Rumour: Xbox Might Have An Acquisition To Announce At E3 2021

Imagine Nintendo, the end of great games hampered by rubbish hardware 😊.

I guess it's maybe too early to be announcing another major acquisition similar to the size of ZeniMax. Remember the rumour earlier this year about Microsoft making another huge acquisition like that? So maybe that will happen eventually but won't be announced at E3. Although I can definitely see a minor acquisition being announced. No clue for what that can be though. A smaller studio with their own IP(s)? Maybe Bloober Team?

Considering they are cramming in 90 mins of content to also include Bethesda, whereas they usually have 90 mins just for themselves, I can't see any acquisition talk happening at this event.
I think that would just be a separate announcement at a later date, but I wouldn't mind being wrong!

There is way too much hype around this E3. Beginning to think this will just 90 mins of Devs talking and more teaser trailer rather then release dates and gameplay. Hype needs to die down, or I think alot of people are going to be disappointed next Sunday.

@BlueOcean You know, I've said this before on the forums but I do believe that Nintendo's IPs would be better off with other studios. I used Guerrilla Games as an example for Zelda since the Horizon series tends to be compared to Zelda a lot. Imagine what an epic story we would get, not to mention good-looking environments, more focus on characters and so on, if Guerrilla developed a Zelda game. Like I do think BotW was a phenomenal game but there's no denying that the story was extremely lacking and for a Zelda game, that's incredibly underwhelming. At least Guerrilla managed to deliver both an immersive open world as well as a compelling story with HZD. There was no compromise made for that game.

💚 Microsoft 💚💙 SEGA 💙

@Chaudy But at least part of that is because it needs to be big for Xbox. I know they've been doing some really good things over the last 6 months or so, but at the moment a lot of the optimism is basically blind faith. Turning at least some of that into something concrete by actually showing us real gameplay from some of these games, while maybe announcing things (games, exclusivity, acquisitions, etc) that aren't years off like they have been doing would be great. This is their time to show that everything up until now hasn't just been mostly all talk, and a lot of eyes are going to be on them to deliver something good here next week.

I'm not saying that Xbox won't be in the place it seems like it's going to be within the next 2 or 3 years, but the showcase on the 13th being a disappointment would definitely hurt their momentum.

Also, just finally come out and say whether ZeniMax studio games are exclusive or not. Stop dancing around it with fancy talk that amounts to the same thing they said from the beginning, which is basically nothing. Doing that next week would go a long way.

SEGA.

Lol.

No, seriously, Asobo just seems like the natural fit, right now, given their incredible work on Flight Simulator.

How about MS buying the Metal Gear Solid IP (seems pretty stale at the moment) and then hiring Hideo Kojima to work on the next installment?

Probably not happening, but that would be fun news.

Are ASOBO the ones who did A Plague Tale? Because that game was phenomenal, they’re very talented so if it’s anyone I hope it’s them.

“might” - one of the strongest words in the English language. Cause who knows?

@LtSarge there wasn't for BOTW either.
You may not like the story (which is certainly not BOTW's strongest point, but was never the focus in Zelda games to begin with), but how is it compromised? It was clearly intentionally set up that way to better fir the open world structure of the game, as opposed to a linear one.

But again, you're talking hardware compromises but story is a weird one to pick, since it has nothing to do with the hardware, and in this specifically case there was no compromise whatsoever, especially considering that BOTW's physics engine is leagues ahead any other open world game out there, and it runs on a glorified toaster.
So no, Guerrilla wouldn't have made it better, considering Horizon isn't nowhere near as innovative as BOTW.

I don't think anything is being announced. Outside of Netherealm i don't see them buying a single studio, they want a publisher who can be self sufficient. Netherealm is unique because they really could use a fighting game studio (Killer Instinct 2 has been a dream of many for a while) and they own the MK IP i believe.

@Fenbops Yes, that's them. That would at least be just as exciting of an acquisition for me than another high profile one. Buying Ninja Theory and Obsidian, at least to me, was a bigger deal than ZeniMax just from a game perspective. The talent they have and what they will be able to make with bigger budgets is more exciting to me. Same would go for Asobo given that they were able to create something in A Plague Tale: Innocence that rivaled a Sony exclusive with a much smaller budget.

@clvr Because it's hard to make an open world game while integrating a full story to encompass the world around it. Level design needs to be taken into consideration, areas will have to be adjusted for story purposes and so on. Because of how huge BotW was, it would've taken them much longer to finish the game if they tried to integrate a full story similarly to Horizon. That's why the only real story was in the form of disjointed flashbacks found scattered around the world.

To be clear I wasn't talking about hardware compromises. I was simply talking about how other studios would do a better job of making games for Nintendo's franchises. Guerrilla managed to craft a great story along with an immersive open world with HZD. Nintendo only managed to do the latter with BotW.

Story is not the focus in Zelda games? That's not true at all, at least for the console Zelda games. The story is a strong focus in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and especially in Skyward Sword. Compared to those, BotW is extremely lite on story.

I don't think Square would sell Eidos but if MS bought them they could make a sequel to Mankind Divided. Deus Ex inspired Cyberpunk 2077, and after CP 2077's messy launch, people are looking for a proper cyberpunk game.

Konami..maybe sega...maybe both
..😆😆

1. Level-5 Company (Ni no Kuni)
2. Asobo Studios (A Plague Tale)
3. Remedy Entertainment (Max Payne)
4. Take-Two Interactive
5. Bandai Namco

Maybe they struck a deal to bring the Horizon Zero Dawn games to xbox.

Looking forward to E3, Literally counting down the days on my calander..

