Microsoft Says To Expect 'New Surprises And First-Looks' From Xbox Games Showcase 2023

Less talk, more show please.

"We know the last three showcases have been nothing but vaporware and disappointments, but THIS one, this one is gonna be the real deal we swear!"

@LX_FENIX It hurts to see comments like this because it’s true. 😞

I just want Avowed. I'd say Obsidian doesn't miss, but that comment might age like milk.

@FatalBubbles I've been Xbox loyal for well over a decade, i wouldn't make those jokes if they weren't true. I wish i couldn't.

I don't think we've learned anything new from this info so it feels like nothing more than Microsoft trying to distract people from the recent stuff like the state of Redfall.

Looking forward to this. The Xbox showcases are the only events that I actually watch vs just glancing at what's been announced and maybe watching a trailer.

They definitely put a lot of pressure on the show from a general public viewpoint but I'm just excited to see what's coming to gamepass that we didn't know about. Just please.... please don't announce any dates that you don't know 100% you're going to hit. Maybe just hold off until it's gone gold and has a few patches ready before announcing a date

I have a feeling they are going to shadowdrop a game. I'm betting contraband.

"Join us for some new surprises and first-looks from our incredibly talented internal studios"

What talent? That's your biggest problem, you have no talent.

@SplooshDmg I’m GPU f yo try and start a dialogue with you hopefully no one decides to make commentary

I think Avowed had a good chance of being there. I think it’s a 2024 title. 😊

I love Xbox, and for my tastes personally, I’ve preferred it over my PS5. However, I’m done trying to get hyped for something like this. I don’t even care anymore. They can show all the games they want and have amazing reveals, but until the game(s) releases and are actually good (unlike Redfall) then my excitement level can’t be raised too high.

On a side note - Starfield better be successful, or Xbox is done for, I think. The only thing that might save them is Hellblade coming out this year (if that happens) and is a good.

@mousieone I'd certainly think it has to be getting close. Jez has apparently seen it in action, so it's probably been in a playable state for a while now. I just really hope it's great. I love, love Obsidian games.

Xbox you better get your s*it together, if you dont release so high quality games next 12 months, you will lose what left of your loyal fans

sadly i think starfield even if it will be good the game will get attacked harshly because now Bathesda is under the scope from PS fans and journalists, im sure the game will be 30fps and bugged which will be hated by media

Forza motosport will be the racing game of the year (turn10 always deliver)

hellblade 2 rumors to be on 2023: this better be true, if the game is great at least you will regain from the shame your in

Definition of insanity: promising same thing over and over again without delivering, expecting people still believe it.

Me and the wife look forward to the summer showcases from all 3 every year. Always a time to be excited as a gamer

Microsoft were publisher of the year in 2021, with the highest average score ever. the way some of you talk, it's like they haven't released a good game in 20years lol. Complete hyperbole

@BlackMayge I bought my Xbox for Starfield so I’m all in. However there is so much great games to play that I am happy for many years to come with GamePass.

Mostly care about seeing what Double Fine is cooking up. Hopefully something cool.

Couldn't give less of a s*** about Starfield or Forza Motorsport, so those are lost causes off the bat. I do want to see some surprises for sure, Hi-Fi Rush is still the best thing Xbox has put out since Psychonauts 2 imo, and that came out of nowhere.

@Kaloudz loving the rainbows sparkles for 2023! Still haven’t tried Ghostwire yet so sorry for no Tokyo review yet ….

@SplooshDmg I do have the strongest faith in Obsidian. And it’s not lien Grounded or Pentiment were bad. All signs point to a good strong maybe.

@Kaloudz i cant disagree more, did you play redfall?
what makes you think xbox with there current management will turn things around.

beleive me i can smell a failure when i see one,studios are unproductive and management doesnt have vision and understanding of the market or what gamers want!

i can change my mind when phil is gone and management is changed, and most importantly when Microsoft creating a division that audit those lazy studios and watch them closely, also they should start investing in supporting studios that can support the studios in need

xbox will keep being inconsistent one day hi fi rush the other day another redfall

Will tune in as always and see what they muster up this time.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Which means:
the value, quality, or truth of something must be judged based on direct experience with it—or on its RESULTS.

@mousieone Pentiment was my favorite game of 2022. Grounded is good, but I think you really need friends for that one, and I don't do friends. But really, I think Obsidian is probably going to be Xbox's bread winner in the coming years.

I wouldn't expect any shadow drops or big surprise releases for the 2nd half of the year. I expect Starfield, Forza, and maybe Hellblade are it for the 2nd half.

We should be able to expect a good idea of the first half of '24s lineup, an idea of what the big holiday game will be next year and some future games we don't know about or just have codenames for. And of course some 3rd party game pass day 1 announcements.

I imagine they will be really vague about any release dates like "targeting second half 24."

That said I am expecting it to be good show and am looking forward to it. I'm sure some people will find a way to keep the gloom and doom narrative alive tho.

a wise man once said: your stupid if you try exact same thing 2 times and expect different results ....yes thats man is Einstein

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Todd Howard lit his hair on fire on stage and announced a new Mario snack food line.

@Kaloudz I've heard from reliable sources that 2023 is the year Xbox finally gets its act together, and also the Switch Pro will launch.

@Snake_V5 They have massive talent. The problem is that talent has released nothing. It's basically like Kojima at Konami except there's like 30 of him in 20 different studios. And one of them actually IS him!......

Will the showcase be capped at 30fps?🙃 I'll be urined if Starfield ain't 60fps.

