BrilliantBill

@HotGoomba it is a very niche and tiny market and Xbox is only recently starting to release the non-VR games on a steady schedule. I believe they might eventually do it in some cases and support other hardware but it will probably be done sparingly.
@themightyant Genuine question, but is it even enjoyable for a game like Skyrim? the visuals in that game are very outdated by now and probably it will be even more jarring in VR.

@Kaloudz For me he is more in the lines of a creator that has his best years long behind him. Regardless of which way you spin it he is still creator of MGS2 and MGS3. Even one of his weaker games (MGS4) was perhaps the single best exclusive PS3 had back then when I got that console (the overrated and overhyped exclusive games on that console are far too many). It is definitely a unique style and taste and I am also convinced he is ... eccentric, to put it mildly. But at least his games still benefit from having that handcrafted feeling of being someone's creation rather than "AI please make another GTA competitor/Halo killer/ Sad dad and son game" feel. In terms of his games I haven't played Death Stranding because it never came to Xbox and his MGS1-3 are too old and creaky now for me to have a play through (but I am intimately familiar with their story and universe). MGS4 was a blast though.

@themightyant That's true. All the XGS teams are busy making some great games too. I think sometimes it is just neater to focus on playing the games and leave the business of funding/acquiring/making of them to the people who are getting paid (a lot) to manage it. I think it is nice for fans to see machinations of the Xbox and how they manage their portfolio, but as recent email leaks also showed, they are aware of their problems. We don't have to break a sweat about it too.

@CaptainCluck I mean, the scenario of a world where consoles are without disc drives is often sold as a "Doomsday" thing by fans of physical media. If I had a dollar for every time John Linemann from Digital Foundry did a rant about it I would have 20 dollars, which isn't much, but it is crazy that it happened that often.
Jokes aside, in today's market, the physical disc often contains a version of the game that is either fully incomplete, or needs 27 updates to get going to a stable level. A large number of games are totally online services, obsolete with only a disk. Practically for me, every game from 2019 onwards is digital. Games from Xbox BC are basically on new Xbox store to buy digitally (already it includes almost every worthwhile backwards compatible game). Regarding the discussion of benefits of retail disk (reselling etc), the retail market is already thin on the ground, every time I go to my local GameStop, I have bought those games cheaper on a sale in the xbox store. I bought AC Valhalla for 17.50 euros on sale in the store. It is not like very game on digital stores is always only 90 bucks. The statistics of sales of Series S and probably the PS5 DE also show that probably the majority of "average joe" consumers have no problem with a digital only future.

@Tharsman PlayStation definitely had a win with their "Sad Dad" era where the template of Last of Us was used in Uncharted and God of War, with a sprinkling of Horizon games on the side, but I doubt that genre and style of games is as prominent in the next couple of years for them. The gaming landscape is moving away from that "the more like a movie it is the better" attitude I feel.
They are making huge moves towards the F2P and live-service sector. Meanwhile, Xbox is kinda turning around back to RPG, Single Player and story-focused games.

Insert titanic's "It's been 84 years" meme. Glad this is finally clearing up.

@Sol4ris There isn't going to be much change IMO. Specially with ABK, CoD is a money printing machine putting out AAA best selling FPS for almost 20 years now and there is no reason to touch something that isn't broken (from corporate numbers perspective at least). I think Xbox will remain largely hands off with Bethesda and ABK, it is only XGS which still needs serious "management". But even there, things are finally turning around.

@Kaloudz Yes there is that Division Heartland, but it has been in development for what feels like ages.

@Kaloudz Yes, their "catalogue" is a bunch of GTA games from generations ago and RDR2 though 😂. They forgot that you have to make games to have a "catalogue".

@Tharsman It is a 1-to-1 repeat of what happened with Netflix, initially it was the best thing because it had a ton of content from all sources. Then every publisher/studio/movie house made their own streaming and now we are in this mess. Disney+/HBO Max/Paramount Plus/Peacock etc...
Sadly same has happened in gaming too. Good point is that between XGS,Bethesda and ABK, GP will be very hard to beat.

@Kaloudz Basically there is only CoD with the lion's share. And a couple of other ones fighting for the rest. Basically if you are not into Battlefield, you are left with Destiny, Rainbow 6 Siege (both of them extremely grindy, full of micro transaction and in case of Destiny, a little crap if you ask me). Doom and Halo are around, Halo is ... well let's just day it is a very divisive game, I am excited for their next season where they add a PvE. But basically, genre is a little meh now.

Aren't Fallout 3 and Oblivion both too old for just a remaster? I believe they both need almost a remake.