@Cyberhu Your comment is super interesting to me for one reason...Remedy and Max Payne. I could see Microsoft finally buying them, and to me it feels like Max Payne would be up for sale since Rockstar hasn't used the IP in many years. Remedy being reunited with their "baby" so to speak would be awesome, and they are also a small company so it wouldn't be a "huge" AAA company to buy.

@LtSarge I completely disagree.
Just like no other open world has managed the same level of physics and interaction as BOTW, none has found a way to integrate the story into the structure. Outer Wilds is the other one and managed it way better than BOTW, but that's understandable cause story is everything in that game.
You may not like how BOTW handled it, but it's the only way anyone has made a narrative that fits the open world format to a T.
Every other open world is a linear story with a bunch of copypasted markers spread around a huge map, that's it.

I haven't played Horizon so maybe it isn't like that, but from what I've seen it seems to work pretty much like TW3, Skyrim, inFamous, GTA, Sunset Overdrive, etc. etc..

Regarding story, I don't know, Zelda stories have always been super simple and generic, save for Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask, the only two that actually did something different from the usual setup.
But OOT isn't regarded as well as it is for its story, as is the series in general. Skyward Sword had a good one for Zelda standards, but that's it.

Nintendo has never been interested in telling stories, and I don't expect them to ever change that, at least in their tentpole franchises.
They have Fire Emblem and Xenoblade for that 😃

@BlueOcean Nintendo quite clearly don't need the latest and best hardware to sell games, infact their games outsell both sonys and microsofts combined lol and out of the big 3 they are top in terms of revenue from game sales.

He states its not AAA level hype stuff so it's obvious an indie studio, maybe they have finally bought bloober

@UltimateOtaku91 Of course, I know how much Animal Crossing sold on Switch, madness. However, while I was playing Breath of the Wild you don't know how much I wished it was running on better hardware. I don't want to buy a new underpowered and overpriced Nintendo console for a few exclusives every four years. I probably will but I don't want to.

@clvr Majora's Mask is one of my favourite Zelda games but I consider the story of Ocarina of Time to be a perfect circle, simple and effective. Breath of the Wild shows you a bit of the past but it's not an interesting story. Besides, the voice acting is limited to a few lines and Zelda's (English) voice is overacted and distracting. Overall, Breath of the Wild is the worst Zelda 3D game but an entertaining if shallow sandbox. Just my opinion.

@BlueOcean I agree zelda would of looked amazing in 4k and better graphics etc but from what I remember Nintendo never really have cared about the latest graphics, they have a lot more exclusives when Including third party exclusives such as bravely default, monster hunter, bayonetta, astral chains etc

@UltimateOtaku91 Nintendo cared about graphics until Wii. GameCube was a reasonably priced little monster 😊.

@LtSarge I gotta go with @clvr on this one. For one, BOTW didn’t review poorly (it’s a 10/10 game) so to pretend like someone besides Nintendo could do it better is an argument you really have to stretch (and have an injection of preference). Secondly, @clvr is right in that all of the other elements of BOTW (besides story) were groundbreaking in an open world game which is why it got a 10/10 in the first place. I just don’t see anyone doing what Nintendo did. Instead, if somebody else had it, it would’ve been more like everything else in the open world rpg genre with a Nintendo story coat of paint.

Also, to expand on this idea more, Horizon was a great game, but was not that different than most typical open world RPGs in how it’s story and missions worked. I wouldn’t exactly call it a groundbreaking game that surpasses the innovation of BoTW. HZD was a great game, but fans hold it to some lofty heights because it’s an exclusive game (I’m not gonna use the word overrated because it is great, but it gets the fanboy rose tinted glasses score rather than it’s already great more realistic score). HZD is a well made game that has received the bonus adoration of what I call the fanboy phenomenon bonus. The basic idea is, “if a game comes out and it’s exclusive to my preferred console, then it gets bonus points In how I rate it”. This happens all the time. But the reality is HZD is an awesome 9/10 game that would have lost attention more quickly had it been multiplat and available on “enemy systems”. While BOTW was critically rated near the top of the best open world rpgs of all time (it might be the top I’m not sure).

Basically, Nintendo would make the better Zelda game and they did.

@xMightyMatt14x I think that Breath of the Wild got so many 10s because it was Nintendo and it was Zelda. What is so ground-breaking about it, in your opinion? The climbing? The weather? The shrines? The story? The inventory? The cooking? The battle system? The hunting? The side stories? Genuine questions, I agreed with you many times before and even if we don't this time, I'm curious.

@xMightyMatt14x Just because the game got lots of 10s doesn't mean anything. Skyward Sword got a lot of 10s back in the day and nowadays people have mixed feelings about it. People don't overreact when they say that Zelda games get 10/10 because it's Zelda. BotW had plenty of flaws which I can guarantee most of which will be fixed in the sequel. For example, empty open world, lack of story, lack of enemy variety, weapons that break too easily and so on. Yet it still got 10/10.

Not to mention that people act like we haven't had open world games like BotW before. Skyrim came out in 2011 and has pretty much the same structure as BotW: open world where you can go anywhere you want, you can explore dungeons littered everywhere on the map and so on and so forth. Even Skyrim had more quests with interesting story and lore compared to BotW. Skyrim felt alive, BotW didn't. The only groundbreaking thing about BotW is that this is the first time the Zelda series has had a proper open world game. But to act like this is the first time we've had this type of game ever couldn't be further from the truth.

@BlueOcean #29 yeah OOT has a perfectly serviceable story, I'm not criticizing it in the slightest; it's just that I wouldn't say it's the centerpiece of the game, and what made it the revolutionary masterpiece it was/is, nor is it in any game of the series (except for Majora's Mask probably).

