaso You're probably right, i'm just not the biggest new Gears fan and wished the talented folks at The Coalition worked on something else! Most seem to enjoy the series more than me.

That's a shame this looks right up my street. Whereas I think Gears peaked with the original trilogy.

They have reduced the number of rewards points AND the ease of how to get them for years now, so while adding a few more is a nice addition it's hardly a revelation - one step forward, two steps back.

At the same time the previous model was unsustainable. I literally haven't paid Microsoft for Game Pass Ultimate directly this gen, and won't have to until next gen. The last time I paid them was $1 in 2019 for my second Xbox Live Gold conversion. Since then I have extended to 2028 with rewards and a couple of hacks like EA access conversion to top it up. That was always unrealistic to continue.

But there's a balance to be had in the middle, and $30 a month ain't it.

@Gabrie Maybe... only time will tell. But as I said there have been calls for "this will be the last proper console generation" for decades. My money is firmly on there still being consoles in 10 years.