GrailUK

It was good. 8/10. The one game brave enough to go for artistic style got shot down by everyone hoping they fix the frame rate lol (Shadow of Midnight.) The games weren't very diverse, with mostly thematics seperating them. But Perfect Dark gave me goosebumps. Indiana Jones still looks a little stiff to me. But the biggest compliment I can give is it looks like I'll be dusting off my Series S. Microsoft (I'll not call them XBox anymore) are still probably the more cynical of the big 3. Thy got an 8/10 but had to spend 100 billion dollars to pass it off as their own. That will always be nauseating for me.

I think everyone needs to let Microsoft rot. They are making the hobby far too cynical and seem to swan around thinking they are leading the industry. Absolute horseshit.

They are in last place in the console race and carry on like they are leading the industry...

...it's weird.

So basically, they want to grow XBox hardware and Gamepass subscriptions but don't mind slapping the live service games and smaller niche titles that probably didn't hit their targets on other systems. The goal posts probably have wheels fitted so they can be moved as they learn and I'm sure their ultimate long term goal is to have everyone tied to a subscription service somewhere. They get to play the magnanimous card while we are all being herded.

@Kobeandodom Is that a John Lennon song?

Lol! So much has changed? Nah, their long game has become transparently clear. Pull the other one.

@Ashadelo It probably sold more than Morrowind because of the 360 popularity. Suits go by numbers not people's opinions...

@iplaygamesnstuff I'm not spinning anything. Apparently, they downloaded a document for the judge that contained these files accidentally or something. It sounds like someone made a genuine error (and probably going to get in a lot of hot water.) But no, I'm not spinning. Get a grip lol. Article is on VGC if you can bring yourself to read it.

@iplaygamesnstuff It was actually accidentally leaked by Microsoft. I don't think even they are greedy enough to sue themselves!

@GunValkyria Well as long as they don't discontinue the disc version. I want to pick one up at some point.

@mousieone Aww bless you
(He did explicitly say they are playing the long game - something I have been saying for years...)

But...but Phil Spencer claimed the high ground over Sony claiming there was no need for a refresh...

Hahhahahah. You couldn't make it up.

Absolutely disgusting. A wildly arrogant reflection on a company that is totally tone deaf of Nintendo's culture, but wealthy enough to simply buy success.

Hurry up Switch 2, you can't come soon enough. With Phil Spencer wanting to own the industry and turn it into a sterile PC for babies environment and Jim Ryan steering Sony the opposite direction to what I see as gaming, I hope AAA eats itself, whilst fighting over everything.

@HonestHick Sony is the most obvious. They are definately hard to miss lol.

The FTC's line of reasoning was skewed far to heavily towards Sony to have the interest of competition at the fore. They really needed to go after exclusivity deals which are manipulative and blatently anti competitive (but that's hard because everyone does it - maybe the industry needs some sort of legislation.)

Microsoft's case was they need more studios to compete. No idea why it was never raised that they already have enough to compete, but they aren't doing much with them.

Anyhoo, it's hard to be invested in anything Activision. Their monetary practices are unaligned with my love for the hobby. I do hope they don't try to aquire Japanese studios and turnthem into generic western ones. That would be heartbreaking. But, I fear we are going to see more aquisitions...and everyone will now be using the excuse of having to compete to do it. And Nintendo could get hurt in the crossfire.

This stinks of agenda / politics at this point. There is no clear reasoning that this would lessen competition unless the appeal is going to uncover more dirt on the industry. Honestly, tax payers should be livid at them appealing.

Well, I'm not exactly overjoyed by the news, but I couldn't honestly see why this deal wouldn't get backed outside of the teenager, fan boy, vitriol.

I would be very surprised if Microsoft don't win this appeal.

When Cadburys were bought by Kraft, they promised they wouldn't change the recipe. But anyone can tell the chocolate tastes cheaper these days.

Now, I loathe third party exclusives and mergers / aquisitions, but I simply do not understand why this should be blocked despite decades of this happening. It's bonkers.

Sony won't ever sign it for the simple reason that they don't want to let go of their exclusivity. Irony.

Is this a step towards killing physical games? Having them as a background is a bit misleading lol.