themightyant

@Titntin + 1 for Backblaze. Off-site backup of all your digital media (in case your home burns down) for a relatively low cost. The peace of mind alone is worth it imo.

But I still like tangible things. I pick up photos, or books, or video game cases and they bring me joy. A digital picture, kindle ebook (though I use kindle a lot) or cloud streaming service doesn't evoke the same emotion in me, and I don't just stumble on them in the same way. But I understand the space they consume.

@FraserG I agree. Though I think an optional disc drive is not the same as an optional accessory. But it would hasten the death of physical media on Xbox. (It's sadly going to happen anyway, it's just when)

@FraserG I’d be down with a reasonably priced optional add-on drive next gen.

What I find interesting is I would scream, shout and kick up a fuss if they tried to take physical media away on Nintendo and PlayStation… but on Xbox they’ve almost convinced me I don’t need a drive already. If one is available I’d probably still get one for choice and game preservation, but I’m not sure I’d fight quite so hard for it anymore.

EDIT: although on thinking about it a bit harder, it depends what my primary console is. If Xbox is as powerful as we think it might be and it becomes my primary console then I would definitely want physical media.

Unsurprising. Xbox has conditioned most users to use game pass and go digital. I am pro-physical media generally and bought a series X expecting to use the disc drive a lot, but because I primarily use my Xbox for game pass I don’t.

In fact I think the first time I used the disc drive was for Anthem this month. Crazy.

@OldGamer999 I think that is more due to diminishing returns in terms of graphics. Games do look better, have more detail, higher textures etc. but it’s not as much of a jump, so it’s not as noticeable.

But even the best looking games of last gen, like Red Dead 2, TLOU2 or Metro Exodus also took 5+ years to make. This isn’t a new problem.

But it’s not just graphics it’s gameplay and polish. Many AAA Games used to be a lot more basic and a lot jankier, now we expect them to have so many features and want those to be polished and smooth not janky. This takes time.

Personally, I think it is a massive mistake, but I don't think that Microsoft really have any choice in the matter anymore.

I agree @Fiendish-Beaver. I think exclusives ARE important, but I also think they don't have much choice anymore. The reality is since they bought Zenimax and ABK they have outgrown exclusives, they simply can't support all those studios anymore, and make a decent profit, on just Xbox and PC users alone.

Seemingly they were hoping that people would flock to Xbox and Game Pass because of these business deals but that just hasn't happened, therefore they are making the best of their situation and going multi-platform. It's the most sensible choice in their position.

Add into that equation Game Pass, and the fact that it has undoubtedly altered peoples buying habits on the Xbox, and you can see that Microsoft have no choice but to recoup their investments on rival consoles.

Agree again. While I can only speak for myself, I have seen many other's say the same, I simply don't buy many games on Xbox anymore simply because Game Pass is so good. Obviously if I ONLY had an Xbox that would be a little different, but for a gaming enthusiast, who plays too much, to not buy much on your console is a problem. Law of unintended consequences.

We've also seen developers say that the aren't porting to Xbox because if it's not on Game Pass it's not worth it. Obviously it seems like Microsoft are addressing that next-gen with PC games seemingly running, but it's a lot of reactive decision making, rather than forging the path they want successfully.

Why's no one talking about this? Because it's bloody niche! lol

I'm sure it's good for those who enjoy this sort of thing, but I imagine that's a pretty small sample size.

Either way thanks for bringing it to my attention.

@OldGamer999 I think it depends what games you play. Many games it works well, but others it just fails after a long pause and boots you back to the home screen. I also had a few bugs with Quick resume where restarting the console and games has solved it, thought this may be just due to a memory leak, or similar, in the game that Quick resume is amplifying.

@OldGamer999 quick resume is great when it works, which it doesn’t all the time, but to be honest I don’t actually use it all that much as I tend to play 1 game at a time.

SSD is by far, and it’s not even close for me, the best feature this gen. Whenever I go back and play a XBO or PS4 game it’s like pulling teeth even if load times are faster on XSX and PS5 then they were on XBO and PS4 do older games. Hard to go back.

@OldGamer999 It's my most anticipated Xbox game. If it reviews well and if it has OK PS5 Pro upgrades I might just buy it over there instead of playing it on Game Pass, as I suspect it will be one I want to keep.

@OldGamer999 Wow, I didn't even think of that. I assume every game has a 60fps mode now as so few don't. I'd be surprised if they only have a 30fps mode Playground are technical wizards.

