Banjo-

@Dimey What I mean is you'll be able to download the textures and play offline. I'm sure.

@Fenbops Many people (me too) share your concerns about Fable as you can see on other threads, but that's exactly why Gears of War E-Day touched me. Perfect Dark looked great, what did you not like? I just hope it has a lot of gadgets and classic gameplay, not just run or whatever. The trailer was a lot of running, I bet it's just a fraction of one of the early missions. It must a stealth game, the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark type, of course!

It was amazing. It left a solid impression. No remasters nor emptiness. No, Xbox's brought not just a stream of high-quality Xbox games in the pipeline, but heavy hitters in 2024 and 2025 and even amazing third-party announcements for Game Pass on top of the recently added Octopath Traveller II. In short, a lot of first-party and third-party content:

Call of Duty Black Ops 6
Doom Dark Ages
State of Decay 3
Perfect Dark
Fable
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Avowed
Gears of War E-Day
...+ third-party games like Assassin's Creed, Metal Gear Solid Delta...

@Dimey By the time they stop supporting this, the enhanced textures download patch will be 0.0005% of the 2040's console storage 😁.

@Sol4ris Especially Crystal Dynamics that Square Enix got rid of! It's one of the best developers in the world and came to The Initiative's rescue.

Exactly like every other major release on Xbox like Forza, you can get the add-ons bundle separately. That's better than buying the deluxe editions if you are subscribed to Game Pass.

@NEStalgia I think it's pretty clear. From the article above:

What's the incentive for Xbox customers now? According to Phil, it is "Day One" Game Pass releases, the ability to "buy or subscribe", and allowing fans to "play" games across both console and PC, with Spencer also committing to "future hardware" and "forward compatibility" within the Xbox ecosystem.

PC has been an option since Xbox One's Play Anywhere. We need to consider the very important fact that many gamers prefer to play on console. Even if that market is saturated and limited, it's not small. Those people will be satisfied after reading the last part. Yes, some games will be available on PS5 for a price, but the best value still is Xbox and Xbox is not going anywhere. Their libraries aren't going anywhere. That's what Xbox fans wanted to know because it's the important thing. Some ports on PS5 don't really change anything, just increase the profit.

@gollumb82 Thank you, I appreciate it.

@MrMagic

actually I think it may have been with integration costs of ABK or something

That's exactly what I said. Xbox "in the red" if you deduct the integration costs of ABK, then you said no and now you say yes. Last year was Xbox's second best year ever, even if it was down 4% FY23 Q3 (not even the whole year but a single Q). You say that Sony's immense debt that is growing every year is no big deal? Fine. Anyway, I think it's better to stop discussing this, all the points have been clarified already. Good night/day.

@MrMagic No. You said that "Xbox were in the red (2023)", so why did Xbox say that 2023 was their second best fiscal year ever? It's Sony (the whole company) that has a massive debt and the debt gets bigger every year, including 2023. If you are talking red numbers, look at this.

Sony long term debt for the quarter ending December 31, 2023 was $12.512B, a 16.37% increase year-over-year.

Source: Macrotends.

@MrMagic

Except Sony still had more revenue at their Q4 fiscal even with ABK it was still less than Sony

That Sony-Xbox comparison you are doing and the acquisition you mentioned was completed in October 2023. We'll need to wait until this year is over to compare Sony and Xbox like you are doing. It would be really surprising if Sony stays ahead of Xbox after this year in gaming revenue as you say, especially with no new AAA games until March 2025 at the earliest.

also Xbox didn't make any money at all, without ABK they were actually in the red.

Deducting $69b on ABK.

"FY23 was Xbox 2nd best fiscal ever.”

Source: VGC

@Cakefish You're right, I was praising your logic because it matches Microsoft's engineers, but as I said the only reason to ditch the cylindrical and smaller model is likely because it was cheaper to keep the same frames and because the rest of the components are expensive, especially the 2TB SSD. I don't know if you watched the Digital Foundry videos when they visited Microsoft's headquarters before Series X was released. They show how the consoles are built and it's actually the disc drive the reason why the shape of the console is rectangular.