I’ll definitely watch but find it hard to get excited about any of this anymore and that’s not exclusive to just the Xbox brand.

@Kaloudz well we are approaching half way through 2023, so they need to kick start the year at some point, because it sure hasn’t started yet, I say this having just renewed my GP for the year. So something needs to deliver.

@Dezzy70 I think these events are exciting for all the potential but agree that there should be better progress updates throughout the year. I still believe there is a lot of secrecy due to the ABK which has sabotaged 2023 so far…

No way Hellbalde 2 is coming out this year. Next year maybe but I'm not expecting any new first party releases this year apart from Forza and Starfield.

@Fenbops Honestly, this is where I am. I'm excited for a few big Xbox games, but God knows what we'll get or when we'll get it. I'm excited for zero big PS games. I've got a big fat RTX3080ti in my PC playing Sam & Max: Save the World (that I bought for a dollar), and low budget JRPGs. I'm not really sure why developers sink these huge budgets into games anymore. It doesn't seem like it makes them any more fun. Kinda seems like the opposite, really.

More "just wait and see our amazing future"...
It's all a bit "jam tomorrow" isn't it.

Xbox knocked it out the park with the Series X hardware and came up with a great proposition with Gamepass... then they have massively fumbled the ball with delivery of AAA games.
I liked Halo Infinite to a degree, but it definitely has its shortcomings.
Same with FH5.
Motorsport has been MIA for too long to get excited about.
Redfall has been poorly received.
TBH, Starfield needs to be pretty amazing, otherwise I think there's gonna be a lot of mutiny in the community... and I honestly really worry about Starfield (my hunch tells me it's gonna be a bit messy... hope I'm wrong).

I'm not about to go back to Sony (I did go to the dark side last gen for the PS4), but Xbox really need to get their 5h!+ together when it comes to delivering games.
Sorry, but no kid is rushing to their mum saying "please can I have an Xbox, I wanna play Pentiment!"... Nah, as decent as Pentiment might be, they want to play Spiderman.
Xbox/Phil need to fix game delivery quickly to stay in the business... Satya Nadella's patience ain't gonna be infinite.

@NEStalgia agree that the massive talent is there… when the games start releasing all these comments will go away and we can complain about backlog and how great a deal GamePass is again!

I’m getting serious Sega vibes from Xbox right now….. Redfall was like the modern day equivalent of House of the dead … Nintendo had Goldeneye 007 and sega got a rush job that was fun but rough as a dog. Xbox needs to turn it around

@SplooshDmg Yeah spending big budgets has not been the way to go. I would be very happy with a ton of decent RPG or single player open world games using older engines to keep the costs down and quality up. As well as releasing them out on time …

@Sakai Agree 100%, this community is pretty embarrassing, concern trolling taken to the extreme. Like let's pretend Hifi Rush didn't come out a few months ago and people were saying it'd be a GOTY nominee because Redfall just came out and sucks. People in here saying Xbox devs have no talent, maybe you need to be an adult to find the appeal of Obsidian, inXile, iD, Doublefine, Turn 10, and Bethesda but they're legendary developers. The Coalition is the most talented Unreal Engine developer there is, I can't wait to see what they do with UE5 after what they pulled off with Gears 5 on the VCR edition Xbox One.

This is the year where I will give xbox a final chance. Show your games, and people will buy from you

I wish them well. Hopefully it's a good show but it would be a lie to say I'm overly confident. Show Hellblade 2 and Fable and I'll be happy!

I have my Steam Deck prepared to play Starfield, Forza, and Hellblade on it. If the Steam Deck can handle the Dead Space Remake and Redfall, it can handle Starfield.

@SplooshDmg I don’t know Tango might be fighting them for that title. But yeah It’s good solid machine studio. I love the t they can have big projects and little ones.

Microsoft seems to be on increasingly shaky ground with slow releases and unimpressive games.

Cmon Phil, take some vitamins and get to work!

@mousieone @SplooshDmg I'd also throw Double Fine's name into the ring personally.

@Savage_Joe
How about release the games in top AAA style and in full working condition.

Presentations are just words and some videos and nothing else but PR.

@Sakisa Yeah, Tim is a rockstar. The guy has always had brilliant ideas and a lack of money. So, hopefully his ideas and MS's money really do pay off in the long term.

Contraband, Indiana Jones, Avowed, Fable etc let's see something promising.

@SplooshDmg @Sakisa agreed ! Really excited for Double Fine’s Projects.

I’m at the “show don’t tell” stage right now.

@Grumblevolcano

I don't think we've learned anything new from this info so it feels like nothing more than Microsoft trying to distract people from the recent stuff like the state of Redfall.

Wish I could argue with this, but it’s also how it sounded to me. “Hey, look!! Shiny in the horizon, never mind this dead game we just shipped!”

Right now, if they are going to make a public statement, it better be about fixing the mess they shipped.

@NEStalgia If Microsoft had the talent then you'd be seeing the, GOW, Horizon, Uncharted, The Last of Us for Xbox but you don't see that ever. Any one of those games is better than most Xbox exclusives any day of the week, look at Redfall. And I'm willing to bet that Starfield will be the same too, just mediocre exclusive after mediocre exclusive. They don't even know what a good game actually is.

I want this to sink in with everyone, Microsoft announce and release more controllers than they do games, how pathetic is that really.

I've always said it, Game Pass is Xbox biggest saviour but it will also be there biggest downfall and demise in the end. Game Pass is literally carrying Xbox and if it didn't have it, Xbox I doubt would even exist.