I still think the odds are likely GTA6 is delayed. Far to early to call any unrealised game a GOTY contender imo, it's just over-inflating expectations.

@Runex2121 the controversial thing is the 50% price increase. The upgrade was $40 now it’s $60, as much as the game itself.

@Weebleman that’s true and an issue with all these subscription services. Same with PS+ etc. if you buy DLC.

But one thing I would say Microsoft have been more than fair about so far is when they discontinue a game like Forza Horizon they have usually given the base game away to Game Pass users who have bought DLC so you still have access after it’s delisted even if you don’t have game pass. Obviously that’s a few years later, (and sooner than it should be due to licensing… but that’s another issue) yet it’s very good of them.

Size rarely matters in open world games, in fact smaller and denser it’s almost always better.

This looks unbelievably ambitious. If they can pull it off it could be an all timer, fingers firmly crossed. Very much looking forward to it.

@WhiteRaven that’s entirely fair, but it is a problem for a lot of people. Perhaps they could have a toggle to unlock cars at a fast rate, or slow it down a little bit, or even unlock them all for you. It’s an easily solvable problem.

@Markatron84 That's not true. Phil Spencer himself said

He also said in the same interview when talking more broadly about studios like Rare getting games out

So no it wasn't just Jez "I make **** up" Corden muddying the waters.

So "I" will certainly see a lot more of it in the coming year

I read that more as a threat. lol. I am watching you Undead Labs.
-Craig Duncan

TBH they said similar things about other cancelled games and studios, so I trust their ACTIONS a lot more than their words.

I was really impressed by how ambitious it was in terms of affecting the world, felt very Molyneux/Lionhead. It remains to be seen how deep this actually is, if they actually pull it off, or if it's just surface level and a bit too Molyneux, undelivered promises.

Good of him to at least TRY and clear it up... but it's not really a clear answer at all... still talking in riddles where you can take out of it what you want to an extent.

But my reading of it is they are going to try and make most games multiplatform going forward ("consistency") when they can. Note he never once mentions exclusivity, or that it could be important, only that it might not be convenient in some situations to launch on all platforms at once. Bets firmly hedged.

But i'd love to hear how y'all interpreted it.

That definitely sounds like an improvement. In FH5 after doing a couple of intro races they seemingly just spunked a load of map markers on every corner of the the map in a way that made Ubisoft's map markers look tame. Hopefully they also don't give us multiple cars before we've even had the chance to properly try the last ones we got. It was all grossly excessive and made them feel worthless.

Nope. Fell for this last time and ended up not playing it much. Even more no at £60.

Hopefully the mechs aren't locked behind DLC.

@Llamageddon That sounds wonderful. Enjoy the hobby, and India! Yes great dev direct. Xbox really nailed this format.

@Llamageddon Me too, as I thought Keeper was brilliant and would like more people to be able to play it.

But I think online multiplayer games, which need a constant flow of concurrent players to survive, make far more sense as a multiplatform release... so Kiln it is.

Pottery is great. I used to do it and miss it, my mates mum was a potter and always allowed us to throw some clay, it's a lovely hobby. I might boot it up just to try that part of it. Which I couldn't do without Game Pass.

@fatpunkslim Isn't that the exact same mistake you were making? Assuming there was some clear pattern to it all and telling everyone they were all wrong.

While I do think it will be on a case by case basis, they also told us it was only 4 games, that prices wouldn't go up due to the ABK deal, and many other untruths in the last few years. So I don't trust what they SAY at all, instead I look at what they DO, and what they are doing is positioning themselves more as a multi-platform publisher.

Hence I expect almost all titles to go multi-platform eventually and many to be Day 1. Which makes perfect sense financially now they have so many studios to support, more than they can realistically support on just Xbox and PC revenue. That was a factor no one really considered when they bought Zenimax and ABK. Unless we want even more Xbox studios to close the multi-platform model is their best way forward for now.

@Fiendish-Beaver I’m still not convinced EVERY Xbox game will go day 1 to PlayStation, but I think the vast majority will. I think they will hold back a few as timed exclusives when they think it makes sense strategically. I don’t think it’s JUST Game Dev timing holding Forza back for example.

Though I was a little surprised to see Kiln go multi-platform day 1, when Keeper didn’t, but I guess that is a multi-player online game that could do with a larger player base.

There isn’t a clear pattern. 🤷‍♂️

@Titntin agreed. Fable looked really ambitious. My only concerns are over the combat, which didn’t look amazing, and the writing which we basically saw none of. (Oh and can we actually be REALLY evil. lol) But it ticks all the other boxes and more. Molyneux would be proud.