@Kaloudz I mean, it is true that a lot has been revealed yes, but again, a refresh of X without disc drive, a new controller with haptics were both very obvious and easy to predict. Sony's next moves with PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro also have leaked (minus official images) already anyway.
The big "leak" in hardware side is the next-gen console itself, but again, their only true rival Sony, probably already has access to same "tech stack" offer from AMD and is probably planning a very similar base of hardware anyway.
Regarding the games, the big one is Doom: Year Zero, which is a cool leak and good to see but again, a sequel to Doom games was hardly a breaking-news thing. Same with remasters of Fallout 3 and Oblivion. But it is still a shame that "reveal" of these titles is already kinda spoiled.
All in all what I am trying to say is, it won't hurt them that much.

@Tharsman I mean, like all other things it will be gradual deal. Between PC being fully digital for many years, PS5 and Xbox both selling digital-only consoles since start of the gen, and the increasingly online and dynamic nature of games (many games are almost unplayable on their disc version anyway or need extra downloads), it is getting tougher and tougher for physical media. Physical media won't die overnight, but we are clearly going that way.

@FraserG I understand that you guys are getting swarmed by now. but this part of the leak is very very interesting: https://www.eurogamer.net/starfields-delay-was-disaster-situation-for-xbox-game-pass-phil-spencer-said
@Kaloudz Check out the link above for Phil's reaction to the empty line up. It is cool that we people on forums talk about Xbox missing their AAA releases as if they aren't very aware of it themselves.

@Kaloudz Yeah, they better pull off another solid launch. Leaks are bad for corporate but today's leaks sure got me very excited about future of Xbox.

Is the new X just a cylinder? or is it some odd shape mix of cube and cylinder? Do I need to get my eyes checked?
@Kaloudz That console better work flawlessly without cloud too, otherwise they will have another Xbox One generation on their hands.

@EvenStephen7 Thirdparty games will use it because they are already using it on PS5 and with 1st party Xbox just "strongly suggests aka forces" them to do it I guess.
@Kaloudz Acceleromator aka gyro I think.

@themightyant The rumours were that plans for remakes of RDR1, RDR2 patch and even a supposed GTA IV remake were shelved after disaster of that collection.

Hmm... it was painfully obvious from the very first trailer that the game has issues in art design, gameplay, player feel and performance. There was lot of valuable and well-articulated feedback on the internet about it. They should have taken the feedback, improved and released it a year from now. Instead they just rocket-ed their way into launching it as is. Didn't help that it was sandwiched between games superior in every way.

@Tonmoy New IP or not, risky or not, you have to produce a truly great game to have a chance in the AAA market where games cost 80 Euros. The suits cannot expect players to part with their hard-earned money on launch day "for the sake of encouraging investors to take risks, even though the game is mid at best". I think this game would have had a chance if it was on GamePass day one? Perhaps dropping it on GP and PS Plus etc could help but apparently studio has already taken the big hit anyway.

@Tasuki The last ones are pretty decent, but it is often hard to shake off how much they ripped the worst parts of Uncharted franchise back into TR. But still, overall super solid games.

@Kaloudz There was some rumour that the new reboot somehow makes all these old TR games part of the same canon ? I don't know how it is set up right now (if old games and new games are all the same timeline or not), but again Tomb Raider is hardly the franchise where you obsess over "lore".

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Yes, the Starfield is definitely giving Xbox a shot in the arm right now. This is great, but it is not every year you get a game this big. Avowed and Hellblade 2 are also solid-looking but I doubt either of them gives Xbox quite the same boost that Starfield is doing.

@Titntin There is a lot of variables that go into it. I think if Xbox continues to manage their studios well and keeps up releasing these good games between now and 2027 -2028 a lot can turn around for them. In terms of number of consoles sold and market statistics Xbox will probably remain the third player. But if the number of Gamepass subs manages to break into 50 to 60 million subs, Xbox as a whole has achieved its targets.

@InterceptorAlpha "The PS3 was unequivocally more powerful. Even had a gyro all the back then. Something Xbox still lacks."

It was more powerful, but due to exotic nature of its hardware, outside of exclusives such as Killzone 2 etc, in almost every multi-platform game 360 ran them better. Regarding the gyro, you mean the controller Sixaxis? That was also only used sparingly in some exclusives such as KZ2 and Uncharted 1 on a gimmick level. I had a PS3 that gen. It was a solid machine. But software side only got good near end of the gen.

@Kaloudz Phil commented a while back that even if acquisition closes, CoDs or many other games won't be there day 1. Because I guess the deal needs to first close, so that they fully own ABK.
Then they can start working on bringing those to GP (not before).

I don't remember that happened with Bethesda, were the games there day one?

@PopularCorpse Does that include older CoDs? like Infinite Warfare? and wasn't the deal till 2024?
@Bobobiwan Depends who you ask. But for me, Essentials: MW 2019, MW2 2022, MW 1 - 2 (Originals), Black Ops 1 - 2 and Infinite Warfare as a bit of "honourable mention".
WWII and Advanced Warfare are "ok" but not very recommended. Ghosts is an "avoid" for me. I haven't played Vanguard, many didn't.

