Feffster

XBSX - Indy, AoE4, Forza Motorsport
PS5Pro - Bust-A-Move 2, Astros Playroom, WRC Generations

Have a good one everyone.

Just need to fix the issue of me being rubbish at the game and job done.

@FraserG - thank you!

Brilliant game, still play it every week and love the changing seasons. The condensed mini-map merging the Cotswolds, Lakes and Edinburgh is inspired, as are the changing seasons. Stayed near Windermere and Ambleside in September and the resemblance is uncanny.

Can’t beat the progressive, mid-race, weather changes and gorgeous lighting (golden sunsets reflecting on snow and ice) -better than any other race game out there - and that includes FH5, Forza Motorsport and GT7.

Hope it stays back-compat for decades to come.

@Titntin - I turned off motion blur - might be worth trying to see if that helps?

Hope it does, it’s a cracking game.

Best graphics (by a mile) and sound of any game I’ve played this past year (including anything on PS5 Pro) and generally I don’t ‘do’ 30fps games. Well deserved, even if it’s more of an experience than a game. It really is an impressive title.

I’d completely forgotten about Towerborne.

2025 already looking busy for Microsoft - Avowed, Towerborne, South of Midnight, Doom The Dark Ages, CoD 2025, Fable?

Well that’s a bullseye from Microsoft 🎯

@abe_hikura - that sounds poor. Presumably if you can demonstrate that you’ve earned an achievement (against your gamertag) for either or both of the expansions it MUST prove you’ve previously paid for them?

I still have some of the older CoD games on disc, but happy to see them come to Gamepass. Just wish they could give them a resolution boost also.

The ones I really want to drop on GP are Black Ops III, Black Ops Cold War, Modern Warfare 2 remastered, Modern Warfare (2019) and Modern Warfare 2 (2022).

Really impressed so far, looks superb and enjoying the mix of stealth and action. What a nice change to boot up a game on release and find it polished and bug free. Watched Raiders of the Lost Ark at the weekend in preparation!

@BANJO - sorry for any confusion- didn’t know there was more than one! He’s already acknowledged my earlier comment.

Blimey, this turned into a sh1t-storm didn’t it?

Opinions vary, each to their own - no harm in that. But not good to see readers (and staff!) sniping at each other. In fairness to @Banjo he’s always pretty positive and his original comment doesn’t outright accuse anyone of anything - it’s so easy to draw the wrong inference from a sentence. Texts and emails can often be misinterpreted, so a comment on a gaming site is hardly a hanging offence!

Anyway, looking forward to playing Indy next week. I find stealth games a bit marmite - loved Splinter Cell back in the day but never much of a fan of Metal Gear. Cautiously optimistic about Indy but I guess we’ll all have our own opinions by this time next week.

I think there needs to be some sort of halfway house for Xbox consoles - well at least for those of us with less than perfect broadband speeds.

After the patches I can finally play it but it’s nowhere near as smooth or detailed as the previous game - so I’m uninstalling again.

Maybe add an option to install data by continent, or country, to keep the data needed to something manageable.

We could then delete and download another area when ready.

Mmmm, I wonder if my Series X will allow me to download & install WRC after yesterday’s shenanigans with the Indy download.

Does anyone know if Indy is reserving that extra 130GB of space or was it just some sort of weird download quirk?

565 hours. Equal split for AoE4 and Toy Soldiers (!) 104 hrs each. Starfield, PGA Golf and CoD make the top 5. Honourable mentions for The Orange Box (Half Life 2 and Portal at 4k60 rocks on Series X) and Powerslave Exhumed, which was an actual blast from the past.

@MaccaMUFC - I’m in U.K. - 97, 265 reward points. When I wake up and I’m coming to in the morning I log into the Xbox app, then do the daily sets while I’m having my cup of tea. I search on Bing, play Xbox most days. I don’t chase achievements. The rest takes care of itself. I could get an extra 60 points a day by searching on my phone, but I only do that once in a blue moon.

I only redeem points against 3month Gamepass Ultimate (to get the best value).

The only way we’ll see PS games on Xbox is via the back door. If the NextBox is a PC for the living room then anything PlayStation ports to PC will be on Xbox by default.

@Ep1c3racked - you might want to submit a ticket to the developers. I had some performance issues on an update a month or two ago and reported it - the developers came straight back to me and worked on a quick fix.

