Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@Yousef- Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! I haven’t really played Final Fantasy, but I did hear @Banjo- say XIII was a pretty good game and he was playing it recently. On an unrelated note, I’m waiting for him to come back to these threads so I can talk about my experience with Perfect Dark with him, because he did want to know what I thought of the game once I finished it and having discussions with him is so fun!

@Pastellioli he did show up in the country music thread and I chatted with him on the Xbox messaging app yesterday so it’s probably a matter of time.

Oh yeah I gotta play lost odyssey as well.

@Yousef That will be interesting. Donkey Kong 64 tested my patience on my way to 100% (101%). @Pastellioli I have the Wii U version of Donkey Kong 64, but I know that Retroarch/Mupen64Plus-Next is a good N64 emulator, if you have access to that. I'm going to check the other thread and read your opinion about Perfect Dark right away!

@Banjo- Hello again! I have another emulator on my phone since I don’t have a PC, but the emulation on some N64 games with the emulator I am using is iffy. Diddy Kong Racing works well on it, but another N64 game on I tested on the phone emulator plays bad, not to mention the graphics sometimes look broken and are super black since it’s the wrong technology I am using. I am hoping Donkey Kong 64 works well on it… if not, I’ll be out of luck.

@Pastellioli Hello, my friend! To be more specific, Retroarch/Mupen64Plus-Next is what I use for N64 on Series X, but Series S is as good for emulation because the CPU is basically the same. You can only use home-made apps in developer mode, but you can switch between developer and retail mode as much as you want. If you are interested, you can find more information about it elsewhere and how to set up a developer account on Microsoft's website. I barely play on PC or mobile.

I got to mission seven in Perfect Dark Zero and oh my gosh the cutscenes alongside the characters are making me giggle so much. It’s still a good game so far and I love the gameplay, but holy ravioli, the tone and the opening cutscene for mission seven KILLED me…it’s so campy, the voice acting and characters are cheesy, and Joanna looks and dresses like a main character in a 2000s Disney Channel show, but I say that all in a good way that actually makes the experience more entertaining alongside the gunplay. Some people did take issue with it since it doesn’t make the game feel or look like the original Perfect Dark, but it honestly it makes the game more hilarious and even enhances the experience for me instead of making me disappointed it isn’t like its predecessor tone-wise. The difficulty is racking up a bit, but I’m working through it. I really cannot wait to write about this game in a few days…

I know freakin’ right?! It’s one of the best aspects about the game. When I was trying out melee controls and realized the main girl puts such insane emphasis on her nail polish… I knew EXACTLY I was gonna love this.

Next time, she will be wearing that thick jacket covering her whole neck, no make-up, short hair and have surgery to make her eyes small and her head square and masculine. 😅

Clearly going through her emo phase.

To make it clear, I was referring to the Perfect Dark 3 trailer. What I liked about it was that it revealed gadgets, infiltration scenes and the music is very Perfect Dark. It's being built on Unreal Engine 5 and it's looking good, even though Joanna is not Joanna.

Don’t worry, I gotchu the first time.

@Yousef- When the cowboy dudes came out of nowhere with their sci-fi guns and getting into a gunfight with Joanna, who looked like she came out of a Disney Channel show, I literally just started to burst out laughing and going “This isn’t Perfect Dark but I love it!”, especially when I checked the description for that part of mission seven and there was literally nothing on there. It’s so cheesy and insane, but it definitely seems like a Rare thing to put lots of humor and random moments in their games that go unexplained, and I love it. It’s my type of humor really! Joanna’s clothing choices in Zero are so fashionable and scream 2000s teen fashion, so when you give her a gun and have her go against two cowboy guys (who seemingly came out of nowhere) in a futuristic institution, it comes off as so hilarious because of how unfitting and random the situation is, paired with the ridiculousness of the cowboys.

@Banjo- Was there this discussion that had to do with how Joanna looked in the reboot? I didn’t pay attention to it much or think about it a ton since it didn’t bother me, but I’m just asking out of curiosity.

@Pastellioli wholeheartedly agree. That really cemented her as a Rare icon. Including as many Rare-isms as possible can result in hilarity!

@Pastellioli @Yousef- Yes, that's it. It's absurd, but I'm happy to see the fitting gameplay and music. I enjoyed Perfect Dark Zero more than the original, mostly because of the gameplay improvements.

@Banjo- I am getting sort of lost with the bigger levels in Zero, but one way they combat that is by placing these tracker marks that you can follow to find where to go next if you are stuck…It’s super helpful, and I’m having a good time so far! Gameplay wise it’s an improvement on the original. I’m on mission 11 if I recall, so I think I’m almost done with the game. I’m going to see if I can finish it today.

Xbox has published an article about the Game Pass updates that start today.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/subscriptions-billing/man...