Say what you want about Sony but with the type of games they make, they are best in class. And the one thing that is a fact since the PS1 is that Sony has always delivered, always every generation.

@Snake_V5 "GOW, Horizon, Uncharted, The Last of Us for Xbox but you don't see that ever. Any one of those games is better than most Xbox exclusives any day of the week"

See, i'd take Pentiment, Psychonauts 2, and Hi-Fi Rush over any of the games you listed any day of the week.

"Some new surprises" is concerning. If it's referring to unannounced first-party games, then please Microsoft, don't bother. This gen, you've announced Avowed, Hellblade 2, State of Decay 3, Fable, Everwild, Indiana Jones, Contraband, Perfect Dark and The Outer Worlds 2 and they were all announced way too early and we've seen little to nothing on them. Hell, the announcement trailer for Outer Worlds 2 even joked about how it was being announced too early.

Just concertante on showing us what progress you've made on the games listed above. I neither need nor want more games announced that won't release for another 3 years or more.

@Snake_V5 No, i'm just over open world self serious 'AAA' BS that the mainstream peddles, and never found The Last of Us or Horizon compelling. It's the equivalent of MCU crap but for videogames in my eyes.

If you want to talk about low standards...

Xbox have told me “it’s the day I’ve been waiting for”for the last two years, hyping every showcase and the hype for Redfall was huge….

I’m still waiting. They need to start delivering and then the hype means something. The good will they’d built will only last so long

@Sakisa There's nothing low standards about any of those games, they are actually good and they are actually AAA. Look at the score for those games and you'll see.

I understand this website is primarily Xbox oriented so obviously people will defend Xbox. I don't expect people here to be open and honest, I get that. And I'm not starting a back and fourth thing either.

@Snake_V5 Buddy, it's not about systems on this. The best PS5 game is Returnal. Because it's actually a fun and entertaining game to play. I find open world games for the most part to be tedious, and don't find any of the games you listed to be fun to play.

It isn't about systems, it's about indies and AA being what I prefer and AAA being 90% boring tripe in my eyes.

@Sakisa Okay buddy, I get that.

@WaffleDee It's more-so aimed at the 'AAA only' crowd. The ones who don't explore games outside of those big heavily marketed releases.

And maybe low-standards is a reach, but I do consider that crowd to at the very least have very basic tastes.

Ah yes the old hype bowl ! Never again guys

@Kaloudz well so far they are 0/3, I think FM will release in a good state though.

Redfall is a complete joke of a release. Sorry but it just is.

@Kaloudz Right, as always, mate!

I, too, think it had been a great year so far. To take one single failed game to go all doom and gloom, is a bit of a reach, IMO (let alone declaring the last nail in the coffin of the brand).

Since Last Christmas, I have played very good games on Xbox and on GPU, like A Plague Tale: Requiem, Eastward, As Dusk Falls and Pentiment. I'm still on Hi-Fi (around track 9), and the next ones are Ghostwire: Tokyo, Soul Hackers 2, Last Case of Benedict Fox and Redfall.

@Snake_V5

Removed - flaming/arguing

This, now, is absolute trolling. Having different taste is not having low standards. Having low standards would be to defend buggy launches just because the game was published by your favorite developer, or pretend "more of the same" is revolutionary.

Pentiment, Psychonauts 2 and Hi-Fi Rush were fantastic games, and shipped in flawless state, something rare to see this generation, even from Sony.

Having low standards is accepting that a game launched with multiple progression halting bugs that didn't get fixed for months, and pretending that losing 3 hours of progress is just fine, and I'm talking about Horizon if you need that clarified.

@Dezzy70 They gonna show some stuff running on PC as the usual 🤫

@SplooshDmg Triple A titles are important, but i agree, I want more smaller games. Look at games like Atelier, a JRPG series that is growing exponentially, in great part because they are not pursuing Triple A levels of production, and instead are iterating almost every year with a new release or remake.

My biggest wish for Microsoft would be for them to set up two major studios based in Japan. One dedicated to make Lost Odyssey sequels, and another dedicated to making Blue Dragon sequels. Don't push neither studio to make "triple A" quality, don't pursue super-realistic visuals, let them just make games and iterate on short development cycles.

@old-dad
We shall see, I really do hope they get their act together. But after 2.5 years of PR stuff etc.
I have little hope and extremely low expectations of real results after the PR.

@Snake_V5 what's the point coming here just to troll. Genuine question, what do you gain from it?

@Tharsman Not saying they aren't, but by and large it's getting harder and harder to cheer for them, because they are serving the customer less and less. When I mentioned low budget JRPG above, I'm literally playing Atelier Sophie DX on Steam. I have the Gust bug big time right now. I just finished Ryza 2 and I have Ryza 3 sitting on the shelf ready to roll. So, yup, you're spot on. They are every single thing I love about Japanese entertainment, and they don't seem to have any interest except continuing to serve their fan base. KT was apparently thrilled with Ryza 3's 300k copies sold.

Yeah, it's a shame the Mistwalker thing didn't pan out, they were fun games. I don't really know what MS does on that front going forward. It just seems like a tough battle no matter how you slice it.

Legit question here. Big Xbox fan since launch day in 2001. Also have a Switch. But no PS5 due to I just absolutely hate their controller.

Question is, what big first party games have Playstation really released other than spider-man, God of war, or horizon? Honestly I do not know. Seems like they really aren't that much different than Xbox.

Don’t worry it’ll be 30 turned based Indie games and 2 exclusives

I mean like in last 12 calendar months. What have they released?

@TheSimulator That is spot on. No idea why everyone praises game pass and consider it, ohhhhhh such a great value?

