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@OldGamer999 I have recently started to stream trials.. they tend to last about 2 hours and require a 100GB download. Easier to stream those two hours and sample the game.

@OldGamer999 objectively Sony's streaming tech is better compared to Xbox currently. That is against all odds and expectations, but it's what it is. They are just not advertising it as hard 🤷‍♂️
I believe Sony streams PS5 version of the game at 1080p60, whereas MS streams XSS version at 720p60 (edit: there are ways to get 1080p60, but there is artifacting compared to PS). That is not crucial difference on a small screen if you are streaming to a steamdeck like device. Also, Sony's service is more stable with less drops/freezes on average (far better then it used to be just a couple of years ago). Additionally, MS has a minor advantage in input lag (56 ms vs 52 ms), but that is really negligible for most casual users.

@GeorgeKal I'm gonna assume you are just trolling and wish you Happy holidays! 😄

@Coletrain "There's no reason windows shouldn't be able to layer stuff well, it already does on Xbox consoles."
It in no way represents how the current Xbox Series works (which I think does it well), but I have always loved the Seamus Blackley story about randomly removing DLLs and checking if it'll boot when optimizing Windows for the first Xbox

People might hate on me for this, but I really hope SteamOS and Linux raise their share significantly. It is already incredibly easy to set proton on a regular linux distro, and performance in many cases is not that bad.
Due to configurability and lightweight nature, performance should be higher compared to Windows, but sadly all translation layer shenanigans need to happen.
All this is to say, I believe Windows is a terrible basis for a gaming system, due to many dependencies and intricacies developed exclusively for all-purpose desktop systems that are hard to extract.
Hopefully MS creates a super-optimized version of the OS, but historically they are only adding to the stack, never properly removing bloat.

@Cakefish definitely worth claiming as I believe Battlefront 2 got the bad rep due to microtransactions, but was in fact one of the better shooters and Star Wars games at the time.

I swear, I read that subtitle: by taking the joy out of gaming everywhere. 🤦‍♂️

Kind of a shame that reviews got published before the Path Tracing update landed. Personally, I'm interested in how it will transform/change visuals, although I think they are fine as they are.

I was kind of surprised by a low score here and I wanted to check the state of the game for myself. So I fired up first couple of hours of a walkthrough on YT.
Few takeaways:

• getting this out of the way, it is not a game I wanted it to be
• technically it seems rather good, no big issues, beautiful visuals and production values all around
• person playing the game doesn't seem to be good at it, which took some fun out of experience
• I visited opening locales over last year and it was fun catching glimpse of actual details
• gameplay feels a bit boring, unless it changes significantly later on
  All in all, seems like a good/great game, just not my type of thing.

@Fiendish-Beaver well, you really don't have to live with it. It's a piece of tech, a gaming box under/next to your TV. You can always change it for a reasonable price to a one that offers you more for your buck. It's a console, not a godly creature with users it's following

Haven't played in a few months, so I missed latest updates, but it really wasn't that great before. Very sterile and plain feeling from menus and career mode, weird driving model, just plain villainous AI and even worse online players.
For my money, GT7 and even F1 23/24 are much better and exciting games.

The Quarry is a better game than it was given credit at the time of release. On a short side though, so perfect to take on before being removed.

I have completely forgotten this ever existed. Which is weird, because I liked the idea of it.
Maybe it will be a shadow drop sometime in the future.. (one can dream)

My logic might be flawed, but isn't Sony already in this market? Portal streams PS5 and cloud games. My assumption is this new console would be Portal 2, including streaming PS5, cloud games, and last gen local play (or something similar).
I do hope MS can enter handheld arena strongly, meaning with a proper device and ecosystem (as MS branded Rog Ally alternative won't cut it).

@Balaam_ local media preview called visual design style "Unreal Engine 5 Stock". Still, game might be good, doesn't have to be a looker.

@UBERSICKO well, there is a small caveat with those 40 million people. It's 40 million people who tried/downloaded a game that at one point was the only decent new product MS had on GP. I would assume all 30 million subs (not sure about the number) at least gave it a chance, which is what they would have done for any of the games on that list if they were on GP day 1.
On the other hand on Steam, I think game has a 18k user peak over the last 30 days. I'm not saying it's not popular, it's just not as popular as the likes of Fortnite or Diablo 4.