Game Pass for Console didn't make sense because it was the only tier without online services, so I suspected that it would be removed. This is something I posted when it was introduced.

Subscriptions everywhere have got more expensive, but there is something interesting about these changes, specifically the removal of Game Pass for Console and the addition of Game Pass Standard.

Xbox Game Pass Standard gives you hundreds of high-quality games to play on your console. It also features all the benefits of Game Pass Core, such as online console multiplayer and select member deals and discounts, including up to 50% off select games. Some games available with Game Pass Ultimate on day one will not be immediately available with Game Pass Standard and may be added at a future date.

My guess is that Standard will include most Game Pass titles, but some high-profile and best-selling games won't be available immediately. That tier costs the same as the old price of Ultimate. The equivalence acknowledges that some people were not willing to pay for the all-included tier, which is something that have been repeated a lot lately on the forums.

Although the best value is apparently Game Pass for PC, you still need to pay extra for the hardware, that is not optimised for gaming unlike an Xbox console and, consequently, wastes energy and heat. You also need to deal with hardware configurations and online cheaters. Most importantly, there is no backwards compatibility on PC (Xbox, Xbox 360 and some Xbox One games).

After having checked all the changes carefully, the best value is Game Pass Ultimate, but Core might be better if you are willing to pay for the games that you want and you don't play many. Maybe Game Pass Standard is for you if you don't want to pay extra for the high-profile games. Like always, you can save money if you buy more than one month online, on Microsoft's website or elsewhere. As a bonus, you also get free credit if you browse on Bing instead of Google and every time you trigger quests rewards while playing console games, even when you are not subscribed or are not playing Game Pass titles.

Oh thanks for your insigths @Banjo- hm the best strategy to me seems if possible to try to stack up some months on the service. That way you get some months to see how things evolving.

@oliverp Hi! I have Ultimate for one more year, but I don't know if I can add Core and then upgrade it or just add more Ultimate with prepaid cards before they get more expensive. I don't think that I can add something that is not Ultimate, it wouldn't make sense.

EDIT:

OK, I just checked the current conditions. If you are subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate and you add a 1-year Game Pass Core code, you get 4 months. If you are not subscribed, you get 8 months, twice as much! Basically, wait until your subscription expires before converting.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/subscriptions-billing/man...

Seems Xbox are kind of answering the question about why they aren't making a Handheld console - because they can't make something 'cheap' enough to sell and 'compete' with these options.

It needs at least the specs of the RoG Ally or 'better' to get the 'performance' expected and be the price of a SteamDeck as a 'Console'. With mobiles becoming increasingly more capable of running modern games - even if its using 'AI' to run at the visual and/or frame rate level you want in the near generations of mobile tech advances - look at what an ipad M4 or Surface Pro can do now for something so slim and with a big screen to run...

Point is by the time they have designed , built and had it verified and certified to release in various countries to comply with all their laws etc., mobile tech will advance - again Look at the RoG Ally - first Gen PC handheld, how will Xbox Compete? It's better to make sure you know 'Xbox' is ON PC Too....

Maybe if you buy a RoG Ally and use Game Pass to play games you'll realise Xbox isn't 'just' the Console anymore - its much more than 'just' the console and there will come a time when modern games will run Console like settings natively and Handheld PC's offering a more performant and dedicated gaming features - like built in controllers.

TV's too can offer the cloud experience so 'no' console required - even if 'limited' in content, it maybe 'enough' for some - the casual who just wants to turn on the TV and Play something - its funny seeing Starfield recommended next to some TV show. So they are growing the Xbox Brand, the Xbox Community, the Xbox name and even the Xbox IP's - whether you can play on 'Playstation' Day or Date - like Minecraft or Call of Duty, timed exclusivity - like Sea of Thieves or Hi-Fi Rush, they are all Xbox games owned by Microsoft.

I hope there is still a place for a console but how long before you have handhelds playing the same game and more at faster frame rates and decent visual settings on their 1080p screen than a $500 Console having to push 4k and compete with the 'best' PC's and deliver the frame rate of their hand held devices (Mobile or PC/tablet)...

Anyway with the way tech is going, they could still make a box with AI to compete with High end PC's at a reasonable price without Physical media but dedicated specifically for Gaming with its UI and design to play at 4k/60 and 'look' almost as good as the PC's best 'ultra' settings for a reasonable price for that particular market - rather than shift back to PC as these become powerful and cheap enough to run any modern game in more 'gaming' focussed devices - like RoG Ally, MSi Claw or Lenovo Go (or at least their next or even 3rd gen releases...

@BAMozzy Honestly if I wanted to play Xbox on the go I have my phone. All I would have to get is something like the Backbone. I would sooner do that then by a handheld console, and it's cheaper too.