Chimera_Police

Boooooooo. I prefer a world where they are doing cool Crash and Tony Hawk stuff over them crunching on Overwatch bs.

Donut Country is awesome. Totally worth 2 hours of mindless, relaxing fun. If you like Katamari, give it a shot.

The best quote here: “ “What are you going to do when you’re married and stressed? Tell your wife that you need to play Xbox?” she said to her son during the interview.”

Yes. And that can be healthy too.

Let’s be real here, guys. 40 hours is a lot of time. Play out how that might work. School 8-2, then game/online 2-6 and 10-12 on weekdays and 5 hrs each weekend day. If I were the parents in this case, I’d be concerned too. Getting in the Times feels like a bad move - but that kind of time doesn’t happen without parents looking the other way and I don’t think you can blame the kid for this.

@blinx01 wouldn’t Starfield be announced? Or are we assuming unannounced could just mean unannounced release date?

@Senua I’m choosing not to believe this to keep expectations low. But. too. Late. Return of Banjo Kazooie????

The 2021 part is throwing me off and makes me think it would be more AA experiences like Battletoads. With that said, Splinter Cell or a return to Jet Set Radio would be cool...

Turing Test is awesome and totally worth playing. Puzzle solving plus walking sim, with some portal vibes. It’s not too long either.

I picked up Xcom 2, Resident Evil 6 and Watch Dogs 2 (which just went on sale). Was tempted by Fifa 21 and Far Cry New Dawn, but didn’t pull the trigger on either.

@Tarps good choices. Jealous you get to play them for the first time!

Also. Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for $3, Overcooked for $5, Sleeping Dogs for $5 and Batman: Arkham Knight for $5 should be honorable mentions and are all totally worth the price of admission. Outside of Overcooked and maybe Batman, I don’t think those are on Game Pass.

If you don’t have game pass, Sunset Overdrive and Ori are the best use of $5 out there.

So it’s $10 extra to get the optimized version? That makes sense, I guess. Do we know if you can just buy it as a $10 digital add on if you get the base version? That would mostly eliminate the issue and be more consumer-friendly.

Thankfully, this won’t be a problem in a year.

Maybe it’s not apples to apples loading up 4K / 60 and ray tracing compared to 1080 / 30. I’m still curious tho.

@FraserG I was going to say Cyberpunk... because even if it works on Xbox One, I’m guessing load times will be a beast. Guess that will be a little bit of a wait. It would be interesting to hear how AC Valhalla and Call of Duty compare, and maybe an older game with heavier load times like RDR2.

For me personally, part of the reason that I’m going to upgrade is that while my OG Xbox One and controller still hold up (and are quiet!), I feel like those are games that I’m not going to want to experience on the older platform. Is Cyberpunk a 90-hour game on Xbox One and 85-hour game on Series X because of load times? It’s kind of crazy to think about how that stuff adds up.

@FraserG Hey Fraser, any chance we could get a comparison for loading times between the original Xbox One and the Series X? I feel like most of the coverage to date has been comparisons between the One X and Series X. I know, I know, it should be a no-brainer. But I want to know! Not sure if that was part of the embargo / NDA.

@everynowandben I really liked Jedi Fallen Order and it does have some Tomb Raider vibes, but it’s also a souls-like and gets pretty difficult at points. Would just know that going in. Kotor is a great recommendation. I also enjoyed Battlefront 2 for the single player - it’s a balanced, short single player that is worth getting into for sure. If only we could get an up-rezzed rogue squadron, I would be all about that.

Oh man. I was waiting for Star Wars Squadrons to get a discount. Boom! That plus the amazon 25% cash back deal on Xbox credit for prime day made that more like a $22 purchase. The backlog just shifted back a spot.

I would be down with this as a limited beta for Multiplayer only. That feels more reasonable and would let them get the servers up and running. Even if it’s only three maps and limited options, I’d love to play some multiplayer Halo over the holidays. Heck, give me Blood Gulch and legacy weapons only, and I’d be happy. Given the way single-player is set up, it feels like that would be harder to release piecemeal. Whatever helps sell the most boxes so Microsoft can make more.

@FraserG Cool. The Falconeer, Enlisted and Yakuza I guess would round out that list of - only on Xbox launches.

@Sikthvash agree on those being cool showcases of experiences that might push people over the edge.

I think Cyberpunk and Call of Duty might help too. Personally, I’m wondering what the difference in loading times/performance will be for those because I’m leaning away from even trying to play them on my og Xbox one.

@FraserG Is Bright Memory 1.0 the only game that’s exclusive to Series on this list? I know a bunch are exclusive to Xbox One/Series.... with maybe the new Tetris Effect and Gears Tactics being the games launching on console at that time.

In other news, Microsoft only allowed Apple TV on Xbox after Apple agreed to allow each show to be reviewed separately by Microsoft and accessible from the Microsoft store separately. Wait, how would THAT make sense??

A lot of these games function as games as a service anyways, where they want you to be in the ecosystem and buying battle passes or cards.