#33 basically everything, to be honest.
The handcrafted layout of the world, which generates some kind of question/intrigue behind pretty much every corner; in other worlds it's one of the few games where running around is actually fun and not just following a line on a minimap for a stretch of nothing in between markers, because planning a road to the objective and getting constantly sidetracked by little things that pique my curiosity is exactly the kind of fun that exploration done well delivers to me.

On the topic of map markers, well, you make your own by reaching high ground, spotting something interesting, and "pinning" it yourself.
The towers don't give you a load of meaningless chores, they simply give you a better understanding of your surroundings, which ties in with the glider that we've seen now pop up all over the place in open world games, and for good reason.
Blindly riving a car or riding a horse for minutes at a time until the next quest just isn't fun to me, it's not engaging.
Flying is even more boring, as it's an even straighter line.
That's why I prefer games like inFamous, Sunset Overdrive and Saints Row 4, because they all follow the same formulaic, boring structure, but at least they have some actually interesting gameplay in the traversal.

Part 2 below, it's a long one lol
Hope the mods don't mind 😉

Back to BOTW, the physics engine is so bonkers they claim to have a chemistry engine in there, and there's some truth to that.
Everything in the game is systemic, which means everything can and will interact with everything else, whether with your input or without.
Metal attracting lightning, fire being spread by wind, fire creating updrafts, electricity interacting with water, rain making rock slippery, Link being freaking colder or hotter whether you stand in direct sun or in the shadow, a few centimeters apart. Equipping fire weapons also raises Link's body temperature, and vice versa for ice weapons.
These are some examples off the top of my head, but I haven't played it in a while and I'm sure I left out some systems wholesale.
All of this is why it's so fun to experiment with the world and the elements of this game 😃

The freeform climbing, while certainly not a first, is another big one, and it loops back on the world design and the focus on verticality and freeform exploration.
Side quests are not exceptional, they're pretty basic in fact, but they were mostly worth it for me because they usually don't boil down to "follow a road/teleport to a map marker", but often give you an image or a description of the place you need to find.
Isn't that why more interesting than mindlessly going through the motions?

And lastly, the story.
Yeah, it's a weird one and if you don't like it, I totally get it.
I'm not a big fan myself, but as I said, story isn't very important to me in a Zelda game.
What is really interesting and innovative about it is the fact that you can access it at your own pace and in any order, just like everything else in the game.
That is what sets it apart from conventional open world stories.
Open worlds should be all about exploring, and BOTW is, so it's cool to stumble upon story moments just like you would a shrine, or an enemy camp, or whatever.
Again, the story itself is nothing special and I get why some people don't like it and even how it's told, but the way it's delivered is perfectly harmonious with how the whole game is structured, as opposed to being a linear one spread around a huge map.

All this is not to say BOTW is perfect, far from it.
What it does well, though, it does in a way no other game does, and I hope the open world games devs take note and finally deliver some interesting world to actually explore.
Hope I could answer your curiosity, I'm curious to know what you think about it 😃

@LtSarge Much as I gripe about Nintendo's current output, Zelda has never been narrative driven more than slight background story. The rest is mostly fanfic, and the more Aounuma tried to make it an anime, the worse it got. Botw was miyamoto taking back the reigns after the commercial failure of SS (not entirely the games fault) and resetting it back to roots. Botw isn't perfect but becoming a narrative driven action adventure is the last thing it needs. It does need to return to a sense of dungeon crawling though, that's always been at its roots. The original Zelda prototype didn't even have an overworld, it was all about dungeons until playtesters said it was too boring. Guerilla suffers the same problem as Nintendo. Hfw is just another PS4 hzd. This time with cheek hair. And hzd is, pretty standard Ubisoft design. Botw is at least Bethesda design...

@BlueOcean ACNH is hampered by many things, and hardware isn't one of them. And it made more money in 6 months than the entire Bethesda catalog will make in 6 years.......

@NEStalgia I do wonder though, if the Zelda series was never about the story, does that mean that it should never even try to implement a good story in one of its games? One might argue that a series will lose its identity if it strays too far away from what defined it. But here's the thing, the Zelda series has already done that with BotW. So what's preventing it from going even further? If BotW had more story, better side quests, would the rest of the game be perceived as worse? Or would it mean that the game will then cater to both types of audiences, i.e. the one who purely wants gameplay and one that also wants story. Because let me tell you something, the flashbacks in BotW made me want a Zelda game with an actual story. This series has the potential to create an epic story since all the right ingredients are there: a compelling setting, recognisable characters, terrific lore. But it never goes all out with its materials, which is a true shame. Who says we can't have an open world like BotW and a good story?

Microsoft swoop on Io Interactive, with the Hitman Trilogy landing on GamePass (and sparking two years ‘Vidya Games press’ yap around whether Bond will be multi-plat)

@LtSarge In some ways I think they're conflicting game design principles. We've somehow started thinking about story as the focus of the game, but I think once the game leans into storytelling rather than just background story like botw does, the game structure has to function in service to the story. I think it has to be a commitment at the beginning of design if a game will be story based or systems driven. It can do a little of both but only do far. Botws weakness isn't that it didn't do enough story, it's that it was too one dimensional in it's systems, the story was functional for what it could do without dictating gameplay. Calamity warriors and the inevitable Netflix movie can fill in the story. Let's have botw2 fill in the missing gameplay and leave the story for Illumination.

