Cashews

Exoprimal is a big highlight. Arcade Paradise got some pretty good reviews over at NL when it dropped so I'll finally be trying that one out. But, Exoprimal.

@Jenkinss No they don't. MS has roughly 110B in cash. Sony is worth about 120B in cash. MS is not going to spend their entire kitty for god**** video games. Video games are practically worthless for Microsoft. A loss leader in the most real sense of terms. A tiny fraction of their real business. Business, OS, Cloud and possibly AI in the near term.

So what? I am a consumer. It isn't my job to count beans for publishers. They will find value in the system or it will go under. In the meantime I will take part as long as I FIND VALUE.

Here is what I know. The most respectable publisher in the game right now, Capcom, finds it worthwhile. So I guess Capcom hates it too right Jim? Hates it enough to join in. They are releasing Exoprimal. If it is good enough for them it is good enough for me. I plan on playing the sniz out of that game next month.

@themightyant thanks for the mini-mini review!

@themightyant how is this game overall? Compared to other golf games? I haven't played very many modern golf games - I still very much enjoy 3 click golf. This game did catch my eye recently.

@Sol4ris I am not talking about other companies. I am talking about Microsoft.

Why do Sony/MS fans insist on doing this? I know X does this but so does Y so it is okay.

@Jenkinss MS does not have the cash to buy Sony. Activision is eating up half MS's cash (what a waste). Japan would also protect Sony if MS were to make a move. They are Japan's 3rd largest company.

@ChromeMud "It is okay to like their game machines" - that is why I said it okay to be here. I'm here simply for the video games. But Microsoft has always been a leader in anti-consumer practice.

Anyone who doesn't understand this has their head in the sand or they are stupid or they work for Microsoft.

Even fans of xbox have to know Microsoft lies constantly. It is okay to like their game machines but fully understand that they are a immoral corporate machine. They have always been the worst - I suspect they always will be.

@Kaloudz I hear you and respect your take! I guess I was in the series too long. I bought the first one off the shelf and am too invested in OG Dante. I thought the art direction was awful and the combat was forgettable compared to Capcom and Platinum.

@Kaloudz Ninja Theory's DMC was the only DMC I never bothered completing. I could only take a few hours. I hated everything about it. Literally everything about the game was off. Terrible game.

It seems like a bargain. However, I have no doubt it made a small handful of people very rich. Most people do not require Marcus Persson money to live like a king.

@Ep_13 oh. that is more fun. Me: corrected.

@munstahunta So Mario Kart has been on the top 10 list in every country for 6 straight years because of collector's editions. Check. I was wondering what kept it up there for so long.

@munstahunta companies keep telling us physical games will vanish - but the companies that sell physical games still dominate those that don't. The consumer tells Microsoft and Sony what to do - not the other way around.

@Grumblevolcano that could also be the reason they aren't committing to anything. If they lie it could be a curtain call.

Not a lot in there I'm excited about really. Just Flight Sim and possibly Hellblade - if it is a video game rather than a movie.

I'd keep some of those controllers and immediately sell the console for much more than the console would cost retail.

If I won either of those cars I'd replace the EV engine on the '56 and sell the ugly Hummer to someone who wanted to replace the stupid EV engine. No one in their right mind would want an EV engine on a Hummer. Maybe. Anyone who would drive that ugly car might like it.

@ZuneTattooGuy what switch game has a special edition of the game that doesn't come with a physical?

The only game people play that doesn't come with a physical that I know of, is Just Dance. Which doesn't have a special edition.

Real facts: Nintendo is the only physical first of the big 2.5 - and is destroying the other two by extremely large margins. Nintendo completely controls the console video game market at the moment. All you have to do is look at any top ten list from week to week. Frankly, gaming heads of Microsoft AND Sony should all be fired on the spot if they don't improve the situation by January 2024.

These remakes are such a colossal waste of time and resources.

People who play Activision games deserve whatever they get thrown in their face. I don't care about those gamers at all. It is their choice. Everyone knows how bad the company is.

I still hope the Activision deal falls through - although it certainly seems that MS has the momentum in the case.

Bullet: dodged.

Good news. I will abandon this console; this ecosystem in a second if it went full cloud gaming. Even partially really. At the end of the day, No one would really miss it.

Okay. I guess it will suck on the PS6 then.
Also: Jim Ryan just hinted that they are currently trying to move past the PS5 debacle asap.

He should probably start to cut the bull**** now and just work on releasing the game before he looks stupid.

Will use for Cities 2.

@Moby here to read comments when people cheer on giant corporations raising prices on the end user. Yay inflation!

where does it stop? I was a super early adopter of YouTube TV back when cord cutting was still a fairly new movement. I think it was $35. "We aren't cable!" they screamed from every rooftop. Then they started raising prices by $5 every 3 months and started adding channels no one would ever watching in 1000 lifetimes like BET and the Oprah network and became cable. Except with youtubetv you can't call someone and they come to your house to fix it. So it is worse-cable.

That's the play here. MS doesn't want you to own any games. Fine, I can go to Nintendo or stay here. But I'm not going to do a cheerleader pyramid when they do.

I have more money than 99.8% of the world's population. I am in the 2% of US earners (yay me sarcastic confetti). I still say F you to companies that raise prices when they do.