@Titntin I think this will be a PS3 vs X360 situation. Initially, X360 was way ahead of PS3, had the better hardware and much better games and sold way more. Over time however, with the power of many exclusives, PS3 pulled through and near the end of that gen both consoles felt on par in sales. I think this gen we will see the same. As 2-3 AAA titles from Xbox hit regularly each year. The trend will turn and there will be a large number of Xbox consoles out there. Also remember that when CoD is day one on GP... that alone changes things a lot.

I am personally in that camp that rarely, if ever, felt 60fps to be a necessity in any game (outside of MP in CoD, Battlefield etc). I feel like while not many people will use it for gameplay, it is nice to have the option. I will also play it either in Visuals or Performance RT mode. We want some sweet visuals out of the console don't we?

@Kaloudz Damn dude the good days you kept promising and I kept doubting actually have arrived it seems.
@Nightcrawler71 Does the Crew game look promising? I have always waved it off as dollar store Forza Horizon.

That's...interesting.

@Jimboss I guess it is all about the purchase of ABK and the drama with CMA and other regulatory boards, part of a "tactic" to show Xbox as an underdog platform holder that needs all the help it can get.
The case by case thing with Bethesda, as @themightyant said is probably just about live-service games. There are already examples with Fallout 76 and ESO. These games thrive on having the highest player count possible. Same reason why Sony lets Bungie have their games on Xbox (yeah technically it was a condition bungie probably discussed before being bought but that's why Sony agreed to it).
Starfield has already increased sales of Xbox dramatically, generated a ton of positive buzz around Xbox and it is printing money for Microsoft too. There is no way big wigs at Xbox and Microsoft don't want to repeat this experience.

Kind of an odd bittersweet feeling to see the evil spell on Xbox exclusives finally being broken. It is truly a glorious moment. Kudos to all the suits and big-wigs at Xbox and BGS that made this happen and all the hardworking devs in trenches who pulled it together. The Xbox fandom has also been very patient but this is hell of a big boost we just received.
Let's go!

@sonicbooming I have used XCloud in different times for several games. It has worked well on my console but poorly on Laptop and other devices. My internet is not that great but on the Xbox One itself the service pulls through most of the time.

Might not be a bad idea to try the first hour or two of it and develop a taste of it at least.

Honestly, this is kind of impressive and also very funny at the same time ofc. But it is also a reminder on why this game is so CPU heavy and is locked for 30FPS on consoles.

@tallythwack Perhaps you can continue until you fill the whole ship? There has to be some breaking point.

PS: For some reason this reminded me of the time when PS and Xbox fanboys got into a heated war on Twitter over Halo Infinite's graphics versus the "peach fuzz" on Aloy's face in Horizon FW. Internet never dissapoints!

Has anyone played The Quarry? Would you recommend it?

@tallythwack Yes the main cast looks decent-enough. But even there it is more like "Decent by Bethesda standards" and not as a whole. As someone who played ME: Andromeda which has some of the worst face design and animation in RPGs and enjoyed the hell out of it, I have no major problem with it in Starfield but still, you expect the best from a AAA flagship exclusive.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Wonder if they will switch to Unreal as well. As their ES6 gets going we will probably find out in a year or two.

It is kinda refreshing to see an Xbox exclusive get great marketing and also great sales, despite the odd outings of reviews from IGN and Gamespot. I just worry that now every big developers start selling 30 dollar play-it-5-days-early passes 😂.
@InheritNegative I would bet that if Starfield was a PS exclusive it would have been reviewed more favourably. But at the same time, it is damn funny how Bethesda cannot make humans look like Humans in their games for some reason, across Starfield, Skyrim and also Redfall.

I mean, haven't played it but whatever I saw there was barely even remotely promising. Beyond the basic art style and idea everything else is very mediocre apparently.
It is probably wiser to pull the cable on this and give it a mercy killing. It will live alongside dozens of other Destiny-likes such as Anthem etc.

@Kaloudz Basically until you get at least a couple of 10s (as games like RDR2, Elden Ring etc) did. It counts as great but "not masterpiece". The game will probably sell a ton and have a lot of players anyway.

I think the consensus is that the semi-open world style similar to Halo Infinite and Metro Exodus and Gears 5 itself is good. But anything beyond that and into the GTA and RDR territory, no thanks.
I think even if they go open-world at most they will pull a Halo Infinite and for the actual missions you go into a closed and linear section so that the story telling and set ups are still there.

An Xbox exclusive receiving some proper marketing is sure a good thing to see.

@Deityjester It really depends on where you draw the line, it definitely does enough to make it a remake in my opinion. But definitely on the lower end of scale of remakes.