99% of game pass content is on quality level of game boy titles. If want to play side scrolling jump over lava pits, would just bring out my game boy.

@Sakai I wasn't trolling.

I cant wait! Im a sucker for showcases and updating my wishlist. But this year, my biggest hope (on top of games) is the unveiling of a Series X Starfield edition matching that sweet controller they showed earlier.

@Kaloudz bro a good year isn't enough for xbox and hell not for xbox fans, we didnt have a GOTY material game for decades we didnt have great quality games for years and we did have next to nothing last year but some small game and niche exclsuives (scorn high on life) so hi fi rush which despite being good and it did give us hope microsoft gived us a game delayed 2 times jus to be ugly shooter in 30 fps with DRM always online and buggy? Your happy? As fan im furious

Sorry im an old folk and im not ganna su*** anyones D, MS better start delivering some heavy punch... Mike tyson kinda punches

Gamers were waiting for this day 2 years ago! Bit hypocritical for the sales team to be spewing that line out now.
Let's see what they show, but I won't go thinking they'll release on time or be any good until they've actually been launched.
Next year will be Xbox's year, next event will be Xbox's event... and round and round it goes.

@TakeItEasy "we didnt have great quality games for years"
This is pretty hyperbole to be honest. Microsoft were publisher of the year in 2021 with the highest metacritic average score ever.
2022 was a total disaster, everyone would agree. But let's not get to carried away with the hyperbole. We are all hoping Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all have a great year this year

@Snake_V5 Two different thought lines there. The first is they absolutely have top shelf talent, there's no question at all there, but they just haven't released...well....anything at all really. They have some of the best veterans of the industry, but they're being very much "creatives" and taking forever to do anything.

But in terms of comparing against those specific titles, they're very different things. Sony has a very particular design template they build from, most of their games follow a certain overall genre and format to one degree or another. They're a popular overall design. But it's also kind of static, and I'm not sure every company just trying to make that exact type of game format is a good strategy. Take something like Bethesda's games. They don't look polished like a Sony game, they don't function as polished, they are the very opposite of cinematic, and yet they're incredibly popular, if not more popular (at least when multiplat), because they do a great many things that the Sony format games simply don't do on a very different scale.

"AAA" has become a buzzword for "movie-like presentation focused mostly on graphics, loaded with cutscenes".... I'm not saying MS has been delivering such quality games because they absolutely haven't been delivering much of anything at all, but I think there's two separate topics. One is does MS have top shelf talent? And the answer is they absolutely positively do. The other question is does that talent make mirror-image games in the format that's currently popular on the market that Sony is known for? And the answer is no, they all make things extremely different from those, and that's a good thing.

The third part is can any of them make anything in a reasonable time frame and clearly the answer is no.

@SplooshDmg @Tharsman I said the other day, I'd rather pay $10 each for 7 games like Pentiment than $70 for most of the AAA games out there. AAA has become stale and repetitive and obsessed with nothing beyond looking photorealistic, and the more they try to throw the kitchen sink in to be everything to everyone the more they feel like they're really for no one.

If I want to see photorealism I can ask chatgpt to make me something photorealistic for free whenever I want to be impressed by computer graphics.

@Sakai Believe it or not @Snake_V5 does actually have an XSX.....unlike @Dezzy70 depending on the calendar month...

@NEStalgia nobody can keep up with Dezzy he sells his xbox that many times lol. But we still love him anyway. I still love me some AAA from time to time, im playing Ragnarok at the minute for example, but I think the older you get, the less enamoured you are with AAA. Alot of de ja vu and been there done that kind of feelings.
My favourite developers is Team Ninja, and they sure are not AAA really! Gameplay over graphics for me.
I'm sure @Snake_V5 does, but alot of his comments recently have come across as trolling. Maybe he doesn't mean it, so sorry for asking @Snake_V5. My bad I apoligize

Not at all interested in this showcase. I'll look to see afterwards what they promise, as usual. Probably three crap indie titles and a bunch of Starfield footage, which at this point, I'm not even convinced will be that good. I don't think it's possible for Microsoft to release a triple A title anymore.

@S1ayeR74 Spot on. Promises promises.

@GuyinPA75 Nothing actually. I have a PS5 and I played Stray, Demon Souls remake and some of GOW Ragnarok (which I personally don't like). I played about an hour of Spider Man. I think the game is trash. Not sure what the appeal is.

I will say my modern day AAA exception IS Insomniac's Spider-Man franchise.

Call me nostalgic for my comic book reading days, playing the old Spider-Man games, or my investment in the IP over various forms of media from movies, cartoons, and even in print literature, I have an eternal soft spot for Spidey, and my gripes with how modern PS has been handled and how they've spat on a good majority of the legacy of Playstation I care about...i'm a Spidey stan and Insomniac has done good work there.

@Sebatrox how many of those was nominated for GOTY? Non they are good but nothing close to compete with sony exclusives! When fanboys will stop defending Xbox or even PS we will acheive something

I want this to be good. Like really, really want this. But I've been burned enough by Xbox, these shows, and its marketing over the last few years that I'm keeping expectations basement-level until they prove otherwise.

But man I hope this time they're right.

Xbox, don’t even try to make me forget what just happened with redfall with more empty promises. Make good on it, or this is the point where I am tired of waiting for good.

@Sakai It's alright but seriously I wasn't trolling. I just get frustrated with Xbox sometimes that's all.