All this seems perfectly on brand for Stalker game. Every game in the series has been released broken and compromised, but had core to become great following the excessive patching. I would have been surprised if this one was any different.

A bit delusional if you ask me.. it's a good game, but was a bit boring/sameish compared to FH4. Also, nominees are genuine juggernauts compared to FH5..

Might sound harsh, but I think only ones that should win are Hellblade 2 for Performance and CoD for MP.. wasn't a particularly great year.

This is awesome. After selling my used Xbox, it seems I still happen to have a few now. Honestly, it might be hard to run out of Xboxes.

Can't wait for NeXtBoX to be revealed as largest technical leap for a console ever at $399..
I don't want to be rude, but $1000 is just a number attached to a type of paper bill. What matters is what does that combination get you on the market at that point in time. Prices have been going up on everything and with purchasing power as it is, it gets you about the same amount of products $500 would get you 7 years ago.
I understand mind barriers and sticker shock, but realistically we are all getting shaken every week when we see re-revised prices of groceries. It's time to stop focusing on the number, and start focusing on the relative (maintained?) quality of life.

Definitely just marketing BS.
What it's gonna end up being is proprietary AI upscaling (that might be similar to PSSR, and probably worse than DLSS), and cloud computing integration (which I'm not a fan of, as it makes playing current games even less likely in the future if core mechanics rely on cloud services).

Glad Kojima owns the game now. But it is one of the most boring experiences ever, and should be studied at universities due to how a charisma and artist's brand can influence customer's decision making capabilities. If Kojima was not attached to the project, DS would be a 4/10 flop.

Not 100% of this, but I believe I've read there is/was a cutoff point after which all games published on PS5 have to also provide PS5 Pro enhancements. Also, what that means is a bit ambiguous (in principle, it needs to leverage 2 out of 3 PS5 pillars, or some similar marketing rubbish). Reminiscent of X/S parity I suppose.
As it's about to become a forced standard anyway, why not start with the BO6?

Astro bot. That game is on another level in every way that matters.
Sad to see just one MS game, but it was a particularly bad year for team green :/

I was expecting comments to be all over this, given how much everyone here seems to dislike Insomniac's creative direction and PS5 exclusives. Personally, I love them and believe Horton to be a great addition to any team.
However, I'm not sure there is any more hope left for PD. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's just been too many creative and team changes..

Recently I tried to get back to this game.. You can see gameplay parts that have made it into Spidey games, but it is also very rough around the edges and the formula was not yet polished. I bet sequel would have ruled.
Over the top aesthetic can be a bit annoying (very very large bit), but that also could have been toned down.

Not sure if it's just me, but these "chest pumps" by MS seem to be in really poor taste.

Feels like MS changes strategy weekly at this point. Maybe sticking with a plan instead of reacting to first "zero context" impression would do wonders for them.
Also, Indy acceptance by PS owners might be disappointing because it just does not look like that good of a game anymore. With every new trailer Xbox owners have cooled on the prospect too.. (if online chatter is anything to go by, which it might not be)

I'd say my purchases have been 50/50 between Switch and Playstation. I recently sold my XSS, which was always the plan unless something unexpected impressed me, but I have never purchased a single game for it. It was my GP machine as long as subscription lasted.
Doesn't seem fair I know, but I just didn't want to get locked into yet another ecosystem without any reasonable benefit (there were no exclusives for me to buy).

@kuu_nousee AMD has really dropped the ball when it comes to dedicated hardware upscaling. They started talking about it as a new thing just now. Basically, handicapped this whole generation of consoles. Switch 2 is gonna end up having DLSS and "big" consoles won't 🤦‍♂️

@kuu_nousee disappointing as it might be, ML in Series consoles was more marketing than useful piece of hardware. I believe that was agreed upon multiple times by DF folk and such, mainly capabilities of that hardware are too low to be used in any upscaling capacity.
Which is to be expected, as it's on par with GTX generation of cards which are not powerful enough for DLSS or even decent TSR.

@kuu_nousee more I think about it, more I feel like PS5 Professional might not be overpriced in todays economy. Personally I don't need it and will not get one unless through a wild ISP deal or similar, but compared to MS offering it looks like a better option.