@Grumblevolcano I geninuely think if BG3 was not as popular and critically high-rated as it is, Xbox would have happily ditched it and let Larian skip their platform altogether.
I also don't think that Phil will organise 1-to-1 meeting with every developer out there that announces they can't make a feature work and figure out such solutions. At the end of the day, a single game, independent of its success and scale cannot really make or break a platform.
Also, suppose that Microsoft sends over some people to Larian and in 3 month there is a stable Split-screen working on Series S, at this point who is to blame? Larian's devs having inadequate skills or effort? Or Microsoft because they should assist every dev that gets stuck on a feature? Interesting food for thought.

@Tharsman The double or in other case triple standards towards different consoles and their games have always been a thing. It isn't helped by the fact the more loyal console warriors can hardly be convinced by any logic or argument whatsoever.

@GamingFan4Lyf I mean, back when the console was revealed, there was a video of Jason Ronald explaining that the console has the same CPU and storage speed but the GPU and Ram are less, but again since the console targets a 1440p to 1080p output it should be no matter. But outside of that, the idea that people took, either because Xbox didn't make it clearer, or because Xbox also said so, was that everything else is a parity, including raytracing!?
But over time many games have ditched raytracing on S, and often times also avoided offering two graphical modes instead of one. All of which is understandable since you still get the same game with broadly the same experience, if the reflections in mirrors are less detailed, fine, you paid almost half the money of X for an S and you get half the experience.
I think the issue with BG3 really put a fly in the ointment however, as you are missing a key game mode. Similarly to how Halo Infinite ditched local co op because of X1 consoles and got a massive flack for it (among a bajillion other things that game got flack for 😂).

@HonestHick This and Hellblade better drop in 2024 and finally squeeze some proper graphics out of X. It is the most powerful console ever made. It deserved better than the past 3 years of cross-gen.

@AverageGamer I had totally forgotten that poor game had to run all the way back to the original VCR X1. Quite a task for sure. Specially for 4-player coop with players in an open-world.

@Kaloudz My bet is that they won't add it. They have probably been struggling and fiddling with it for ages but just couldn't / didn't want to ask Xbox to let them can it on S, probably given popularity and prominence of their game Spencer pulled a "bossman move" and decided to let them cancel it.

@Sol4ris If it was my opinion, Xbox should have stuck to their guns and instead sent some experts over that could get it working. But probably between the two approaches, it is easier and more financially viable to just let certain games avoid specific features rather than having to send rescue teams to a dozen studios every year that say they struggle with S.

@Kaloudz You keep saying this but where are my CoD games on the GP? (JK)

@Sol4ris Split-screen in games is hardly a very common feature these days. So outside of a small community it will not be a deal-breaker.
For what it's worth, Halo Infinite, the revered first-party title, also didn't make split-screen work at all on either console, but there it is also easy to imagine that S had a part in it and they canned the whole thing.
I am no game developer but I find it strange that split-screen has proven this demanding. I wonder if Coalition includes it in their eventual Gears 6.
@Kaloudz All rules can apparently be relaxed if it is a very huge game, remember how Cyberpunk launched on PS4/X1? Platform-holders were certainly aware of its state, but didn't; want to block a gigantic AAA from release.

@tallythwack Yes, you are right and my analysis with R&C on hard drives is wrong. but again, using single games like R&C and BG3 is not ideal because they are extreme examples, in R&C a feature in the game is purposefully built with the SSD in mind. Meanwhile in BG3 we have a case of a single developer struggling to create this feature parity. The fact that one or the other developer struggles with getting something working is not proof that the whole idea of Series S is wrong or is ruining this generation. Back in 360 era I remember Crysis 2 often hitting 19fps in busy scenes, nobody used that to invalidate 360 as a console for example.

@InterceptorAlpha Given that all of the games on Xbox always release on PCs running on a wide spectrum of hardware the whole argument on Xbox side is just a little hopeless. Any game releasing as an Xbox exclusive is also on PC and every single time those games run on GPUs from 2015ish up to state-of-the-art GPUs? Over the past couple years many games have released running on X as well as they run on PS5 or better. The visual fidelity of titles such as Forza etc also shows that potential of X is in no shape held back by S. IMO it is still only 2 SKUs because the storage size has no effect on game development.
The whole idea on Sony's side, that having PS5 as a uniform system is putting them ahead is also debatable. Every PS5 "exclusive" also eventually releases on PC these days, once again running on a whole range of hardware. The Ratchet and Clank game that was supposedly "only possible" on PS5's super fast SSD is apparently playable on a PC with a hard drive. I still fail to see that S is holding anything back in terms of features, scale etc of games. The incident with BG3 is an isolated case in one company. Dozens upon dozens of games have been released using S, X and PS5 to the best of each console's ability.