WTF!….263.1GB on Series X. I have 199.7GB free but this 131.7GB game is telling me I need to delete to create more space.

What odds there’ll be a 120GB patch to pre-install tomorrow?

Pretty decent - much better now than at launch. Certainly enough for me to dip in and out of quick races regularly. Graphics (performance mode, Series X) are excellent - silky smooth, pin sharp and very little pop-in or aliasing. In many ways I prefer the game to GT7 on my PS5Pro but it’s all a matter of opinion. Lots of content still ‘missing’, but it is growing steadily with each update.

Forza Motorsport is a nice addition for those on Standard rather than Ultimate. Not perfect but pretty polished nowadays - Series X visuals (4K performance mode) often look sharper and more detailed than GT7 on my PS5Pro.

@smoreon - I might be wrong but my head is saying it is at 60. It’s on Gamepass, so you can download from there if you have it. I didn’t ever play the original on PC - just Crimson Skies High Road To Revenge back in the day (original Xbox). I’ll have a look over the weekend and see how it’s running on Series X.

Edit - from IGN “ 60 fps
Check out the first 12 minutes of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge gameplay on Xbox Series X. With the Original Xbox game releasing today on Game Pass, you can now play Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge at 60 fps, among other graphical improvements.”

@darylb24 - thanks for that, definitely will give it another go after the updates are rolled out.

@smoreon - I’m pretty sure Crimson Skies does now run at 60fps (Gamepass, Series X….so probably Series S as well).

Does anyone know what the recommended minimum internet speed requirement is for smooth play? My home broadband is 69Mb/s

RDR2, RDR1, The Orange Box (yes, I know there’s a hack but it’s a ball ache), Hellblade 2, Avowed, Dishonored 2, Quantum Break, Portal 2, Crash Bandicoot Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Assasins Creed 3 remastered (the 4K version) and Sunset Overdrive.

Oh, and the new Fable….please.

@Banjo- each to their own, but I’m enjoying the game so far (about 50% in). As I said above, I appreciate that the two games are going to be very different - but there are still likely to be comparisons.

Definitely hoping it (Indy) turns out well 🤞

Fingers crossed 🤞. Not sure Microsoft can afford any more launch day disasters - any more and we should be asking for a discount for Day 1 games being included with Gamepass Ultimate, rather than paying a premium.

I’m currently playing through Uncharted 4 on PS5 and it is polished, superbly presented and well scripted - I appreciate Indy is going to be a very different game, but if it can match Uncharted on those elements then we might just have a decent game coming our way.

I thought it would be Stalker 2 and Flight Sim but I’m giving both more time to cook.

Series X - Forza Horizon 4 and PGA Tour
PS5Pro - Uncharted 4 and Wipeout Omega Collection

Have a good one everyone.

Really hoping this is great but sounds like it is another game coming in hot. Ironic also that Avowed got bumped to February but Microsoft insist that it is finished and ready to go.

I’m sure everyone could have coped with another small delay, just to help the devs get a win.

Managed to get the game to load this morning…well, sort of…

On my (not great) connection it is taking 5-7 mins to load through the intro videos. They look absolutely stunning, so I’m itching to get into the game proper. Unfortunately the game is hitching just past the initial menus - I can’t get past the ‘Customize Identity’ screen.

Hope they can get it up and running soon as those intro graphics look superb.

Oh dear. Embarrassing. And just for good measure Stalker 2 has a 36.7GB update after today’s earlier 137GB update.

Isn’t current gen just peachy 🍑

@Scrubchub - it’s replacing it.

We had exactly the same with the BLOPS6 pre-install.

Just hope it’s a cracking game. Looking forward to seeing it in action tomorrow.

Well done Ubisoft 👏

Why not negotiate a rolling contract with the associated parties at the outset? Eg, an initial licence fee for 6-8 years followed by a reducing annual royalty which can be terminated (subject to an agreed notice period).

Thankfully I got my free download code. If I remember correctly I think you had to be a fully paid-up Gamepass subscriber at the date they announced the free download (plus having previously paid for in game content). I think they said that if the Gamepass subscription was discounted then you wouldn’t qualify for a code. Perhaps that could be the reason some people haven’t received a code?

The whole thing reminds me of a typical scene from “Yes Minister”.

I’m pretty certain they are as clueless as us regarding what the actual strategy is.

