Cashews

@HonestHick I prefer the xbox controller as well. I bought the switch pro because it feels like the xbox controller. They have always done well with nice design since the 360 imo.

@HonestHick I don't see why or how they could make a forever deal. SE's entire business model is re-releasing every game in their catalog 50x on each new platform.

Now all Square Enix needs to do is make good games. Tall order for them.

@Kevw2006 wait until the shareholder quarterlies- all will be revealed.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner FF was an absolute beast in the PS1-PS3-360 era.

It wasn't niche at all. On the PS1 it was the defining system seller with 7. On the PS2 it was right behind Gran Turismo and GTA. Then they started to falter. Now they are small.

I see big changes at SE very soon. New CEO will start firing lots of people or he will be ousted by the end of the 2024.

@Kevw2006 It didn't sell well. I'm not going to go into it. There is plenty already written on it. Investors don't give two ****s if it "PS5 only" they care about raw sales data and it was a bust.

The negativity surrounding the title is increasing on the daily and will only continue once they start doing their quarterlies in front of major investors who aren't the unsophisticated gamer set.

I expect them to announce 16 on this console soon unless they are bound on contract with sony. If for no other reason than to assuage nervous investors.

That's why they just did the FF14 announcement. The company is doing very poorly.

@Friendly @GunValkyria after 16s failure I expect all future not Switch designed games to come here. I bet SE will be begging, hat in hand, for them to be on gamepass in the future.

Personally I don't care if nary a one SE game ever releases on the X - but the gnashing of Sony teeth would be entertaining. So for that - bring it on.

@Wheatly I'm trying to think of it and I can't. I dont have a lock screen enabled maybe that's it. It has ads on the store of course but that's normal and acceptable by pretty much everyone. A eshop without ads would be weird.

@pip_muzz the Switch release means far more to this game than gamepass. Gamepass is just free money to them. The Switch is the important console for Sea of Stars. That's why it was Switch announced 6 months before the other - less consequential consoles.

@Wheatly Show me where Nintendo has ads on the dashboard.

And comparing the Xbox to Sony. That's rich. Aspiring to be more like Sony is a fool's errand. The only reason Xbox has even a 2% market share is because Sony makes so many unforced errors.

But now it's Microsoft's turn. They had an amazing showcase and got all of these new people interested - or old people like me coming back.

And every step afterwards - increasing the price. decreasing rewards (also raising the price). choosing now to rid of the 1:1 deal. designing the UI solely around ad placement.

It is like the Xbox doesn't want to be successful.
Idea: sell lots and lots of consoles and gamepasses and win a court case before you start kicking your customers in their genitals. And the kicking? Try spacing it out a bit instead of one shot after another.

Nothing about it looks clean.

I was watching Twin Peaks: The Return today on my X and as I hear the machine clicking and clacking away during my viewing I thought - "is this thing monitoring me even when I'm not using the UI?"

I don't need to know the answer to know the answer - it is Microsoft after all. I'm ready to drop this thing with one more anti-consumer measure and I'll never buy another one. I certainly don't need it. I'm quickly approaching the point where I don't want it either.

@FraserG you link a Pure article that gives instructions on bypassing retail mode so they can emulate, effectively steal, games.

You can call it something else but that is what it is.

I need my advertisements on the go as well so Microsoft can track my movement.

I won't buy any handheld clone Microsoft vomits out.

@itsgood2slide I never got why Nintendo didn't allow for the same functionality on the Switch that they had on the 3DS. The black or white background is boring. Maybe on the next one.

Still, now I appreciate the cleanliness of the whole page more than the pictures.

@Imback Microsoft doesn't own Activision yet.

@itsgood2slide the Switch > goto the end of the menu for games > LB for groups > make 1000 folders into any groupings you want.

No ads. It was a better, more elegant UI than the X before and certainly is now. This is worst UI I have ever seen. I can't think of a worse one. PS1 was better.

@Pichuka97 true. I'll probably spam it for no reason at all because I want it to fail. Not because I am an offensive jerk but because I do not like this...kind of jerk.

@aaron626 the last good games I played by Ubi was Farcry 2 and Rayman Legends.

@InterceptorAlpha I wonder if Microsoft knows why they are continually in last place- the biggest loser behind Nintendo and Sony - always.

Capcom had this problem circa 2010. They were trying to figure out in the new age of DLC how they could maximize revenue. So they started piecing out all of their costumes from the game. Then they were so bold, as was the case with Asura's Wrath, to actually take out important storylines and try to sell THAT.

Crapcom is what everyone called them for years. They were abandoned by so many including me. I think they saw this, retooled and came back as simply a developer who made great games first - then would try to sell you stuff later-but not game breaking items. Now they are referred to as Capgod.