@BlueOcean it was the first open world rpg that utilized all of what you said (climbing, shrines, etc. ) as well as employing other creative systems (cooking system for example I liken to the crafting systems of other games but some in a simpler, more fun way) in a way where you felt like you were actually exploring the world and not just given a checkpoint to run to. The climbing is the obvious one because it took the typical Zelda/Metroid gameplay of limiting access to new zones until you gained a new tool/skill but did so in an open world. That, to me, was remarkable. (I’m referring to the simple system of being able to climb anything but having to build up stamina to reach certain areas). No game, to my knowledge, had ever been able to pull off this metroidvania/Zelda/Metroid prime style of exploration in a true open world game and it work so well. It was the first game in a long time I remember feeling like exploration was more about discovery than most other games where in a short time you can gather what areas are accessible/not (either through maps or basic diagnostics of the terrain and limitations of your characters jumping or abilities) and you usually spend the game following specific markers for every mission, looking at the minimap or radar more than the environment itself after a while. This, to me, is what made BOTW distinct. The main missions had markers, but everything else you really had to look for and discover. They were super creative with some of the shrines being unlocked by looking at mountains from far away at a certain angle at certain times of day and so on (like the missions given by that singing bird). And none of that was go to this marker and press A to do what they say. You actually had to seek out a random bird you saw, figure out its riddle, and utilize the environment. It made a mostly barren world (npc wise) come alive in a way other open world games don’t. Any game where I’m chasing markers makes giant worlds feel like chores to cross. BOTW was more than just look this is pretty and was genuinely whats over there... whoa I can get there? And there’s a secret cave that opens when lightning strikes this area? And there was no mission marker to tell me this I had to explore for myself?... aw man I can’t get over there yet though, I’ll come back later. This change to how the world was traversed, how puzzles were solved, and how you could acces everything, but at the same time had to progress to do so (metroidvania/classic Zelda style) is, to me, what made it unique and remarkable.

Comments by subject matter:

Speculation on the next MS studio acquisition - 44%

Zelda - 56%

🥴

@LtSarge here’s where perspective comes in. I’ve said on here before that I’m playing through Skyrim for the first time right now and I’m really enjoying it. However, where you say Skyrim seems more alive, I actually felt like the world of BOTW was more alive. What I don’t mean by that is characters. Obviously Zelda was minimal on npcs and the lore was mostly a mystery, whereas Skyrim had voice acting and fleshed our stories for multiple quest lines. (I just finished the civil war quest line myself.. pretty fun). My issue is more with the world itself. Skyrim has a ton of quests, and you can go anywhere, but it very quickly becomes a game of chasing map-markers, pressing RT and killing enemies... rinse and repeat. I’m not saying that’s bad, but I’ll say playing it I don’t take much time to look around because it may be a huge world, but the mission system you figure out quickly enough and actual travel and exploration become a chore to get to the next marker. This is what every open world game does and it makes the environment itself less important, and subservient to the next dialogue option.

What, to me, makes BOTW unique was that the environment itself come alive in a way that makes you look more at the world around you than the mini-map. There’s no other game I know of where you unlock world elements by being miles (game miles) away and in the perfect position to see a certain rock formation, or something at a certain time of day to unlock something way over on that mountain. The environment was hand crafted for this style of exploration and observation and none of it was done through mini markers. It makes the environment almost like a character itself whereas most other open world games the environment is a chore or just in the way of getting to your next mini map marker. This, along with the climbing element, which isn’t revolutionary in theory until you realize that what they did was employ the old metroidvania/Zelda/Metroid prime style of you can get there eventually but build yourself up and come back which always added to the mystery of the environment in a way that is truly unique and different from the go to this mission marker and press a for every minimal quest. I actually cared about looking at the world itself for more than just a aw that’s a beautiful scene moment. Whereas I’m Skyrim, it’s open world and I can go anywhere, but I’m really not going anywhere. I’m focused on talking to people and chasing markers.

This is why BOTW was different than every other open world rpg. (Highly suggest playing BoTW without a minimap on. It’s an amazing experience you can actually do that you really can’t do the same way in a game that has you chasing markers and dialogue).

So to summarize, to you it seems the important part of what makes a world alive is the stories of the people within it. To me the fact that BoTW actually made the environment itself come alive in a mysterious, creative way never done by other chase marker games actually made BOTW feel more alive than others as the environment itself became a character.

@clvr I should have just said “what he said” to your most recent posts lol I totally forgot about all the effects of the environment from lightning to the sun generating heat and the effects of cold and altitude on link. The chemistry stuff was bonkers! The basic difference between BOTW and other open word game’s for me is Other games have a stale sandbox with storied npcs (which is why fallout 76 was awful before npcs. People realized without characters the world itself was stale). But BOTW has a literal living sandbox with all the environmental features. And it’s hand crafted for interest and exploration apart from a mini-map like you said.

I will believe it when i see it

@clvr Your comments are interesting. BotW is an entertaining sandbox and I wondered why when it is so empty and the combat is so shallow although you can beat enemies with fire, wind, etc. I think it's interesting because of what you said, the physics and interaction. Everything else is a big disappointment, including locations. But is it entertaining enough to spend additional time finding all the Koroks? Nope, it's not that good.

This is what I wrote on Miiverse about it:

Ridiculous divine beasts dungeons - dungeons are the defining feature of the series!; empty cloned shrines, some of them with one chest and zero puzzles; gimmicky puzzles; nightmarish user interface and armour management; lacklustre story; pause-to-play scheme; oversized and frustrating climbing; bad targeting system; boring side quests and bosses and empty and soulless world.