A- for me. Fable looks incredible and super ambitious. I joked on the live stream it sounded like an authentic Peter Molyneux pitch. Beast of Reincarnation looked right up my street, plus Game Pass FTW. Kiln not for me but it looked fun and you can’t win em all. That just leaves Forza which looked visually stunning but they still have to do a bit to convince me it’s not just more of the same. Strong show.

@ElectricWizard I don't blame them, these "sales" are USUALLY pretty awful on Xbox and actually have you paying more. But I agree THIS one, which I had to read twice "buy ONE get TWO free" is pretty strong. Get 3 really good indie games for around £15 - £16 is a great deal.

My only concern is I have most that I want, I'm not sure I'll find 3 I will play in the next 12 months that I haven't already played. I'll have a look on Xbox later.

I hope they embrace some of the horror that was in Gears 1. The kryll, the berserker etc. ESPECIALLY as this is E-Day and they are caught unawares not knowing much about their enemy. It should be scarier.

It's a good game. Enjoy. Though personally I didn't love it as much as many, I felt they ruined too many things from the original, but still a good game.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Bizarre "review" snippet from XboxEra. Who are they trying to convince? Themselves? lmao.

Definitely better NOT to release it than release a half assed version, Sands of Time deserves better than that. But you have to wonder how bad it must have been after 7+ years in development (which reportedly started in 2018) after all this is the company that released Skull & Bones.

Complete omnishambles.

Though I do respect them for not putting out a sub-par Sands of Time remake, I would have hoped they would have stuck with it after stringing us along for over half a decade!

Looking forward to seeing other gamers get to experience Halo. Though personally I'm not that excited as i've played Halo's campaign a dozen times already. Though I will probably play it eventually on Game Pass.

@Fiendish-Beaver I don't know why you bother brother. Asylum's have saner views.

This reminds me how much we need a remaster / remake of Jade Empire!

@UltimateKGB Ah I see what you mean. While it's been on PC since day 1 it's not been on the Xbox PC launcher. A Reddit post suggests it might be coming to Play Anywhere but take that with a pinch of salt, not every game does.

@UltimateKGB It's not currently Play Anywhere unfortunately.

You can always check this on the Xbox website games like 007 First Light will have the "Play Anywhere" tag at the top whereas games like Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound do not.

Was going to buy Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, so that's a win!

@Balaam_ I found my Gameboy in the attic at my parents house after about 15 years. The first thing that amazed me was that the AA batteries hadn’t leaked and broken the tech. The second thing was that it turned on after all that time, ah memories! that “bing” and then the Tetris music. My third was that Tetris is as addictive as ever, nothings changed. Great memories.

A shame, I thought True Colours was the best since the original, this just feels like less interesting fan service.

Strong month, not that I have much time to play them all!

Looking forward to this. But already so much to play, hopefully I can get to it soon.

Never scrolled past spoilers faster. I'll wait for the official reveal on thursday.

I’m hoping that they took the feedback on board and just want to get it into people’s hands. Let actual players be the judge, not “the internet”.

Best Far Cry. Love it.

Looks cool, but it's basically a one scene mood piece, we can't really derive anything about the actual game from this.

@FraserG An interesting read, I really appreciate ongoing updates on how tech sits months later, which is often ignored in the need for being first for news. Longer view takes are greatly appreciated.

Though as a gaming site I guess was expecting a bit more information on what actual games you have been playing on it / how it handled them and less about it's use as a PC, though that is interesting, it's not something I will ever do.

Totally with you on Xbox Play Anywhere. With Microsoft pushing the "everything is an Xbox" mantra as hard as they are it feels like a major piece of the puzzle is missing, and extra hoops have to be jumped through. Hopefully this will be mandated from next gen. I have similar issues with PS Portal and I have bought / not bought games based on if they are available on cloud.

Looking forward to giving this a go, but not anytime soon as there’s other games I want to play more, so hopefully it’s on Game Pass for a while.

@Scrubchub well said, couldn’t agree more. Sadly there are so many disingenuous takes online that show small parts of a game and then claim it’s the whole game, bad faith actors creating mountains out of molehills. People should try the game themselves before judging.

Sadly we will only see more of it as there is so much money made by streamers pushing negativity. Sad to see and exhausting to navigate.

@Echtzeit Other than not having to install them on Internal storage / expensive expansion card is there any other advantages to Gen9Aware?