@electrolite77 @Sakai I'm not sure it's age-related with AAA, really it's the younger people who aren't really interested in that and are mostly interested in online "hangout spaces" (I call it "Zoom calls but with guns", or as we say on this side of the pond, "Zoom calls" ) as games more than any of the things talked about here. I mostly see the AAA fans (AAA meaning cinematic/Sony format games, including Dezzy) talking about them being for more adult gamers, and also not having time to play much, only buying what they know they like, playing only the big AAA games etc. My impression isn't so much that it's young gamers enamored by shiny things vs old gamers that have seen it in different skins 30 times already, vs the other way around. Older gamers who aren't really that engaged and just want convenient self-explanatory, familiar feeling games with instant gratification, without having to put too much thought into it.

They buy them because they're safe, static, and predictable deja-vu experiences.

They buy them because they're safe, static, and predictable deja-vu experiences.

The graphical fidelity helps that instant gratification. For some strange reason a large portion of gamers have always appeared to be more interested by the wow factor of shiny graphics and being impressed by technology imitating life more than anything involving the gameplay. It was like that in the PC world back in the 90's and '00s too. The tech demo of "wow computers can render things that look just like reality" is almost the primary reason to buy games for maybe more than half of customers. You'd think more people would just buy AutoCAD if that's what impresses them, but...for some reason they buy Tomb Raider instead.

What then amazes me is that VR doesn't catch on....like how much more "imitating real life" can you get than the game world actually being real-life size projected all around you? Like you play a shooter and there's a real wall you lean around, and on the other side is a real-size person pointing a real-size gun at your real face.....that's kinda real...disturbingly so.... But no, that doesn't impress anyone, then they plant their faces into wall textures and complain that VR just isn't as real looking as 2D games on a TV screen compared to other pictures of real things they've seen on a TV screen, complain about a $600 VR headset and go back to craving what a $1500 video card can do on an $1800 2D screen. Gamers are a weird bunch. The main joy seems to be just staring at static images of rendered things and seeing how much it looks like static images of real things.I think if you set up a kiosk at Best Buy with a bunch of green eyeglass frames that say "RTX 9035 SUPER GX" on them, with no lenses, told people to put them on and look at how realistic the "electronics store demo" looks through them, they'd eagerly pay you $1000 for them.

@Sakai
Definitely gameplay over graphics.
I mean look at me, I haven’t been that excited about a game in a very long time, probably since this new generation of consoles released on day one. Until TOTK being honest at 900p 30fps.
Was concerned about the game a little until I went hunting detailed leaks, so many about.
Now I’m more excited than ever.

Where have I heard this before? Too many broken promises from this company for me to keep putting my faith in only to be disappointed.

@GuyinPA75 Google is your friend

@SplooshDmg now that they’re under Microsoft’s supervision, anything is possible

@Kaloudz what im getting at? is that xbox didnt deliver a sh*t from what they promised or what we were waiting for, yes those games still good but they arent that great, there is no game on xbox series X right now that can make a person say oh i must to play this game, all of those games are good but not blown my mind good, nothing like wow this was one of my best games kinda good, nothing like wow this is the best time i had in a game kinda good, not wow i should get my friends to see this kinda good.

My point is: if you want to beat real madrid you have to be barcelona if you want to race a lamborghini you have to drive a ferrari, if you want to fight mike tyson you have to be Mohamad Ali.....
you need GOTY games to be able to compete on same level to make us as fans not regret buying xbox which is my feeling now

@NEStalgia
Be fair sometimes I don’t even know what month it is in the first place 😂
I still have a fondness for Xbox, but don’t really game Xbox anymore. And of course you fantastic gamers on here are the best of all three sites.

If they get their act together that suits my personal gaming tastes I will Xbox Game again.
Which is basically the xbox, Xbox360 and some of the Xbox one days. Just remembered that Xbox one Tomb Raider deal, was magical.

@Kaloudz bro i was there at your place: oh but we got pentiment and high on life and psychornaut 2 also forza horizon ....they got best music award and best cover .....but honestly those are ok games that i played and didnt complete and i have a job i cant waste my time like that! i want heavy games and hope starfield will fill that gap, i m not taking it easy anymore, im angy and phil management is not ganna deliver

@TakeItEasy
Brilliantly written and exactly how I feel and what I want from Xbox. You can’t just slow cruise behind the leaders in a Ford focus when they are pushing ahead in the Lamborghini. You will end up just getting further behind, which is what is starting to happen, especially since the beginning of 2023.

@TakeItEasy
I was there with everyone at that place as well.
But I’m not now, given up on them even more so since Redfall.
So my time and money will be with TOTK and it’s a business so Xbox lose my money.

@Dezzy70 thank you sir, i really did expect alot from xbox after all those studios acquisitions and all that blabla from phil and we keep saying the famous line "oh wait till the next e3" im done with that i waited for a comeback long enough! and what i get ? redfall the should feel ashemed

@Kingleo31 I know, right. Silly me. Why ever would I post in forums instead of using Google. It's like I'm looking to have a discussion or something.

@Dezzy70 ToTK looks great, it's one of only 2 games I have preordered this year. Just hope the wife doesn't hog my Switch when it comes out, like she usually does!

@Snake_V5 we all do from time to time. It's like the word inconsistent was invented specifically to describe Microsofts gaming division. It's either feast (2021) or famine (2022) there is no inbetween.

@NEStalgia I think VR is great for some genres (like Gran Turismo) but I'm still not convinced what it would add to my favourite types of games like Ninja Gaiden, Nioh etc. Even the dualsences adaptive triggers get in the way on those types of games, never mind motion controls. Hated the adaptive triggers when playing Nioh Remaster Collection on ps5, much more difficult and inconsistant than playing on a Dualshock on ps4. I'm not really chasing immersion, I need consistency and ultra responsive controls for the types of games I love.