@Kaloudz the gamerpic is Jeanne from Bayonetta.

another crazy thing about this announcement is they chose the exact same time Nintendo throws a direct - and it was a good one. Like...Nintendo is kicking your ass on every metric. Response? A price increase the same hour they release a new 2D Mario game.

bad marketing; bad corporate strategy infuriates me. if they had done this in October - a month after everyone is high on Starfield? Great choice. But today is just dumb Dumb DUMB.

@Kaloudz I'm not calling YOU a stooge. Just a general term really. It is a good service. But there is a limit to what it is worth. $17/month flirts dangerously with that value to me. If/when the $70B deal goes through I have no doubt a good portion of that will be passed on to us - even though MS has the 2nd most cash than any other company on the planet.

@Kaloudz It is a 15% hike. You can appreciate the value or not - rooting for this type of bs makes a person a corporate stooge. It is our job to fight for lower prices not throw a party when they hike 15% - past the rate of inflation.

@Sifi why the living **** are we talking about sony? MICROSOFT JUST RAISED THEIR PRICE. You can be excited about price increases. I'm not about to pretend this is helpful to me - THE CONSUMER. Why the hell would I care about MS's balance sheet?

They gained so much momentum after their showcase. This is a gut punch with god awful timing.
After Nintendo's direct this greatly tempers my hope for this console.

@Kaloudz Mine red ringed twice. I can't explain how much of a bummer it was. Waiting a month while they "fixed" it. Then you'd get some dude's nasty used refurb. The 360 was a classic console- but man did they screw the pooch on that. I think they would have easily won the generation had the machine been built well.

what the ***** is this? what a way to ruin momentum. make the console no one owns more expensive. Good power move MS. I hope the FTC hands your ass to you.

@Kaloudz I bought the upgrade of the 360 back in the day because the OG 360 kept getting red rings of death. The black one worked much better.

It was a very good, very surprising direct. 2 for 3 on showcases.

I grabbed Ace Combat. I'm stoked I used to play all of the time in my first foray into online gaming on the PS2 with AC5.

I'd rate it a 4/10 because of that sweet, sweet cover art.

@Kaloudz The Switch OLED mid gen upgrade was not pointless. 50 bucks more for a much better screen in handheld mode.

@YonkoBuggyTheClown this is my favorite post in a long time

@Dan1283 one of the few companies that realizes "Hey wait a minute...why does everyone hate us?" and then instead of making things worse - so people hate them more and more each year - they pivot and do things everyone loves. Like just making good games.

It seems so simple. But Activision, Square Enix and Electronic Arts can't get this through their necktie stuffed brains to make it work.

I bought Capcom's Asura's Wrath last night for a few bucks. It was made in 2012 I think. I almost didn't because they split multiple episodes into little piddly paid dlc. Like, story critical parts. Like...why? I wouldn't have got it but if you bought the game gamepass allowed you to dl that dlc for free.

It's so easy to not suck. You make so much more money you'd think suits would figure this out.

I was looking through the sales last night before they went offline and came across Anthem...which was about 3 bucks. After laughing a little I thought, "Was there a bigger flop in gaming history?"

That aside - this probably makes sense. I think EA wants to go for a sale eventually and splitting the insanely profitable, all margins, never have to do any work one from the very middling one, maybe have a hit every decade if we are lucky one makes big sense from a wall street perspective.

@Dan1283 Capcom hasn't made a bad game in a while so it's at least worth trying out. I think it looks like dumb fun with really good graphics. I'm guessing it will be Warframe against massive waves of dinos > culminating in a MH style boss loot pinata. Capcom is great at co-op loot games so I'm hopeful.

@UltimateOtaku91 eventually they will make them exclusive - but not this gen. Let the public, courts and govt forget. That's always the plan. It always works.

I find it very embarrassing the United States has become so toothless on anti-trust violations. It is as if we aren't even pretending we aren't all totally in favor of giant monopolies.

@Dan1283 Exoprimal in July. Looks like a Warframe/Monster Hunter but waves instead of big Mons mashup.

@NEStalgia I mean what would NZ really block anyhow- we block Microsoft! Okay, we won't sell our OS there any longer I guess. I'm sure they are simply be used as a proxy for other governments. Much like the UK and FTC here in the states.

No one seems to have issue with Tencent buying everything. Funny.

These were on sale yesterday. I bought Ace Combat, DMC 5 and Asura's Wrath last night. Kind pumped about Asura's Wrath.

Does MS have to care what every rinky dink country thinks? I mean...Britain kind of (stress kind of) matters...but New Zealand just doesn't.

@TheCrafter1578 5 hours sounds about perfect for a Pass game right now. Good, quick games are a rarity.

I understood the Starfield hype after the showcase.

The biggest surprise of the showcase was how critical it became after Sony completely dropped the ball on their dismal showing. I have never seen an ad with so much hype falling so flat. So what should have been a normal showcase for MS became something much larger - they had many more eyes on waiting to deliver than they would have had Sony gave people what they wanted.

They delivered. The only thing missing was a movie trailer for Forza starring Hockey players.

I can respect that. Let Nintendo do it first.