Update has caused mayhem with my Series X - update fully downloaded but is stuck at 47% on ‘Finishing things up…’

Controller now will now shut down with the console.

Tried restart and console wouldn’t boot….had to disconnect everything and restart.

Update still stuck…..!

Not good.

Ok, short term they make extra $s from PS5 game sales but what about the long term?…if there’s a shift away from Xbox consoles (which looks more likely with news like this) then Gamepass subs must surely suffer?

They can’t rely on PC to fill the subscription gap and those 20-30 million console subs bring in a lot of reliable cash flow.

@johnK - yes, all games will run off one of these ‘official’ expansion cards.

Great if you want extra room and simple plug & play but I’m quite happy with a much cheaper 4TB external SSD for all XBSX ‘Gen9 aware’, XB1, 360 & OG XB games.

Plenty of room left over to store/shuffle XBSX titles when space gets tight. It’s fast too, so no hassle when stuff needs moving.

All three, just hoping they are all top notch.

I don’t have a problem with the content, just the lack of clarity about what’s being added where and the way it is described/presented - what a whole world of confusion they’ve created!

eg….I think ‘Console’ actually means “Coming to Gamepass Ultimate but NOT Xbox Gamepass Standard or Gamepass Core” whereas ‘Xbox Gamepass Standard’ means “This game is already on Gamepass Ultimate and is being added to Gamepass Standard as well but not Gamepass Core”.

We-aim-to-confuse-dot-com.

Great news 👍 & less than 6 weeks to release

@Banjo- yes, fingers crossed for good console performance. I guess we’ll know the answer soon enough.

@Kezelpaso - nice preview and video Ben. Any indication from Machine Games as to how close the Series X version will get to these visuals (I’m assuming the fact that this is PC footage likely means it was on Ultra settings?)

Just when you think you’ve seen everything…

@m3lvins - just a thought, and I’m not at all sure this will work but might be worth a try….

Do you subscribe to Gamepass Ultimate? If yes, the following might be relevant…

I installed CoD for the first time when MWIII released on Gamepass - maybe that’s an easier install for you? If you get MWIII installed ok then just search under Gamepass for Black Ops 6 and click - it should pre-load the campaign AND multiplayer from there - you won’t then need the launcher because you’ll already have it (& you can uninstall anything you don’t want from ‘Manage Game’)

PS - gaming on console really shouldn’t be this complicated, but I’m afraid that’s a sign of the times - Microsoft has made a pig’s ear of naming their consoles, describing the different levels of Gamepass and I’m finding exactly the same with Sony PlayStation - confusion over how they describe their different PS Plus subscriptions and plenty of weird anomalies on their store as to whether a game is for PS4, enhanced for PS5 or even PS5pro enhanced.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted and fingers crossed for a good game dropping on Friday.

@m3lvins - the advice above should work but if you are stuck…

From your Xbox go to the store.
Search “Call of Duty”
You’ll see lots of results - the ‘launcher/HQ/hub’ or whatever else you want to call it is just listed as “Call of Duty” - it’s got the logo of the person in a cloak and someone wearing a mask behind (see pic above)
Download this onto your Xbox. This isn’t a game as such - but from here you can control what bits of Call of Duty you want to install - so if you want MWIII campaign pick and install that, if you want BO6 campaign then do the same, if you want various multiplayer options pick them.

If you install something you later decide you want to uninstall then just look under the ‘manage game’ options from the Call of Duty installer and uninstall from there. If you delete something by mistake then don’t worry - you can always download and reinstall it.

There’s nothing very complicated about the way the game installs EXCEPT that it can install multiple games under one app, rather than as individual games. This means to play an individual title you will need to go through the Call of Duty launcher and decide what element you want to play - ie which title and which component,…campaign or multiplayer, etc.

Obviously you can’t access the Black Ops 6 part until the game launches (Friday) - but it is available to pre-install if you want to save all that hassle ahead of time.

Good luck!

CoD gets loads of grief for having “massive” files but I’m impressed with what Activision has done lately to address this - a second update yesterday reduced CoD HQ from about 40GB down to under 11GB, and not long ago it was over 100GB!

At the moment I have the campaigns for MWIII installed and BO6 pre installed at around only 120GB for everything.

That’s only c60GB per game - pretty decent especially when compared to the likes of Halo Infinite (109GB) and Far Cry 6 (101GB)

Hoping BLOPS6 is a cracking game - roll on Friday 😃