@Sebatrox
It’s simple to me, if the developers have done their best with the hardware they have then fine and the game and gameplay are top AAA which TOTK will be I’m fine with that.
But when the console is capable of so much more in every way and the developer doesn’t deliver in Redfall case for whatever reason then that’s bad.

@Sakai
Maybe sneak a second switch into the house
Maybe a TOTK OLED switch 😂

TOTK will be contender for GOTY. Proving "again" 12 terra flops means little if you have no clue how to use it.

I'm sure Starfield will be great once the PC community gets a hold of it and removes drm and fixes most of the Jank 🙃.

@TakeItEasy
They have definitely lost my loyalty and any gaming respect now. I and Xbox can’t live on past amazing games and success.

@old-dad
Yes I’m sure TOTK will be game of the year maybe even decade. Can’t wait to explore etc and spend many hours with this game.

@TakeItEasy I'm hopeful for Starfield, but honestly I'd rate Pentiment over 90% of the rest of the industry if we're looking at "narrative driven" games, as it's a visual novel with writing well above par for the hollywood wannabe/Marvel tripe. Really, I'd rate Psychonauts above most as well. Though Bethesda RPGs I'd generally rate above near everything, historically so that one I do have certain expectations for. I don't think there's one size fits all for what people consider those "best moment in gaming games." Common view seems to be "emulates a movie the most" more than anything. But it's certainly not a universal view. There's many many games I love but seldom do they seem to be the hype driven games everyone seems to boast about. I seem to be drawn to the "losers" of the arena. I'd rate Deus Ex above almost anything, and we know how that series has gone...

@Sakai There's no question that game design for VR, ideally is going to be different game design than for a flag game by the very nature that the player is inherently inside the world, and the player has the ability to interact directly with their hands (or not, and just use a controller normally), but yeah, success or failure of game in VR can come down to how well the camera and inputs are adapted to the very different perspective and range of controls offered, and it's certainly ok for some genres to be less suitable for it, and other genres to be moreso. You're probably right, I can't handle Nioh on a flat screen let alone try to get my head around it in VR lol. OTOH I don't really ever want to play a game where you use a vehicle on a flat screen, or, frankly anything with a first person perspective or where you have to aim any kind of object, ever again....after VR it will always simply suck. I'll make the exception for Starfield, but after trying Skyrim VR....even that will be a bit of a letdown.

But yeah, a basic arcade type fast-reflex thing like that, is quite possibly the only genre that can't benefit from VR. Though I'd argue that type of game probably isn't even suited for normal controllers and IDK why games like Nioh strayed from using arcade sticks like a proper fighter should.

Although.....just thinking creatively, a game like that that requires physical sword blows could be a very different design but interesting take on the genre. Also a Moss-type setup where you're hovering over the diorama of the action and controlling it (you CAN use normal controllers in VR, GT actually requires it) could create a really interesting 360 view of the action vs he over the shoulder setup. I don't think that's a genre that might not have some cool opportunities for VR to offer something new in the genre, but I don't think it's explicitly enhanced by it the way many genres are. There's that one game coming up, I forget what it's called that may fit into that genre actually.

If that was my main genre, yeah, I probably wouldn't be particularly intrigued by VR, though. Though you now have me curious what that genre adapted to VR might be like. Could be cool.

@Dezzy70 I was waiting on the "Switch pro" we have been hearing about from insiders for years, but never happened. Now I have changed my mind and on May 11th I will be ordering an Asus Ally with the Z1 Pro chip. Looks like a great bit of hardware in my opinion. You thinking of picking one up?

So uncanny that Microsoft always has pretty decent showcases (Infinite excepted) with lots of cool games but they never seem to release anything of note.

@NEStalgia thinking about it, with some tweaks, maybe a Njnja Gaiden VR Edition with a first person perspective would be really cool. I'm imagining Ninja Gaiden 2 on 360 in VR now and it would be so difficult. Its hard enough in 3rd person!

@Sakai
No i have a white OLED and we are probably close to Switch 2 or Switch pro end of this year or early next. Not sure what way it will go.

@Kaloudz yes they dont have to beat anyone thats why they have 20% market.... What you said is the stupidest thing i ever heard... In a capitalism world you have to be better than your compitition to get poeple to buy your s***

So the question is a guy get in the store to buy a console why should he buy an Xbox instead of a ps5?

@Dezzy70 at this point I would prefer a switch 2 over a pro. If they announced the switch 2 il be there day 1

@Kaloudz based on what is coming... I dont trust them! They announced games years ago that we still to see gameplay of, they released a half baked halo without contents, redfall is a disaster, fable going thro hell, the initiative the first AAAA studio lost his talents and is suffering with perfect dark everwild got rebooted..... I will beleive it when i see it

@Sakai
And I will be there with you, day one.

@Dezzy70 What you're trying to say is the problem with Redfall isn't the 30fps. Redfall only features 30fps because Redfall is basically a beta product and in no way shape or form is a representation of what Xbox hardware is capable of. There's a lot of hills to die on, and Redfall is a really weird one to choose. xD

@TakeItEasy
It really is a simple as that, we will believe it when we see it.
We didn’t with halo infinite, we didn’t with Redfall and haven’t seen much at all.
It is basically as easy as that, when we get it we believe it.