@clvr I wrote on NL a lot about it back in the day. If you are curious, this is part of what I wrote:

As a Zelda fan, I consider Breath of the Wild a good game but it's not as perfect as most reviewers say because:

1. Poor acting choices (Zelda)

If you decide to include a few (and just a few) voices in the game just do it right! Zelda has always been one of my favourite characters since Ocarina of Time. She was mysterious, daring and somehow cool. I'm so disappointed with her ridiculous trembling voice that no one can believe nor take seriously.

There are a few other issues with the game but Zelda's voice is something that could have been chosen right easily!

2. Frustrating climbing

It rains a lot in Breath of the Wild and whenever it rains, you can't climb. It's that simple. I was stuck on an island with no shrines around and no way to make fire but I wanted to explore it anyway. All I could do was wait a long while until I was able to climb to keep checking the island. Another good example is when you are near the top of the mountain and then it starts raining and you fall all the way down. Lovely! To make things worse, 90% of the terrain requires climbing.

3. Disappointing dungeons (including the mystical ones)

I firmly believe that they are the worst in the series. Mostly, they are superficial and gimmicky.

4. Awkward inventory system

You have to eat food to restore hearts and stamina in a pause menu which feels very awkward to do while climbing and fighting. Also, weapons break easily so you have to hold right to open the weapons menu and select another weapon in the middle of almost every single fight, which literally breaks the action.

5. Technical issues (choppy frame rate and game freezing on Wii U, fixed on Switch)

Noticeable technical issues don't make a good game bad but they are detrimental to the enjoyment of the game, period.

6. Visuals are good and bad

Some places look quite good, like the beaches and sea, while other places look not exactly pointillist but just blurry a la Skyward Sword.

7. Music (where?)

Seriously, where's the music? All you are going to hear most of the time is some short harmonies (no, it's not your phone's notifications) or background sounds. And why did they replace the old ranch music with the new and much worse one? Zora's music is still awesome but it's drowned in the water and can hardly be heard.

Conclusion

I still like the game quite much regardless of its issues but after over 80 hours I can't see why it should be considered the best Zelda game ever. Reviewers will admit this eventually, once enough time has passed by. There are a few articles daring to say so already. It saddens me that the characters, side stories and locations are also disappointing. Another game that is so overrated because it's Nintendo.

@gingataisen And all because of my joke.

@NEStalgia I didn't say that AC is hampered by Switch. In between, I bought the Surface Laptop 4.

@xMightyMatt14x That's interesting and I partly agree although I wasn't as fascinated. I do agree that the world is engaging even though it is empty because everything seems to be connected not just physically as you and @clvr explained. Well, except for animals disappearing into thin air. I'd say that the terrain, the weather and the light are all connected. I also think that what makes you and others appreciate the world of BotW so much, especially after reading your comparisons, is that the world of BotW is minimalist and there are natural markers that are easy to spot while realistic open worlds are sometimes overwhelming and have you looking at markers and maps.

Sounds like it’s just an IP acquisition?

@BlueOcean haha, I know, but my point really was that it's not the hardware that's limiting Nintendo's games, it's their game design philosophies and stubborn tiny teams that limit them. And they make bank that makes Xbox weep.... It won't change even if they had Cernydrive, Blast Processing, and whatever XSX trademarked architecture name is all in one

Also, I loled at "All you are going to hear most of the time is some short harmonies (no, it's not your phone's notifications) "

@Vincent294 Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't inspired by Deus Ex. It was "inspired" by Cyberpunk 2020.

@Syndrome Cyberpunk 2077 was based on the lore of Cyberpunk 2020. Deus Ex however was among inspirations. https://www.gamesradar.com/cyberpunk-2077-quest-director-says-deus-ex-was-a-big-inspiration-and-not-just-the-sunglasses/

I couldn't disagree more with some of the takes here, Nintendo games better off with other studios? I mean I enjoyed Horizon Zero Dawn but it's open world was by the numbers at best and nowhere near as compelling to explore as Breath of the Wilds. Sure its combat was more engaging and it has a more interesting story but for overall gameplay its no contest for me in Zelda's favour. This generation I've played many open world games but BOTW's is genuinely the only one that I can navigate without a map and those shrines are some of the most fun I've had gaming in many years.

For all of these acquisitions Xbox really needs to be announcing games that are coming out in the near future, to be 8 months into a new console launch and not release a single game is pretty worrying and only 1 seemingly coming in the rest of the year

@NEStalgia Yep, they spend as little as possible, take their time and earn more money with a single game than anyone else. What I don't really get is why they have released fewer first-party games lately than ever before. Some of them while considered "first party" were not developed by them, e.g. Luigi's Mansion 3 before they acquired Next Level Games. They merged the home and handheld software divisions years ago. What have they been doing?

@carlos82 notice how Larry said games coming out this year? We shall see.

My 3 dream wishes:
Sega joins Xbox
Banjo, conkers return, along with a Xbox mascot fighting game
Splinter cell, castlevania, are purchased by Xbox.

I really do believe honestly, this e3 pushed Xbox forward and we finally get games running on the Xbox series, minus halo. A surprise drop could be compulsions game. The coalition was helping them with it. I think we will finally see it.

@Az1ner I am not sure about more acquisitions being announced at E3 but I'm confident that more games will be released this year and join Flight Simulator and Halo Infinite as you said.

It's time for Banjo-Kazooie, Conker and Viva Piñata. I would love Microsoft to acquire Koei Tecmo and remake the Project Zero/Fatal Frame games.