I'm gonna choose to believe no significantly different version (modular disc) has been developed and pricing looks as such, because all that RND money has went into handheld console development. At least I hope that is what it is

@8bit4Life @Titntin as somebody who just recently sold mine.. they are not flying off the shelf. Had to take a bit of a hit just to move it before a flud of second hand consoles hits the market (xbox disappointment and PS5 regular upgraders).
Just to chime in on Nintendo layoffs discourse, I love that company (although it hates it's fans) but I think that is part of Japanese culture more than stakeholders bottom line. There is a very strong consciousness about common prosperity/good in that country, on all levels, that it would be a suicide in public eye to go against it.

Insert a mandatory "sony, xbox, holding a beer" joke here.

@Rog-X I have no idea why you would go back to this comment almost a month later, except maybe because you didn't agree with my assessment of the Xbox Tokyo Show quality.
Either way, there are no more exceptional conversion rates, or far cheaper 3rd party options. Maybe if I was willing to region hop.
But, it's just not worth it for me. And I FULLY believe there are people who play 40+ games a year, and they will get their moneys worth, as GP will provide decent quality with Netflix convenience.
I've played through like 4-5 games, 2 of which were Trek to Yomi (7$ at the time I played it) and Hellblade 2 (which is a 5 hour game). Many games I tried out, and did not stick with. I could have done the same thing through YouTube for free. So yeah, at current 3rd party and conversion rates it doesn't make sense for me.

Edit: Number 3 was Psychonauts 2. That was a fun game, I'm actually sad I don't own now 😃

Host was great, show however left things to be desired.

This was a good joke when Phil said it, made me giggle. Now the social marketing is taking out all the fun out of it.

@Romans12 two years of GPU cost me 90 USD. Once that ran out, I've sold my Xbox and I'm sure I'm not the only one.. maybe that should be reported?

That s*cks. MS keeps making these rounds, with no sign of actually turning business around.
I'll get hated for this, but my GPU subscription ran out a few days back and I did not extend it. Actually, I quickly sold my Xbox too.
Main reason is I don't believe in the current platform or it's longevity. Good luck to everybody affected and I hope they find new jobs soon, but I won't be investing into a sinking ship.

This makes a second very public immediate reaction by MS after they were called out. Very sad and terrible business practices.
Does this mean everybody should vent poor treatment publicly to get support teams attention?

@Pabpictu these games are basically gamings equivalent of a B slasher movie. And quite a lot of people (myself included) happen to love those, as long as they are properly priced and self- aware.

I'm a bit suspicious of the result when letting UE5 "optimize" for itself.. historically it turned image quality to "you know what" on XSS as it would lower resolution too low for FSR to be able to help. TSR seems to be too taxing for XSS, so that crutch is out of the window.. it's basically manual optimization and tweaking, or "water painting" image.

Somehow, Palpatine returns, and PX will find a way to blame multiple developers for getting their games stuck in MS release pipeline, instead of a service provider (MS) who's obligation is clearly to streamline and help with this process.
Actually, MS supposedly has Advanced Technology Group, a team that helps get games to Xbox, but it seems to only be helping teams who's games are going directly to GP..

Unfortunately, I won't be around for it as my GP subscription has finally ran out (and no way am I extending full price). This was one of the games that I would like to checkout, but probably wouldn't stick with it till the end.

On the subject of subscription, is it me or did MS at some point turn auto renewal back on for me (I disabled it manually again on the last day)?

Tried it out for a while.. not for me. But then no CoD really is, so that tracks.
However, I haven't played CoD in years and BO6 felt just as they ever did. Honestly, I couldn't tell these games apart.

Totally expect this game to release running at 25FPS on XSS.
It would be interesting to know if MS investing all this time into consulting and helping these teams to release on XSS was actually financially worth it.

Do a crossover with Concord, that will surely work.

My guess would be situation is a bit more complicated than an exclusivity deal, which is why nobody is making any public announcements.
Most likely scenario, team developed for PC first and had issues porting to any of the 2 powerful consoles. Sony stepped in first and offered to help with porting (as a way to boost PS5 sales in China market). Team opted to go with that offer even if MS made one, as porting to Xbox meant optimizing 2 versions vs 1, and their home market has more interest in PS over Xbox hardware.
It could be something completely different though, we might never know..