@SplooshDmg
Well Xbox managed it and own the developer so they have themselves to blame.
And after Halo Infinite you would have thought they would have learnt some lessons.
Another miss management of another game and studio. Keep em coming Phil until you are sacked in a professional way. That means moved elsewhere in the business, making it look good.

@Dezzy70 I am so overly thrilled that MS is just getting absolutely cooked over this. Phil is supposed to be on Kinda Funny tomorrow, and you know those guys are gonna have A LOT of questions. I'm curious to see how that conversation goes. Phil will probably just tell them how he's looking forward to Spiderman 2 and that he'll try harder to not be literally blind during the studio visits.

@Kaloudz no i dont beleive they will do that not when they let a game with always online and 30 fps despite the x360 geaphics, and no phil wont make it and xbox need auditors to watch studios closely, right now xbox wont be able to be constant, they dont have the right traits to direct those studio and till phil isnt gone and ménagement isnt fix... Xbox fans will oy suffer one game up one game down

@SplooshDmg
I just don’t get them at the minute. I sort of see and understand what their game plan maybe.
But they have missed the most important thing games that are as good or better than the competition, that capture the general publics imagination and create buzz and momentum around the brand Xbox.
It’s a business at the end of the day and I’m sure they want to do better and be top dog.

@Sebatrox
Whatever you say. And glad you are enjoying Redfall as that is what gaming is about.

I just hope these surprises and first-looks are for games releasing within a year of this showcase and not 2025 titles.

It’s time for Microsoft to release games and show us what all their studios have been doing these past few years - not announce stuff too early yet again!

With all the studios the company owns, we should be up to our ears in first-party games!

@Dezzy70

You keep up your Xbox excuses and enjoy team green whilst it lasts

We can't all just bail like you, sell our Xbox consoles and demand Microsoft leave the gaming industry😅. Some of us actually enjoy playing games even if they are not your perceived AAA . You know, games like HI-FI Rush, Pentiment, Grounded, Psychonauts 2, Ghostswire, not to mention the Indie gems etc.
Xbox will get its AAA😜, in the meantime there is plenty games to enjoy.

@Kaloudz half of those arent even exclusives... And scores isnt5the point.... Anyway i don't think we have the same mindset your like me 5 years ago...

@Sol4ris
Whenever Xbox get their AAA in top condition I will be there, but it’s like watching paint dry at the minute, year after year.

@old-dad And unfortunately all that ‘Jank’ will still be in the Xbox console version

@S1ayeR74 we can hope not but history says you're correct.

Untill MS makes some changes to game development this will continue to be a problem. Phil has done so many good things for Xbox but he has got to see there is something wrong. They need somebody with actual game making experience over seeing these studios. No way does Miyamoto, Cerny or Tetsuya Takahashi let games go gold in this state.

@Kaloudz then the question remain why buying xbox Series X instead of PS5?
none of my friends are convinced because they can play 3rd party games + top quality exclusives that they wont be able to play on xbox+ 3rd party games that not even available on xbox (most jrpgs and japenese games)

its funny that i cant even play my beloved megaman battle network collection on xbox

the only reason to buy an xbox is: gampass nothing more and thats not enough and thats why they got 20% of the market, you can worship them all day long but xbox is not in good position and they never learn and most of there few fans are so angry

if you think poeple can buy both console (which is the only way xbox wont have to beat PS like your assuming) your dreaming

@TakeItEasy Xbox is game pass now, they are not into hardware sales unless we count controllers.

Now I agree their 1st party output is not up to the quality of Sony/Nintendo. They have studios,IP and the money but lack the leadership and experience in the game development area. Might just be a western studios thing ?

@old-dad exactly, but regarding hardware sales it will always matter, people who says not they fool themselves, it takes just a bit of thinking to understand that if microsoft tell you this the are lying

let me explain in a very obvious and logical way:
hardware sales does not only means profit on the hardware itself but also the one who buys your hardware will mostly buy accessories and most importantly using your store to make purchases (DLCs, games, MT ....) and you get that sweet 30% cut

if poeple use just think about it for 5 min that without hardware sales xbox brand loses lot of money, like so many i switched to my pc and im using pc gamepass only instead of proviously ultimate and also i use steam for game purchase......i think its easy to see the money they lose (hardware profit +ultimate profit+store puraches)

@Kaloudz we had better, this last year has been complete trash, I'd have been better off just buying the handful of decent games they put out.

I think it is funny that Xbox had Hi-Fi Rush, Minecraft Legends and Ghostwire Tokyo this year alone, but people seems to recall only Redfall, and how Xbox will be Done and bla bla bla. Xbox community is becoming more tiring than the Xbox issues.

You can bet if sony had release Hi-Fi Rush exclusive on PS5 thee PS community would be shouting from the rooftops to this date, making people know how great the game is.

The last of us is from 2013 and they still make a fuss about it. (And that is great, by the way)

Unfortunately Xbox community is only vocal when something bad happens, otherwise is radio silence.

@eduscxbox But many like me are not interested in any of those games, but we like shooters and thought Redfall could be fun. It was heavily promoted and advertised by Microsoft for months as a fun premium shooter, and it is the first game with a 70 dollar / pound price.
So those other games you mentioned don’t mean anything.

@Sam_TSM No way in hell Silksong shadow drops! No way! Would never happen!

@S1ayeR74 The fact other games doesn't please you it is fine, but means only that. It doesn't mean Microsoft is doomed or that they don't release quality titles. Maybe they just didn't release anything that appeal for some people personally, but the quality is there, it is not because of a single game that it will change.