@Fenbops I've really loved that Game. And yes it's ASOBO. They are the one behind Flight simulator too

@Fenbops I hope they buy ASOBO and Bloober team

@BlueOcean Yeah, I've found that puzzzling as well. They unified the whole team, and even then most of what they release is third party, a port/remaster from a prior system, etc. Some of it is that I think it highlights how fast and cheap making 3DS games was, while true HD is much more time and resource consuming. But. My assumption has been, and remains, that their business strategy is to only release whatever first party is necessary to maintain platform interest, rely on third party for all revenue (which was their strategy since the beginning on NES, mind) maximize sales of a single title by not crowding it with other titles until sales have reached full potential, and all other development is done to stockpile the vault to have an array of games to pick up and "refresh" in the future. Now that they've resold all their old games they have less back catalogue to pick from in the future, so they're building that back catalogue today for the next platform or two. That way they have a full launch stable for a few years heading into a future platform, and on Switch, which sells itself and sells third party, they can just keep pulling on the royalties without much spend themselves.

It sucks for Switch owners where it's basically WiiU Pro already.

@NEStalgia I agree, they are milking older games and remarketing them as much as possible. The investment is small and the benefits are astronomical. Switch is a Wii U Pro with paid backwards compatibility.

@NEStalgia Are you saying the switch has no switch exclusive first party games? Also, how many exclusives have xbox and sony released thenselves last year?

Also, sony earns way more from 3d party stuff than Nintendo. Look at what their fifa and cod revenue is. Especially from micro transactions.

@BlueOcean Next Level Games was considered a 2nd party developer.

Nintendo has not many development studios themselves, they always outsource a lot. Even Mario Party, the Mario Sports games and stuff such as Fire Emblem and Pokemon are 2nd party.

Funny to see a big rant / discussion on Nintendo on an xbox forum.

@Friendly Post-Astral Chain, they've been in phone-it-in easy mode, and not delivering the kind of support they gave to even WiiU, let alone 3DS. People like to use a "published title counter" to redeem it, but they merely published a Squeenix game, Pokesnap is pretty much all Bandai, Calamity Warriors I'll half give them, it's Koei but they probably had the Zelda team involved relatively heavily (which is a shame because that's a very bare bones game that feels like the worst cash grab.) Paper Mario is great. Luigi's Mansion 3 was a delayed WiiU game, but, ok, we'll include that. ACNH.....I know it's a commercial win and a cultural phenomenon, and that alone makes me sad. It's one step forward and 3 leaps back for the series, is bare bones to the extreme, I can't imagine how that took 8 years to deliver. Or even 3. It's designed like it's a mobile game, except without the real cash payments. As a huge AC fan, that was a dreadful experience. I've never actively been enraged by a game's design so much. Not even Sekiro.

AC was a disappointment, I hate myself for buying Calamity Warriors. I wanted to give it a chance, the demo was fun, and it was a new Nintendo game...but....it's just a one note game. I should have expected it, it's just a skinned warriors game, after all, but still. I won't be as easily duped into their cash grabs in the future.

And it's not a matter of "wanting only AAA Metroid Prime type games" from them. I still think Sushi Striker, though overpriced, was one of the hidden gems of the gen. ARMS, too. Though small and overpriced those were games that were clearly lovingly made and took risks to do something different. It was still immersive. The recent outings feel like focus-tested mass-market products to maximize return and minimize expense. The Walmart version of any given product. Nothing feels made with care or that "Nintendo charm(TM)", it all comes across as refined commodities for consumption.

Hopefully E3 fixes that, but I'm not holding my breath too much. We'll see. SNES was my favorite system since forever, but it was dethroned by 3DS. Such an amazing little dynamo. That currently sits as my fav system of all time. I thought at the start of Switch that that was going to easily surpass it yet again, but that momentum stalled, and Switch feels kind of in limbo. Great 3rd party games to play, it's not like it collects dust, but nothing special in quite a while first party. It kind of just stalled out. It's telling that one of the most memorable Switch experiences in the past year for me was Ori....

In the meantime XSX is, shockingly, poised with potential to replace 3DS as the all-time favorite if Nintendo doesn't reboot Switch by the end. Never thought an Xbox would be in that position, honestly.

PS....yeah, I'm not thrilled with PS these days, either. They certainly had huge releases in this time, though, with TLoU2 (not really my cup of tea, and I have never really liked ND despite a soft spot for Uncharted, but can't deny it's huge), GoT, R&C in a few days, and the "lesser" content like Miles, DS remake, etc.) I think I'm missing a PS4 game in there somewhere too. Numerically it's not massive in quantity, but they've had a steady stream of big releases. (The year or two before that was indeed pitiful though.) And MS...well, we know their position regarding development and their cycle, so it's been lean, but we also know it's building toward a large number of releases that will probably end up regrettably clustered together.

Plus, if we're honest, Will of the Wisps is worth the entire 2020 Nintendo/Sony catalogue combined. Ok, I'll give Nintendo Paper Mario. The battle system still kind of sucks but the game is a return to form....so I'll let it settle with Ori in Smash.

@BlueOcean it's the purchasing of ips. It's def time to bring back many dormant Xbox franchises. Look at what animal crossings impact. Viva pinata on gamepass would be enormous with cross-over appeal. Then of course conkers and banjo. Xbox needs more mascots. I would love to see recore get a 2nd chance too.

@Az1ner Yeah, Xbox needs Banjo, Conker and Viva Piñata. Three wonderful franchises. I had more fun with one Viva Piñata than with all Animal Crossing games combined. Banjo-Kazooie is better than Super Mario 64 and Conker is brilliant and original (just not for everyone).

@NEStalgia I can't wait to see what Xbox Game Studios are cooking. Fable, Perfect Dark and, hopefully, Banjo-Kazooie...