They are (or will be soon) first in gaming revenue and have the most successful premium subscription, so they're doing great in spite of the... rumours. The Xbox hardware is just another way to sell software and subscriptions along PC and they're not afraid of releasing more console models as they proved today in spite of more rumours. Game Pass is also profitable, they said that they earn about $6b via subscriptions and spend $1b on third-party Game Pass deals yearly. Every single negative rumour about Xbox was malicious and wrong, because releasing some games on other platforms was not a rumour nor negative, but something that they stated they'd be doing on a case-by-case basis since the acquisition of Zenimax.

@Cakefish They had a cylindrical prototype for the All-Digital Series X leaked during the ABK acquisition that reflects your logic, but it seems that they ditched it. If I had to get a new model, I'd get the Galaxy Black. If the white model can be found cheaper at retail it would be the best deal for most people.

@Bobobiwan I agree!

@Cakefish Actually, they did. They made the heat sink smaller in every PS5 redesign and introduced cheaper/simpler components. There are some articles and videos about it and how it gets hotter, too. But yes, it was cheaper to remove the disc drive of the Series X and keep the same design. You are right about that. They ditched that cylindrical prototype.

@DennisReynolds

When Tango and the others were murdered you were the only one defending MS on here. You never criticise MS never, its always defending the trillion doller corp who cares nothing for you just because they make your favourite toy.

I didn't defend MS against "murdering" Tango and it's also a lie that I never criticise MS. I literally said that it was Nadella's decision minutes ago. But hey, if all you have to say today after the Xbox show is that Microsoft is an evil murderer, that explains it all.

@DennisReynolds

You seemily supporting and defending all this really says a lot about you.

That's not what I'm doing and you know it. I just said that it was not Phil's decision and that some of the workers moved to other studios. They also created a new studio. Yes, Tango shut down, unfortunately. It's sad, but did you post this same reaction on PS when Sony closed their studios?

A native handheld. Sounds awesome to me. Perhaps they are waiting for a native "Series S" experience and more battery life based on new ARM chips that translate x86 operations.

@DennisReynolds Then every executive in the industry should quit and that's not how big companies operate. By assume responsibility I mean, in this case:

Boss (Nadella?): "After the acquisition of ABK, we need to move these people here and close the Japanese team."

Phil: "Is there another solution, can we keep the Japanese developer?"

Boss: "No and don't blame anybody else."

Phil: "OK, you are the boss."

@S1ayeR74 I like the Series X Special Edition, it reminds me of Xbox One Scorpio.

Unfortunately, many studios have shut down in the industry: Sony's, Embracer's... Reading Phil's words, it's clear to me that it was not his decision, but the big boss told him to assume responsibility.

On a more positive note, some of the staff of those closed studios migrated to other Xbox studios and they also opened new studio Elsewhere Entertainment.

It's a miracle that this remake exists at all, after Konami stating that they weren't going to make more traditional video games.

I'm quite intrigued, too.

@BAMozzy 5 just needs a 'killer' DLC.

There are six Series models now, as if it was a Surface lineup. This is what I predicted Xbox consoles will become and this is how the Xbox hardware makes sense, many choices that are just another way to sell Xbox subscriptions and software along PC.

@jesse_dylan I have to admit that I haven't played any of the games yet! I have Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age II on my Series X. Both were given with Games with Gold.

@jesse_dylan You are more of an expert than me, that's for sure!

@InvaderFromSpace All of that is expected for this year, but who knows... On the other hand, I prefer that any of them is delayed than a 60fps re-release six months later. They need to launch games when they are already optimised, for better reception.

@jesse_dylan It looked a bit like Shrek, right?

@CallMeDuraSouka You mean the Digital Foundry joke?

@Jaxx420 They also want to announce exact dates when the developer knows when they're finished. We are getting Avowed and Indiana Jones this year. That's quite a lot. I expected Indiana Jones to be delayed. I don't want to jinx it. Next year Fable, also earlier than I expected and we have finally seen Perfect Dark!

I fully respect everybody that loves 5, but I have my opinion and it is that the positive vibes of the original games were absent in 5, with an annoying protagonist (Kait), some silent open-world padding that interrupted the flow and a messy story.