Play Madden anywhere or play FIFA anywhere are pretty compelling points of differentiation. The RPG lineup also gets boosted by Dragon Age, right? I wonder if an Activision deal might be next. It feels like we’re heading down a path of Microsoft saying - “hey, if you just want to play Halo, Call of Duty and Madden each year - don’t spend $500 for a box and $210 a year on games, just spend $120 a year to get all that and more.”

On a related note, I feel like there are tons of dormant franchises I would love to see return. Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia, and Crazy Taxi need to come back. And let’s not forget ECCO THE DOLPHIN. kidding. But a modern vectorman could be cool.

I actually think this would make sense. Sega has beloved IP, including stuff for kids, which is in shorter supply in the portfolio. If you think Xbox wants to be the new Netflix, great IP is what you need.

@CaptainRPG ditto! I missed it the first time. Immortals looks pretty fun too.

That’s an interesting look... I’m down with it. But I’m more interested in the specs and how it compares to current gen.

@electrolite77 took a while to click for me too, but then it opens up. Totally worth experiencing, but it’s not a game I’d recommend rushing through. Part of the charm of it is stumbling across a weird tree one minute, finding a legendary animal the next and then being ambushed by bandits - while on the way to your objective. The interruptions and discovery are the best parts, and I don’t think you appreciate that as much when trying to crush the main storyline.

@BANJO it will be discounted again! Shows up regularly on xb and steam stores. But it’s totally worth diving into.

Aka no one would pay what we wanted

Thought this trailer was pretty great. We need more funny games. Journey to the Savage Planet was one of my favorites recently... Wish it was coming sooner!

@InterceptorAlpha thanks! Based on that, I’ll probably pass on the Xbox version. It’s on sale for Switch too!

Is scribblenauts worth it? I played remix on iOS. Not sure if I need more.

That’s pretty cool. I was lukewarm on Battletoads, but I think I’m going to give it a shot. Love game pass.

@Gipsons oh man, finding time to play red dead is a talk order. I finished it on game pass, but it’s a commitment and I haven’t even touched the multiplayer. I feel bad for anyone that’s only 20 hours into it and accessing through game pass. My advice to them would be to buy it and take your time.

Maybe Injustice 2 or the Wolfenstein 2-pack. Activision’s discounts were pretty weak, or I might have picked up one of the Call of Duty games I missed. Anyone who missed Ori 1, Sunset Overdrive, or the Tomb Raider games has no excuse now!

The backlog is already too real. I might be tempted if Control, Modern Warfare or Sekiro show up. Or maybe a great indie or heavily discounted oldie (looking at you, Far Cry Primal).

I’m just glad they made this decision before pre-orders went up. You’ve got to imagine that even if the status today was “maybe it will be ready”, they’d have to take the safer approach to avoid that customer service nightmare.

Makes sense. The earlier the better.

I don’t think this is an accurate interpretation of this letter. It’s a management shakeup, and all that line is intended to do is show who has responsibility for the studios right now after three leaders have been shown the door. That’s important because deals take time to work through both before and after they are announced. For all we know, a deal could have been made a month ago and it may just not be public yet.

A better interpretation might have been - ATT shakes up management. No news on potential sale for WB studios.

@Jaxx420 not to mention that a game like GTA6 makes most of its money through online, which benefits from NOT cutting off a portion of its player base. I could see something like the new Batman going timed exclusive.

Love this. Kind of squashes the “game pass is bad for developers” sentiment. Kind of! Just like how Netflix means more cool content creation, consumption and overall funding for the industry, it does change the dynamics for those who don’t get a deal.

Cool. I love these weekend deals, though I rarely feel like I have time to jump in and take full advantage. Some might get salty about how Call of Duty is multiplayer only, but I have heard the campaign is short, so it makes sense not to give that away.

@everynowandben give it time. If Apple feels like they’re losing people from their ecosystem by not offering it, and honestly, it’s a pretty great selling point for going Android, they’ll bite the bullet. You can now buy music and movies from Amazon and use them on your iPhone. Why not games!

Also, doesn’t this feel like deja vu after the whole “Spider-man won’t be in Avengers movies anymore” fiasco?

I don’t know about a boycott, but buying the Xbox version is a whole lot less appealing. It would be one thing if it was a minor character or if each platform had an exclusive, but it’s hard to not feel like you’re getting less for the same price because spider-man is so beloved. Would there be less backlash if this was paid DLC?

Interesting. I would think this would work fine for some games (like a walking sim a la “What Remains is Edith Finch” or a turn-based RPG like Civiliazation or the South Park rpgs), but not most. Might be a nice way to get some simple puzzling in when on the go. But I’ll pass on touch controls for most games.

I would probably keep games with gold, but it just depends on the quality of what’s on offer. I loved playing through Watch Dogs, Sleeping Dogs, Inside, Turing Test, Gone Home and Saints Row IV through the service. I know people complain about quality, but just 1-2 games per year that connect with me personally make it worth the price.

Thought this looked cool. It had some Journey to the Savage Planet vibes, and Image and Form tends to nail character, humor and great gameplay loops.