@BlueOcean Haha, IDK about Banjo. Phil knows there's some demand, but probably can't gauge how much. He's hands off with the studios, and I think wants to leave Rare to do what Rare wants. And I'm not sure there's many left at rare who are still tied to Banjo, plus they're already pretty tied up between SoT and Everwild (if they ever figure out what that actually is, lol.) I forget wheich other studio was asked about it and felt it was best left to Rare. IDK, I'd love to see MS reach out to Playtonic and try to get them onboard to really do Banjo. The heart of Rare went there, but the budget stayed behind. I'm definitely not expecting anything Banjo this E3. I think Game Pass on Switch is a more likely announcement and I'm 3:2 against on that

@NEStalgia The studio is Double Fine.

Part of Rare staff went to Playtonic but designer Gregg Mayles works at Rare. I hate Rare's new boss because he is not fond of Rare's classic games but recently he had to admit that Rare's legacy is important so I don't know if he changed his mind.

Ideally, Rare and Playtonic would join and make the new Banjo-Kazooie. You think that it's almost impossible but see, acquiring Playtonic wouldn't surprise anyone, right?

I would like Microsoft to acquire Playtonic and also Koei Tecmo (for Project Zero/Fatal Frame).

I like Sea of Thieves and Everwild might be good but it's time for Banjo-Kazooie and Viva Piñata. They don't know what to do with Everwild because they focused on the art first like, let's create something with wind, nature, Disney... and then they remembered that they are a video games developer.

Why are you against Game Pass on Switch?

@BlueOcean Yeah, if they bought Playtonic, then certainly Banjo would be in the running. I'm just not thinking it could come from current Rare alone, though.

Koei? Oh please no. Halo WARRIORS. Fable WARRIORS. Ori WARRIORS. Forza WARRIORS. 1vs100 WARR...ok, that one might work. And then what would Nintendo do to fill their droughts with cheap Warriors games?

Yeah, someone once told me that a studio run by the artists is doomed. Everwild feels like that. It was an art form in search of a game. A bit like Media Mollecule, really. MM is remarkably inventive, but they struggle at producing actual games to play, instead focusing on artforms and toolsets. That seems to be Rare's aspiration as well. I'm sure MM is valuable within PS in terms of designing toolsets used for other development, and maybe Rare can fill that niche within MS (along with id) as well. But I want more games from them.

Oh, I'm not against GP on Switch, I'd love it, I just think the odds are 3:2 against.

@NEStalgia Right, Game Pass on Switch is not likely. Yeah what would Nintendo do without Warriors filling the emptiness that rule over Switch 😆. Well, they can always keep selling full-priced remasters, next in line is Skyward Sword. Why wouldn't you pay $120 to have the same game twice? At least this is not a Wii U port but a Wii remaster, I guess.

Sea of Thieves has become a wonderful game with beautiful art and magnificent sound, it's not very gamey unlike the other games that they have made. It's more a hobby game, a sailing simulator with exploration and some unfriendly encounters. Most Rare games are very gamey, very satisfying to play: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie, Grabbed by the Ghoulies (very arcade), Viva Piñata... Sea of Thieves is good but not gamey and Everwild I don't even know what it is but Banjo-Kazooie with graphics as impressive as Sea of Thieves' would be wonderful.

@BlueOcean Warriors isn't technically a bad series, but it's very very one dimensional and has been shoehorned into so many IPs, especially Nintendo IP's that I can't figure out how it still makes any money for anyone at this point. Ok, Nintendo makes money off it because they can sell fanfic prequel animes to other popular games through it, but for anyone else, including Koei, who really races to preorder the next Dynasty Warriors anymore? Dynasty Warriors 15, same as the last 14, but with some enhancements. I'll give props to Nintendo though, Calamity Warriors has got to be one of the most repetitive, boring games I've played in years, but FE Warriors actually was very good. The two series game-play complimented each other very well to the point that I don't know I could play a regular Dynasty Warrors again anyway, the FE ruleset improved it.

At least SS is a direct port with remapped controls the way they should have worked 10 years ago! Progress! Maybe it wouldn't have disastrously failed 10 years ago if it didn't require an expensive peripheral that was never actually available to buy.... Maybe BotW2 can require a PS5, lol.

I think you summarized here, finally, what I was never quite able to put my finger on about SoT as to why I couldn't get into it. I was trying to play a game, and couldn't actually find a "game" - a hobby/simulator makes a bit more sense. Like a life sim without the sim. Sea of Animal Thieves Crossing, then? I'd noodle around the island, try to figure out what to do with stuff, I'd set sail, and either get shot by humans or find an island and get destroyed by the skeletons or something, but never really "did" anything. That was years ago, so I'm sure it's evolved somewhat as a GaaS since then, but it doesn't sound like I'd still quite get on with it. Shame, because it really is pretty, and the environment is inviting. But the actual activities just bore me to death. Visually it has an "open world Monkey Island" vibe that should have been the best thing since sliced beard. (see what I did there? )

@NEStalgia "Warriors isn't technically a bad series, but it's very very one dimensional and has been shoehorned into so many IPs, especially Nintendo IP's that I can't figure out how it still makes any money for anyone at this point".

Because Nintendo fans are suckers. I have only played Hyrule Warriors (New 3DS) and while moderately entertaining it's shallow and repetitive... and yet it got a sequel on Switch with the same theme (I wrote this before reading this):

"Calamity Warriors has got to be one of the most repetitive, boring games I've played in years, but FE Warriors actually was very good".

I have FE Warriors (New 3DS) but I haven't played it yet. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, another great Switch exclusive like Animal Crossing New Horizons 😅.