The story of 5 was getting so messy that I thought her mother/grandmother needed to kill her to make any sense and keep the series going. I know that I'm not the only one that felt something like this because of what I have read. I think that they should make a prequel trilogy now.

I'm not against open worlds, but it didn't make any sense in 5. It was literally, "Don't waste time! Get going!" and then an empty section where all you did was roam and find something that wasn't that important to begin with, and then a variant in a different colour... However, Hivebusters was a lot of fun.

@Gamer83 In my opinion, 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the best. Judgment (by another studio) is not very good. I think that people that haven't played them don't know what they miss.

@Gamer83 I'm not against open worlds either, but it didn't make any sense. It was literally, "Don't waste time! Get going!" and then an empty section where all you did was roam to find something that wasn't that important to begin with, and then a variant in a different colour...

Of course they are not giving up, they're ahead of Sony and Nintendo in gaming revenue. Consoles are just another way to sell subscriptions and software.

@Gamer83 Yeah, that's what I feel. The positive vibes of the original games were absent with an annoying protagonist (Kait), some silent open-world padding that interrupted the flow and a messy story. The story was getting so messy that I thought her mother/grandmother needed to kill her to make any sense and keep the series going. I know that I'm not the only one that felt something like this because of what I have read. I think that we can get a prequel trilogy now.

@Friendly Yep, I don't usually like gory games with a few exceptions because of the gameplay, story or tone, like Doom, but Fable, Perfect Dark, Indiana Jones, Flight Simulator and, hopefully, Banjo-Kazooie exist! The thing that impressed me the most about that Diablo trailer in a positive sense is the amazingly realistic faces.

@LX_FENIX The day after, "The new patch improved the quality of the bloom particles on Xbox, making it the definitive way to experience Doom Dark Ages." 🤣 The following month, someone at Digital Foundry extremely excited in a video about the 236p 14fps lower-geometry and no visual effects "impossible" port on Switch.

@awp69 @BacklogBrad Well, the more I think about it, the more I understand it. They are keeping every single game on Game Pass and that's the important thing for their business and reputation, because now they are the biggest publisher in the world and they have Call of Duty, so it's an immense library of games and IPs on Game Pass and Xbox. We can't ignore how big that deal is. I'm just a little bit surprised because PC is the biggest market, but I guess PS5 sales are worth the reactions because they get 70% of the revenue on the PS store.

I think that they should have kept it as least for one year. They do this for business, but the biggest market is PC, anyway.

@JayJ It's basically a replacement with more gamey activities and, hopefully, a better UI. By better I mean more console-friendly.

@carlos82 Rumours from "insiders", like Xbox abandoning hardware and Call of Duty not on Game Pass... 🤣

@Pastellioli Nah, what those two posted, don't worry. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Me too!

@BANJO Gears E-Day is like Halo Infinite, a much needed reboot. It's a more confident, more gamey Xbox. Too soon to know, but Halo Infinite didn't disappoint me and although Gears 5 did, Hivebusters was fantastic, not to mention The Coalition are coding masters. They are pretty much like Epic and they have some Epic staff, actually.

@Dan1283 @Pastellioli Of course, I was hoping for Banjo-Kazooie. I suspect that it's being worked on, but it's still in the early development stage.

@Pastellioli Yes, I think that Sony cancelled a lot of stuff that was probably almost ready. They say that Sony acquired Bungie specifically to help with that kind of online games they were planning to release.

@Pastellioli That... was not my intention at all after 18:00. I hope you enjoyed the show and chat!

@OldGamer999 Yes, no Banjo yet grrrr, but Gears of War is back to its essence and that's honestly so brave these days that I'm touched.

@S1ayeR74 @Dan1283 Sony was planning to make online games because some of them are the most played games worldwide, e.g. Fortnite, but then changed their mind, so they barely had anything for PS5 last year or this year and they said that they won't have any new AAA games until at least March next year. It was a good idea to acquire Helldivers 2.

@BANJO Many Gears of War fans are very pleased today, right @HonestHick

@AverageGamer Right, but then the Call of Duty show started and only the new consoles had been announced. I still think it's likely that Game Pass additions are going to be announced today or tomorrow, but I have doubts about the new controller now.