Sony messed up The last of us on PC and Days Gone (one of my personal favorites) wasn't well received either, but that doesn't mean Sony is or was in trouble because of that.

MS just recently was best publisher on Metacritic and to me it sounds unfair they receive far more criticism than others and no praise where it's due. It's like they're always bad, don't matter what they do.

@Kaloudz The 1st half of 2023 lineup feels very like Microsoft wanted to release a load of games even if not ready to make room for Activision (i.e. they expected the acquisition to be completed at such a time that Diablo 4 + Crash Team Rumble would be day 1 on Game Pass). They released 3 ready games in the space of a week (Hi-Fi Rush, Goldeneye, AoE 2) back in January, Ghostwire Tokyo was more rough than the PS5 version and Redfall is a mess.

You've also got Microsoft making threats against the UK because the CMA blocked the acquisition. That kind of pathetic behaviour further suggests that Microsoft's plans were centralized around owning Activision by June.

@eduscxbox Firstly The Last Of Us was already a successful game on console, Redfall has launched across its platforms at the same time and failed. Yes the PC release of TLOU was buggy and Sony did get slammed for it, but as said it was already on console anyway.

As for me not liking the other games doesn’t mean anything, well sorry but it does. If the games ‘I’ want to play are garbage, then that platform has failed for me, and the many others who have the same taste, it doesn’t mean jack if it has launched other successful games. And MS have been promoting this game for what must be a year or more now, bogging it up, and it’s a first party title.

So they fully deserve their backlash and the moniker they have failed, shooter fans will no doubt also be looking forward to Starfield but we have no guarantee that game will be any good, or bug free, and rumours are it’ll be 30fps, on a device advertised by Microsoft as the worlds most powerful console. This is a first party studio and title.
Bethesda stated Redfall and Starfield were delayed by a year to ensure ‘that you receive the best, most polished’ versions of the games. So yeah when they state that forgive me and many others if we see this is Xbox just failing, they lost the ability to properly manage their current studios whilst chasing the purchase of new massive ones. And the games have suffered as a result.

@S1ayeR74 I never said id didn't meant anything, I've said that it means they failed you, not that the company as a whole is failing.

TLOU failed PC players, that doesn't mean PS as a whole is failing.

Also 'Redfall failed so we have no guarantee Starfield will be any good', again, if they were able to release good games (even if not for your taste, look at the scores) Why should we have be any doubt about Starfield over something that happened with Redfall? Two different studios, two different teams.

You can say that's because is another Bethesda game, but so is the critically and public acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush. So Why can't we expect Starfield will be as good as Hi-Fi Rush? It has to be as bad as Redfall?

Redfall deserves criticism: yes. But don't matter what Xbox will do, people always will get the worst of it. Refall could have been a 60fps master piece, people would find another thing to trash Xbox.

Also, Starfield might have shooting mechanics, but it is an RPG, it is not a shooter, sometimes people set themselves for disappointment and them blame the studios for it.

About 30fps for Starfield, different from what happened with Redfall that whole marketing was at 60fps, Todd Howard made no secret about that possibility, it is not like it would be a surprise. It doesn't need a rumor to say Starfield might be 30fps, Bethesda made that clear from the begining.

A game with the size map of Starfield I would not be expecting a 4K 60fps, maybe 1440p 60fps and 4K 30fps.

My point was not that Xbox don't deserve criticism, the point is that it looks like that is all Xbox community does.

Just look at Pure Xbox news home page. Good news with 20 or 30 comments, bad news with 100s, looks like some people are just waiting or even rooting for the console to fail (not talking about you specifically as you have your reasons to be upset about management, but Xbox community in general, twitter and all)

@eduscxbox Yes but surely you accept Xbox has brought some of the criticism from the community upon themselves? With showing games 2 years ago, then Halo was delayed then came out missing multiplayer, then they delayed other games and some 2 years later we are still waiting for news on. And then The Coalition had news of big name team members leaving over conflict of creative direction.

They have made endless promises and for many, they've only delivered with Game Pass so far but that was carried over from last gen. And then the ActiBliz deal is blocked by a major market. And they release the dumpster that is Redfall.

All this does leave a bitter taste in the mouth of fans I think.

@S1ayeR74 Sure thing Xbox has some fault on it. But not everything can be blamed on then. CMA decision for example is out of Xbox control, nobody expected that block.

About people leaving Coalition I have a opinion about those kind of news. I think that is the kind of information that is not meant to reach players. People leave and join studios all the time. Did you know between the last of us 1 and 2 lots of important developers left ND? But that wasn't as much announced as it was with Xbox. Xbox is scrutinized over everything and things end up having more weight then it should. As we know, even with lots of important delevopers from ND leaving TLOU 2 was a huge success for Sony. That's because even if competent people leave other competent people will come. I think there are things that should not turn into news, as it doesn't affect at all the games we play and only end creating more distrust and doubt on players. In the end I just wish Xbox had a more positive community, that held them accountable when needed, but also that had the same energy when they do something good.

Hopefully it's a blowout event

@Kaloudz Minecraft and ghostwire tokyo are on the ps5 but if you compare xbox exclusives to ps5 exclusives it blows xbox away I'm no Fanboy either I have both consoles Microsoft Need to deliver on all their promises moving forward and games running performance and quality mode at launch

@eduscxbox I agree, but when Phil does an interview and says the things he does like this week, it’s understandable why they are targeted and their community feels negative. It’s been endless since he gave this interview.

I'm coming over to Xbox, I've waited far too long to join and now the Bethesda deal is the deal that's got me excited to join.

I hope this showcase wows me