This is Microsoft. They are losers in this console battle. But instead of thinking "what can we do to enhance our customer's experience?" they sit around and "How can we fool these mindless dopes and show them more ads?"

This is the result. And it will get them nowhere. All just desserts. Ultimately, Microsoft is garbage - they have always been about seeing you as their personal ATM machine first and foremost. Eventually - it may take a decade or longer- they are going to sell this division at a mind-boggling loss and unless they can develop with the end-user in mind first - frankly good riddance.

That's about a buck too much.

I can volunteer my services as the toxic player in the beta. I have some new material I've been working out on the crowds.

@Bartig don't forget the movies you can rent!!!

@Acurisur Unlike most of the people here, I don't willingly intend on being quiet while MS shovels their crap down my throat. Something sucks, like this, I'm going to speak up. It's all I got in this case.

You are right they can change it at will. And I can publicly rake them over the coals at every opportunity. It's a relationship after all. A two way street. Poor goodwill is my only weapon which can be effective at times.

I have a hard time understanding how anyone can be okay with having a UI whose central design is force feeding you their ads while you receive more of a picture. It's one thing if you get something out of the deal. That isn't the deal here.

I didn't see my choice:

The UI charges are akin to a war crime - it should be hastily taken out back, unceremoniously shot and thrown in a ditch to rot.

It is a UI filled from top to bottom with ads I cannot opt of. It offers no additional convenience. Rather, Microsoft is using my bandwidth and hardware to increase their revenue and I can see a slightly larger half of a static picture with no additional function. Definition of anti-consumer trash.

@Zochmenos nothing else gets the attention of large companies except theater. At any rate, g'night. I'd be happy if I wake up to a MS mea culpa and a rollback to the less awful but still awful UI , but I know I won't.

@Zochmenos yeah I should be more collected and happy when a company takes over my bandwidth to force feed me their ads and take over the machine in which I paid. Because everyone needs the xbox so much that they have about 7% of the games market. We need them and not the other way around.

My bad.

@SuntannedDuck2 the Switch UI, with zero personality, is miles and miles and gd MILES better than this junk. For the simple fact it is ultra clean and IT IS YOURS.

This is a bag of rotten, hot garbage - left in the trunk of a 1977 rusted Pinto with one sun bleached purple door - over the entire summer in a Texas abandoned mall parking lot.

You open the bag of maggot infested trash and this is what you find.

@Tagboomer Listen. Activision has backed off of some of their more questionable choices. We need to start a campaign on this atrocity. No joke, this one is off the charts bad.

Start hitting them with mail night and day. Use all of the socials if so inclined. MS shouldn't be allowed to use our machines and bandwidth to sell us their bs.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/

@Tagboomer I sincerely cannot believe anyone likes this. If anyone likes this they have no taste what-so-ever. It is objectively bad.

I absolutely hate this thing. It barely shows the picture still and instead of cleaner UI it looks like my gotdamed Samsung S95B (don't buy it ever) which is pushing me 100 ads every time I turn the thing on. I'm really questioning my recent purchase of this machine. Everything after the showcase has been bad.

'If you can't beat 'em; join 'em' seems to apply here.

I feel that the technology has hit a current high point. The fidelity isn't really exciting anyone any longer. Now it has Switched (get it) back to gameplay and value.

I skipped last gen so it's all new and pretty looking to me. But I don't find it particularly exciting right now. I don't see anything on the horizon that excites me especially that a weaker console cannot do.

I believe Nintendo dictates the future of consoles right now - specially with their next one. If it is a Switch 2 then I expect more people to simply stay with the current one. If they come out with something new and exciting, while keep backwards function on this gen - they will continue to eat away market share until Sony has to pivot.

Good news everyone! It is finally here! Now, instead of having boxes all over your still-life picture you all get to look at the top half of the picture! And say bye-bye-bye to those pesky cards you used to have on your dashboard! Those have been replaced by our Recommendations! Now all of the movies you didn't think you wanted will be displayed in nice lines that take up a third of the screen!

Don't ever want Gamepass? We here at Microsoft don't believe you! So much so we will inundate you with line after line after line of all the titles you don't know you don't want!

That's not all! The customization you used to have? That's split by our handy recommendations too! We know you need this valuable information BEFORE you get to your purchased material- so we placed it at the very top of the UI. Where we know you wanted it!

You are welcome valued customer!

@Somebody Maybe. Purexbox is avoiding the recent stories on Blizzard pissing off everyone who bought Diablo once again. These jokers either can't, or don't want to just make products people enjoy playing. ABK seems broken at it's core. Is MS capable of fixing that culture?