"Sea of Animal Thieves Crossing, then? I'd noodle around the island, try to figure out what to do with stuff, I'd set sail, and either get shot by humans or find an island and get destroyed by the skeletons or something, but never really "did" anything".

Not exactly that. Animal Crossing is a game that focuses on the chores that gamers typically complain about and it's basically boring so I don't know why I spent so much time playing the GameCube and 3DS games, perhaps just for relaxing while playing a silly game. Sea of Thieves is fascinating because of how well crafted the sea and the sky are. The sailing part is the most captivating but the islands are beautiful as well. Finding other players when you have something valuable is disturbing, combat is clunky and until recently PC players played against console players (now it's optional). The battles against NPCs are much more balanced and rewarding. There are specific missions, trade, timed stories... The best about Sea of Thieves, then, is the visuals, the sound and sailing while planning the quests but the most fun I have had with it was playing with friends or kind strangers. If you go alone, then just try to enjoy the scenery and do something easy. Another huge improvement is that there is a "battle" mode so the adventure mode is more peaceful.

@NEStalgia it’s true that Nintendo went more mainstream instead of being that weird kid in the corner playing with all bunch of smaller games.

One may like it and some maybe not so much. That’s true.

But after astral chain nintendo first published link’s awakening, luigi’s mansion, ring fit adventure, dragon quest xi s and pokemon sword and shield, before going into hiatus during the pandemic. It was a very strong ending in 2019. And I’m 100% not blaming them for anything not being released in 2020. Was a horrible year for everyone, and 2021 is still horrible in lots of places, even so in Japan.

So it all comes down to expectations.

Nintendo still has a lot of whacky releases though. I mean, Miitopia just released. And game garage builder will release in a week or so. Then there’s stuff such as good job, snipper clips and the stretchers which I all adore. Famicom detective club is also a weird one in a way considering it comes from a major publisher.

Nintendo is holding back a little bit on new big massive releases but there’s loads of experiences for 99% of the people having a switch.

@BlueOcean Hyrule Warriors (WiiU version) was actually one of the better Warriors games. The gameplay felt pretty varied. The levels and characters felt unique. FE Warriors, IMO really improved the general formula of the format. Calamity Warriors OTOH, has a lot more integration with the IP, which should make it better, but the level design feels tremendously more repetitive, and while the hero skills are uniquely tied to their BotW attributes very nicely, it's all a very boring, repetitive sequence. People squee over getting to play as Zelda and using the slate as a weapon, and getting to see the champions in action etc, but without any of that, which could also be served as an anime or netflix show, there's really no hook to keep interest. Which is largely true of Koei's own Warriors games, so it's not really blame on Nintendo other than the fact that was all they could muster for a "big holiday game." The fandom is more irritating though, praising it is a major release. Whoever called Dynasty/Orochi/etc. Warriors games major releases? Only if it has a Zelda anime tacked on, apparently. Dynasty was fun in the PS360 era. But it really really overstayed its welcome. And the best part of the series, the endless hordes and sense of scale, don't really execute on Switch at all to begin with. So it's a weird fit, where the main gimmick of the series doesn't actually run on the hardware, but Nintendo uses it as their primary filler. Orochi was on GP at some point in the past I think. That gives a better sense of what the series does well. I haven't played Strikers yet. I worry that it's just another Warriors game, but yet if that's the canon sequel to P5....that's what we're stuck with.

I wouldn't denigrate it by comparing it to ACNH, though. It's at least more well thought out and complete a package than that glorified mobile gatcha game, even if it is repetitive and boring. I'm a huge AC fan. New Leaf was one of my top gaming experiences of the decade. NH was just obnoxiously shallow and incomplete. Not even Sekiro enrages me like that game and I can basically accomplish nothing in Sekiro. It's utterly infuriating that it's so praised and well received, it's literally half a game. Cyberpunk released in a more finished state than that mess. Sure, it doesn't crash and clip. Because it has no content, so it can't break. They fit double the gameplay on the lowly 3DS, minus the "decorate anywhere" and "terraform like it's 1994 and Mojang was never started" features. There are actually SNES games with more advanced terraforming features. Lemmings alone blows it away as a terrain editor, and that's a DOS/Amiga game that squeezed onto SNES. It's so maddening that they can release a game that's not only barebones, but walks a series 20 years backward and everyone throws money at it and declares it the best thing ever. I'd rather play Naughty Dog games! Even the last chapter of Uncharted! Even Jak 2. Even Jak Racing. Even freaking Crash!!! I tried...I tried so hard to love NH, because I love the series...and I'd end up fuming and irritable every time I tried.

@Friendly I didn't forget you, I wrote a whole big reply that fit in 2 posts....and then it got lost.... I'll try to get back to that...

@BlueOcean
IDK, I'll have to give SoT a try again someday. I'd really just go alone or maybe coop with one player. Maybe they've added something that make it more interesting. I remember wandering the starting island, finding stuff I really couldn't use or know what to do with, stores I couldn't buy from, and getting a treasure map that I really couldn't figure out what to do with before getting to what seemed to be the destination, getting overwhelmed by skeletons....ending up back on the island with the stores....like 'yeah....this is a waste of time"

@NEStalgia "Because it has no content, so it can't break". 🤣

I tell you, anything with the Nintendo banner on it get extra points no matter what.

I first played Sea of Thieves when it was a closed beta so I know what you mean and even when the game released officially, there was no tutorial, they added a tutorial and an introductory adventure later. They added most of the content after release. A bit like Street Fighter V, Animal Crossing and many games last generation, the generation of unfinished games. On Switch is hilarious when half of the game is not included in the cartridge and you have to download it on day one.