I once worked for MS. They have a great working environment and treat employees with respect and good benefits/pay. But can they fix this trashy company? I do not know.

I do not believe it should cost 70B to find out.

@Somebody no it doesn't balance sheet wise. But logically it does. You spend 70B on a specific division you expect ROI on that. You either expect ROI or you are simply collecting companies or you are trying to block a competitor.

If I was a C level manager at Vanguard or Blackrock I would demand answers to these questions.

@Moonglow I'm not talking about Zenimax. ABK cost 10x the amount that Zenimax did.

You are talking about becoming bigger overnight? It has been 22 years. That is multiple human generations when we are talking tech. They can't even maintain share. The xbox has been losing market share since the 360.

So when do you throw in the towel? Never? How many checks to awful indies can you write?

These are questions that MS will hopefully have to answer when the big investors ask.

@NEStalgia they are such talented folks - I am really glad they don't want to get stuck in a rut of making one game (like Gamefreak or Treyarch). It is going to make them better developers all around imo.

I hope this game is great and if so - achieves high level success.

@Moonglow and the earnings report - which isn't based on emotion - shows that their vision is failing. Failing mightily. Will they be any closer to Sony and Nintendo after the deal? After promising non-exclusivity to those companies. I do not think it will noticeably move the needle.

@Lightning720 same goes for you, pal.

@Somebody The gaming division is going to be a massive money loser next year unless the gaming division suddenly makes 100B dollars.

They spent 70B on Activision. The gaming division will not make 70B next year. After spending 70B that doesn't mean poof that money doesn't count any longer.

@somnambulance I found Ac from a magazine disc on the Playstation 1. You never know.

@Lightning720 For the investment input - both time and acquisitions - the fact it is barely beating LinkedIn is not good.

I believe this statement - is either to assuage investors or give Satya the opportunity to back out. Why mention the deal at all?
Who is questioning that it will go through or not now? Apparently Satya is.

Imo, It is a terrible deal. 70B for ABK is still so much more than the company was ever worth. To this day ABK is still fleecing, making customers irate on the daily.

I feel it is a big mistake. But smart people work for MS so...
But I do think they could still back out and save billions and billions in the process.

@Lightning720 1% when you have next to zero market share? Hardware DOWN of all things after three years of nothing?

In what way is this a positive? How can you put any positive spin on this? There is nothing, and I mean that quite literally, nothing positive in this.

It is making Microsoft's entire brand look bad. It is a drag on the company from a branding, profitability and an allocation of resources perspective. Frankly, I don't understand why they keep it afloat. I understand even less why they'd deplete their cash reserve by a whopping 60% for a company so many people loathe. ABK is still getting terrible press - which for some reason Purexbox is avoiding.

These numbers are nothing short of absolutely pathetic. I know investors are probably thinking this entire division isn't worth the effort. So far - after multiple decades now - it simply isnot.

A big part of me still thinks MS wants to back out of this deal. With the earning report yesterday showing absolute dismal numbers for the gaming division they'd be better off selling the division completely and using those human resources to make so much more money at the spaces MS dominates in.. I know Satya knows this.

People here will argue this all day - but gaming is a huge drag on this company I can only see it's value as a foil to Tencent and to a lesser degree Sony - nothing else.

I don't get why there has been next to no hype for this game up until now. It's From Software who have been on a tear for years now. Armored Core is a once legend franchise. It used to get middling reviews because the BroSet who wrote for game magazines wouldnt pay attention to anything other than FPSs and Madden. AC was always a great series. This one looks fantastic. I'm paying full price.

@Cherip-the-Ripper Circa 2012 Bethesda and Valve hatched a scheme to start charging for Skyrim mods - mods made by talented do-gooders who made the game endlessly better than the vanilla console version. I believe the split was 70-30. 70 going to Bethesda/Valve but of course.

People rebelled mightily and it died. I still think if Bethesda weren't bought out they'd give it another go. Heck, they might.

@SacredPYRO people weren't willing to spend 10 bucks on it is why.

I met a group of people playing Final Fantasy 11 on the PS2...once we tired of the MMO grind we all collectively decided on the 360 as our next landing spot. We were swept up in the Gears hype. They we moved on to Call of Duty 4 - that 360 era marked the last golden age of gaming in my opinion. Which ended around 2012 when Valve + Bethesda tried to start selling other people's work. [good Bethesda feelings now discount just how big of scumbags they have been in the past]

Gaming has been on a steep decline since 2012 until the Switch. The Switch has pulled this industry back away from the muck and mire. I don't care if you hate the Switch - it's responsible for this industry not becoming a complete quagmire.